Huntington's profit rises on FirstMerit deal, efficiency efforts

Huntington Bancshares in Columbus, Ohio, reported higher quarterly earnings that matched Wall Street expectations.

The $101 billion-asset company reported that its second-quarter profit rose 56% from a year earlier to $272 million, or 23 cents a share.

The results reflect the company’s August 2016 purchase of FirstMerit in Akron, Ohio. Tight expense control and near-pristine credit quality also factored into the quarter’s results.

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Huntington Bancshares CEO Stephen Steinour received a 16% pay hike last year.

Revenue increased by 37% to $1.1 billion. Total 2017 revenue is expected to be 20% higher than what the company generated in 2016.

Net interest income rose by 47% to $745 million. Total loans increased by 30% to $67.3 billion, while deposits jumped 38% to $76.5 billion. The net interest margin expanded by 25 basis points to 3.31%.

Noninterest income increased by 20% to $325 million.

Noninterest expense rose by 33% to $694 million, though it included $50 million in merger-related costs. The company actually lowered noninterest expenses by $13 million, or 2%, from the first quarter.

The efficiency ratio fell to 62.9% from 66.1% a year earlier.

Net chargeoffs totaled $36 million, or 0.21% of total loans, well below Huntington’s long-term normalized range of 0.35% to 0.55%. Chargeoffs are expected to remain below the norm through the rest of this year.

"With the FirstMerit integration nearly complete, we are focused on growing revenues through deepening existing customer relationships, gaining market share via new customer acquisition, and executing on the revenue enhancement opportunities from the acquisition,” CEO Stephen Steinour said in a press release.

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