Fulton Financial (FULT) reported higher quarterly earnings despite a decline in net interest income.
Net income rose 9.6% from a year earlier, to $39.9 million, the Lancaster, Pa., company said late Tuesday. At 20 cents, earnings per share met the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
The $16.3 billion-asset company said that it sold $44.1 million of nonaccrual loans to an unnamed investor last month. The portfolio consisted of commercial mortgage, commercial and construction loans. Because of the loan sale, Fulton recorded $21.2 million of chargeoffs in the second quarter.
Net interest income fell 2.2% from a year earlier, to $137.5 million. The net interest margin contracted 17 basis points from a year earlier, to 3.78%. Fulton said the declines reflected "yields on interest-earning assets decreasing more than funding costs."
Fulton also said that Willem Kooyker, 69, resigned from its board on Tuesday after serving since 2005. Kooyker's resignation was "not the result of any disagreement relating to Fulton's operations, policies or practices," Fulton said.
