Huntington Bancshares in Columbus, Ohio, reported higher quarterly earnings that reflected its ability to integrate FirstMerit.
The $100 billion-asset company said Wednesday that its first-quarter profit rose 21% from a year earlier to $208 million. Excluding costs tied to last year’s
Huntington is “particularly pleased” it was able to retain FirstMerit accounts, Stephen Steinhour, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a press release. Deposits at March 31 rose 38% from a year earlier to $76 billion.
Huntington is “clearly outperforming” its projection of 10% runoff in FirstMerit deposits, Steinour said.
Other metrics received a lift from FirstMerit.
Revenue jumped 40% to nearly $1.1 billion and total loans rose 32% to $67 billion.
Huntington closed 110 branches during the first quarter, putting the company on track to reach the $255 million of projected merger-related expense cuts, Steinour said.
Credit quality remained solid. Nonperforming assets fell 15% to $458 million. Net chargeoffs totaled just 0.24% of average loans and were below the company’s long-term target range of 0.35% to 0.55% for the 12th quarter in a row.
“We had a good start to the year and are encouraged by the momentum we’re currently seeing,” Steinour said.
