Fidelity D & D Bancorp, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

DUNMORE, Pa., April 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fidelity D & D Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: FDBC) and its banking subsidiary, The Fidelity Deposit and Discount Bank, announced its unaudited, consolidated financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2025.

Unaudited Financial Information

Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was $6.0 million, or $1.03 diluted earnings per share, compared to $5.1 million, or $0.88 diluted earnings per share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. The $0.9 million, or 18%, increase in net income resulted primarily from a $2.1 million increase in net interest income coupled with a $0.4 million increase in non-interest income. This was partially offset by a $0.9 million increase in non-interest expense, a $0.4 million increase in the provision for income tax, and a $0.3 million increase in the provision for credit losses on loans.

“Highlights of our first quarter results include achieving total assets of $2.7 billion, along with strong net income primarily driven by accelerated loan and deposit growth and improvement in net interest margin,” said Dan Santaniello, President and CEO. “While we continue to closely monitor the external environment, our outlook for the year is positive, reflecting rigorous expense management, healthy credit metrics and ongoing successful execution of our strategic plan. I want to thank our bankers for their commitment and service. Their contributions are essential to our achievements, enabling us to serve our clients, shareholders, and community with exceptional experiences.”

Consolidated First Quarter Operating Results Overview

Net interest income was $17.0 million for the first quarter of 2025, a 14% increase over the $14.9 million earned for the first quarter of 2024. The $2.1 million increase in net interest income resulted from the increase of $2.7 million in interest income primarily due to a $148.0 million increase in the average balance of interest-earning assets and a 21 basis point increase in fully-taxable equivalent ("FTE") yield. The loan portfolio had the most significant impact, producing a $2.5 million increase in FTE interest income from $116.4 million in higher quarterly average balances and an increase of 26 basis points in FTE loan yield. Slightly offsetting the higher interest income, there was a $0.6 million increase in interest expense due to a $124.3 million quarter-over-quarter increase in average interest-bearing liability balances. The increase was due to growth of $179.3 million in average interest-bearing deposit balances and a 6 basis point increase in the rates paid on interest-bearing deposits. This was partially offset by a decrease in interest expense on borrowings due to $53.9 million less in average short-term borrowings.

The FTE yield on interest-earning assets was 4.73% for the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 21 basis points from the 4.52% for the first quarter of 2024. The overall cost of interest-bearing liabilities was 2.49% for the first quarter of 2025, a decrease of 2 basis points from the 2.51% for the first quarter of 2024. The cost of funds remained flat at 1.93% for both the first quarters of 2025 and 2024. The Company’s FTE (non-GAAP measurement) net interest spread was 2.24% for the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 23 basis points from the 2.01% recorded for the first quarter of 2024. FTE net interest margin increased to 2.89% for the three months ended March 31, 2025 from 2.69% for the same period of 2024 due to the increase in the loan and lease portfolio coupled with the continued re-investment of cash flow into more effective interest-earning assets.

For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the provision for credit losses on loans was $455 thousand partially offset by a $85 thousand net benefit in the provision for unfunded commitments, compared to a $125 thousand provision for credit losses on loans and a $50 thousand net benefit in the provision for credit losses on unfunded loan commitments for the three months ended March 31, 2024. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the increase in the provision for credit losses on loans compared to the prior year period was due to higher loan growth and higher net charge-offs. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the higher net benefit for credit losses on unfunded commitments was due to a larger reduction in unfunded commitments during the quarter compared to the same period in 2024.

Total non-interest income increased $0.4 million, or 9%, to $5.0 million for the first quarter of 2025 compared to $4.6 million for the first quarter of 2024. The increase in non-interest income was primarily attributed to $0.2 million in wealth management fees and $0.1 million in interchange fees. During the first quarter of 2025, gains of $0.5 million on the sale of a commercial loan and $0.3 million from the sale of a property were offset by $0.8 million in losses recognized on the sale of securities.

Non-interest expenses increased $0.9 million, or 6%, for the first quarter of 2025 to $14.6 million from $13.7 million for the same quarter of 2024. Salaries and benefits expense increased $0.6 million due to an increase in bankers, group insurance costs, and banker incentives in the first quarter of 2025. Additionally, the Company saw an increase of $0.3 million in advertising and marketing expenses primarily due to an increase in Neighborhood Assistance Program donations from which the Company recognized $0.2 million in additional tax credits causing a corresponding decrease in PA shares tax expense.

The provision for income taxes increased $0.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to the same period in 2024 primarily due to a $1.3 million increase in income before taxes and $0.1 million less in tax credits.

