Acquisitions Help Drive Banks’ Record Quarters

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Two Indiana banks are reporting record profits for the second quarter. Muncie-based First Merchants Corp. (Nasdaq: FRME) is reporting net income of $20 million, compared to $18 million in the same quarter last year. Michigan City-based Horizon Bancorp (Nasdaq: HBNC) is reporting net income of $6.3 million, up from $4.7 million during the second quarter of 2015.

Each has announced recent mergers with other Hoosier banking institutions.

First Merchants Chief Executive Officer Michael Rechin says "First Merchants focused its 2016 plan on proving our progress after completing several major organizational initiatives. Our accomplishments included closing two and integrating three whole bank acquisitions, divesting our insurance business and completing an on-line banking system upgrade. We are pleased our second quarter 2016 earnings produced such strong and clean results without any non-core extraordinary items. The result is a growing company with a 1.17 percent return on assets, a 57.33 percent efficiency ratio, healthy credit metrics, strong and stable margins, record levels of performance and focus on the road ahead."

First Merchants assets totaled $6.9 billion at the end of the second quarter, compared to $6.1 billion during the same period in 2015.

You can connect to First Merchants’ quarterly earnings report by clicking here.

Horizon CEO Craig Dwight said "2016 second quarter and year-to-date earnings illustrate, once again, our balanced and diversified revenue streams producing strong results. Core net income, excluding acquisition-related expenses, gain on sale of investment securities and the death benefit on bank owned life insurance, was $7.2 million for the second quarter and $13.0 million for the first six months of 2016. The increase in core net income translated to solid growth in Horizon’s core diluted earnings per share for both the second quarter and the first six months of 2016 compared to 2015." The quarter saw the closing of acquisition of Kosciusko and LaPorte Bancorp and a definitive merger agreement with CNB Bancorp in Attica, which is expected to in the fourth quarter.

You can connect to Horizon Bancorp’s quarterly earnings report by clicking here.