First Merchants Corporation Announces Third Quarter 2025 Earnings per Share

MUNCIE, Ind., Oct. 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ - FRME) (the "Corporation")

Third Quarter 2025 Highlights:

• Net income available to common stockholders was $56.3 million and diluted earnings per common share totaled $0.98 in the third quarter of 2025, compared to $48.7 million and $0.84 in the third quarter of 2024, and $56.4 million and $0.98 in the second quarter of 2025.
• Robust capital position with Common Equity Tier 1 Capital Ratio of 11.34% and Tangible Common Equity to Tangible Assets Ratio of 9.18%.
• Repurchased 939,271 shares totaling $36.5 million year-to-date; repurchased 162,474 shares totaling $6.5 million during the third quarter.
• Total loans grew $288.8 million, or 8.7% annualized, on a linked quarter basis, and $926.9 million, or 7.3%, during the last twelve months.
• Total deposits increased $72.4 million, or 2.0% annualized, on a linked quarter basis.
• Nonperforming assets to total assets were 36 basis points and flat compared to prior quarter.
• The efficiency ratio totaled 55.09% for the quarter or 54.56%¹ excluding $0.9 million of non-core charges incurred during the quarter.
• Announced the acquisition of First Savings Financial Group, Inc. on September 25, 2025, adding approximately $2.4 billion in assets and expanding the Corporation's presence into Southern Indiana and the Louisville MSA.
  

"Our strong year-to-date balance sheet and earnings performance underscore the strength and resilience of our business model. Our return on assets, return on tangible capital, and efficiency ratio are in the top-quartile relative to our peers, reflecting disciplined execution and operational excellence," said Mark Hardwick, Chief Executive Officer. "The pending acquisition of First Savings Financial Group marks a strategic expansion into Southern Indiana and the Louisville metropolitan area, adding approximately $2.4 billion in assets and enhancing our ability to serve Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan while delivering sustainable long-term growth."

Third Quarter Financial Results:

First Merchants Corporation (the “Corporation") reported third quarter 2025 net income available to common stockholders of $56.3 million compared to $48.7 million during the same period in 2024. Diluted earnings per common share for the period totaled $0.98 compared to $0.84 in the third quarter of 2024. Adjusted diluted earnings per common share¹ for the third quarter 2025 totaled $0.99, up from $0.95 in the prior year period. Third quarter 2025 results included $0.9 million in pre-tax acquisition-related and other non-core expenses, while the third quarter 2024 included a $9.1 million pre-tax loss related to the repositioning of the available-for-sale securities portfolio.

On September 25, 2025, the Corporation signed a definitive agreement to acquire First Savings Financial Group, Inc., (“First Savings”), in an all-stock transaction that was valued at approximately $241.3 million on the day of announcement. Headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana, First Savings operates 16 banking center locations in southern Indiana. First Savings had total assets of $2.4 billion, total loans of $1.9 billion, and total deposits of $1.7 billion as of June 30, 2025. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026.

Total assets of the Corporation equaled $18.8 billion as of quarter-end and loans totaled $13.6 billion. During the past twelve months, total loans grew by $926.9 million, or 7.3%. On a linked quarter basis, loans grew $288.8 million, or 8.7% annualized, with growth primarily in Commercial & Industrial loans.

Investments, totaling $3.4 billion, decreased $279.8 million, or 7.6%, during the last twelve months and increased $1.4 million on a linked quarter basis. The modest increase during the quarter was due to an increase in the securities portfolio valuation offset by principal paydowns and maturities.  

Total deposits equaled $14.9 billion as of quarter-end and increased by $504.9 million, or 3.5%, over the past twelve months. On a linked quarter basis, deposits increased $72.4 million, or 2.0% annualized. The loan to deposit ratio increased to 91.6% at period end from 90.1% in the prior quarter.

The Corporation’s Allowance for Credit Losses – Loans (ACL) totaled $194.5 million as of quarter-end, or 1.43% of total loans, a decrease of $0.8 million from prior quarter. Net charge-offs totaled $5.1 million and provision for credit losses of $4.3 million was recorded during the quarter. Reserves for unfunded commitments totaled $18.0 million and remained unchanged from the prior quarter. Non-performing assets to total assets were 0.36% for the third quarter of 2025, consistent with the prior quarter, reflecting continued strong credit performance.

Net interest income, totaling $133.7 million for the quarter, increased $0.7 million, or 0.5%, compared to prior quarter and increased $2.6 million, or 1.9%, compared to the third quarter of 2024. Fully tax equivalent net interest margin was 3.24%, a decrease of one basis point compared to prior quarter, and an increase of one basis point compared to the third quarter of 2024.

