Westfield Financial, the holding company for Westfield, Mass.-based Westfield Bank, experienced a 16.4 percent increase in net income during last year’s fourth quarter, boosted by increases in its loan portfolio.
Net income in the fourth quarter totaled $1.8 million, compared with $1.6 million during the same period in 2012. For the year ended Dec. 31, net income totaled $6.8 million, an 8 percent increase from $6.3 million in the previous year.
"This demonstrates our on-going commitment to prudently managing our noninterest expense and accentuates our strategy to grow commercial loans organically in our existing footprint," President and CEO James C. Hagan said of the results in a statement.
"As previously announced, we also hired a seasoned commercial lender in the fourth quarter, which will help deepen our presence in the northern Connecticut market. We are also very excited about our newest initiative, the introduction of wealth management services, which is a new source of fee income," he said.
Total loans last year increased $42.5 million, or 7.1 percent. That total increase broke down into an $18.7 million increase in commercial real estate loans, a $9.5 million increase in commercial and industrial loans and a $14.4 million increase in residential loans.
The net interest margin for the fourth quarter increased 10 basis points year-over-year to 2.57 percent, from 2.47 percent in 2012.
Noninterest expense decreased $581,000 to $26.6 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, compared to $27.2 million for the same period in 2012. On a sequential-quarter basis, noninterest expense decreased $363,000 to $6.5 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2013, as compared to $6.9 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2013.
The allowance for loan losses totaled $7.5 million at Dec. 31, 2013, compared with $7.3 million at Sept. 30 and $7.8 million at Dec. 31, 2012, representing 1.17 percent, 1.18 percent and 1.31 percent of total loans, respectively.
During the fourth quarter of 2013, nonperforming loans decreased $347,000 to $2.6 million, representing 0.41 percent of total loans at December 31, 2013. Loans delinquent 30 – 89 days totaled $3.5 million at Dec. 31, and $1.9 million Sept. 30. There are no loans 90 or more days past due and still accruing interest.
The board of directors approved the declaration of a quarterly cash dividend of 6 cents per share. The dividend is payable on Feb. 20 to all shareholders of record on Feb. 6.
