Exhibit 99.1

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Company Press Release

Source: Salisbury Bancorp, Inc.

Salisbury Contact: Richard J. Cantele, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer

860-435-9801 or [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SALISBURY BANCORP, INC. REPORTS RESULTS FOR FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2022

Lakeville, Connecticut, January 25, 2023 /GlobeNewswire…..Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. (“Salisbury”), (NASDAQ Capital Market: “SAL”), the holding company for Salisbury Bank and Trust Company (the “Bank”), announced results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.

Net income available to common shareholders was $4.1 million, or $0.71 per basic common share, for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022 (fourth quarter 2022), compared with $4.3 million, or $0.75 per basic common share, for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022 (third quarter 2022), and $4.1 million, or $0.72 per basic common share, for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021 (fourth quarter 2021). Net income for fourth quarter 2022 included costs of approximately $0.5 million, or $0.07 per basic share, related to Salisbury’s previously announced merger agreement with NBT Bancorp (“NBT merger”).

Salisbury’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Richard J. Cantele, Jr., stated, “Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our employees, we reported strong earnings and robust loan growth in 2022 and our credit quality metrics remain favorable despite a challenging macro-economic environment. We enter 2023 from a position of strength and Salisbury employees remain focused on prudently managing the bank’s capital and providing outstanding service to our customers.”

Net Interest and Dividend Income

Tax equivalent net interest income of $12.2 million for the fourth quarter 2022 increased $167 thousand, or 1.4%, versus third quarter 2022, and increased $1.5 million, or 13.8%, versus fourth quarter 2021. Tax equivalent interest income of $14.4 million for fourth quarter 2022 increased $1.1 million, or 8.6%, versus third quarter 2022 and increased $2.8 million, or 24.4%, from fourth quarter 2021. The cost of interest-bearing liabilities of $2.1 million for fourth quarter 2022 increased $1.0 million, or 83.5%, from third quarter 2022 and increased $1.3 million, or 164.0%, from fourth quarter 2021.

Average earning assets of $1.47 billion for fourth quarter 2022 increased $12.2 million, or 0.8%, from third quarter 2022, and increased $50.4 million, or 3.5%, versus fourth quarter 2021. Average earning assets for fourth quarter 2022 included average PPP loan balances of $0.4 million, net of deferred fees, compared with $1.3 million and $32.0 million in third quarter 2022 and fourth quarter 2021, respectively. Average total interest bearing liabilities of $982 million for fourth quarter 2022 increased $10.5 million, or 1.1%, from third quarter 2022 and increased $29.8 million, or 3.1%, versus fourth quarter 2021.

The tax equivalent net interest margin for fourth quarter 2022 was 3.28% compared with 3.27% for third quarter 2022 and 2.99% for fourth quarter 2021. Excluding PPP loans, the tax equivalent net interest margin for fourth quarter 2022 was 3.28% compared with 3.25% for third quarter 2022 and 2.87% for fourth quarter 2021. See SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION – Net Interest and Dividend Income on page 9 of this release for additional details.

Non-Interest Income

Non-interest income of $2.6 million for fourth quarter 2022 decreased $75 thousand versus third quarter 2022 and decreased $229 thousand versus fourth quarter 2021.

Trust and Wealth Advisory fees of $1.1 million for fourth quarter 2022 decreased $103 thousand from third quarter 2022 and decreased $161 thousand from fourth quarter 2021. Assets under administration were $1.3 billion at December 30, 2022 compared with $1.1 billion at December 31, 2021 and $1.2 billion at September 30, 2022. Discretionary assets under administration of $561.0 million at December 31, 2022 compared with $657.8 million at December 31, 2021 and $522.1 million at September 30, 2022. The variance from the comparative quarters primarily reflected changes in market valuations. Non-discretionary assets under administration of $728.9 million at December 31, 2022 increased from $425.4 million at December 31, 2021 and increased from $710.2 million at September 30, 2022. The increase in non-discretionary assets from the comparative quarters primarily reflected a higher valuation of certain partnership assets for an existing client relationship. The trust and wealth business records only a nominal annual fee on this relationship.

