Horizon Bancorp, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2025 Results

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind., April 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (NASDAQ GS: HBNC) – Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (“Horizon” or the “Company”), the parent company of Horizon Bank (the “Bank”), announced its unaudited financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2025.

“Horizon’s first quarter earnings displayed continued positive momentum in our core financial metrics and management’s commitment to deliver long term value to its shareholders. Our results were highlighted by a sixth consecutive quarter of margin expansion, now above 3%, strong loan growth with exceptional credit metrics and a core funding base that continues to deliver value, even in an uncertain economic environment. The team also delivered a more efficient expense base entering 2025 and added optionality to our capital position through the successful sale of our mortgage warehouse business", President and CEO, Thomas Prame stated. “We are pleased with our first quarter results and the positive momentum across our community banking model. The core franchise remains strong and our investments in expanding our local relationship banking model is paying dividends".

Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2025 was $23.9 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $10.9 million, or $0.25, for the fourth quarter of 2024 and compared to $14.0 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2024.

First Quarter 2025 Highlights

• Net interest margin, on a fully taxable equivalent ("FTE") basis¹, expanded for the sixth consecutive quarter, to 3.04% compared with 2.97% for the three months ended December 31, 2024 and 2.50% for the three months ended March 31, 2024.

• Total loans held for investment ("HFI") increased 5% linked quarter annualized, with strong organic commercial loan growth of $103.3 million, or 14% annualized. This growth was partially funded by the continued strategic runoff of lowering yielding indirect auto loans of approximately $36 million.

• Core deposits continued to be stable, with non-interest-bearing balances growing $62.5 million during the period, or 24% annualized.

• Credit quality remained strong, with annualized net charge offs of 0.07% of average loans during the first quarter. Non-performing assets remain well within expected ranges, with no material change from the prior quarter.

• On January 17, 2025, the Company completed the sale of its mortgage warehouse business to an unrelated third party, resulting in a pre-tax gain of $7.0 million.

• Expenses were down $5.6 million from the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting management's commitment to creating a more efficient expense base in 2025.

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¹ Non-GAAP financial metric. See non-GAAP reconciliation included herein for the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Income Statement Highlights

Net Interest Income

Net interest income was $52.3 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $53.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Continued expansion of the Company's net FTE interest margin was offset by a decline in average interest earning asset balances and two fewer days when compared with the prior quarter. Horizon’s net FTE interest margin² was 3.04% for the first quarter of 2025, compared to 2.97% for the fourth quarter of 2024, attributable to the favorable mix shift in average interest earning assets toward higher-yielding loans and in the average funding mix toward deposit balances, in addition to continued disciplined pricing strategies on both sides of the balance sheet. Additionally, as previously noted, the fourth quarter net FTE interest margin included approximately five basis points related to interest recoveries on specific commercial loans that did not recur.

Provision for Credit Losses

During the first quarter of 2025, the Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $1.4 million. This compares to a provision for credit losses of $1.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2024, and $0.8 million during the first quarter of 2024. The increase in the provision for credit losses during the first quarter of 2025 when compared with the fourth quarter of 2024 was primarily attributable to increased net growth in commercial loans HFI and changes in economic factors, partially offset by the reduction of specific reserves and the reserves for unfunded commitments in the current quarter.

For the first quarter of 2025, the allowance for credit losses included net charge-offs of $0.9 million, or an annualized 0.07% of average loans outstanding, compared to net charge-offs of $0.6 million, or an annualized 0.05% of average loans outstanding for the fourth quarter of 2024, and net charge-offs of $0.3 million, or an annualized 0.04% of average loans outstanding, in the first quarter of 2024.

The Company’s allowance for credit losses as a percentage of period-end loans HFI was 1.07% at March 31, 2025, compared to 1.07% at December 31, 2024 and 1.09% at March 31, 2024.

Non-Interest Income

Total non-interest income was $16.5 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to non-interest loss of $29.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The increase in non-interest income of $45.5 million is primarily due to a pre-tax loss on sale of investment securities of $39.1 million from the completion of the repositioning of $332.2 million of available-for-sale securities during the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to a loss on the sale of investment securities of $0.4 million in the first quarter of 2025. In addition, the Company completed the sale of its mortgage warehouse business to an unrelated third party in the current period, resulting in a pre-tax gain of $7.0 million.

