First Financial Bancorp reports Q4 EPS 73 , consensus 69c

Reports Q4 revenue $214M, consensus $198.8M. Tangible book value per share was $9.97 at quarter end vs. $9.48 at previous quarter end. CEO Archie Brown commented, "I am extremely pleased with our Q4 performance, which was exceptional on many levels. Earnings per diluted share were 73c, return on assets was 1.63% and our adjusted efficiency ratio improved to 55%. Diluted earnings per common share increased 24% from Q3, and we achieved record operating revenue of $214M driven by a 15% increase in net interest income and a 32% increase in fee income. Rate increases continued to positively impact our asset sensitive balance sheet, with our net interest margin expanding by 49 basis points to 4.47% as increasing asset yields outpaced deposit costs. The growth in noninterest income was due to record quarters from Bannockburn and Summit, which more than offset softness in mortgage, client derivative fees and service charge income. We were also very pleased with $502M of broad-based loan growth in the quarter, which is 20.3% on an annualized basis and included a $130M increase in finance leases at Summit. We expect loan growth to moderate in the first quarter of 2023 due to seasonal and economic uncertainty…Loan quality remained strong across our portfolio, with nonperforming assets declining by 16% to 23 basis points of total assets and 1 basis point of net recoveries for the period. Our ACL to total loan coverage increased slightly during the fourth quarter due to slowing prepayments and the general outlook for the U.S. economy."