Westfield, Massachusetts, July 26, 2017: Western New England Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company” or “WNEB”) (NasdaqGS:WNEB), the holding company for Westfield Bank (the “Bank”), today announced unaudited results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017. The Company also announced that the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.03 per share, payable on or about August 23, 2017 to shareholders of record on August 9, 2017. The first and second quarter financial results for 2017 reflect full quarters of combined operations following the completion of the merger of Chicopee Bancorp, Inc. (“Chicopee”) into WNEB on October 21, 2016. The second quarter financial results for 2016 reflect the pre-merger operations of the Company. As a result, the Company’s 2017 second quarter may not be comparable to financial results for the second quarter of 2016.
James C. Hagan, President and CEO stated, “We are pleased with the progress we are making with the continued merger integration, and we had a small amount of merger-related charges this quarter in that regard. On a core basis, our second quarter financial performance was similar to the first quarter, even while incurring a number of expenses in the second quarter that we do not anticipate to be recurring. Our focus continues to be on leveraging the merger to make a meaningful impact in our expanded market area, growing our balance sheet, continuing to improve our financial performance and increasing our tangible book value. We have made meaningful improvement in our performance and returns as a result of the merger and look to continue our momentum.”
Financial Highlights Highlights for the quarter include the following:
- Net income of $3.8 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, for the three months ended June 30, 2017, as compared to $5.1 million, or $0.17 per share, for the three months ended March 31, 2017. On a core basis (as described below), net income for the three months ended June 30, 2017 was $3.7 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, as compared to $3.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2017.
- On a core basis, which the Company defines as exclusive of merger related expenses and tax benefits, return on average assets and return on average equity were 0.72% and 5.99%, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2017, as compared to 0.74% and 6.28%, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 0.38% and 3.64%, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2016.
- Loan growth continued favorably with commercial and industrial loans increasing $11.5 million, or 4.9%, during the three months ended June 30, 2017, and $21.7 million, or 9.8%, during the six months ended June 30, 2017. Total loans increased $42.2 million, or 2.7%, during the six months ended June 30, 2017, net of an expected $7.5 million payoff related to a completed commercial real estate construction project during the first quarter of 2017.
- Total deposits decreased $22.7 million, or 1.5%, for the first six months of 2017, which reflects both the cyclical nature of our municipal deposit balances, and our desire to reduce higher cost non-core deposits and focus on increasing lower cost, core customer deposit relationships.
- Tangible book value per share was $7.55 at June 30, 2017, an increase of $0.11 per share from the first quarter of 2017 and $0.30 per share, or 4.1%, from year-end 2016.
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