Suncrest Bank Reports First Quarter Earnings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. and VISALIA, Calif., April 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Suncrest Bank SBKK today reported unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2019.

"Our first quarter results reflect continued strong performance from an earnings perspective with a return on average assets of 1.32% and net interest margin of 4.58%," said Mr. Ciaran McMullan, President and CEO. "They further reflect an investment in our organization in terms of deepening our talent pool and strengthening of our credit portfolio."

First Quarter 2019 Highlights

• Net income of $2.99 million, an increase of 105% compared to Q1 2018
• Diluted EPS of $0.24 compared to $0.21 for Q1 2018
• Return on average assets of 1.32% compared to 1.09% for Q1 2018
• Efficiency ratio of 55.52% compared to 59.63% for Q1 2018
• Net interest margin of 4.58%
• New loan originations¹ of $28.4 million compared to $22.6 million for the linked quarter
• Non-maturity deposits² increased by $13.4 million or 2.0% over the linked quarter
• Return on average equity of 8.86%
• Total risk based capital ratio increased to 13.73% and Tier 1 leverage increased to 10.87%

Income Statement

The comparability of first quarter net income to the same quarter last year is impacted by $115,000 in non-recurring merger expenses experienced in the first quarter of 2018. The table below identifies non-recurring income items, income resulting from the accretion of acquired loan fair value marks, and non-recurring costs such as merger expenses.

Core net income increased over the same quarter in 2018 by $1.4 million or 90.6% driven by the positive impacts of our merger with Community Business Bank ("CBB") in May 2018. Core net income decreased over the linked quarter by $435,000 or 12.8% primarily attributable to a decline in interest and fees on loans of $393,000 or 4.2% and an increase in non-interest expense of $399,000 or 7.9%. In addition, income from discount accretion on acquired loans declined $70,000 primarily driven by a number of paydowns resulting in premium amortization and reduced levels of accretion in seasoned acquired portfolios (i.e. from acquisitions in 2015 and 2016). We currently have $3.5 million in net discounts remaining. Net interest income for the quarter was $9.4 million, an increase of $4.0 million or 74.2% over the same quarter last year and declined by $295,000 or 3.2% over the linked quarter. Core Net Interest Income declined by $200,000 or 2.1% over the linked quarter.

Interest income declined by $393,000 or 4.2% over the linked quarter mainly due to a decline in average loans. While new loan originations for the quarter were $28.4 million these were partially offset by increased payoffs. We are gradually transitioning and rebalancing our credit portfolio by strengthening the underlying credit structures. As a result, we have seen elevated levels of pay-offs in both the fourth quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2019 which in turn have impacted overall loan growth and driven a reduction in interest income. Over the last two quarters we had total pay-offs of approximately $39 million of which approximately $17 million or 44% had structural weaknesses from a credit perspective.

Non-interest income for the quarter was $420,000, a decrease of $42,000 or 9.0% over the linked quarter. This decrease is attributable to small decline in NSF charges and ATM network income. We had no gain on sale income during the quarter.

Total non-interest expenses increased over the linked quarter by $399,000 or 7.9%. this was primarily driven by an increase in salaries and employee benefits of $448,000.  As discussed in our Q4 2018 Earnings Webcast we are in the process of transitioning some of our senior market facing business development talent pool. Over the last four years the bank has grown rapidly through a series of relatively small bank acquisitions. Our increased balance sheet size and associated lending limits provide us the opportunity to attract new staff with the experience of working with larger and more complex client relationships. A number of new hires made in the later stages of the fourth quarter and during the first quarter account for approximately 21% of the total increase. Furthermore, salary costs also increased in the first quarter due to annual costs of living adjustments⁶, increased healthcare costs, payroll taxes and a reduction in deferred loan costs.

Core net interest margin ("NIM"), which conservatively removes accretion of loan fair value marks and non-recurring items such as recovery of interest, was 4.56% for the quarter, an increase of 18 basis points from the same quarter last year. This improvement was driven primarily by an increase in overall yields and loans being a higher percentage of average earning assets as compared to last year.

Our core NIM declined by 5 basis points when compared to the linked quarter primarily driven by securities being a higher percentage of average earning assets in the current quarter.

The increase in our cost of funds by 4 basis points over the linked quarter was primarily attributable to increased customer expectations of improved yields on business interest checking and business money market accounts in particular. The increase compares to an 8 basis point increase between Q3 and Q4 2018. The reduced increase is likely reflecting in part the Federal Reserve Governor's announcement during the quarter that the case for raising rates has weakened.

