PEOPLES FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP. Reports Third Quarter 2021 Earnings

SCRANTON, Pa., Oct. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Peoples Financial Services Corp. ("Peoples") (NASDAQ: PFIS), the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, today reported unaudited financial results at and for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2021.  Peoples reported net income of $9.1 million, or $1.26 per diluted share for the three months ended September 30, 2021, an increase of 10.5% when compared to $8.3 million, or $1.14 per diluted share for the comparable period of 2020.  The increase in earnings for the three months ended September 30, 2021 is primarily the result of a $2.1 million increase to pre-provision net interest income and a $0.6 million decrease to the provision for loan losses, partially offset by a $1.5 million decrease to noninterest income, primarily from lower interest rate swap revenue, and an increase to noninterest expense of $0.3 million.

Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, totaled $27.1 million or $3.74 per diluted share, a 30.3% increase when compared to $21.2 million or $2.87 per diluted share for the comparable period of 2020.  The increase in earnings in the 2021 nine month period is the product of a decrease to our provision for loan losses of $6.3 million, primarily due to an adjustment in the year ago period to the economic qualitative factors included in our allowance for loan losses methodology relating to the impact of COVID-19, an increase to pre-provision net interest income of $3.1 million and a decrease to noninterest expense of $0.4 million.  Partially offsetting the increase were a higher income tax provision of $2.3 million and a decrease in noninterest income of $1.6 million.

In addition to evaluating its results of operations in accordance with GAAP, Peoples routinely supplements its evaluation with an analysis of certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as tangible stockholders' equity and core net income ratios.  The reported results included in this release contain items, which Peoples considers non-core, namely gains and losses incurred within the investment securities portfolio.  Peoples believes the reported non-GAAP financial measures provide information useful to investors in understanding its operating performance and trends.  Where non-GAAP disclosures are used in this press release, a reconciliation to the comparable GAAP measure is provided in the accompanying tables.  The non-GAAP financial measures Peoples uses may differ from the non-GAAP financial measures of other financial institutions.

Core net income, which we have defined to exclude gains or losses from our investment securities portfolio, for the three months ended September 30, totaled $9.1 million and $7.9 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively.  Core net income per share for the three months ended September 30, 2021 was $1.26, a 15.6% increase from $1.09 reported for the same period in 2020.  Core net income in the 2021 third quarter excludes a pre-tax $5 thousand unrealized gain on our equity investment portfolio.  Core net income for 2020 excludes a $2 thousand unrealized gain on our equity investment portfolio and a $457 thousand gain on the sale of investment securities.

Core net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 was $27.1 million or $3.74 per diluted share, a 33.1% increase when compared to $20.7 million or $2.81 per diluted share for the same period of 2020.  Core net income for the current period excludes a pre-tax unrealized gain of $9 thousand on our equity investment portfolio.  Core net income for 2020 was impacted by a pre-tax gain of $724 thousand on the sale of debt securities and a $82 thousand unrealized loss on our equity investment securities portfolio

NOTABLES

• Record first nine month earnings of $27.1 million or $3.74 per diluted share.
• Dividends declared for nine months ended September 30, 2021 of $1.12 per share represents a 3.7% increase from the same period in 2020.
• Core return on average assets was 1.17% and 1.21% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 compared to 1.16% and 1.05% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020.
• Core return on average equity was 11.01% and 11.23% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 compared to 10.12% and 8.98% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020.
• Loan growth during 2021, excluding Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loans, totaled $133.9 million, or 6.7%. PPP loan balances at September 30, 2021 total $83.5 million.
• Assisted our small business customers secure $227.8 million of PPP loan forgiveness during the first nine months of 2021.
• Deposits grew $403.8 million or 16.6% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and grew $229.2 million or 8.8% during the three months ended September 30, 2021.
• Book value per share improved to $45.66 at September 30, 2021 from $43.30 at September 30, 2020, a 5.5% increase.
• Tangible book value per share, a non-GAAP measure, increased 6.8% to $36.75 at September 30, 2021 from $34.40 at September 30, 2020.
• Tax-equivalent net interest income increased $3.1 million or 5.2% to $64.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 compared to $61.0 million for the same period in 2020.
• Provision for loan losses for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 decreased $6.3 million from the comparable nine month period in 2020.
• Nonperforming assets as a percentage of loans and foreclosed assets at September 30, 2021 improved to 0.28% from 0.52% at September 30, 2020, and from 0.33% at June 30, 2021.
• Received regulatory approvals to establish de novo branches in Warrendale, Allegheny County, PA to serve the Greater Pittsburgh market and in Piscataway, Middlesex County, NJ to serve the central New Jersey market.
• Relocated our Binghamton, New York West Side Office due to its growth to a new branch office at 24 Mary Street, Binghamton to better serve our customers and provide an aesthetic addition to the local community.

