GREENSBURG – MainSource Financial Group (MSFG) posted record earnings of more than $35 million last year amid significant fourth quarter increases over profits made in 2014, new highs in loan growth, rising stock prices, and important business acquisitions, company officials said.
Archie M. Brown Jr., MainSource Financial Group president and CEO, announced this week that the company reported a net income of $35.5 million in 2015, an increase of $6.5 million over the prior year’s earnings. The increase in net income works out to $1.62 per common share, up from $1.39 per common share in the prior year.
The unaudited results released by the company earlier this week also highlighted a fourth quarter that saw financial gains trump 2014’s figures, and acquisitions that helped lead the company to its highest annual net income in its history.
In the fourth quarter alone, MSFG posted a net income of $9.1 million, up from $6.6 million in 2014.
The 2014 merger with West Harrison-based MBT Bancorp, the parent company of Merchants Bank and Trust Company, was a key factor in MSFG’s financial gains, Brown said, as Main Source benefited from what the CEO called “the full year impact” of the acquisition.
MSFG posted its record numbers during a year that also saw the acquisition of Cheviot Financial Corp., the parent company of Cheviot Savings Bank. Brown said Cheviot Financial, which had $579 million in assets at the time it was acquired by MSFG, helps the company move its business into metropolitan areas near its Greensburg home office – part of MSFG’s expansion strategy.
That goal has led to expanding MainSource’s business into Louisville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, the latter of which is covered via the Cheviot deal.
“This acquisition greatly enhances our presence in the Greater Cincinnati area,” Brown said in a news release. The president and CEO said he anticipates the merger between MainSource and Cheviot to be completed by the end of the second quarter in 2016.