First Financial Corp. reported earnings results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2009. For the quarter, the company reported net income of $5.8 million or $0.45 earnings per average share against net income of $7.2 million or $0.55 earnings per average share reported a year ago. Return on assets was 0.93% against 1.25% a year ago. Return on equity was 7.50% against 10.09% a year ago. Net interest income was $23.1 million against $21.4 million a year ago. Fourth quarter earnings declined as a $1.6 million, or 7.7% increase in net interest income was offset by increased loan loss provisioning and non-interest expenses, including increased FDIC insurance assessments. During the fourth quarter First Financial Bank sold its portfolio of credit card loans, realizing a gain of $2.5 million before taxes that was offset by the net loss recorded for other-than-temporarily-impaired securities of $2.9 million before tax. This loss on securities is a continuation of declines in expected cash flows on a limited number of collateralized debt obligations for which repayment is dependent upon the underlying borrowers, the majority of which are banks. For the full year, the company reported net income of $22.7 million or $1.73 earnings per average share against net income of $24.8 million or $1.89 earnings per average share reported a year ago. Return on assets was 0.95% against 1.09% a year ago. Return on equity was 7.54% against 8.61% a year ago. Net income decrease was primarily due to a $3 million increase in the cost of deposit insurance and a $4 million increase in loan loss provision as the Corporation prepares for possible future losses of a prolonged recession. Net interest income of almost $87 million increased 6.8% over the $81.4 million reported in 2008 as the net interest margin increased by seven basis points from the prior year. The net interest margin of 4.13% has been a source of strength in this difficult economy. Book value per share as on Dec. 31, 2009 was $23.34 against $21.87 as on Dec. 31, 2008. Net charge offs for the quarter were $1.9 million against $1.5 million a year ago. Net charge offs for the year were $8.7 million against $6.9 million a year ago.

The directors of First Financial Corp. declared a semi-annual dividend of 45 cents per share payable on January 4, 2010, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 28, 2009. Declaration brings the total dividend declared for 2009 to 90 cents per share, a 1.1% increase from 2008.

First Financial Corp. reported earnings results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2009. The company announced third quarter net income of $7.72 million compared to $3.50 million in the third quarter of 2008. Results for the third quarter include the results of the acquisition of the First National Bank of Danville, Illinois from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Earnings per share for the third quarter of 2009 increased to $0.59 compared to $0.27 per share for the three months ended September 30, 2008. Third quarter earnings per share included approximately $0.25 related to the acquisition of the bank in Danville. Net interest income increased 8.4% to $22.9 million over the $21.1 million reported for the third quarter of 2008. Book value per common share was 23.58 as of September 30, 2009 compared to book value per common share of 21.35 as of September 30, 2008. The company reported return on assets of 1.26% and return on equity of 10.25% compared to return on assets of 0.61% and return on equity of 4.94% for the same period of last year. For the first three quarters of the year, net income was $16.87 million versus $17.6 million a year earlier. The company reported EPS of $1.29 on net interest income of $63.906 million compared to EPS of $1.34 on net interest income of $60.020 million for the same period of last year. The company reported return on assets of 0.95% and return on equity of 7.53% compared to return on assets of 1.03% and return on equity of 8.11% for the same period of last year. The company recorded net charge-offs of $1.899 million for the third quarter of 2009 compared to $1.928 million for the same period of last year.

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FIRST FINANCIAL CORP /IN/ Files SEC form 8-K, Other Events, Financial Statements and Exhibits

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