Pictured is the branch of the German American Bank on 25th Street in Columbus, Ind., a former MainSource Bank branch that completed its conversion last week. Mike Wolanin | The Republic
JASPER — German American Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: GABC) reported strong quarterly earnings of $31.4 million, or $0.84 per share, resulting in the second highest level of reported earnings per share in the company’s history.
The quarterly earnings represented an increase of $20.9 million, or approximately 180% on a per share basis, from 2025 first quarter earnings of $10.5 million, or $0.30 per share. The first quarter of 2025 was impacted by one-time merger and acquisition costs of $5.9 million and a “Day 2” provision under the current expected credit loss (“CECL”) model of $16.2 million (total impact of $16.8 million on an after-tax basis) resulting from the Feb. 1 merger with Heartland BancCorp (“Heartland”), the parent company of Heartland Bank. On an adjusted basis, net income for the first quarter 2025 was $27.3 million, or $0.79 per share.
The second quarter 2025 earnings performance was driven by continued core net interest margin expansion, strong gains in net interest income and operating leverage, solid organic loan growth, continued high level of non-interest bearing demand deposits, healthy credit metrics and ongoing improved efficiencies resulting from the Heartland merger. Second quarter 2025 earnings also had the benefit of three months of Heartland operations while first quarter 2025 earnings included only two months.
The overall loan portfolio at June 30 remains stable and diversified. Loan growth reflected approximately 7% organic growth on an annualized linked quarter basis. The growth was broad based across all lending categories, industry segments and geographic regions. The Company’s loan portfolio reflects healthy credit metrics, as non-performing assets were 0.30% of period end assets and non-performing loans totaled 0.44% of period end loans. Net charge offs remained minimal at 6 basis points of average loans for the second quarter of 2025.
Total deposits declined in the second quarter over linked first quarter as the company leveraged its strong liquidity position to reduce the higher cost Heartland deposits post-acquisition. Non-interest bearing demand deposit accounts continued to remain strong representing over 27% of total deposits at June 30, 2025.
Non-interest income for the second quarter of 2025 increased $1.9 million or approximately 13% over linked first quarter with all categories reflecting solid increases led by wealth management fees, interchange fees and gains on sales of residential mortgage loans and, to a lesser extent, one additional month of Heartland-related fee income.
Non-interest expense for the second quarter of 2025 decreased $3.3 million, or 6.2%, over linked first quarter 2025 as we continue to reduce our core efficiency ratio from 54.13% for first quarter 2025 to 50.23% for second quarter 2025. Heartland-related expenses will continue to be reduced in the second half of 2025 as the operations of Heartland continue to be fully integrated into German American.
The company also announced that its board declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per share, which will be payable on Aug. 20, 2025 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 10, 2025.
