UVSP - Univest Financial Corporation Reports Second Quarter Results

SOUDERTON, Pa., July 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Univest Financial Corporation (“Univest” or the "Corporation") ( NASDAQ: UVSP ), parent company of Univest Bank and Trust Co. (the "Bank") and its insurance, investments and equipment financing subsidiaries, announced net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 of $20.0 million, or $0.69 diluted earnings per share, compared to net income of $18.1 million, or $0.62 diluted earnings per share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.

Loans
Gross loans and leases decreased $31.9 million, or 0.5% (2.0% annualized), from March 31, 2025 and $25.4 million, or 0.4% (0.8% annualized), from December 31, 2024 primarily due to decreases in commercial real estate, residential mortgage loans and lease financings, partially offset by increases in commercial, construction and home equity loans. Gross loans and leases increased $116.3 million, or 1.7%, from June 30, 2024, primarily due to increases in commercial real estate, residential mortgage and home equity loans, partially offset by decreases in commercial and construction loans and lease financings.

Deposits and Liquidity
Total deposits decreased $75.8 million, or 1.1% (4.4% annualized), from March 31, 2025, primarily due to seasonal decreases in public funds deposits and decreases in consumer and brokered deposits, partially offset by an increase in commercial deposits. Excluding decreases of $105.9 million in seasonal public funds deposits and $47.5 million in brokered deposits, deposits increased by $77.5 million during the quarter. Total deposits decreased $176.6 million, or 2.6% (5.2% annualized), from December 31, 2024, due to decreases in consumer and public funds deposits, partially offset by increases in commercial and brokered deposits. Total deposits increased $87.3 million, or 1.3%, from June 30, 2024, due to increases in commercial and public funds deposits, partially offset by decreases in consumer and brokered deposits.

Noninterest-bearing deposits totaled $1.5 billion and represented 22.2% of total deposits at June 30, 2025, compared to $1.4 billion representing 21.5% of total deposits at March 31, 2025. Unprotected deposits, which excludes insured, internal, and collateralized deposit accounts, totaled $1.5 billion at June 30, 2025 and March 31, 2025. This represented 23.0% of total deposits at June 30, 2025, compared to 21.9% at March 31, 2025.

As of June 30, 2025, the Corporation and its subsidiaries reported cash and cash equivalents totaling $160.4 million and had committed borrowing capacity of $3.6 billion, of which $2.3 billion was available. The Corporation and its subsidiaries also maintained uncommitted funding sources from correspondent banks of $469.0 million at June 30, 2025. Future availability under these uncommitted funding sources is subject to the prerogatives of the granting banks and may be withdrawn at will.

Net Interest Income and Margin
Net interest income of $59.5 million for the second quarter of 2025 increased $8.5 million, or 16.7%, from the second quarter of 2024 and $2.8 million, or 4.9%, from the first quarter of 2025. The increase in net interest income for the second quarter of 2025 compared to the second quarter of 2024 was driven by higher average balances of loans and higher yields on interest earning assets, as well as a reduction in our overall cost of funds. The increase in net interest income for the second quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2025 was primarily driven by higher yields on interest earning assets and lower average balances of interest-bearing liabilities and related costs.

Net interest margin, on a tax-equivalent basis, was 3.20% for the second quarter of 2025, compared to 3.09% for the first quarter of 2025 and 2.84% for the second quarter of 2024. Excess liquidity reduced net interest margin by approximately four basis points for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 compared to approximately three basis points for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 and approximately two basis points for the quarter ended June 30, 2024. Excluding the impact of excess liquidity, the net interest margin, on a tax-equivalent basis, would have been 3.24% for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 compared to 3.12% for the first quarter of 2025 and 2.86% for the second quarter of 2024.

Noninterest Income
Noninterest income for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 was $21.5 million, an increase of $521 thousand, or 2.5%, from the comparable period in the prior year.

Other income increased $491 thousand, or 65.9%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 compared to the comparable period in the prior year, primarily due to an increase of $299 thousand in gains on sale of Small Business Administration loans.

Service charges on deposit accounts increased $276 thousand, or 13.9%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 compared to the comparable period in the prior year, primarily due to an increase in treasury management income.

Investment advisory commission and fee income increased $222 thousand, or 4.2%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 compared to the comparable period in the prior year, primarily due to new customer relationships and appreciation of assets under management and supervision.

Net gain on mortgage banking activities decreased $729 thousand, or 42.6%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 compared to the comparable period in the prior year, primarily due to decreased salable volume.

Noninterest Expense
Noninterest expense for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 was $50.3 million, an increase of $1.6 million, or 3.3%, from the comparable period in the prior year.

