Orange County Bancorp, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Earnings for Fiscal 2024

Financial Performance - For the three months ended December 31, 2024, net income was $7.2 million, or $0.63 per share, a decrease from $8.1 million, or $0.72 per share, for the same period in 2023, primarily due to increased non-interest expenses [1][9] - For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, net income totaled $27.9 million, or $2.47 per share, compared to $29.5 million, or $2.62 per share, for the previous year [1][9] - Non-interest income rose by $562 thousand, or 15.0%, to $4.3 million for Q4 2024, driven by increased fee income in various categories [15] Asset and Deposit Growth - Total loans increased by $68.7 million, or 3.9%, to $1.8 billion at December 31, 2024, with significant growth in commercial real estate loans [21] - Total deposits rose by $114.6 million, or 5.6%, reaching $2.2 billion at December 31, 2024, with most new deposits sourced internally [22][4] Interest Income and Margin - Net interest income for the year ended December 31, 2024, increased by $3.4 million, or 3.8%, to $91.8 million compared to the previous year [7][10] - The net interest margin expanded to 3.83% for the year ended December 31, 2024, up from 3.78% in 2023 [5][47] Non-Interest Expense and Efficiency - Non-interest expense for Q4 2024 was $18.5 million, an increase of $3.7 million, or 25.4%, compared to the same period in 2023, primarily due to higher compensation costs and technology charges [16] - The efficiency ratio increased to 67.4% for Q4 2024 from 56.9% in Q4 2023, reflecting the rise in non-interest expenses [16] Wealth Management Performance - The Wealth Management division contributed $3.3 million in trust and investment advisory income for Q4 2024, a 16.7% increase from the same period last year [6] - Assets under management in the Wealth Management division grew by 12.9% to $1.8 billion at December 31, 2024 [26] Credit Quality - Total non-performing loans were $6.3 million, or 0.35% of total loans, as of December 31, 2024, an increase from $4.4 million at the end of 2023 [28] - The provision for credit losses for the year was $7.7 million, slightly down from $7.9 million in 2023 [14] Capital and Liquidity - Stockholders' equity increased by approximately $20.2 million during 2024, reaching $185.5 million at year-end [24] - The Bank maintained capital ratios above regulatory standards, with a Tier 1 capital to average assets ratio of 10.23% as of December 31, 2024 [25]