First Busey reports Q3 adjusted EPS 65c, consensus 62c

Reports Q3 Net charge-offs $ 5.848M vs. $ 12.881M in the previous quarter. Van A. Dukeman, Chairman and CEO, said, “We continued to optimize our balance sheet to be more efficient and profitable with adjusted return on average assets improving to 1.33% and net interest margin expanding 9 basis points to 3.58% in the third quarter, driven by the intentional runoff of $794.6 million high-cost, non-relationship deposits with a weighted average cost of 4.45%. Deposit costs continued to fall as spot deposit cost at the end of the quarter improved 21 basis points to 2.01%, an 84% beta versus the September rate cut. Capital remained strong and Common Equity Tier 1 Capital grew to 12.33%. Tangible common equity to tangible assets grew to 9.9%, with tangible book value per common share increasing 10.1% since year end even as we continued to repurchase stock at attractive levels. Credit quality showed improvement with classified assets as a percentage of capital falling to 7.0% and net charge-offs at 0.17%. Loan balances fell modestly as higher than anticipated payoffs impacted the quarter. As we look ahead to the end of the year, we expect our balance sheet optimization to be largely complete and for relative stability in loans and deposits as we continue to execute on our disciplined organic growth strategy.”