WESTMINSTER, Md. — MidAtlantic Farm Credit, a members-owned cooperative and an institution of the national Farm Credit system, recently reported their third quarter financial results for 2018. Average accruing loan volume for the first nine months of 2018 was $2.71 billion, an increase of 2.64 percent compared to the same 2017 period. Net income for the quarter was $12.4 million, a 2.12 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2017. For the first nine months of 2018, net income of $38.3 million was up $2.5 million, a 6.83 percent increase from the same period in 2017. Net interest income for the third quarter was $17.8 million, a 2.24 percent increase from the same time period in 2017.
“Loan volume demand has slowed during the past year, as our stockholders have remained cautious attributable to reduced prices for their products. While our borrowers have experienced a slight increase in their interest rate resulting from the Federal Reserve rate hikes, during this period, our net interest margin has remained relatively constant,” said John Wheeler, MidAtlantic Farm Credit’s chief financial officer.
Nonaccrual loans of $42 million at Sept. 30, 2018 were up $19.2 million from Dec. 31, 2017 and up $21.5 million from September 30, 2017. The Association’s nonaccrual loans as a percentage of total loans also increased to 1.51 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2018, compared to 0.76 percent at Sept. 30, 2017. The Association recorded a $3 million provision for loan losses in the first nine months of 2018, compared to $1.5 million recorded in the same 2017 period. The allowance for loan losses represented 69 percent of nonaccrual loans at Sept. 30, compared to 126 percent at Sept. 30, 2017.
“While we are beginning to see a slight decline in our credit quality and an increase in our nonaccrual loans, our portfolio quality overall remains very strong,” said Thomas Truitt, chief executive officer of MidAtlantic Farm Credit. “We increased our membership almost two percent during the past twelve months, further supporting the significant role that Farm Credit plays in providing dependable and reliable financing to farmers and rural areas in our marketplace.”
At Sept. 30, shareholders’ equity totaled $634.2 million, up 4.42 percent from Dec. 31, 2017, and the Total Capital Ratio was 21.3 percent. That number is compared with the 8.0 percent minimum mandated by the Farm Credit Administration, the lender’s independent regulator.
— MidAtlantic Farm Credit