CINCINNATI (AP) _ First Financial Bancorp (FFBC) on Thursday reported second-quarter profit of $37.4 million.

The bank, based in Cincinnati, said it had earnings of 38 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 40 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 27 cents per share.

The holding company for First Financial Bank posted revenue of $172.1 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $154.3 million, also beating Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $147.5 million.

First Financial shares have decreased 44% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $14.21, a decline of 42% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FFBC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FFBC

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News