Visa Class B Common Stock Sale

On October 8, 2021, Peoples' banking subsidiary, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company (the "Bank"), agreed to sell 44,982 shares of the Class B common stock of Visa Inc. for a purchase price of $12.2 million. The shares had no carrying value on the Bank's balance sheet and, as the Bank had no historical cost basis in the shares, the entire purchase price will be realized as a pretax gain. The transaction will have a positive impact on the Bank's regulatory capital, which will be used for capital management and to support the Company's organic growth.

The Bank received 73,333 Class B shares of Visa Inc. as part of its membership interest in March 2008, and 28,351 shares were redeemed in connection with Visa's initial public offering in 2008. The sale of the remaining 44,982 Class B shares is expected to settle in October, 2021 and be included in our 2021 fourth-quarter and year-end results as an after-tax gain of $9.6 million. The gain on the sale of the Class B shares is not indicative of the expected results of consolidated operations for those periods.

INCOME STATEMENT REVIEW

Calculated on a fully taxable equivalent basis ("FTE"), our tax-equivalent net interest margin for the three months ended September 30, 2021 was 3.07%, a decrease of 12 basis points when compared to 3.19% for the same period in 2020.  Our tax equivalent net interest margin for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 was 3.06%, a decrease of 29 basis points when compared to 3.35% for the nine month period in 2020.  The tax-equivalent yield on interest-earning assets decreased 36 basis points to 3.37% during the three months ended September 30, 2021 from 3.73% during the year ago period.  For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the tax-equivalent yield on interest-earning assets decreased 55 basis points to 3.41% from 3.96% during the corresponding period of 2020.  The decrease in yield is due to lower market rates, a result of the Federal Open Market Committee ("FOMC") cutting the federal funds rate by 150 basis points in the first three months of 2020.  The decrease in market rates resulted in lower rates on our existing adjustable rate loans and affected rates on new originations.  Additionally, higher levels of federal funds sold at historically low rates contributed to the decrease in net interest margin.  At the same time, we experienced lower interest-bearing liability costs due to lower market rates and our actions to reduce deposit rates. This was partially offset however by the additional interest expense on subordinated debt we issued during the second quarter of 2020.  Our cost of funds, which represents our average rate paid on total interest-bearing liabilities, decreased 34 basis points to 0.42% for the three months ended September 30, 2021 when compared to 0.76% during the year ago period.  For the nine months ended September 30, 2021 our average rate paid on total interest-bearing liabilities was 0.50% a decrease of 34 basis points when compared to 0.84% for the same period in 2020.

