Honesdale, PA, October 28, 2015/ Dimeco, Inc. (OTC Pink: DIMC), parent company of The Dime Bank, reported net income of $3.3 million for the first nine months of 2015. This resulted in a return on average assets of .73%, a return on average shareholders’ equity of 6.52%, with earnings per share of $2.02. Dimeco’s Board of Directors declared dividends totaling $1.14 per share during the past nine months which produced a dividend yield of 4.31% at September 30, 2015.
Total assets were $612 million at September 30, 2015, a slight increase over the June 30, 2015 balance. During the first quarter of 2015, the Company experienced a decline in loan balances due to several commercial customers paying off loans totaling $13 million, therefore balances compared to one year previous were down $4.6 million, or 1.0%. The Company has seen a notable increase in loan originations as the year unfolds, with September 30, 2015 total loans of $471 million, showing an increase of $10 million, or 2.2% over balances at June 30, 2015.
Total deposits declined $4.2 million, or .9% from balances a year earlier with an increase in non-interest bearing deposits of $9.4 million, or 14.0%. Certificates of deposit balances declined $21.5 million, or 10.4%, over the period including $9.3 million less in brokered deposits that management uses as a source of liquidity when needed. Customers seem to be placing these funds in more liquid deposits as word of possible interest rate hikes is published.
Asset quality continues to be the highest priority as management works to return these assets closer to the norm for our Company. President and Chief Executive Officer Gary C. Beilman stated, “We have been working diligently to sell other real estate owned properties, with two properties sold in the third quarter and signed agreements to sell two others in the fourth quarter. There has been interest in other properties in this category, and hopefully we will be able to report additional sales in the near future. With each resolution of troubled assets comes not only a redeployment of dollars back into earning asset categories, but in the case of other real estate owned, elimination of the carrying costs of taxes, insurance, and maintenance.”
Dimeco, Inc. is the holding company of The Dime Bank, a full service financial institution serving Northeast Pennsylvania since 1905. For more information on Dimeco, Inc. and The Dime Bank, visit www.thedimebank.com.
Source: Dimeco, Inc. / October 28, 2015 / Deborah Unflat
