First Commonwealth Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Earnings; Declares Quarterly Dividend

INDIANA, PA--(Marketwired - January 23, 2018) - First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE: FCF) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2017.

Full Year 2017 Highlights

Franchise Growth

• The company successfully completed its acquisition of DCB Financial Corp. located in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area on April 3, 2017, which included $383 million in loans and $484 million in deposits at close.
• The company successfully negotiated a definitive merger agreement to acquire Cincinnati, Ohio based Foundation Bank, which was announced on January 10, 2018.

Earnings

• For the year ended December 31, 2017, net income was $55.2 million (or $0.58 diluted earnings per share). Core net income (non-GAAP), which excludes acquisition expenses and a previously disclosed $16.7 million non-cash charge for the revaluation of the deferred tax asset (DTA) taken in connection with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was $78.5 million, or $0.82 diluted earnings per share.
  • Core earnings per share increased $0.13, or 18.8% from the previous year.
• Total revenue grew $45.9 million, or 17.1% from the prior year.
  • Net interest income (on a fully tax-equivalent (FTE) basis) increased $30.1 million, or 14.9%, from the prior year.
  • Noninterest income grew $15.7 million, or 24.4%, from the prior year.
• Provision for credit losses totaled $5.1 million, a decrease of $13.4 million as compared to the prior year, in part due to the recognition of two large commercial recoveries of $3.1 million in the second quarter.
• The return on average equity (ROE) for the year ended December 31, 2017 was 6.45%. The Core return on average tangible common equity (ROTCE) (non-GAAP) for the period was 13.38%, an increase of 259 basis points from the previous year.

Profitability

• The net interest margin improved 25 basis points to 3.57% compared to the prior year.
• The return on average assets (ROA) for the year ended December 31, 2017 was 0.77%. The Core ROA (non-GAAP) improved 16 basis points to 1.09% compared to the prior year.

"This was another very productive year for our company," stated T. Michael Price, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our performance trajectory, especially in our fee income, demonstrates a desire to become one of the top performing community banks in the country. And our recent acquisitions have put additional wind in our sails by allowing us to expand beyond our core Pennsylvania markets and establish a presence in each of Ohio's three major metropolitan markets. As we enter 2018, our efforts will be focused on building on our successful expansion strategy in Ohio, while being mindful to keep costs in line with our revenue streams."

Fourth Quarter 2017 Highlights

Earnings

• For the quarter ended December 31, 2017, net income was $4.0 million (or $0.04 diluted earnings per share), resulting in an ROA of 0.21% and an ROE of 1.75%. Core net income (non-GAAP), which excludes acquisition expenses and the $16.7 million non-cash charge for the revaluation of the DTA, was $20.6 million, or $0.21 diluted earnings per share, resulting in a Core ROA and Core ROTCE of 1.11% and 13.29%, respectively.
• Total revenue grew $14.5 million, or 20.4%, from the prior year quarter.
  • Net interest income (FTE) increased $8.1 million, or 15.4%, from the prior year quarter.
  • Noninterest income grew $6.4 million, or 34.8%, from the prior year quarter (or $2.6 million and 14.7%, respectively, excluding securities gains).
• Total noninterest expense includes $2.5 million of expense for a one-time cash bonus of $1,500 paid to all employees (other than the top five executive officers) following the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
  • Noninterest expense in the fourth quarter also reflected $0.6 million in expense related to growth in unfunded loan commitments.
• Fourth quarter results also reflect approximately $0.7 million in expense related to expense management strategies associated with the recent tax law change.
• These expense items were offset by net security gains of $4.3 million following the successful auction call of a pooled trust preferred security held in the company's investment portfolio.
• Commercial loans grew at an annualized rate of 3.3%.

Profitability

• The net interest margin improved 17 basis points to 3.61% compared to the prior year, and was unchanged from the prior quarter as positive replacement yields on loans offset deposit rate increases.
• The Core return on average assets (non-GAAP) was 1.11%.

