Tompkins Financial profit edges up 1 percent in Q1

ITHACA — Tompkins Financial Corp. (NYSE: TMP) recently reported that its net income inched up nearly 1 percent to $12.7 million in the first quarter from 

$12.6 million in the year-ago period. Earnings per share were unchanged at 84 cents. 

“We saw positive trends for business growth during the first quarter with loan and deposit levels both up from the same period last year, and from the most recent prior quarter,” Stephen S. Romaine, Tompkins Financial’s president and CEO, said in the company’s April 24 earnings release. “At the same time, our already excellent asset quality improved further, as we saw a decline in nonperforming assets and net recoveries during the period.” 

Tompkins Financial produced net interest income of $41.2 million in the first quarter of this year, up 3 percent from the same period in 2014, but down 1.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014. The fourth quarter included higher interest income from interest collected on the payoff of a nonaccrual loan and a higher level of purchase accounting accretion related to loans paid off in the fourth quarter, Tompkins Financial noted.

Net interest margin declined from 3.53 percent in the fourth quarter to 3.45 percent in the first quarter, but that was largely offset by a $206 million rise in average loans during the first quarter, the banking company said.

Tompkins Financial reported noninterest income of $17.6 million in the first quarter of 2015, up 1.2 percent over the same period last year, but down 2.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014. The decline from the prior quarter mostly resulted from higher gains on the sale of other real estate owned in the fourth quarter of 2014, the banking company noted. Fee-based revenue related to insurance and deposit fees were up from the same quarter last year, while fees from providing wealth-management services were flat. 

The banking company’s noninterest expenses totaled $39.7 million in the first quarter of this year, up 3.9 percent from a year ago, and up 1.7 percent from last quarter. The year-over-year increase in noninterest expense mainly resulted from higher salary and wages expenses, according to the earnings release.

Asset-quality trends improved in nearly all categories during the quarter, Tompkins Financial noted. Substandard and special-mention loans declined by nearly $46 million from the same period last year, and by $2.7 million from the previous quarter. The percentage of nonperforming assets to total assets improved to 0.49 percent as of March 31, compared to 0.81 percent a year earlier. 

Tompkins Financial set aside $209,000 for loan and lease losses in the first quarter this year, down from $743,000 in the first quarter of 2014. 

Tompkins Financial is a financial-services company serving the Central, Western, and Hudson Valley regions of New York and the Southeastern region of Pennsylvania. Headquartered in Ithaca, Tompkins Financial is parent of Tompkins Trust Company, The Bank of Castile, Mahopac Bank, VIST Bank, Tompkins Insurance Agencies, Inc., and offers wealth-management services through Tompkins Financial Advisors. The company has nearly $5.4 billion in total assets.

Tompkins Trust ranked 6th in deposit market share in the 16-county Central New York area with almost $1.3 billion in deposits, good for a 4.93 percent market share, through its 13 branch offices. That’s according to the latest available FDIC data, as of June 30, 2014.