First Niagara profit slips in Q4

BUFFALO  —  First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG)  today reported a drop in year-over-year earnings in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Net income available to common shareholders dropped to $53.5 million in the quarter, or 15 cents per share. That’s down from $58.5 million in the same period a year ago but up from $50.8 million in the third quarter of this year.

The fourth-quarter earnings include a $16 million accelerated premium amortization adjustment on First Niagara’s collateralized mortgage obligations (CMO) worth 3 cents per share. They also include $3.7 million in restructuring charges worth 1 cent per share.

For the full year of 2012, net income available to common shareholders totaled $140.7 million, or 40 cents per share. That’s down from $173.9 million, or 64 cents per share, in 2011.

“As I have consistently stated, running our business a little bit better each and every day is what we are about in 2013,” First Niagara President and CEO John Koelmel said in a news release.

The bank will try to grow in part with commercial and consumer lending, he added. First Niagara has experienced 12 straight quarters of double-digit growth in commercial loans.

“And while the impact of our CMO portfolio on fourth-quarter results is disappointing, it doesn’t at all diminish the consistent core operating performance we have again produced,” Koelmel said.

First Niagara has $36.8 billion in total assets. It operates 430 branches.

As of June 30, it had the fourth-highest market share in the Syracuse metropolitan area, 7.5 percent, with over $808 million in deposits. It had the second-highest market share in the Binghamton area, 12.8 percent, with more than $342.5 million in deposits and the fourth-highest market share in the Utica-Rome market, nearly 11 percent, with $405.9 million in deposits.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com