Q1 profit moves higher at Community Bank System

DeWITT — Profit at Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU) rose 16.5 percent in the first quarter to $18.8 million, or 48 cents per share.

Earnings per share would have been 2 cents higher, but the company completed a common stock offering in January that netted $54.9 million. The offering was in support of Community’s planned acquisition of 19 branches from HSBC and First Niagara.

The deal will bring $218 million in loans and $955 million in deposits for a deposit premium of 3.22 percent.

DeWitt–based Community Bank has $6.9 billion in assets and more than 170 branches in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. The banking company also operates subsidiaries in employee benefits, insurance, investment management and advising, and wealth management.

The HSBC locations in the deal are among those involved in First Niagara Bank’s planned acquisition of HSBC’s upstate New York branch network. First Niagara, based in Buffalo, announced plans in July to acquire 195 HSBC locations in upstate New York, Westchester County, and Connecticut. That deal is expected to close in May.

First Niagara leaders said at the time they would ultimately divest some branches in the acquisition.

The offices Community Bank is acquiring include 16 current HSBC locations in  Gowanda, Springville, Westfield, Palmyra, Newark, Geneseo, Watkins Glen, Avon, Watertown, Plattsburgh, Oswego, Fulton, Lowville, Adams, and Alexandria Bay, and three current First Niagara locations in Geneva and Canandaigua.

“Our pending acquisition of 19 bank branches across our core upstate New York markets will strengthen and extend our existing presence within these areas,” Community President and CEO Mark Tryniski said in a news release. “We remain pleased with the successful integration of the Wilber National Bank which we acquired last April, and now operate as our Central New York Region.”

The deal for Oneonta–based Wilber brought Community 22 branches in Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie, Ulster, Chenango, Onondaga, Saratoga, and Broome counties, along with a loan-production office located in Saratoga County.

For more on this story, see the April 27 issue of The Central New York Business Journal.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com