Chemical Financial Corporation, holding company to the wide-ranging Chemical Bank with branches throughout Michigan’s Great Southwest, has posted dramatically increased earnings for the fourth quarter of 2016, driven in part by their acquisition of Talmer Bank which was finalized late in the summer of the year.
Fourth quarter net income checked in at $47.2-million or $0.66 per diluted share as compared to $25.5-million in the same quarter of 2015, which was also equivalent to $0.66 per diluted share. Chemical completed the $1.7-billion acquisition of Talmer Bancorp on August 31, 2016.
David Ramaker, President & CEO of Chemical Financial says, “Our fourth quarter financial results reflect both a solid finish to a milestone year and a strong base from which Chemical Financial Corporation will move forward. During the quarter, we completed the integration of Talmer Bank and Chemical Bank, our fourth successful integration over the past two years.” Ramaker adds, “Continued stable economic conditions in our core markets facilitated significant organic loan growth during the quarter, and we believe we have an attractive pipeline as we look forward to 2017.”
For the year ended December 31, 2016, net income was $108.0-million, or $2.17 per diluted share, compared to net income a year earlier at $86.89-million, or $2.39 per diluted share. The increase in net income in the fourth quarter, compared to both the third quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2015, was driven significantly by the reduction in merger and transaction-related expenses from the completion of the Talmer deal and the inclusion of Talmer operations for the full quarter as compared to one month’s inclusion of operations in the third quarter of 2016 and no such inclusion a year earlier.
Excluding transaction expenses, net gain on the sale of branches and the change in fair value in loan servicing rights, net income for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $49.9-million, of $0.70 per diluted share, compared to $37.5-million, or $0.75 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2016 and $26.9-million, or $0.70 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Ramaker notes that since year-end 2014, “We have more than doubled our asset base and expanded our delivery network beyond Michigan into northeast Ohio and northern Indiana. We have paired a targeted acquisition strategy with attractive organic growth across the Chemical franchise to achieve these results, never losing sight of our primary goal of meeting the financial service needs of the communities we serve and delivering strong results for our shareholders.”
Total assets for Chemical Financial at the end of 2016 came to $17.36-billion as compared to $9.18-billion at the end of 2015, with the lions share of that 12-month increase attributed to the merger with Talmer.
Chemical Bank now has 249 offices in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, including multiple full-service branch offices throughout Southwest Michigan.