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¹ Non-GAAP financial metric. See non-GAAP reconciliation included herein for the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Non-Interest Expense

Total non-interest expense was $39.3 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared with $44.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The current period included $0.3 million of direct expenses related to the sale of the mortgage warehouse business. The decrease in non-interest expense during the first quarter of 2025 when compared with the prior period was primarily driven by a $3.2 million decrease in salaries and employee benefits expense, which is attributable to expenses incurred in the fourth quarter of 2024 related to the termination of legacy compensation and benefits programs that did not recur in the current period, and lower incentive compensation expense. Additionally, outside services and consultants expense decreased by $1.2 million, partially attributable to expense related to specific corporate initiatives in the fourth quarter of 2024 that did not recur in the current period. Other expenses decreased $1.3 million, partially attributable to a decrease in marketing expense.

Income Taxes

Horizon recorded a net tax expense of $4.1 million for the first quarter of 2025, representing an effective tax rate of 14.8%. Net tax expense in the fourth quarter of 2024 was impacted by the realized securities loss and the reversal of the $5.2 million tax valuation allowance.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Total assets decreased by $175.5 million, or 2.2%, to $7.6 billion as of March 31, 2025, from $7.8 billion as of December 31, 2024. The decrease in total assets is primarily due to the sale of the mortgage warehouse portfolio and a decrease in interest-bearing cash related to the payoff of FHLB advances and deposit outflows.

Total investment securities decreased by $26.1 million, or 1.2%, to $2.1 billion as of March 31, 2025.

Total loans were $4.9 billion at March 31, 2025, a decrease of $1.6 million from December 31, 2024 balances. The decrease is primarily due to the sale of the mortgage warehouse business during the quarter, which was offset by continued organic commercial loan growth.

Total deposits increased by $165.1 million, or 2.9%, to $5.8 billion as of March 31, 2025 when compared to balances as of December 31, 2024. Time deposits increased by $155.9 million, or 14.3% during the quarter, while non-interest bearing deposits grew by $62.5 million, or 5.9%. Total borrowings decreased by $330.1 million during the quarter, to $812.2 million as of March 31, 2025, due to the pay down of FHLB advances. Balances subject to repurchase agreements declined by $2.1 million, to $87.9 million.

Capital

The following table presents the consolidated regulatory capital ratios of the Company for the previous three quarters, and the Company’s preliminary estimate of its consolidated regulatory capital ratios for the quarter ended March 31, 2025:

As of March 31, 2025, the ratio of total stockholders’ equity to total assets is 10.18%. Book value per common share was $17.72, increasing $0.26 during the first quarter of 2025.

Tangible common equity³ totaled $611.4 million at March 31, 2025, and the ratio of tangible common equity to tangible assets¹ was 8.20% at March 31, 2025, up from 7.83% at December 31, 2024. Tangible book value, which excludes intangible assets from total equity, per common share¹ was $13.96, increasing $0.28 during the first quarter of 2025 behind the growth in retained earnings.

Credit Quality

As of March 31, 2025, total non-accrual loans increased by $3.0 million, or 12%, from December 31, 2024, to 0.59% of total loans HFI. Total non-performing assets increased $4.0 million, or 15%, to $31.4 million, compared to $27.4 million as of December 31, 2024. The ratio of non-performing assets to total assets increased to 0.41% compared to 0.35% as of December 31, 2024.

As of March 31, 2025, net charge-offs increased by $0.2 million to $0.9 million, compared to $0.6 million as of December 31, 2024 and remain just 0.07% annualized of average loans.

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¹ Non-GAAP financial metric. See non-GAAP reconciliation included herein for the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Earnings Conference Call

As previously announced, Horizon will host a conference call to review its first quarter financial results and operating performance.

Participants may access the live conference call on April 24, 2025 at 7:30 a.m. CT (8:30 a.m. ET) by dialing 833-974-2379 from the United States, 866-450-4696 from Canada or 1-412-317-5772 from international locations and requesting the “Horizon Bancorp, Inc. Call.” Participants are asked to dial in approximately 10 minutes prior to the call.