Balance Sheet

The acquisition of CBB, with total assets of approximately $320 million at March 31, 2018, which closed on May 21, 2018, will affect the comparability of balance sheet information for the quarter versus the same quarter of 2018.

Total assets at March 31, 2019 were $931.2 million representing an increase of $2.6 million or 0.3% during the quarter. The increase was primarily the result of implementing the new lease standard and recording a right-of-use asset and lease liability of $4.2 million. 

Deposit Reclassification

In December of 2018 we began implementation of a Deposit Reclassification program (also known as a retail sweep program) to reduce our reserve requirement with the Federal Reserve Bank ("FRB") through reclassifying a portion of Noninterest-bearing demand deposits as money market accounts ("MMA"). The program is fully compliant with FRB Regulation D. The underlying customer accounts remain Noninterest-bearing demand deposits but do not require a reserve. Investors should continue to view these accounts as traditional Noninterest-bearing demand deposits. They are identified on the balance sheet as Noninterest-bearing demand reclassified as money market accounts.  During the quarter $274.7 million in Noninterest-bearing demand accounts were reclassified as MMA.

Total deposits at March 31, 2019 were $785.8 million, a decrease of $5.2 million or 0.7% over the linked quarter however, total non-maturity deposits⁷ increased to $692.4 million at quarter end, an increase of $13.4 million or 2.0% over the linked quarter.

Total Noninterest-bearing demand⁸ deposits declined by $10.0 million or 3.4% over the linked quarter primarily reflecting the seasonal nature of ag industry related deposits.   We often see an outflow of deposits in Q1 related to grower payments which are held over until the end of the calendar year.

Total loans at March 31, 2019 were $635.9 million, a decrease of $14.3 million or 2.2% over the linked quarter. This decline is partially a reflection of increased payoffs as discussed above, but also includes normal post-harvest pay downs in agricultural production loans and business fluctuations within the C&I portfolio.

Asset Quality 

Non-performing assets were $1.3 million or 0.14% of total assets at March 31, 2019 compared to $1.1 or 0.12% of total assets at December 31, 2018.

During the first quarter the company recorded an additional $250,000 provision for loan losses and the allowance for loan losses as a percentage of total loans, excluding acquired loans that have been marked to fair value, was 1.25% at March 31, 2019 compared to 1.20% at December 31, 2018. The increase in allowance partially reflects the portfolio transitioning and rebalancing efforts discussed above.

Capital

Suncrest Bank remained well capitalized at March 31, 2019. All of the Bank's capital ratios are above minimum regulatory standards for "well capitalized" institutions.

At March 31, 2019 the tangible book value per common share was $7.62 with common shares issued of 12,420,300 as of the same date. This compares to a tangible book value per common share of $7.25 at December 31, 2018.

Excluding the unrealized loss on securities, the tangible book value per common share at March 31, 2019 was $7.62 as compared to $7.35 at December 31, 2018.

About Suncrest Bank
Suncrest Bank, member FDIC, is locally owned and operated and offers a full range of commercial, small business and agribusiness loans, cash management services and personal deposit products throughout the Central Valley of California. It is regularly rated Five Stars by Bauer Financial as one of the nation's strongest financial institutions, and in 2017 and 2018 was named to the OTCQX® Best 50, a ranking of top performing companies traded on the OTCQX Best Market. It is a Preferred Lender with the Small Business Administration and its stock can be purchased on the open market, trading on the OTCQX under the ticker symbol SBKK. For all other information, visit www.suncrestbank.com

Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information in this news release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks and uncertainties include: the credit risks of lending activities, including changes in the level and trend of loan delinquencies and charge-offs, results of examinations by our banking regulators, our ability to maintain adequate levels of capital and liquidity, our ability to manage loan delinquency rates, our ability to price deposits to retain existing customers and achieve low-cost deposit growth, manage expenses and lower the efficiency ratio, expand or maintain the net interest margin, mitigate interest rate risk for changes in the interest rate environment, competitive pressures in the banking industry, access to available sources of credit to manage liquidity, the local and national economic environment, and other risks and uncertainties.  Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Suncrest Bank undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors are encouraged to read the Suncrest Bank annual reports which are available on our website.

SOURCE Suncrest Bank