"The fourth quarter builds on the success of recent quarters and sets us up well for the coming year," stated T. Michael Price, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We were particularly happy to be able to give back some of the benefit from the tax law change to our employees in the form of a cash bonus. In addition, in light of our recent performance and positive outlook for the future, we are pleased that we will be able to make a total of approximately $500 thousand in cash contributions to our employee's health savings accounts in 2018."

Financial Summary

Earnings

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2017 was $4.0 million, as compared to $17.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2016. The current quarter's results were impacted by a previously disclosed valuation adjustment to the company's deferred tax asset which resulted in a non-cash charge of $16.7 million.

Net income for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $55.2 million, as compared to $59.6 million for the same period in 2016, a decrease of $4.4 million. The results for the current year were impacted by the aforementioned non-cash charge of $16.7 million as well as one-time merger-related expenses of $10.2 million (pretax).

Excluding these one-time expenses, core net income for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $78.5 million, an increase of $16.9 million, or 27.3%, from the previous year.

Net Interest Margin and Net Interest Income

The net interest margin for the year ended December 31, 2017 was 3.57%, an increase of 25 basis points from the previous year.

The increase from the prior year was due primarily to a 27 basis point increase in the yield on interest earning assets partially offset by a 2 basis point increase in funding costs. These increases were primarily due to improved yields on variable and adjustable loan portfolios following the Federal Reserve's decision to increase short-term rates in December of 2016, March, June and December of 2017, along with the ability to pay down higher cost short-term borrowings following our recent acquisitions.

The net interest margin for the fourth quarter of 2017 was 3.61%, which was unchanged from the previous quarter and an increase of 17 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2016. The increase from the prior year quarter was primarily due to a 30 basis point increase in the yield on loans, which was partially offset by higher short-term borrowing costs following the Federal Reserve's decisions to raise short-term interest rates.

For the quarter and year ended December 31, 2017, total average earning assets grew $571.7 million and $422.1 million, respectively, from the prior year period primarily due to the aforementioned acquisitions.

Total average deposits grew by $973.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to the previous year. Growth from the prior year was driven by a $980.2 million increase in transaction accounts and a $6.3 million decrease in time deposits.

Credit Quality

The provision for credit losses totaled $5.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, a decrease of $13.4 million as compared to the prior year. The decrease from the prior year is primarily the result of lower net charge-offs and improved asset quality as well as the recognition of $3.1 million of recoveries on two large commercial relationships during the second quarter of 2017.

At December 31, 2017, nonperforming loans were $42.2 million, an increase of $3.4 million from September 30, 2017 and an increase of $0.4 million from December 31, 2016. Nonperforming loans as a percentage of total loans were 0.78%, 0.72% and 0.86% for the periods ended December 31, 2017, September 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively.

For the year ended December 31, 2017, net charge-offs were $7.0 million, or 0.13% of average loans, compared to $19.1 million in the prior year period. Net charge-offs during the current year period included recoveries for two large commercial credits totaling $3.1 million.

During the fourth quarter of 2017, net charge-offs were $2.1 million, or 0.16% of average loans (annualized), compared to $1.1 million in the prior quarter and $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.

For the originated loan portfolio at December 31, 2017, the allowance for credit losses to total originated loans was 0.96%, compared to 0.97% at September 30, 2017 and 1.05% at December 31, 2016.

Noninterest Income and Noninterest Expense

Noninterest income (excluding net security gains) totaled $20.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2017 as compared to $19.7 million for the third quarter of 2017 and $17.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2016. Swap fee income increased $1.3 million and $1.2 million from the prior quarter and the year ago quarter, respectively, primarily due to increased commercial borrower swap activity. Trust fee income and service charges on deposit accounts increased $0.6 million and $0.4 million from the prior year quarter due to an expanded customer base as a result of recent acquisitions. Gain on sale of mortgage loans totaled $1.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2017, an increase of $0.4 million from the prior year quarter, representing the highest quarterly total since the company reentered the traditional mortgage business in 2014.

