Things are looking up for the First Community Corporation.

The holding company for First Community Bank — founded in Lexington and Forest Acres in 1995 and now doing business out of 20 locations in South Carolina and Georgia — announced record earnings when it revealed third quarter results last week.

Per a press release, among other strong numbers, the net income of $4.748 million marked a year-over-year increase of 79% and a 39% increase over the previous quarter. The pre-tax pre-provision earnings of $6.115 represented a 41.8% year-over-year increase and a 32% increase over the previous quarter.

“There were a number of factors that contributed to the bank’s success this past quarter,” said Robin Brown, First Community’s executive vice president and chief human resources and marketing officer. “Main contributors to our success included strong growth in loans and deposits, our investment advisory line of business revenue grew as a result of both new business and higher equity markets, and our credit quality remained strong led by low past dues, low nonperforming assets and net recoveries.”

This success comes amid the continued difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which Brown said did pose challenges the bank has had to overcome.

“We have been able to successfully adapt so that we can continue to serve our customers and employees,” Brown said. “We were very successful in assisting our customers with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans which were so important to many businesses impacted by the pandemic.

“We have made adjustments along the way, like having some employees work remotely and going to drive-thru only for a period of time and, of course, adopting safety protocols to keep our employees and customers safe and healthy. We continue to monitor pandemic data and make changes as needed.”