YOUNGSTOWN — Premier Financial Corp., the Defiance-based holding company of Premier Bank, reported net income of $28.4 million for the third quarter of 2021, an increase of $2.7 million over the same quarter last year.

For the nine months that ended Sept. 30, net income was $100.7 million compared to $32.2 million in the first three quarters of 2020.

The year-over-year comparison is “substantially impacted” by the Jan. 31 acquisition of United Community Financial Corp. (UCFC), the holding company of the former Home Savings Bank.

Premier Financial Corp. was created with the merger of UCFC and First Federal Bank of the Midwest. The bank’s headquarters are in Youngstown.

Also, loans grew $64.4 million excluding Paycheck Protection Program loans. The amount included $37.2 million for commercial loans in the quarter.

“We are very pleased to report our second consecutive quarter of strong loan growth at 5.1 percent annualized,” said Gary Small, president / CEO of Premier, in a release announcing the quarterly results. “Core commercial, residential mortgage, and consumer each contributed over 4.4 percent for the period.

“Commercial and consumer new business pipelines are at their highest level for the year with businesses expressing labor constraints as more of a concern than supply chain challenges at this point. Household deposits remain elevated and consumer loan delinquency continues to track at all-time lows. Clients are well positioned as we head into the upcoming holiday season,” he said.

Total assets on Sept. 30 were $7.47 billion compared to $7.59 billion on June 30 and $6.97 billion at Sept. 30, 2020. Also total deposits on Sept. 30 were $6.25 billion compared with $6.29 billion on June 30 and $5.8 billion one year ago.

Stockholders’ equity was $1.03 billion on Sept. 30 compared to $1.03 billion on June 30 and $959 million at on Sept. 30, 2020. The increase in stockholders’ equity from the prior year was primarily due to net earnings, according to Premier. The company also completed the repurchase of 206,285 common shares for $6 million during the third quarter of 2021. On Sept. 30, there 1,628,149 common shares still available for repurchase under the company’s existing authorization.

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