ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. announced consolidated earnings results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017. For the quarter, the company reported total interest income of $50,211,000 against $41,499,000 a year ago. Income before income tax expense was $23,266,000 against loss before income tax expense of $5,472,000 a year ago. Net income available to common stockholders was $10,580,000 or $0.33 earnings per basic and diluted share against net loss available to common stockholders of $2,024,000 or $0.07 per basic and diluted share a year ago. Adjusted net income of $16.3 million or $0.51 a share up more than 10% sequentially and 28% ahead of last year's fourth quarter. And on that same basis, return on tangible equity cleared the 15% hurdle for the first time at 15.6%. The return on assets was a very impressive 1.37%, up from 1.25% in the sequential quarter. Meanwhile, tangible book value per share increased another $0.23 this quarter to $1.05 for the year to $13.01.

For the full year, the company reported total interest income of $181,324,000 against $161,241,000 a year ago. Income before income tax expense was $68,514,000 against $42,858,000 a year ago. Net income available to common stockholders was $43,220,000 or $1.34 against $31,060,000 or $1.01 per basic and diluted share a year ago.

The company expect that a lower effective tax rate will have a significant positive impact on its earnings in 2018. Estimated tax rate for 2018 is about 22%, approximately 10 percentage point decrease in 2017.