FirstMerit 3rd-qtr Profit Falls 24 Percent

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — FirstMerit Corp., parent of a namesake bank that serves Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, on Tuesday said its third-quarter profit fell 24 percent as it wrote off more unpaid loans, set aside more money to cover souring loans and saw its deposits decline.

Net income fell to $22.8 million, or 27 cents per share, from $29.8 million, or 36 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

The 2008 third quarter figures were restated to account for stock dividends.

The results matched the 27 cents per share profit, on average, expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Net interest income, or earnings from deposits, slipped to $89.1 million, from $92.7 million in the 2008 third quarter. Total deposits were $7.27 billion at Sept. 30, down 2 percent from $7.43 billion at the same time last year.

Noninterest income, or money earned from fees and charges, edged up to $51.6 million from $47 million last year, helped by a jump in loan sales and servicing fees. The increase in loan sales and servicing is mostly due to increased mortgage origination and sales volume.