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Community Heritage Financial, Inc. Reports 54% Increase in Earnings for the Year Ended 2024

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MIDDLETOWN, Md., Jan. 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Community Heritage Financial, Inc. (the "Company" or "CHF") (OTC PK: CMHF), the parent company of Middletown Valley Bank ("MVB" or the "Bank"), reported net income of $6.6 million, or $2.27 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2024, representing an increase of $2.3 million, or 54.3%, over net income of $4.3 million, or $1.48 per diluted share, reported for the year ended December 31, 2023. Fourth quarter 2024 net income was $1.7 million, a decrease of $314 thousand compared to third quarter 2024 net income of $2.0 million and an increase of $810 thousand compared to $923 thousand earned in the fourth quarter of 2023.

(PRNewsfoto/Community Heritage Financial)
(PRNewsfoto/Community Heritage Financial)

Balance Sheet

Assets totaled $1.02 billion as of December 31, 2024, representing an increase of $31.7 million since December 31, 2023, and a decrease of $78.0 million since September 30, 2024. During the period of mid-January 2024 through early November 2024, advances drawn under the Bank Term Funding Program ("BTFP") available through the Federal Reserve Bank ("FRB") totaling $50.0 million impacted asset balances. The advances offered the opportunity of a positive arbitrage between the weighted average advance rate of 4.82% and the earnings rate offered by the FRB of 5.40% through September 18, 2024 and 4.90% from that time through early November 2024. The Bank repaid the advances immediately prior to the November meeting of the FRB, at which the FRB reduced short-term interest rates eliminating the arbitrage opportunity.

An increase in interest-bearing deposits of $40.1 million, or 6.5%, offset by a decline in noninterest-bearing deposits of $8.8 million, funded asset growth since December 31, 2023. Interest-bearing deposit growth of $40.1 million included growth in NOW account balances of $30.1 million, which included $40.7 million in balances reacquired in January 2024 after having been sold in December 2023. The NOW product includes interest-bearing demand transaction accounts enrolled in the Bank's reciprocal deposit program, which allows customers the ability to expand FDIC insurance coverage to balances greater than $250,000. In addition, time deposits grew $20.9 million while money market balances fell $8.6 million, and savings account balances fell $2.4 million. Migration to higher cost deposits throughout the year reflected customers taking advantage of the significant rise in interest rates and an inverted yield curve for most of the period.

The decline in assets since September 30, 2024 reflected the repayment of $50 million in BTFP advances, a decline in NOW account balances of $29.2 million, offset by growth in noninterest-bearing balances of $4.5 million.