Norwood Financial Corp Announces Earnings for the Fourth Quarter and 2023 Fiscal Year

Norwood Financial Corp
Norwood Financial Corp

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HONESDALE, Pa., Jan. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- James O. Donnelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Norwood Financial Corp (Nasdaq Global Market – NWFL), and its subsidiary Wayne Bank, announced net income for the three months ended December 31, 2023 of $355,000 compared to the net income of $7,140,000 earned in the three months ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in net income was due primarily to a $1,939,000 decrease in net interest income, and a $5,816,000 increase in the provision for credit losses. For the year ended December 31, 2023, net income totaled $16,759,000, a decrease of $12,474,000 from net income of $29,233,000 earned in year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease includes a $6,330,000 decrease in net interest income and a $4,648,000 increase in the provision for credit losses.

Earnings per share (fully diluted) were $0.04 and $0.88 for the three-month periods ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2023, earnings per share on a fully diluted basis were $2.07, compared to $3.58 for the year ended December 31, 2022. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the return on average assets was 0.79%, and the return on average equity was 9.67%, compared to 1.43% and 16.11%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Total assets were $2.201 billion as of December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, loans receivable were $1.604 billion, total deposits were $1.795 billion and stockholders’ equity was $181.1 million.

Loans receivable increased $129.7 million to $1.604 billion at December 31, 2023, from $1.474 billion at December 31, 2022. The increase in loans receivable in 2023 included an $83.9 million increase in retail loans and a $45.8 million increase in commercial loans. For the three months and year ended December 31, 2023, net charge-offs totaled $3,181,000 and $6,078,000, respectively, compared to $232,000 and $344,000, respectively, for the corresponding periods in 2022. The increase in net charge-offs for the three months and year ended December 31, 2023 was due primarily to losses on one credit relationship in the amount of $2,806,000 and $4,806,000, respectively.

Net interest income, on a fully taxable equivalent basis (fte), totaled $15,488,000 for the three months ended December 31, 2023, a decrease of $1,941,000 compared to the same period in 2022. For the year ended December 31, 2023, net interest income (fte) totaled $62,816,000, a decrease of $6,348,000 compared to 2022, due primarily to the increase in funding costs on interest-bearing liabilities in excess of the increase in the yield earned on interest earning assets.