First Commonwealth Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2012 Financial Results; Declares Fourth Quarter Dividend

INDIANA, Pa., Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE: FCF) today reported net income of $8.7 million, or $0.09 diluted earnings per share, for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012, as compared to a net loss of $5.7 million, or $0.05 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2011. The increase in net income was primarily the result of reduced provision for credit losses and noninterest expense, partially offset by lower net interest income and noninterest income. For the year ended December 31, 2012, net income was $42.0 million, or $0.40 diluted earnings per share, compared to net income of $15.3 million, or $0.15 diluted earnings per share, for the year 2011. The increase in year-over-year net income was primarily the result of reduced provision for credit losses and increased noninterest income, partially offset by lower net interest income.

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T. Michael Price, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are pleased with the earnings improvement we have achieved from a net income of $15.3 million in 2011 to $42.0 million in 2012. Our business production in middle market, small business and branch lending is at its highest level in recent memory, and we have continued to make good progress with our credit and efficiency initiatives since the latter part of 2011. However, much more remains to be done.  Credit quality and efficiency are key aspects to driving our performance to a best-in-class level."

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Fourth quarter 2012 net interest income, on a fully taxable equivalent basis, decreased $0.7 million, or 1%, to $48.2 million as compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. The decrease was the result of a 21 basis point decline in net interest margin, partially offset by a $187.9 million increase in average loans and a $52.5 million increase in average investment securities. Net interest margin was 3.57%, 3.54% and 3.78% for the three-month periods ended December 31, 2012, September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2012 net interest income, on a fully taxable equivalent basis, decreased $2.0 million, or 1%. The decrease was primarily due to a 19 basis point decline in the net interest margin, partially offset by growth in average loans and securities. The net interest margin for the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011 was 3.61% and 3.80%, respectively.

Significant changes to First Commonwealth's balance sheet from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2012 included: 

• A $161.1 million, or 4%, increase in loans.
• Continued improvement in the mix of deposits, including a $104.9 million, or 12%, increase in demand deposits; a $113.2 million, or 5%, increase in savings deposits; and a $164.9 million, or 14%, decrease in time deposits.
• Borrowings increased $116.3 million, including $72.8 million of long-term borrowings.
• 5,662,083 common stock shares were repurchased during 2012 for a total of approximately $37 million.

"I am particularly pleased with our team's success in increasing loans and transactional deposit accounts during the past year," said Mr. Price. "The discipline of our customer calling programs has produced encouraging results in both the consumer and business markets. We have also seen significant household growth and improvement in the cross-selling of financial solutions in both banking areas."

Credit Quality

The provision for credit losses totaled $5.7 million and $20.5 million for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2012, respectively, as compared to $25.9 million and $55.8 million in the prior-year periods. The fourth quarter 2012 provision for credit losses included $4.4 million due to deterioration in collateral values on two impaired loan relationships.

At December 31, 2012, nonperforming loans were $107.6 million, an increase of $13.6 million from September 30, 2012. The significant loans that were placed into nonperforming status in the fourth quarter of 2012 included two commercial real estate credits totaling $9.5 million. Nonperforming loans as a percentage of total loans were 2.56%, 2.23% and 2.76% for the periods ended December 31, 2012, September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

During the fourth quarter of 2012, net charge-offs were $2.6 million compared to $36.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. For the year ended December 31, 2012, net charge-offs were $14.6 million, or 0.35% of average loans on an annualized basis, compared to $65.8 million, or 1.62% of average loans on an annualized basis, for the year 2011. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans outstanding was 1.60%, 1.52% and 1.51% for December 31, 2012, September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.

Other Real Estate Owned ("OREO") acquired through foreclosure was $11.3 million at December 31, 2012 which represented a decrease of $4.8 million from September 30, 2012 and an $18.8 million decrease from December 31, 2011. During the fourth quarter of 2012, there were $3.2 million of write-downs charged to noninterest expense, primarily associated with two OREO properties, based on updated appraisals.

Price commented, "We have made significant progress resolving many of the problem loans that negatively affected our performance in the 2009-2011 timeframe. That progress now allows our organization to focus more intensely on the fundamentals of community banking."

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income, excluding net securities gains, decreased $1.4 million, or 9%, in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year. This decrease is primarily the result of $1.6 million in gains from the sale of two OREO properties in 2011, $1.0 million in rental revenue from an OREO property in 2011, offset by a $0.5 million increase in card-related interchange income and $0.7 million of improved credit adjustments on commercial loan interest rate swaps.

There were no significant recognized net securities gains or other-than-temporary impairment charges for the fourth quarter of 2012 or 2011. First Commonwealth also did not incur any other-than-temporary impairment charges for 2012 or 2011. Net securities gains for the year 2012 were $0.2 million compared to net securities gains of $2.2 million for the year 2011.