Third Quarter 2021 Results – Comparison to Prior-Year Quarter

Tax-equivalent net interest income for the three months ended September 30, increased $2.1 million or 10.6% to $22.4 million in 2021 from $20.3 million in 2020.  The increase in tax equivalent net interest income was largely due to lower deposit costs of $1.1 million due to our focus to decrease deposit rates in the current low market rate environment.  Also contributing to the increase was higher loan income of $0.6 million from a higher rate variance due to Small Business Administration ("SBA") accelerated forgiveness of PPP loans in the current quarter which offset the lower rates on the non-PPP loan portfolio, and higher investment and federal funds sold income due to a higher volume variance.  Total average earning assets increased $365.8 million or 14.5% from the year ago period due primarily from an increase of $265.6 million in federal funds sold balances resulting from strong deposit growth. PPP loans averaged $122.3 million in the three-month period ended September 30, 2021 with interest and net fees totaling $2.5 million compared to average balances of $216.9 million and interest and fees totaling $1.2 million in the prior period.  The tax-equivalent yield on the loan portfolio increased to 4.06% for the three months ended September 30, 2021, compared to 4.02% for the comparable period in 2020 due to $70.8 million of SBA PPP loan forgiveness and the resulting acceleration of the remaining unamortized net fees realized into income.  Excluding the PPP loans, the tax-equivalent yield of the loan portfolio was 3.83% and 4.21% at September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively.  Loans, net averaged $2.2 billion for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020.  For the three months ended September 30, the tax-equivalent yield on total investments decreased to 2.02% in 2021 from 2.30% in 2020.  Average investments totaled $365.5 million in 2021 and $281.5 million in 2020.  Average interest-bearing liabilities increased $249.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021, compared to the corresponding period last year the result of higher non-maturity deposits due to strong organic deposit growth and growth of public fund deposits which resulted in lowering our short-term and long-term borrowings.

For the three months ended September 30, 2021, the provision for loan losses decreased $0.6 million to $0.4 million from $1.0 million in the year ago period which reflected an increase to the asset quality qualitative factors in our allowance for loan losses methodology due to deferments requested on commercial loans and resulting risk rating migration.  The provision for loan losses in the three month period ended September 30, 2021 is the result of growth of non-PPP loans and improved asset quality.

Noninterest income for the three months ended September 30, 2021 decreased to $3.4 million, a $1.5 million decrease from $4.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020.  The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in revenue generated from our commercial loan interest rate swaps of $1.1 million due to lower transaction volume due to increased market rates.  During the year ago period gains of $0.5 million were recognized from the sale of investment securities with no comparable gains recorded in the current period.  Mortgage banking revenue decreased $0.2 million in the three month period ended September 30, 2021 from lower volumes of mortgages sold into the secondary market.  Services charges, fees, commissions and other were higher in the current period by $0.1 million due to increased debit card interchange revenue and slightly higher service charges on consumer and commercial deposit accounts.  Wealth management revenue increased $0.1 million in the three month period ended September 30, 2021 due to an increase to the number of transactions. 

Noninterest expense increased $0.3 million or 2.3% to $14.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2021, from $14.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2020.  Other expenses increased $0.3 million or 11.5% due primarily to higher Pennsylvania shares tax expense, an increase to our FDIC assessment and an increase to losses on bad checks.

Nine-Month Results – Comparison to Prior Year First Nine Months

Tax-equivalent net interest income for the nine months ended September 30, increased $3.1 million or 5.2% to $64.1 million in 2021 from $61.0 million in 2020.  The increase in tax equivalent net interest income was largely due to lower interest bearing deposit costs of $3.4 million, as deposit rates were lowered in the historically low market rate environment.  Partially offsetting the lower interest-bearing liability costs was a decrease of $0.5 million to our tax equivalent interest income primarily from a $0.8 million decrease in loan interest, as loans continue to reprice lower during the current low market rate environment.  The increase to total average earning assets of $373.5 million partially offset the lower yields. PPP loans averaged $179.0 million in the nine-month period ended September 30, 2021 with interest and fees totaling $6.3 million.  The tax-equivalent yield on the loan portfolio decreased to 4.00% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, compared to 4.25% for the comparable period in 2020 due to lower market rates. PPP loan balances yielded 4.69% in the current nine month period compared to 2.32% in the year ago period.  The higher yield is the result of SBA PPP loan forgiveness totaling $227.8 million in the current period.  The loan yield excluding PPP loans was 3.93% in the current period compared to 4.37% in the year ago period.  Loans, net averaged $2.2 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and $2.1 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, the tax-equivalent yield on total investments decreased to 2.09% in 2021 from 2.41% in 2020.  Average investments totaled $347.1 million in 2021 and $299.2 million in 2020.  Average interest-bearing deposits increased $320.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, compared to the corresponding period last year due to strong organic deposit growth of new customer relationships and increased public funds.  Total average non-interest bearing deposits increased $129.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, compared to the comparable period last year which resulted in lowering our higher costing short-term and long-term borrowings.

