Loan growth boosted the bottom line at Blue Hills Bancorp in the third quarter this year.
The holding company for Blue Hills Bank posted net income totaling $1.8 million in the third quarter this year, compared with $1.7 million in the second quarter and $836,000 in the year-ago period. In a statement accompanying its quarterly earnings, the company said that last year’s third quarter had contained a number of non-recurring expenses, particularly associated with its mutual-to-stock conversion and its acquisition of Nantucket Bank.
“Loans and customer deposits are up more than 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively, over the past year and we have been able to grow our core net interest margin by over 10 basis points from the third quarter of 2014 despite the very difficult low rate and highly competitive operating environment, while remaining positioned for rising interest rates,” President and CEO William Parent said in a statement. “During the third quarter, we also began the process of returning capital to our shareholders by paying our first quarterly dividend and launching the share repurchase program we announced in late July.”
Year-over-year, total assets increased $248 million, or 15 percent, to $1.9 billion. Loan growth drove most of that increase, with total loans increasing $242 million, or 22 percent, to $1.4 billion.
Commercial real estate loans were up $129 million, or 35 percent; residential mortgages were up $74 million, or 16 percent; commercial business loans were up $26 million, or 19 percent; and home equity loans were up $11 million, or 17 percent.
Year-over-year, deposits increased $193 million, or 17 percent, to $1.3 billion. The bank’s Milton branch, which was opened in October 2014, contributed $40 million to the growth in total deposits. Short-term borrowings also increased $40 million and long-term debt was up $10 million from a year ago.
The provision for loan losses totaled $1.3 million in the third quarter, compared with $544,000 in the second and $1.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The company charged off $13,000 worth of loans in the third quarter this year, $5,000 in the second quarter and $9,000 in the year-ago quarter.
As a percentage of total loans, the allowance for loan losses totaled 1.10 percent at Sept. 30, compared with 1.08 percent at June 30 and 1.13 percent in the year-ago period. Nonperforming assets totaled $5 million in the third quarter, compared with $4.9 million in the second and $4.3 million in the year-ago period.