Net security gains were $4.3 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2017, following the successful auction call of a single pooled trust preferred security for which the company had previously recognized an other-than-temporary impairment charge.

Noninterest expense (excluding merger-related expenses) totaled $52.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $47.4 million for the third quarter of 2017 and $42.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2016. The $4.7 million increase from the previous quarter was primarily the result of $2.5 million of expense for a one-time bonus of $1,500 paid to all employees (other than the top five named executive officers) following the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a $0.4 million increase in furniture and equipment expense and a $0.3 million increase in occupancy expense primarily due to higher snow removal costs.

Full time equivalent staff was 1,372 at December 31, 2017, 1,366 at September 30, 2017 and 1,274 at December 31, 2016. The increase from the prior year is the result of the addition of employees from acquisitions and the continued expansion of the mortgage and commercial banking businesses in Ohio.

Dividends and Capital

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation declared a common stock quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, which is payable on February 16, 2018 to shareholders of record as of February 2, 2018. This dividend represents a 2.1% projected annual yield utilizing the January 22, 2018 closing market price of $15.10.

First Commonwealth's capital ratios for Total, Tier I, Leverage and Common Equity Tier I at December 31, 2017 were 12.3%, 11.5%, 9.7% and 10.3%, respectively. First Commonwealth's current capital levels exceed the fully phased-in Basel III capital requirements issued by U.S. bank regulators.

Conference Call

First Commonwealth will host a quarterly conference call to discuss its financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2017 on Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 2:00 PM (ET). The call can be accessed by dialing (toll free) 1-844-792-3645 or through the company's web page, http://www.fcbanking.com/InvestorRelations. A replay of the call will be available approximately one hour following the conclusion of the conference by dialing 1-877-344-7529 and entering the access code #10115427. A link to the webcast replay will also be accessible on the company's web page for 30 days.

About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE: FCF), headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a financial services company with 135 banking offices in 20 counties throughout western and central Pennsylvania and central and northeastern Ohio, as well as a Corporate Banking Center in northeast Ohio and mortgage offices in Stow and Dublin, Ohio. First Commonwealth provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management and insurance products and services through its subsidiaries First Commonwealth Bank and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency. For more information about First Commonwealth or to open an account today, please visit www.fcbanking.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements about First Commonwealth's future plans, strategies and financial performance. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and often include words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate" or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could" or "may." Such statements are based on assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond First Commonwealth's control. Factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (1) local, regional, national and international economic conditions and the impact they may have on First Commonwealth and its customers; (2) volatility and disruption in national and international financial markets; (3) the effects of and changes in trade and monetary and fiscal policies and laws, including the interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve Board; (4) inflation, interest rate, commodity price, securities market and monetary fluctuations; (5) the effect of changes in laws and regulations (including laws and regulations concerning taxes, banking, securities and insurance); (6) the soundness of other financial institutions; (7) political instability; (8) impairment of First Commonwealth's goodwill or other intangible assets; (9) acts of God or of war or terrorism; (10) the timely development and acceptance of new products and services and perceived overall value of these products and services by users; (11) changes in consumer spending, borrowings and savings habits; (12) changes in the financial performance and/or condition of First Commonwealth's borrowers; (13) technological changes; (14) acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses (including the pending acquisition Garfield Acquisition Corp and its banking subsidiary Foundation Bank); (15) First Commonwealth's ability to attract and retain qualified employees; (16) changes in the competitive environment in First Commonwealth's markets and among banking organizations and other financial service providers; (17) the ability to increase market share and control expenses; (18) the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the regulatory agencies, as well as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and other accounting standard setters; (19) the reliability of First Commonwealth's vendors, internal control systems or information systems; (20) the costs and effects of legal and regulatory developments, the resolution of legal proceedings or regulatory or other governmental inquiries, the results of regulatory examinations or reviews and the ability to obtain required regulatory approvals; and (21) other risks and uncertainties described in the reports that First Commonwealth files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10‐K. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. First Commonwealth undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.