| Independent Bank Corp. boosted earnings last year while closing one acquisition and homing in on another, the company’s leadership said during its Friday earnings call.
The Rockland Trust parent company closed its acquisition of New England Bancorp, parent company of Bank of Cape Cod, on Nov. 10 and expects to close its acquisition of Island Bancorp on Martha’s Vineyard, parent company of Edgartown National Bank, during the second quarter.
Where future M&A activity is concerned, however, the forecast is murky. The election and newly inaugurated Trump administration has cast uncertainty on what the coming regulatory environment may look like. Rockland Trust’s leadership indicated that they would be happy to talk to any interested parties, while emphasizing what they viewed as the random nature of acquisition opportunities.
For now, though, President and CEO Christopher Oddleifson said that Rockland Trust is focused on solidifying relationships with those customers it had acquired along with New England Bancorp and previously, People’s Federal. Rockland Trust’s priorities this year will include investments into the digital space and a targeted marketing program in the Greater Boston area, he said.
The New England Bancorp deal added $225.7 million in loans and $175.7 million in deposits to Independent’s balance sheet, along with an additional branch in Osterville. Independent paid $41.7 million for the deal, consisting largely of 672,665 shares of Independent stock issued to New England Bancorp shareholders.
The Rockland Trust parent company posted net income totaling $17.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2016, compared with $20.5 million and $19.5 million in the prior and year-ago quarters, respectively. For the full year, Independent posted $76.6 million in net income, compared with $64.9 million in 2015.
Exclusive of the New England Bancorp acquisition, total loans grew in the fourth quarter by $27.7 million, or 1.9 percent on an annualized basis, and increased by $226.2 million, or 4.1 percent, when compared to the year ago period. The company said that reflected continued modest growth in the various commercial portfolios, which increased by $30.8 million, or 3 percent on an annualized basis, from the third quarter. The increase in the commercial real estate portfolio was driven mainly by the reclassification of construction loans that converted to permanent loans.
Deposits totaled $6.7 billion at Dec. 31, up 6.5 percent from $6.3 billion at year-end 2015 and up 2.72 percent from $6.6 billion in the third quarter. Exclusive of the acquisition, deposits decreased by $32.9 million, or 2.1 percent on an annualized basis during the fourth quarter, as compared to the linked quarter, attributable to a $49.1 million decrease in time deposits.
Noninterest expenses totaled $51.6 million in the fourth quarter, up 10.2 percent from the prior quarter and 11 percent from $46.5 million in the year-ago period. Included in that were $4.8 million in merger and acquisition expenses, which totaled $151,000 in the prior quarter. The company also spent $483,000 on its pending acquisition of Island Bancorp.
Total assets stood at $7.7 billion at year-end 2016, representing an increase of 6.9 percent from $7.2 billion at the end of the year in 2015.
