Huntington reports third-quarter earnings

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Huntington Bancshares Inc. on Thursday reported a $2.4 million year-over-year decrease in third-quarter net income.

The bank attributed the decrease to a $38.2 million addition to litigation reserves and a $4.8 million expense related to the acquisition of Macquarie Equipment Finance.

Huntington’s third-quarter earnings came in at $152.6 million. Earnings per share were $0.18, unchanged from third quarter 2014. Total revenue increased 5 percent from the third quarter of 2014.

“The quarter was in line with our expectations,” said Steve Steinour, chairman, president and CEO of Huntington. “We remained disciplined in lending, and we continued to experience strong average core deposit growth in the quarter.”

The bank reported deposits of $5.4 billion for an 11 percent increase from the third quarter of 2014.

Average loans and leases increased 6 percent to $2.9 billion, driven by a $1.2 billion, or 7 percent, increase in commercial and industrial loans and a $0.9 billion, or 11 percent, increase in automobile loans.

On Thursday, Huntington also reported it booked a record number of Small Business Administration Loans for the SBA fiscal year ending Sept. 30 with more than $673 million lent to small businesses, representing 4,337 loans for an increase of 21 percent in the amount of dollars lent and a 4 percent increase in the number of loans over 2014.

This is the largest number of loans and highest dollar amount ever lent by Huntington. Huntington is the nation’s second-largest SBA lender in terms of loans and is the 32nd largest bank in the country.

In Ohio, Huntington’s SBA lending was 2,348 loans totalling $340 million.