Huntington posts 4Q earnings increase and yearly earnings decrease

January 26, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Huntington Bancshares Inc. had a big year in 2016 with the celebration of 150 years in business and the announcement of its largest acquisition yet.

“We are looking forward to 2017,” said William C. Shivers, Canton/Mahoning Valley Region president. “We are very optimistic because we haven’t realized the benefit of the merger.”

Huntington announced the acquisition of FirstMerit in January 2016. The total transaction was valued at $3.4 billion. The acquisition of FirstMerit added to Huntington about $26.8 billion of total assets, $15.5 billion of total loans and leases, $21.2 billion of total deposits and nearly 1,000 branch locations across the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The FirstMerit branches will convert to Huntington branches during the first quarter of 2017. Thirteen FirstMerit branches – 11 in Stark County and two in Ashtabula County – were sold to First Commonwealth Bank. Akron-based FirstMerit had 366 banking offices in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. A total of 102 FirstMerit locations were consolidated, and Huntington plans to integrate 225 former FirstMerit branches in February. There are no FirstMerit locations in the Mahoning Valley.

The Columbus-based bank on Wednesday reported net income for the 2016 fourth quarter of $212 million or a 19 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2015. Total revenue increased 39 percent over the fourth quarter of 2015.

Full-year net income was $685 million, a decrease of 1 percent over 2015. Total revenue increased 18 percent in 2016 over 2015.

“We feel like we had a very strong close of the year and really good momentum heading into 2017,” said Mark Muth, director of investor relations for the bank.

Muth said the numbers reflect the benefits of the merger with FirstMerit and the costs associated with it. FirstMerit acquisition-related expenses totaled $282 million.

In 2016, the bank was recognized as a top Midwest region ranking in the J.D. Power Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study. Huntington also was the recipient of the 2016 Greenwich Excellence Award for Wealth Management and Personal Investment Services and the bank’s commercial, middle market and small business customers recognized it within the Greenwich Best Brand Awards.