UMB Bank boosts bottom line 44%

Kansas City-based UMB Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: UMBF) boosted its bottom line by 44.2 percent to land net income at $33.8 million in the first quarter, up from $23.4 million a year earlier.

The holding company of two UMB Bank branches in Springfield reported diluted share earnings of 74 cents for the three-month period, a 22-cent uptick from first-quarter 2014, according to a news release.

Addressing the first-quarter results, UMB Financial Chairman and CEO Mariner Kemper noted average loan balances of $7.5 billion, representing an 11.8 percent increase.

“This year-over-year growth was fueled by commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and construction loan growth across our entire footprint. We continue growing our loan portfolio while adhering to our careful underwriting philosophy,” Kemper said in the release, pointing to a 0.39 percent nonperforming loans rate out of the company’s total portfolio.

First-quarter financial notes:

• Net interest income moved up 7.9 percent to $87.4 million from $81 million in the same quarter of 2014.
• Salaries and employee benefits increased 10.9 percent to $99.5 million from $88.9 million last year.
• Provision for loan losses dropped 33.3 percent to $3 million from $4.5 million.

As of March 31, UMB’s assets were $16.7 billion and deposits were $13.2 billion, according to the release.

UMBF shares were trading at $51.53 as of 11:12 a.m., compared to a 52-week range of $47.26 to $65.30.[[In-content Ad]]