For the year ended December 31, 2012, noninterest income, excluding net securities gains, increased $9.8 million, or 18%, when compared to the full-year 2011. Significant changes to noninterest income for the twelve-month period included increases of $7.4 million in credit adjustments on commercial loan interest rate swaps, $1.2 million in card-related interchange income and $0.5 million in gains on the sale of troubled assets. The $7.4 million increase in credit adjustments on commercial loan interest rate swaps was primarily the result of a $6.8 million adverse mark-to-market credit adjustment for a troubled commercial loan relationship in 2011.

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense decreased $4.7 million, or 10%, in the fourth quarter of 2012 from the fourth quarter of 2011, primarily from $3.0 million less in OREO write-downs to current fair value and lower OREO operating expense in 2012.  Also affecting fourth quarter 2012 noninterest expense comparisons are a $0.9 million decrease in staff expenses and a $0.4 million decrease for unfunded commitment expense.

For the year ended December 31, 2012, as compared to 2011, noninterest expense increased slightly to $177.2 million as compared to $176.8 million.

The most significant year-over-year changes in noninterest expense included reductions of $0.8 million for occupancy and $3.9 million in OREO write-downs and OREO operating expense. These reductions were offset by a $3.5 million external fraud recognized in the third quarter of 2012 and a $1.0 million increase in data processing expense.

Full time equivalent staff was 1,395 and 1,442 for the periods ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Salaries and employee benefits for the year ended December 31, 2012 increased $1.4 million from the year 2011, primarily due to increased incentive expense and the effects of normal merit increases.

The efficiency ratio, calculated as total noninterest expense as a percentage of total revenue (total revenue consists of net interest income, on a fully taxable equivalent basis, plus total noninterest income, excluding net impairment losses and net securities gains), was 69% for the year ended December 31, 2012 as compared to 70% for 2011.

Dividends and Capital

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation declared a common stock quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, which is payable on February 22, 2013 to shareholders of record as of February 11, 2013. This dividend represents a 3% projected annual yield utilizing the January 29, 2013 closing market price of $7.47.

On June 19, 2012 First Commonwealth announced a $50.0 million common stock repurchase program. As of December 31, 2012, First Commonwealth has purchased 5,662,083 shares at an average price of $6.62 per share.

On January 29, 2013, First Commonwealth's Board of Directors authorized an additional share repurchase program for up to $25.0 million in shares of First Commonwealth's common stock.  Under this program, management is authorized to repurchase shares through Rule 10b5-1 plans, open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, block purchases or otherwise in accordance with applicable federal securities laws, including Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  Depending on market conditions and other factors, repurchases may be made at any time or from time to time, without prior notice.  First Commonwealth may suspend or discontinue the program at any time.

First Commonwealth's Board of Directors also authorized the redemption of approximately $32.5 million in issued and outstanding 9.50% mandatorily redeemable capital securities issued by First Commonwealth Capital Trust I.  First Commonwealth expects to complete the redemption of these securities during the first quarter of 2013. 

First Commonwealth's capital ratios for Total, Tier I and Leverage at December 31, 2012 were 14.5%, 13.3% and 11.2%, respectively.

Conference Call

First Commonwealth will host a quarterly conference call to discuss its financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2012 on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 2:00 PM (ET). The call can be accessed by dialing (toll free) 1-888-317-6016 or through the company's web page, http://www.fcbanking.com via the "Investor Relations" link. A replay of the call will be available approximately one hour following the conclusion of the conference. A link to the call replay will be accessible at this web page for 30 days.

About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation is a $6.0 billion financial holding company headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  It operates 112 retail branch offices in 15 counties in western and central Pennsylvania through First Commonwealth Bank, a Pennsylvania chartered bank and trust company.  Financial services and insurance products are also provided through First Commonwealth Insurance Agency and First Commonwealth Financial Advisors, Inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements about First Commonwealth's future plans, strategies and financial performance.  These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and often include words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate" or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could" or "may."  Such statements are based on assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control and may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, performance or achievements contemplated by the forward-looking statements.  Global and domestic economies could fail to recover from the recent economic downturn or could experience another severe contraction, which could adversely affect our revenues, increase credit-related costs and reduce the values of our assets and liabilities. Global financial markets could experience a recurrence of significant turbulence, which could reduce the availability of funding to certain financial institutions and lead to a tightening of credit, a reduction of business activity, and increased market volatility. Continued stress in the commercial real estate markets, as well as a delay or failure of recovery in the residential real estate markets, could cause additional credit losses and deterioration in asset values. In addition, our business and financial performance is likely to be negatively impacted by effects of recently enacted and future legislation and regulation.  Our results could also be adversely affected by continued deterioration in general business and economic conditions; changes in interest rates; deterioration in the credit quality of our loan portfolios or in the value of the collateral securing those loans; deterioration in the value of securities held in our investment securities portfolio; legal and regulatory developments; increased competition from both banks and non-banks; changes in customer behavior and preferences; effects of mergers and acquisitions and related integration; effects of critical accounting policies and judgments; and management's ability to effectively manage credit risk, market risk, operational risk, compliance and legal risk, interest rate risk, and liquidity risk. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. First Commonwealth undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.

SOURCE First Commonwealth Financial Corporation