First Northern Community Bancorp Reports First Quarter 2022 Net Income of $3.0 Million

First Northern Community Bancorp (the “Company”, OTCQB: FNRN), holding company for First Northern Bank (“First Northern” or the “Bank”), today reported net income of $3.0 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2022, down 4.3% compared to net income of $3.2 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2021.

Total assets as of March 31, 2022, were $1.87 billion, an increase of $87.7 million, or 4.9%, compared to March 31, 2021. Total deposits as of March 31, 2022, were $1.72 billion, an increase of $109.0 million, or 6.8%, compared to March 31, 2021. Total net loans (including loans held-for-sale and loans totaling $14.8 million made under the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)) as of March 31, 2022, were $874.4 million, a decrease of $76.4 million, or 8.0%, compared to total net loans (including loans held-for-sale and loans totaling $202.6 million made under the SBA’s PPP) of $950.8 million as of March 31, 2021. The decrease in net loans was primarily driven by payoffs and the forgiveness and SBA reimbursement on loans made under the SBA’s PPP.

Excluding PPP loans, net loan growth as of March 31, 2022, was $111.4 million, or 14.9%, compared to March 31, 2021.¹ The Company continued to be “well capitalized” under regulatory definitions, exceeding the 10% total risk-based capital ratio threshold as of March 31, 2022.

Commenting on the Company’s financial results, President & Chief Executive Officer Louise Walker stated, “We remain optimistic for 2022; our first quarter 2022 results were a reflection of our solid and growing deposit base and our ability to grow net interest income by deploying excess cash into loan and investment opportunities as well as payoffs and the forgiveness and SBA reimbursement of loans made under the SBA’s PPP loan program, driving increased recognition of PPP-related fee income which helped offset lower mortgage-related revenues due to decreasing refinance activities. Net interest income was up $766,000 or 7.1% at March 31, 2022, compared to the same period a year ago. We are pleased to report our credit trends continue to be positive, our small business, agribusiness and commercial loan pipelines have returned to pre-pandemic levels and the quality of our loan portfolio is strong. We believe that the Company is well-positioned for the increasing interest rate environment.”