Noninterest income totaled $32.5 million for the quarter, an increase of $1.2 million, or 3.8%, compared to the second quarter of 2025 and an increase of $7.6 million, or 30.6%, from the third quarter of 2024. The increase over second quarter of 2025 was driven primarily by the recording of a $0.9 million negative valuation adjustment to a CRA investment in the second quarter. Customer related fees were stable on a linked quarter basis. The increase from the third quarter of 2024 was driven by realized losses of $9.1 million on sales of available for sale securities recorded in the third quarter of the prior year.

Noninterest expense totaled $96.6 million for the quarter, an increase of $3.0 million from the second quarter of 2025 and an increase of $1.9 million from the third quarter of 2024. The linked quarter increase was driven by higher salaries and incentives and $0.6 million of severance.

The Corporation’s total risk-based capital ratio equaled 13.04%, common equity tier 1 capital ratio equaled 11.34%, and the tangible common equity ratio totaled 9.18%. These ratios continue to reflect the Corporation’s robust capital position.

¹ See “Non-GAAP Financial Information” for reconciliation

CONFERENCE CALL

First Merchants Corporation will conduct a third quarter earnings conference call and webcast at 9:00 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, October 23, 2025.

To access via phone, participants will need to register using the following link where they will be provided a phone number and access code: (https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIf471933f076b43ed86fc41e507892de6)

To view the webcast and presentation slides, please go to (https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/b8bccx5o) during the time of the call. A replay of the webcast will be available until October 23, 2026.

Detailed financial results are reported on the attached pages.

About First Merchants Corporation

First Merchants Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana. The Corporation has one full-service bank charter, First Merchants Bank. The Bank also operates as First Merchants Private Wealth Advisors (as a division of First Merchants Bank).

First Merchants Corporation’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market System under the symbol FRME. Quotations are carried in daily newspapers and can be found on the company’s Internet web page (http://www.firstmerchants.com).

FIRST MERCHANTS and the Shield Logo are federally registered trademarks of First Merchants Corporation.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements can often, but not always, be identified by the use of words like “believe”, “continue”, “pattern”, “estimate”, “project”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “expect” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will”, “would”, “should”, “could”, “might”, “can”, “may”, or similar expressions. These forward- looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected timing and benefits of the proposed merger between First Merchants and First Savings, including future financial and operating results, cost savings, enhanced revenues, and accretion/dilution to reported earnings that may be realized from the proposed merger, as well as other statements of expectations regarding the proposed merger, and other statements of First Merchants’ goals, intentions and expectations; statements regarding the First Merchants’ business plan and growth strategies; statements regarding the asset quality of First Merchants’ loan and investment portfolios; and estimates of First Merchants’ risks and future costs and benefits, whether with respect to the proposed merger or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks, assumptions and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in forward-looking statements, including, among other things: the risk that the businesses of First Merchants and First Savings will not be integrated successfully or such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected; expected revenue synergies and cost savings from the proposed merger may not be fully realized or realized within the expected time frame; revenues following the proposed merger may be lower than expected; customer and employee relationships and business operations may be disrupted by the proposed merger; the ability to obtain required regulatory approvals or the approval of First Savings’ common shareholders, and the ability to complete the proposed merger on the expected timeframe; possible changes in monetary and fiscal policies, and laws and regulations; the effects of easing restrictions on participants in the financial services industry; the cost and other effects of legal and administrative cases; possible changes in the credit-worthiness of customers and the possible impairment of collectability of loans; fluctuations in market rates of interest; competitive factors in the banking industry; changes in the banking legislation or regulatory requirements of federal and state agencies applicable to bank holding companies and banks like First Merchants’ affiliate bank; continued availability of earnings and excess capital sufficient for the lawful and prudent declaration of dividends; changes in market, economic, operational, liquidity (including the ability to grow and maintain core deposits and retain large uninsured deposits), credit and interest rate risks associated with First Merchants’ business; the impacts of epidemics, pandemics or other infectious disease outbreaks; and other risks and factors identified in each of First Merchants’ filings with the SEC. Neither First Merchants nor First Savings undertakes any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, relating to the matters discussed in this news release. In addition, the companies’ respective past results of operations do not necessarily indicate their anticipated future results, whether or not the proposed merger is completed.

^{1 -} Total brokered deposits of $1.3 billion, which includes brokered CD's of $521.4 million at September 30, 2025.

¹ - Non-core expenses in the Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2025 included $0.6 million of severance costs.
² - Non-core expenses in the Three Months Ended December 31, 2024 included $0.8 million of costs directly related to the branch sale.
³ - Non-core expenses in the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024 included $2.4 million from duplicative online banking conversion costs and $1.1 million from the FDIC special assessment.