NORWICH – NBT Bancorp, Inc. has reported that net income for the three months ending March 31, 2009 was $13.1 million, down 4.7 percent from the same quarter last year. Net income per diluted share fell from $0.43 to $ 0.40 for the first 3 months of 2009 from the same period in 2008.
“Our first quarter results were down slightly from the same period in 2008 primarily due to higher FDIC premiums which were imposed on all FDIC insured financial institutions,” reported NBT President and CEO Martin Dietrich in a statement issued Tuesday. “I am pleased with our performance as we were able to grow our net interest income over last year by more than 9 percent due to effective management of our earning assets and liabilities in this challenging economic environment.”
NBT’s total assets were $5.4 billion as of March 31, up $70.1 million from December 31, 2008. Loans and leases account for $3.6 billion of total assets, down nominally from December 31.
At a meeting held on Monday, the NBT Board of Directors declared a first quarter cash dividend of $0.20 per share. According to the press statement, the dividend will be paid on June 15 to shareholders of record as of June 1, 2009.
“While we anticipate that the rest of 2009 will be very challenging for the financial services industry, we are confident that we can continue to meet these challenges and deliver long-term value to our shareholders and customers,” Dietrich said.
NBT has started out the second quarter on a positive note by raising roughly $34 million in capital through a public offering of more than 1.57 million shares of common stock. The stock offering coincided with the bank being added to the Standard & Poor’s Small Cap 600 Index.
“Inclusion in this index is a very significant event for our company, since it reinforces and recognizes our strong financial performance,” Dietrich explained.