Consolidated Balance Sheet & Asset Quality Overview

The Company’s total assets had a balance of $2.7 billion as of March 31, 2025, an increase of $126.7 million from December 31, 2024. The increase resulted from $127.8 million in growth in cash and cash equivalents during the three months ended March 31, 2025. The loans and leases portfolio increased $16.3 million during the same period of 2025. Asset growth was offset by a decrease of $16.7 million in the investment portfolio primarily due to the sale of $17.5 million in available-for-sale securities and $5.2 million in paydowns partially offset by $4.6 million in purchases of securities.

During the same time period, total liabilities increased $119.0 million, or 5%. Deposit growth of $116.6 million was utilized to fund loan growth and increase interest-bearing cash balances. For interest-bearing deposit accounts, the Company experienced increases of $54.1 million in money market deposits, $27.6 million in interest-bearing checking accounts, $7.9 million in time deposits, and $5.3 million in savings and clubs. The deposit growth is primarily driven by growth in existing account balances from the relationship strategy along with targeted direct marketing driving new client acquisitions and active management of promotional and retention rates. Additionally, the Company experienced an increase of $21.7 million in non-interest-bearing checking accounts. Also as of March 31, 2025, checking deposit balances remained at more than half of total deposits. As of March 31, 2025, the ratio of insured and collateralized deposits to total deposits was approximately 75%.

Shareholders’ equity increased $7.7 million, or 4%, to $211.7 million at March 31, 2025 from $204.0 million at December 31, 2024. The increase was caused by $3.7 million higher retained earnings from net income of $6.0 million plus a $3.6 million, after tax, improvement in accumulated other comprehensive income from lower net unrealized losses recorded on available-for-sale securities, partially offset by $2.3 million in cash dividends paid to shareholders. An additional $0.6 million was recorded from the issuance of common stock under the Company’s stock plans and stock-based compensation expense. At March 31, 2025, there were no credit losses on available-for-sale and held-to-maturity debt securities. Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) is excluded from regulatory capital ratios. The Company remains well capitalized with Tier 1 capital at 9.22% of total average assets as of March 31, 2025. Total risk-based capital was 14.74% of risk-weighted assets and Tier 1 risk-based capital was 13.57% of risk-weighted assets as of March 31, 2025. Tangible book value per share was $33.16 at March 31, 2025 compared to $31.98 at December 31, 2024. Tangible common equity was 7.11% of total assets at March 31, 2025 compared to 7.16% at December 31, 2024.

Asset Quality

Total non-performing assets were $6.1 million, or 0.23% of total assets, at March 31, 2025, compared to $7.8 million, or 0.30% of total assets, at December 31, 2024. Past due and non-accrual loans to total loans were 0.66% at March 31, 2025 compared to 0.71% at December 31, 2024. Net charge-offs to average total loans were 0.02% at March 31, 2025 compared to 0.03% at December 31, 2024.

About Fidelity D & D Bancorp, Inc. and The Fidelity Deposit and Discount Bank

Fidelity D & D Bancorp, Inc. has built a strong history as trusted financial advisor to the clients served by The Fidelity Deposit and Discount Bank (“Fidelity Bank”). Fidelity Bank continues its mission of exceeding client expectations through a unique banking experience. It operates 21 full-service offices throughout Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lehigh and Northampton Counties and a Fidelity Bank Wealth Management Office in Schuylkill County. Fidelity Bank provides a digital banking experience online at www.bankatfidelity.com, through the Fidelity Mobile Banking app, and in the Client Care Center at 1-800-388-4380. Additionally, the Bank offers full-service Wealth Management & Brokerage Services, a Mortgage Center, and a full suite of personal and commercial banking products and services. Part of the Company’s vision is to serve as the best bank for the community, which was accomplished by having provided over 5,960 hours of volunteer time and over $1.3 million in donations to non-profit organizations directly within the markets served throughout 2024. Fidelity Bank's deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to the full extent permitted by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company uses non-GAAP financial measures to provide information useful to the reader in understanding its operating performance and trends, and to facilitate comparisons with the performance of other financial institutions. Management uses these measures internally to assess and better understand our underlying business performance and trends related to core business activities. The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures and key performance indicators may differ from the non-GAAP financial measures and key performance indicators other financial institutions use to measure their performance and trends. Non-GAAP financial measures should be supplemental to GAAP used to prepare the Company’s operating results and should not be read in isolation or relied upon as a substitute for GAAP measures. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP are presented in the tables below.

Interest income was adjusted to recognize the income from tax exempt interest-earning assets as if the interest was taxable, fully-taxable equivalent ("FTE"), in order to calculate certain ratios within this document. This treatment allows a uniform comparison among yields on interest-earning assets. Interest income was FTE adjusted, using the corporate federal tax rate of 21% for 2025 and 2024.

Forward-looking statements

Certain of the matters discussed in this press release constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as such may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The words “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

The Company’s actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation:

The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect analyses only as of the date of this release. The Company has no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.

For more information please visit our investor relations web site located through www.bankatfidelity.com.