ELMIRA — Chemung Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CHMG), the parent company of Chemung Canal Trust Company, reported net income of nearly $1.5 million, or 32 cents per share, in the fourth quarter. That’s down 30 percent from the $2.1 million, or 46 cents a share, the banking company earned during the same quarter in 2012. Excluding […]
ELMIRA — Chemung Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CHMG), the parent company of Chemung Canal Trust Company, reported net income of nearly $1.5 million, or 32 cents per share, in the fourth quarter.
That’s down 30 percent from the $2.1 million, or 46 cents a share, the banking company earned during the same quarter in 2012.
Excluding certain one-time gains and acquisition expenses, Chemung Financial’s core net income for the fourth quarter was $1.7 million, or 37 cents per share, it reported.
Chemung Canal Trust Co. completed its acquisition of six former Bank of America branch offices located in Auburn, Cortland, Ithaca, and Seneca Falls in the fourth quarter.
The bank acquired nearly $178 million in deposits and $1.2 million in loans in the transaction.
Chemung Financial expects the acquisition to add to its earnings in 2015. The company now operates 31 branch offices in New York and 3 branches in Pennsylvania.
It’s Chemung Financial’s fourth acquisition over the past five years.
For the entire year, Chemung Financial earned net income of $8.7 million, or $1.87 per share, down 21 percent from $11 million, or $2.38 per share, during 2012, the company said.
As expected, 2013 was an “eventful and challenging” year as earnings came “under pressure” from net-interest margin compression, Ronald Bentley, president and CEO of Chemung Financial, said in the earnings report.
“The single best strategy to combat margin compression is to grow our balance sheet, so we were pleased with the acquisition of six branch offices in contiguous markets during the fourth quarter of 2013. This transaction becomes increasingly accretive to earnings as we channel the acquired deposits into loans over the next few years,” Bentley said.
Besides the acquisition, Chemung Financial generated “solid” organic growth in both loans and deposits during 2013, Bentley said.
“Commercial loans increased $64.5 million, or 14.2 percent, and consumer loans increased $42.4 million, or 17.7 percent. Excluding the deposits acquired in the branch acquisition, organic growth in deposits was $40.9 million, or 3.9 percent,” he added.
As of Dec. 31, 2013, Chemung Financial reported $1.4 billion in total assets and $1.89 billion of assets under management or administration within its Wealth Management Division.
Those figures are up from the $1.2 billion in total assets and $1.74 billion of assets under management or administration within the Wealth Management Group at the end of 2012.
In addition to retail and commercial banking products, Chemung Canal Trust provides wealth-management products, as well as trust, estate, retirement, and investment services.
Chemung Canal Trust currently has 34 total bank branches in Broome, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins counties in New York and Bradford County in Pennsylvania.
Chemung Financial also operates five branches, under the name Capital Bank, in Albany and Saratoga counties.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
