The Bottom Line: NBT, Itaconix and Amazon

NBT BANCORP INC. ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER 2025 NET INCOME

NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB) reported Q2 2025 net income of $22.5 million ($0.44 per diluted share), down from $32.7 million in Q2 2024 and $36.7 million in Q1 2025. However, operating diluted EPS (a non-GAAP measure) rose to $0.88, up from $0.69 in Q2 2024 and $0.80 in Q1 2025, reflecting strong core performance and the impact of the Evans Bancorp acquisition.

NBT completed its $221.8 million acquisition of Evans Bancorp on May 2, 2025, adding 18 branches, 200 employees, $1.67 billion in loans, and $1.86 billion in deposits. Net interest income grew to $124.2 million, up 28% year-over-year, driven by the Evans acquisition and higher asset yields.

Net interest margin rose to 3.59%, and asset yields climbed to 5.12%.

Loan balances reached $11.62 billion, while deposits totaled $13.52 billion. Asset quality remained solid with nonperforming loans at 0.40% of total loans and charge-offs at 0.09%.

NBT added $17.8 million to loan loss provisions, including $13 million related to the Evans acquisition. Allowance for loan losses was $140.2 million (1.21% of total loans).

Noninterest income was $46.8 million, representing 27% of revenues, with modest gains in card services, retirement fees and wealth management. Noninterest expenses rose to $122.6 million, reflecting $17.2 million in acquisition-related costs and higher compensation and tech investments.

NBT increased its quarterly dividend by 8.8% to $0.37 per share — its 13th consecutive annual increase. Tangible book value per share was $24.57, and CET1 capital stood at 11.37%.

CEO Scott Kingsley praised the smooth Evans integration and highlighted strong operating performance, margin expansion and commitment to shareholder returns.

ITACONIX TRADING UPDATE

Itaconix (OTCQB: ITXXF) — a developer of plant-based polymers that improve the safety, performance and environmental profile of consumer and industrial products, with a branch in Stratham — reported record unaudited revenues of $4.8 million for the first half of 2025 (HY25), a 73% increase over HY24 and 30% growth from H2 2024. Gross profit margins remained consistent with FY24, translating strong sales into record half-year gross profits.

Revenue growth was driven primarily by an 87% increase in Cleaning segment sales to $4.3 million, led by expanded market share for the company’s plant-based scale inhibitors in detergents and initial traction from its SPARX formulated solutions program. The Hygiene & Beauty segment also saw 9% growth, generating $0.5 million in revenue.

Geographically, Europe delivered the strongest performance with a 149% year-over-year revenue increase, driven largely by recurring orders. North American revenues grew 53%, supported by new and existing detergent customer accounts.

Itaconix launched BIOAsterix in June 2025 — a new product line targeting paints, coatings and adhesives — establishing a third revenue stream alongside Itaconix Performance Ingredients and SPARX Formulated Solutions. In July, the company also expanded its global supply and marketing agreement with Croda Inc. for odor-control ingredients in homecare and fabric cleaning, further deepening their commercial and technical collaboration.

Unaudited net cash and investments stood at $5.7 million as of June 30, 2025, down from $7.8 million a year prior, mainly due to inventory investments.

With a solid first half and strong early H2 performance, Itaconix reaffirmed its full-year guidance. CEO John Shaw highlighted continued momentum in plant-based ingredient adoption and confidence in delivering ongoing revenue and profit growth throughout 2025 and beyond. The company’s interim report is expected in September

AMAZON EMPLOYED 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE IN 2024

In 2024, Amazon employed 1.5 million people globally, making it the largest private-sector employer among major tech companies by far — three times more than the combined total of the next nine internet giants, which together employed around 447,000 people. This workforce is 21 times larger than Meta’s, 8 times more than Alphabet’s (Google), and 12 times more than Alibaba’s. Despite several rounds of layoffs in recent years, Amazon remains a colossal employment engine, with a workforce comparable to the entire employed population of smaller countries like Slovenia or Croatia.

While Amazon leads in headcount, it lags behind in revenue per employee. In 2024, the company generated $410,000 per employee, a modest figure compared to other tech giants. Apple led the pack with $2.38 million per employee, followed by Meta at $2.19 million and NVIDIA at $2.06 million. Alphabet and Tesla posted $1.91 million and $780,000 per employee, respectively.

These numbers highlight the contrasting strategies among tech giants: While companies like Apple and Meta focus on high-margin, talent-intensive operations with fewer staff, Amazon relies on a massive workforce to power its logistics-heavy e-commerce and cloud services.