Service charges and fees of $1.2 million for fourth quarter 2022 were essentially unchanged from third quarter 2022 and decreased $67 thousand from fourth quarter 2021. Deposit fees for fourth quarter 2022 were essentially unchanged from the comparative quarters. Net fees from mortgage banking activities were below the comparative quarters. Salisbury did not sell any residential loans to FHLBB during fourth quarter and third quarter 2022 compared with sales of $4.2 million in fourth quarter 2021.

Non-Interest Expense

Non-interest expense of $8.9 million for fourth quarter 2022 increased $435 thousand from third quarter 2022 and increased $476 thousand versus fourth quarter 2021. Non-interest expense for fourth quarter 2022 included costs of approximately $500 thousand primarily for legal and investment banking expenses associated with the pending NBT merger. Compensation expense of $5.3 million for fourth quarter 2022 increased $306 thousand from third quarter 2022 and increased $546 thousand versus fourth quarter 2021. The increase in compensation expense from the comparative periods primarily reflected higher base salary expense and higher incentive accruals as well as higher deferred compensation expense.

Excluding compensation expense, other non-interest expenses for fourth quarter 2022 increased $129 thousand from third quarter 2022 and decreased $70 thousand from fourth quarter 2021. The increase from the prior quarter primarily reflected higher professional fees associated with the NBT merger, which were partially offset by lower facilities, marketing and deposit-related costs. The decrease from fourth quarter 2021 primarily reflected lower marketing costs, appraisal fees and deposit-related costs, which were partially offset by higher professional fees associated with the pending NBT merger.

The effective income tax rates for fourth quarter 2022, third quarter 2022 and fourth quarter 2021 were 20.1%, 18.7% and 19.1%, respectively.

Full Year Results

2022 net income available to common shareholders was $15.6 million, or $2.75 per basic common share, compared with $16.2 million, or $2.88 per basic common share for 2021. Results for 2022 included a provision of $2.7 million compared with a net release of credit reserves of $0.7 million for 2021.

Tax equivalent net interest income of $45.8 million for 2022 increased $4.5 million, or 10.8%, from $41.3 million in 2021. Tax equivalent interest income of $50.8 million for 2022 increased $6.0 million, or 13.4%, from $44.8 million in 2021. In 2022 Salisbury recorded PPP interest income and net fee income of $72 thousand and $751 thousand, respectively, compared with $651 thousand and $2.9 million, respectively, in 2021. This decrease in net PPP fee income was offset by higher interest income on residential and commercial loans due to higher interest rates and record loan growth in 2022.

The cost of interest-bearing liabilities of $5.0 million for 2022 increased $1.5 million, or 44.2%, from $3.4 million in 2021. The increase primarily reflected higher interest expense on deposits, partially offset by lower interest expense on subordinated debt.

Average earning assets of $1.43 billion increased $69.4 million, or 5.1%, from $1.37 billion in 2021 and average total interest-bearing liabilities of $964.0 million increased $31.5 million, or 3.4%, from $932.5 million in 2021. The tax equivalent net interest margin for 2022 was 3.16% compared with 3.01% for 2021. Excluding PPP, the tax equivalent net interest margin for 2022 was 3.12% compared with 2.87% for 2021.

Non-interest income of $11.7 million for 2022 increased $0.2 million from $11.5 million in 2021. The increase primarily reflected higher deposit and lending-related fees, higher BOLI income, partially offset by lower gains on the sale and servicing of mortgage loans. Salisbury sold $7.2 million of mortgage loans in 2022 compared with sales of $34.6 million in 2021.

Non-interest expense of $34.6 million for 2022 increased $2.5 million versus $32.1 million in 2021. The increase primarily reflected higher compensation, technology, and professional fees, which were partially offset by lower marketing costs and lower core deposit intangible amortization expense. Non-interest expenses for 2022 also included costs of approximately $0.5 million related to the NBT merger.

The effective tax rate for 2022 was 18.2% compared with 20.6% for 2021. The higher tax rate in 2021 reflected a lower mix of tax-exempt income from municipal bonds, tax advantaged loans and bank-owned life insurance on a comparatively higher level of pre-tax income.

