First Business Financial Services reported second-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $1.84, including a net $0.14-per-share benefit from one-time items, as pre-tax, pre-provision earnings reached a record $19.8 million. Excluding those items, EPS rose 18% sequentially and 26% year over year. The company also announced it ended its national, out-of-footprint SBA 7(a) lending operations to improve profitability and maintain credit standards, a move expected to yield an estimated $310,000 quarterly pre-tax benefit in 2027 and improve the efficiency ratio by 30 to 50 basis points. Loans grew at a 10% annualized rate in the quarter, core deposits grew 12%, and net interest margin expanded 22 basis points to 3.78%. Management maintained its 2026 targets of approximately 10% annual loan and deposit growth and a full-year net interest margin of 3.60% to 3.65%.
First Business Financial ServicesRecord Q2 EPS and pre-tax pre-provision earnings, plus exit of SBA lending to improve profitability.