Farmers National Banc Corp. Announces 2015 Fourth Quarter and Annual Financial Results

Farmers National Banc Corp. (Farmers) (NASDAQ: FMNB) today reported financial results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2015.

Net income for the three months ended December 31, 2015 was $3.2 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, which compares to $2.1 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2014. Excluding expenses related to acquisition activities, net income would have been $4.3 million or $0.16 per diluted share for the three months ended December 31, 2015. In comparing net income excluding acquisition activities for the fourth quarter to the linked quarter, net income excluding acquisition activities increased $598 thousand, or 16% for the three months ended December 31, 2015.

Annualized return on average assets and return on average equity were 0.68% and 6.51%, respectively, for the three month period ending December 31, 2015. Excluding the expenses related to acquisition activities, the annualized return on average assets and the annualized return on average equity would have been 0.93% and 8.87%, respectively.

Net income for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $8.1 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, compared to $9.0 million or $0.48 per diluted share for 2014. Excluding expenses related to acquisition activities, net income for the current twelve month period would have been $12.9 million, or $0.57 per share.

On October 1, 2015, Farmers completed the merger of Tri-State 1^st Banc Inc. (Tri-State), the holding company for 1st National Community Bank. Immediately following the merger, 1st National Community Bank was merged into The Farmers National Bank of Canfield (Bank). This transaction resulted in the addition of $135 million in assets and 3 full service branches in Columbiana County in Ohio and 1 in Beaver County in Pennsylvania.

Kevin J. Helmick, President and CEO, stated, “2015 was an exciting year for our company. We are very pleased that we have completed the acquisitions of National Bancshares Corporation (NBOH) and Tri-State, and that these acquisitions have improved our level of profitability. We also continue to be encouraged by our organic loan growth, which has increased 20% during the past twelve months, and improvements in our level of noninterest income.”

2015 Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights

• Loan growth
  Total loans were $1.30 billion at December 31, 2015, compared to $663.9 million at December 31, 2014. Loans grew 20% organically during the past twelve months, which is in addition to the $432 million and $66 million increase in loans resulting from the NBOH and Tri-State acquisitions, respectively. The organic increase in loans is a direct result of Farmers’ focus on loan growth utilizing a talented lending and credit team, while adhering to a sound underwriting discipline. Most of the increase in loans has occurred in the commercial real estate, commercial and industrial and residential real estate loan portfolios. Loans now comprise 74.2% of the Bank's fourth quarter average earning assets in 2015, an improvement compared to 61.2% in 2014. This improvement along with the growth in earning assets organically and through merger activity has resulted in a 88.7% increase in tax equated loan income from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the same quarter in 2015.

• Loan quality
  Non-performing assets to total assets remain at a safe level, currently at 0.61%. Early stage delinquencies also continue to remain at low levels, at $8.9 million, or 0.69% of total loans, at December 31, 2015. Net charge-offs for the current quarter were $296 thousand, up slightly compared to $211 thousand in the previous quarter but down 44% compared to $526 thousand in the same quarter last year. Lending to the energy sector is insignificant and less than 1% of the loan portfolio.

• Net interest margin
  The net interest margin for the three months ended December 31, 2015 was 3.99%, a 36 basis points increase from the quarter ended December 31, 2014. In comparing the fourth quarter of 2015 to the same period in 2014, asset yields increased 19 basis points, while the cost of interest-bearing liabilities decreased 20 basis points. Another key contributor to the increase in net interest margin was the shift in the mix of earning assets from securities to loans as explained previously. The increased margin is also partially due to the additional accretion as a result of the discounted loan portfolios acquired in the NBOH and Tri-State mergers. Excluding the amortization of premium on time deposits and FHLB advances along with the accretion of the acquired loan discount, the net interest margin would have been 9 basis points lower or 3.90% for the quarter ended December 31, 2015.

• Noninterest income
  Noninterest income increased 23.4% to $5.2 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 compared to $4.2 million in 2014. Deposit account income increased $337 thousand, or 47%, in the current year’s quarter compared to the same quarter in 2014 and gains on the sale of mortgage loans increased $299 thousand, or 277%, in comparing the same two quarters.

• Noninterest expenses
  Farmers has remained committed to managing the level of noninterest expenses. Total noninterest expenses for the fourth quarter of 2015 were $16.6 million. Excluding expenses related to acquisition activities of $1.7 million, noninterest expenses were $14.9 million. Excluding expenses related to acquisition activities, noninterest expenses measured as a percentage of quarterly average assets decreased from 3.43% in the fourth quarter of 2014 to 3.18% in the fourth quarter of 2015. Salaries and employee benefits excluding severance expenses related to the merger as a percent of average assets decreased from 1.89% to 1.54%.

• Efficiency ratio
  Excluding expenses related to acquisition activities, the efficiency ratio for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 improved to 65.4% compared to 71.2% for the same quarter in 2014. The main factors leading to the improvement in the efficiency ratio was the increase in net interest income and noninterest income, along with the stabilized level of noninterest expenses relative to average assets as explained in the preceding paragraphs.

2016 Outlook

Mr. Helmick added, “2015 was a transformative year with our acquisition activity. In 2016, we continue to focus our energy on the seamless integration of the newly acquired banks and customers. We remain committed to the businesses and families we serve and to our community banking approach and culture.”

Founded in 1887, Farmers National Banc Corp. is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Canfield, Ohio, with more than $1.9 billion in banking assets and $1 billion in trust assets. Farmers National Banc Corp.’s wholly-owned subsidiaries are comprised of The Farmers National Bank of Canfield, a full-service national bank engaged in commercial and retail banking with 42 banking locations in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Stark, Wayne, Medina and Cuyahoga Counties in Ohio and Beaver County in Pennsylvania, Farmers Trust Company, which operates two trust offices and offers services in the same geographic markets and National Associates, Inc. Farmers National Insurance, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Farmers National Bank of Canfield, offers a variety of insurance products.

Non-GAAP Disclosure

This press release includes disclosures of Farmers’ tangible common equity ratio and pre-tax, pre-provision income, which are financial measures not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP). A non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of historical or future financial performance, financial position or cash flows that excludes or includes amounts that are required to be disclosed by GAAP. Farmers believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide both management and investors a more complete understanding of the underlying operational results and trends and Farmers’ marketplace performance. The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the numbers prepared in accordance with GAAP. The reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures are included in the tables following Consolidated Financial Highlights below.

Forward-Looking Statements

This earnings release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Farmers’ financial condition, results of operations, asset quality trends and profitability. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts but instead represent only management’s current expectations and forecasts regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Farmers’ control. Forward-looking statements are preceded by terms such as “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “intends” and similar expressions, as well as any statements related to future expectations of performance or conditional verbs, such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could” or “may.” Farmers’ actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Farmers’ actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in Farmers’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, as amended, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is available on Farmers’ website (www.farmersbankgroup.com) and on the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov). Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and should not be relied upon as representing management’s views as of any subsequent date. Farmers does not undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that may arise after the date of the forward-looking statements.

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