Loans

Gross loans receivable of $1.2 billion increased $37.7 million, or 3.2%, from third quarter 2022, and increased $148.8 million, or 13.8%, from fourth quarter 2021. Excluding PPP loans, gross loans receivable increased $37.9 million, or 3.2%, from third quarter 2022 and $174.1 million, or 16.5%, from fourth quarter 2021. Residential 5+ multifamily gross loans receivable at December 31, 2022 and September 30, 2022 included a loan for approximately $16.0 million. At December 31, 2021 this loan, which had a gross balance of approximately $12.0 million, was reported in the commercial real estate category while the project was under construction. The ratio of gross loans to deposits for fourth quarter 2022 was 90.4% compared with 89.9% for third quarter 2022 and 80.8% for fourth quarter 2021. Balances by loan type for the comparative periods were as follows:

Asset Quality

Non-performing assets of $2.7 million, or 0.17% of total assets at December 31, 2022, decreased $1.5 million from $4.2 million, or 0.27% of total assets at December 31, 2021, and increased $0.8 million from $1.9 million, or 0.12% of total assets, at September 30, 2022.

The amount of total impaired and potential problem loans increased $0.2 million during the quarter to $11.4 million or 0.93% of gross loans receivable at December 31, 2022 compared to $32.8 million, or 3.04% of gross loans receivable at December 31, 2021 and $11.2 million, or 0.94% of gross loans receivable at September 30, 2022. The decrease in the balance from fourth quarter 2021 primarily reflected management’s upgrade of the internal risk rating on certain hospitality related loans, which were previously downgraded due to concerns over COVID-19. These businesses have demonstrated a return to pre-pandemic levels of activity and liquidity, warranting the improvement in risk rating.

Accruing loans receivable 30-to-89 days past due of $1.3 million, or 0.11% of gross loans receivable, were essentially unchanged from December 31, 2021, and increased $0.9 million from $0.4 million, or 0.03% of gross loans receivable at September 30, 2022.

The allowance for loan losses for fourth quarter 2022 was $14.8 million compared with $14.3 million for third quarter 2022 and $13.0 million for fourth quarter 2021.The provision expense was $0.5 million for fourth quarter 2022 compared with a provision expense of $0.7 million for third quarter 2022 and a net reserve release of $0.2 million for fourth quarter 2021. The provision expense for fourth quarter 2022 reflected the strong loan growth in the quarter. Net loan charge-offs were $13 thousand for the fourth quarter 2022 compared with $64 thousand for third quarter 2022 and $3 thousand for the fourth quarter 2021.

Reserve coverage, as measured by the ratio of the allowance for loan losses to gross loans, excluding PPP loans, was 1.21% for the fourth quarter 2022 versus 1.20% for the third quarter 2022 and 1.23% for the fourth quarter 2021. Similarly, reserve coverage, as measured by the ratio of the allowance for loan losses to non-performing loans was 558% for the fourth quarter 2022 versus 771% for third quarter 2022 and 309% for fourth quarter 2021.

Salisbury endeavors to work constructively to resolve its non-performing loan issues with customers. Substantially all non-performing loans are collateralized with real estate and the repayment of such loans is largely dependent on the return of such loans to performing status or the liquidation of the underlying real estate collateral.

Deposits and Borrowings

Deposits of $1.4 billion at December 31, 2022 increased $22.2 million, or 1.7%, from December 31, 2021 and increased $33.2 million, or 2.5%, from September 30, 2022. At December 31, 2022, Salisbury had outstanding brokered deposits balances of $45.0 million compared with balances of $7.9 million at December 31, 2021. Salisbury did not have any outstanding brokered deposit balances at September 30, 2022. Brokered deposits are included in the certificates of deposit balances on Salisbury’s consolidated balance sheet. Management utilized brokered deposits in fourth quarter 2022 to fund continued loan growth and to offset seasonal deposit outflows. Average total deposits were $1.3 billion for fourth quarter 2022, third quarter 2022 and fourth quarter 2021. Average total deposits for fourth quarter 2022 included average brokered deposits of $25.8 million compared with $17.6 million for third quarter 2022 and $7.9 million for fourth quarter 2021.

Salisbury had $10.0 million of outstanding advances from FHLBB at December 31, 2022 compared with $7.7 million at December 31, 2021 and $20.0 million at September 30, 2021, respectively. Salisbury’s excess borrowing capacity at FHLBB was approximately $241 million at December 31, 2022.

