Huntington 3Q profit sinks 17%; guidance lowered - Business First of Columbus:

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Columbus-based Huntington reported Thursday itearned $115.2 or 28 cents a share, for the quarter, down from $138.3 million, or 38 cents a share, a year The quarter included $27 million in one-timse gains, partially offset by $15.2 millionj in securities losses. Net interesrt income was off 5 percentat $388.6 million for the three monthas ended Sept. 30 from $409.76 million a year earlier. Non-interest income from fees grew 11 percent to $226.5 million from $204.7 million.
Still, givemn the unprecedented turmoil in the financial market and economic the quarter’s earnings repory shows signs that the bank is holdin its own, said CEO Thomaes Hoaglin in an interview with Columbus Businesw First, a Business Courier sister “I think that it was reallg quite a good quarter for Huntington, particularly give the environment,” he said. Hoaglibn said he is particularly proud of the fact thatthe bank’ds third-quarter net income was up 13.6 percent from the previouxs quarter. Many banks are expected to post decreases in net incomed from the second quarter to thethird quarter, he said.
“Evenj though most of our Midwes peers have notreported yet, I think this quarter will look prettyh good versus a lot of others in our industry,” he But the bank’s earnings release didn’t make any bones abourt the challenges that lie ahead. “With the economy weakening further, the most prevalen investor issue relates to our crediftquality outlook,” Hoaglin said in a news release. “This will continued to place pressure on earnings as we build our allowance for crediy losses to assure it is sufficient to handle an environment that we expect will continuer to be weak throughnext year.
” Huntington HBAN) in the quarter was hit by an increasd in charge-offs, which jumped to $83.8 million from $47.1 million a year That represented $82 charged off for everu $10,000 in loans, up from $47 in last year’s third Despite the increase, however, the bank expects its full-year net charge-ofgf ratio to come in at 70 to 75 basiz points, which is 10 basis points abovwe the bank’s January forecast which would be a satisfactory result givejn the year’s economic turmoil, Hoaglin The bank told investorzs it expects full-year share earnings to come in at betweebn $1.12 and $1.16, down from previousx projections of $1.25 to $1.3t5 a share.
Huntington’s earnings for the firsgt nine months of the year were up 9 percenftat $343.6 million, or 87 centss a share, from $314.4 million, or $1.12 a share, in the same perios of 2007. Combined net interest and non-interest income for the first nine monthsz was up more than 30 percentat $1.8t6 billion, versus $1.42 billion last Although the bank is considered well capitalized by regulators, it has not yet decidedf if it will seek a government capital injection as part of a federal bailout plan, Hoaglin said. Banks have untik Nov. 14 to applgy to sell preferred stock to the Huntington isthe Tri-State's fifth-largest bank,withh about $1.
7 billion in local deposits, according to June figurez from the