Federal tax changes help push ChoiceOne Financial earnings up

SPARTA — ChoiceOne Financial Services Inc. recorded higher earnings for the second quarter.

The Sparta-based ChoiceOne Financial (OTC: COFS) today reported net income of $1.8 million, or 50 cents per diluted share, versus net income of $1.6 million, or 45 cents per diluted share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Earnings for the first six months of 2018 totaled $3.4 million, or 97 cents per diluted share. The corporation earned $3 million, or 45 cents per diluted share, in the first half of 2017.

“With net income at a historical high for the first half of 2018, we are extremely pleased with the progress of our community bank,” President and CEO Kelly Potes said in a statement.

Earnings benefitted from federal tax reform at the end of 2017. ChoiceOne Financial’s income tax expenses declined from $580,000 in the second quarter last year to $344,000 in the same period this year.

ChoiceOne Financial has 14 ChoiceOne Bank offices and one loan office in Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and Newaygo counties with $630.3 million in total assets. The bank in the second half of the year plans to open new branch offices in downtown Grand Rapids and Rockford.