Capital

Shareholders’ equity increased $5.2 million in fourth quarter to $128.4 million at December 31, 2022 as net income of $4.1 million, unrealized gains, net of taxes, in the available-for-sale securities (“AFS”) portfolio of $1.6 million and other activity of $0.4 million, were partially offset by common stock dividends paid of $0.9 million. The unrealized losses, net of taxes, in the AFS portfolio were $20.7 million at December 31, 2022. These losses, which reflected the sharp increase in market interest rates during 2022, reduced both book value and tangible book value at December 31, 2022 compared with year end 2021. Book value per common share of $22.13 at December 31, 2022 increased $0.84 from third quarter 2022 and decreased $1.74 from fourth quarter 2021. Tangible book value per common share of $19.71 at December 31, 2022 increased $0.85 from third quarter 2022 and decreased $1.67 from fourth quarter 2021.

The Bank’s regulatory capital ratios remain in compliance with regulatory “well capitalized” requirements. At December 31, 2022, the Bank’s Tier 1 leverage, total risk-based capital, and common equity tier 1 capital ratios were 9.99%, 13.43%, and 12.24%, respectively, compared with regulatory “well capitalized” minimums of 5.00%, 10.00%, and 6.5%, respectively. The unrealized losses in the AFS portfolio noted above do not affect the Bank’s regulatory capital ratios.

During fourth quarter 2022, Salisbury did not repurchase any of its outstanding common stock pursuant to its stock repurchase program established in March 2021.

Dividend on Common Shares

On January 25, 2023, the Board of Directors of Salisbury approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per common share that will be paid on February 24, 2023 to shareholders of record as of February 10, 2023.

Other Matters

In July 2022, Salisbury management discovered that the Bank’s trust department terminated a trust account in May 2020 and distributed approximately $1.0 million that should have been retained in continuance of the trust account. In December 2022, Salisbury filed a complaint against the beneficiaries to recover the distributed proceeds and to reinstate the trust account. At this time, management believes that Salisbury’s exposure is not yet known or knowable and could potentially range from zero to approximately $0.8 million depending upon the facts and circumstances.

Background

Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Salisbury Bank and Trust Company, a Connecticut chartered commercial bank serving the communities of northwestern Connecticut and proximate communities in New York and Massachusetts, since 1848, through full service branches in Canaan, Lakeville, Salisbury and Sharon, Connecticut; Great Barrington, South Egremont and Sheffield, Massachusetts; and Dover Plains, Fishkill, Millerton, Newburgh, New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, and Red Oaks Mill, New York. The Bank offers a broad spectrum of consumer and business banking products and services, as well as trust and wealth advisory services. For more information, please visit www.salisburybank.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain statements relating to Salisbury’s and the Bank’s future results that are considered “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of management as well as the assumptions and estimates made by management using information currently available to management. Since these statements reflect the views of management concerning future events, these statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including among others: changes in market interest rates and general and regional economic conditions; changes in laws and regulations; changes in accounting principles; and the quality or composition of the loan and investment portfolios, technological changes and cybersecurity matters, and other factors that may be described in Salisbury’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K, which are available at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website (www.sec.gov) and to which reference is hereby made. Forward-looking statements made by Salisbury in this news release speak only as of the date they are made. Events or other facts that could cause Salisbury’s actual results to differ may arise from time to time and Salisbury cannot predict all such events and factors. Salisbury undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement unless as may be required by law.

Investor presentation slides, which include a review of financial results and trends through the period ended December 31, 2022, are available in the Shareholder Relations section of Salisbury’s website at salisburybank.com under About Us/Shareholder Relations/News & Market Information/Presentations.

Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. and Subsidiary

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (unaudited)

Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. and Subsidiary

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (unaudited)

Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. and Subsidiary

SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA (unaudited)

⁽¹⁾ Adjusted to reflect the U.S. federal statutory benefit on income derived from tax-exempt securities and loans.

⁽²⁾ Refer to schedule labeled “Supplemental Information – Non-GAAP Financial Measures”.
⁽³⁾ Represents the capital ratios of the Bank.

Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. and Subsidiary

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION – Non-GAAP Financial Measures (unaudited)

¹ Excluding revenue and expenses associated with trust & wealth advisory, the efficiency ratios would be: Q4 2022: 54.64%; Q3 2022: 55.28%; Q2 2022: 57.21%; Q1 2022: 61.83%; Q4 2021: 60.62%.

Salisbury Bancorp, Inc. and Subsidiary

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION – Net Interest and Dividend Income (unaudited)