Union Bankshares Q1 Profit Rises 8%

Union Bankshares Corp UBSH reported 8 percent year-over-year increase in net income to $17.0 million for the first quarter. Similarly, its earnings also advanced 8.6 percent to $0.38 a share from $0.35 a share in the year-ago quarter, and came in $0.02 a share above the Street analysts' expectations.

The company's net interest income increased by $1.3 million to $66.2 million in the first quarter fueled by higher earning asset balances and yields. Its interest margin also grew by six basis points to 3.82 percent.

However, Union Bankshares' non-interest income fell 6.5 percent to $15.9 million from $17.0 million driven by weak gains on the sale of securities and the net gains from the sale of the credit card portfolio. Excluding the items, its non-interest income would have grown by 3.3 percent.

The Bank's President and CEO, William Beale, said "Union's first quarter results continued to demonstrate steady progress toward achievement of our strategic objectives that will enable Union to consistently generate profitable growth for our shareholders. Commercial loans grew at a 7.7% annualized rate during the quarter as our lending teams continued the robust loan production momentum they generated in 2015. Asset quality continued to be strong and we are pleased to note that the net interest margin expanded during the quarter as a result of increased short term market interest rates. As part of our continuing effort to improve efficiency, we recently consolidated three in-store branches in Winchester into a new stand-alone branch in the market and closed a branch in Middleburg.

He continued, "In addition, we were pleased to recently announce that we agreed to acquire Old Dominion Capital Management, Inc., a Charlottesville Virginia based registered investment advisor with nearly $300 million in assets under management. Acquisitions such as this are an important part of our Company's strategic plan to grow our wealth management business by expanding the reach and capabilities of our wealth management team by adding assets under management, new investment strategies and advisor talent. Going forward, we remain focused on leveraging Union's unique franchise for sustainable growth and to deliver top-tier financial performance for our shareholders over the long term."

Posted In: EarningsNews
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...