A telephone replay of the call will be available approximately one hour after the end of the conference through May 2, 2025. The replay may be accessed by dialing 877-344-7529 from the United States, 855-669-9658 from Canada or 1–412–317-0088 from other international locations, and entering the access code 6313653.

About Horizon Bancorp, Inc.

Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: HBNC) is the $8 billion-asset commercial bank holding company for Horizon Bank, which serves customers across diverse and economically attractive Midwestern markets through convenient digital and virtual tools, as well as its Indiana and Michigan branches. Horizon's retail offerings include prime residential and other secured consumer lending to in-market customers, as well as a range of personal banking and wealth management solutions. Horizon also provides a comprehensive array of in-market business banking and treasury management services, as well as equipment financing solutions for customers regionally and nationally, with commercial lending representing over half of total loans. More information on Horizon, headquartered in Northwest Indiana's Michigan City, is available at horizonbank.com and investor.horizonbank.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Certain information set forth in this press release refers to financial measures determined by methods other than in accordance with GAAP. Specifically, we have included non-GAAP financial measures relating to net income, diluted earnings per share, pre-tax, pre-provision net income, net interest margin, tangible stockholders’ equity and tangible book value per share, efficiency ratio, the return on average assets, the return on average common equity, and return on average tangible equity. In each case, we have identified special circumstances that we consider to be non-recurring and have excluded them. We believe that this shows the impact of such events as acquisition-related purchase accounting adjustments and swap termination fees, among others we have identified in our reconciliations. Horizon believes these non-GAAP financial measures are helpful to investors and provide a greater understanding of our business and financial results without giving effect to the purchase accounting impacts and one-time costs of acquisitions and non–recurring items. These measures are not necessarily comparable to similar measures that may be presented by other companies and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP measure. See the tables and other information below and contained elsewhere in this press release for reconciliations of the non-GAAP information identified herein and its most comparable GAAP measures.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward–looking statements regarding the financial performance, business prospects, growth and operating strategies of Horizon Bancorp, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “Horizon”). For these statements, Horizon claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release should be considered in conjunction with the other information available about Horizon, including the information in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Forward-looking statements provide current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. The forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. We have tried, wherever possible, to identify such statements by using words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “will” and similar expressions in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance.

Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include: effects on Horizon’s business resulting from new U.S. domestic or foreign governmental trade measures, including but not limited to tariffs, import and export controls, foreign exchange intervention accomplished to offset the effects of trade policy or in response to currency volatility, and other restrictions on free trade; uncertain conditions within the domestic and international macroeconomic environment, including trade policy, monetary and fiscal policy, and conditions in the investment, credit, interest rate, and derivatives markets, and their impact on Horizon and its customers; current financial conditions within the banking industry; changes in the level and volatility of interest rates, changes in spreads on earning assets and changes in interest bearing liabilities; increased interest rate sensitivity; the aggregate effects of elevated inflation levels in recent years; loss of key Horizon personnel; increases in disintermediation; potential loss of fee income, including interchange fees, as new and emerging alternative payment platforms take a greater market share of the payment systems; estimates of fair value of certain of Horizon’s assets and liabilities; changes in prepayment speeds, loan originations, credit losses, market values, collateral securing loans and other assets; changes in sources of liquidity; legislative and regulatory actions and reforms; changes in accounting policies or procedures as may be adopted and required by regulatory agencies; litigation, regulatory enforcement, and legal compliance risk and costs; rapid technological developments and changes; cyber terrorism and data security breaches; the rising costs of cybersecurity; the ability of the U.S. federal government to manage federal debt limits; climate change and social justice initiatives; the inability to realize cost savings or revenues or to effectively implement integration plans and other consequences associated with mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures; acts of terrorism, war and global conflicts, such as the Russia and Ukraine conflict and the Israel and Hamas conflict; and supply chain disruptions and delays. These and additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements are discussed in Horizon’s reports (such as the Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K) filed with the SEC and available at the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov). Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward–looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Horizon does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to publicly release the result of any revisions that may be made to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the events or circumstances after the date on which the forward–looking statement is made, or reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except to the extent required by law.