Salaries, benefits and commissions increased $1.3 million, or 4.5%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 compared to the comparable period in the prior year, due to increases in salary and medical claims expense. Additionally, variable compensation increased due to increased profitability.

Tax Provision
The effective income tax rate was 20.1% for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, compared to an effective tax rate of 19.9% for the quarter ended June 30, 2024. The effective tax rates for the three months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 were favorably impacted by proceeds of BOLI death benefits received in both periods. Excluding the BOLI death benefits, the effective tax rate was 20.2% for the three months ended June 30, 2025 compared to 20.0% for the three months ended June 30, 2024.

Asset Quality and Provision for Credit Losses
Nonperforming assets totaled $50.6 million at June 30, 2025, $34.0 million at March 31, 2025, and $36.6 million at June 30, 2024. During the quarter, a $23.7 million commercial loan relationship was placed on nonaccrual status due to, among other things, suspected fraud. Subsequent to the relationship being placed on nonaccrual status, a $7.3 million charge-off was recognized during the quarter. The remaining $16.4 million carrying value is supported by the appraised value of real estate collateral.

Net loan and lease charge-offs were $7.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2025 compared to $1.7 million and $809 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2024, respectively. The increase in charge-offs for the quarter compared to the prior periods was due to the previously discussed $7.3 million charge-off associated with a nonaccrual commercial loan relationship.

The provision for credit losses was $5.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2025 compared to $2.3 million and $707 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2024, respectively. The allowance for credit losses on loans and leases as a percentage of loans and leases held for investment was 1.28% at June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025, and June 30, 2024.

Dividend and Share Repurchases
On July 23, 2025, Univest declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.22 per share to be paid on August 20, 2025 to shareholders of record as of August 6, 2025. During the quarter ended June 30, 2025, the Corporation repurchased 172,757 shares of common stock at an average price of $28.45 per share. Including brokerage fees and excise tax, the average price per share was $28.77. As of June 30, 2025, 1,005,637 shares are available for repurchase under the Share Repurchase Plan.

Conference Call
Univest will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2025 results on Thursday, July 24, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Participants may preregister at https://www.netroadshow.com/events/login?show=d55d5140&confId=85192 . The general public can access the call by dialing 1-833-470-1428; using Access Code 747843. A replay of the conference call will be available through July 31, 2025 by dialing 1-866-813-9403; using Access Code 563521.

About Univest Financial Corporation
Univest Financial Corporation (UVSP), including its wholly-owned subsidiary Univest Bank and Trust Co., Member FDIC, has approximately $7.9 billion in assets and $5.4 billion in assets under management and supervision through its Wealth Management lines of business at June 30, 2025. Headquartered in Souderton, Pa. and founded in 1876, the Corporation and its subsidiaries provide a full range of financial solutions for individuals, businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations primarily in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Univest delivers these services through a network of more than 50 offices and online at www.univest.net .

This press release and the reports Univest files with the Securities and Exchange Commission often contain "forward-looking statements" relating to trends or factors affecting the financial services industry and, specifically, the financial condition and results of operations, business, prospects and strategies of Univest. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties in that there are a number of important factors that could cause Univest's future financial condition, results of operations, business, prospects or strategies to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: (1) competition and demand for financial services in our market area; (2) inflation and/or changes in interest rates, which may adversely impact our margins and yields, reduce the fair value of our financial instruments, reduce our loan originations and/or lead to higher operating costs and higher costs we pay to retain and attract deposits; (3) changes in asset quality, prepayment speeds, loan sale volumes, charge-offs and/or credit loss provisions; (4) fluctuations in real estate values and both residential and commercial real estate market conditions; (5) changes in liquidity, including the size and composition of our deposit portfolio and the percentage of uninsured deposits in the portfolio; (6) our ability to access cost-effective funding; (7) changes in economic conditions nationally and in our market, including potential recessionary conditions and the levels of unemployment in our market area; (8) changes in the economic assumptions or methodology used to calculate our allowance for credit losses; (9) legislative, regulatory, accounting or tax changes; (10) monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, including the policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; (11) the imposition of tariffs or other domestic or international governmental policies and retaliatory responses; (12) the failure to maintain current technologies and to successfully implement future information technology enhancements; (13) technological issues that may adversely affect our operations or those of our customers; (14) a failure or breach in our operational or security systems or infrastructure, including cyberattacks; (15) changes in the securities markets; (16) the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, terrorism or other geopolitical events; (17) our ability to enter into new markets successfully and capitalize on growth opportunities; (18) changes in investor sentiment or consumer spending or savings behavior; and/or (19) risk factors mentioned in the reports and registration statements Univest files with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

(UVSP - ER)