There was no provision for loan losses for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, a decrease of $6.3 million from the $6.3 million provision for the comparable period of 2020.  The lower provision in the nine month period ended September 30, 2021 is due to improved credit quality and the resulting reversal of the COVID-related asset quality qualitative factor adjustment made in the year ago period in our allowance for loan losses methodology.  The higher provision in the year ago period reflects changes made to the qualitative factors related to economic and credit quality declines resulting from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and its uncertain economic impact.

Noninterest income for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 was $10.4 million compared with $11.9 million for the year ago period, a decrease of $1.5 million or 13.1%.  The year ago period included a net gain of $0.7 million from the sale of available-for-sale securities, offset by a $0.1 unrealized loss related to our equity security.  Service charges, fees, commissions and other are lower in the nine month period ended September 30, 2021 by $0.1 million as an accrual adjustment to a bank owned life insurance benefit, a lower Federal Home Loan Bank dividend and a decrease to service charges on consumer and commercial deposit accounts were partially offset by an increase to our debit card interchange revenue.  Wealth management revenue increased $0.3 million in the nine month period ended September 30, 2021 due to a higher number of transactions and commissions while fees on fiduciary activities increased $0.2 million due primarily to market appreciation. Revenue generated from commercial loan interest rate swap transactions decreased $1.2 million in the nine month period ended September 30, 2021 due to a decrease in the number of transactions resulting from unfavorable market rates.

Noninterest expense decreased $0.4 million or 1.0% to $40.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, from $40.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020.  Salaries and employee benefits decreased $1.1 million or 4.8% due to higher deferred costs from an increase in total loan originations which are recorded as a contra-salary expense and lower health insurance costs.  Occupancy and equipment expenses were higher by $0.2 million due to information technology investments related to mobile/digital banking solutions in the nine month period ended September 30, 2021. Other expenses were higher by $0.5 million due primarily to higher Pennsylvania shares tax expense and an increase in FDIC insurance assessments in the nine month period ended September 30, 2021 attributed to the receipt of a credit in the year ago period related to the Deposit Insurance Fund's (DIF) minimum reserve ratio assessment.

The provision for income tax expense increased $2.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 compared to the year ago period due to higher levels of book taxable income and a $0.6 million deferred tax adjustment related to prior periods.

BALANCE SHEET REVIEW

At September 30, 2021, total assets, loans and deposits were $3.2 billion, $2.2 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively. Loan balances increased from December 31, 2020 as loan demand, exclusive of PPP loans, improved as the economy recovers from COVID-19.  Loan growth during the first nine months was $133.9 million when excluding a net decrease of $106.2 million of Small Business Administration ("SBA") PPP loans.  Commercial real estate and tax-exempt loans made up the majority of growth.  During the first nine months of 2021, $227.8 million of PPP loans were forgiven by the SBA.  Total investments were $494.4 million at September 30, 2021, an increase of $191.1 million from $303.3 million at December 31, 2021.  The increase to the investment portfolio results from investing a portion of our low-yielding federal funds balance into higher-yielding earning assets.  Federal funds sold balance at September 30, 2021 was $319.5 million, an increase of $136.5 million during the first nine months of 2020 resulting from strong deposit growth. Total deposits increased $403.8 million or 16.6% from December 31, 2020 due to organic growth of customer relationships throughout all our markets, additional deposits by our commercial customers and seasonal inflows of municipal deposits.  Non-interest bearing deposits increased $90.1 million or 14.5% and interest-bearing deposits increased $313.7 million or 17.3% during the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Stockholders' equity equaled $327.7 million or $45.66 per share at September 30, 2021, and $316.9 million or $43.92 per share at December 31, 2020.  The increase in stockholders' equity from December 31, 2020 is attributable to net income, partially offset by a decrease to accumulated other comprehensive income ("AOCI") resulting from a decrease to the unrealized gain on investment securities and dividends paid to shareholders.  Tangible stockholders' equity improved to $36.75 per share at September 30, 2021, from $35.00 per share at December 31, 2020.  Dividends declared for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 amounted to $1.12 per share, a 3.7% increase from the 2020 period, representing a dividend payout ratio of 29.9%.

ASSET QUALITY REVIEW

Nonperforming assets were $6.1 million or 0.28% of loans, net and foreclosed assets at September 30, 2021, compared to $10.5 million or 0.48% of loans, net and foreclosed assets at December 31, 2020.  The decrease in non-performing assets from year end was due to improving credit trends, the payoff of two non-accrual commercial loans and charge-off of a small business line of credit.  The Company's allowance for loan losses decreased $0.7 million or 2.4% during the first nine months of 2021.  The allowance for loan losses at September 30, 2021 continued to reflect the provisions added during 2020 from our adjustment of qualitative factors in our allowance for loan losses methodology, due to economic decline and expectation of increased credit losses from COVID-19's adverse impact on economic and business operating conditions.  The allowance for loan losses equaled $26.7 million or 1.21% of loans, net at September 30, 2021 compared to $27.3 million or 1.26% of loans, net, at December 31, 2020.  Excluding PPP loans which do not carry an allowance for losses due to a 100% government guarantee, the ratio equaled 1.26% at September 30, 2021.  Loans charged-off, net of recoveries, for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, equaled $0.7 million or 0.04% of average loans, compared to $2.4 million or 0.16% of average loans for the comparable period last year.

About Peoples:

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is the parent company of Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, a community bank serving Allegheny, Bucks, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, and Wyoming Counties in Pennsylvania, Middlesex County in New Jersey and Broome County in New York through 28 offices. Each office, interdependent with the community, offers a comprehensive array of financial products and services to individuals, businesses, not-for-profit organizations and government entities. Peoples' business philosophy includes offering direct access to senior management and other officers and providing friendly, informed and courteous service, local and timely decision making, flexible and reasonable operating procedures and consistently applied credit policies.

Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements:

We make statements in this press release, and we may from time to time make other statements regarding our outlook or expectations for future financial or operating results and/or other matters regarding or affecting Peoples Financial Services Corp. and Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company (collectively, "Peoples") that are considered "forward-looking statements" as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "planned," "estimated," "intend" and "potential." For these statements, Peoples claims the protection of the statutory safe harbors for forward-looking statements.

Peoples cautions you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated in any forward-looking statement.  Such factors include, but are not limited to: prevailing economic and political conditions, particularly in our market area; the COVID-19 crisis and the governmental responses to the crisis; credit risk associated with our lending activities; changes in interest rates, loan demand, real estate values and competition; changes in accounting principles, policies, and guidelines; changes in any applicable law, rule, regulation or practice with respect to tax or legal issues; our ability to identify and address cyber-security risks and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory and technological factors affecting Peoples' operations, pricing, products and services and other factors that may be described in Peoples' Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

In addition to these risks, acquisitions and business combinations, present risks other than those presented by the nature of the business acquired. Acquisitions and business combinations may be substantially more expensive to complete than originally anticipated, and the anticipated benefits may be significantly harder-or take longer-to achieve than expected.  As regulated financial institutions, our pursuit of attractive acquisition and business combination opportunities could be negatively impacted by regulatory delays or other regulatory issues.  Regulatory and/or legal issues related to the pre-acquisition operations of an acquired or combined business may cause reputational harm to Peoples following the acquisition or combination, and integration of the acquired or combined business with ours may result in additional future costs arising as a result of those issues.

The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as may be required by applicable law or regulation, Peoples assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

 [TABULAR MATERIAL FOLLOWS]