Wake Forest Bancshares, Inc. Announces Second Quarter Results

WAKE FOREST, N.C., April 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wake Forest Bancshares, Inc., WAKE parent company of Wake Forest Federal Savings and Loan Association, announced today that the Company reported earnings of $228,400 or $0.20 per share for its quarter ended March 31, 2017.  The Company reported earnings of $216,300 or $0.19 per share for the same quarter a year earlier. 

In announcing the earnings, Robert C. White, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated that the Company was satisfied with the current quarter's results which continue to be positively impacted by declining levels of nonperforming assets and the costs associated with foreclosed assets.  However, the Company's returns also continue to be negatively impacted by compressed interest rate margins and lack of loan demand.  The Company invests excess liquidity in short term liquid assets and its loan portfolio primarily has shorter maturities or variable rates in order to guard against interest rate risk exposure.  The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates at historic lows since December of 2008 and only raised rates for the first time in seven years by a combined 0.75% over the past year.  Due to interest rate floors in many of the Company's loan products, rates would need to continue to rise in the future to have a meaningful impact on the Company's performance.

Economic conditions and residential home sales in our local markets continue to show strength.  Our residential real estate markets have benefited because sales activity and home prices have increased while excess inventories of available homes, once common during the recession, have come down as the market continues to absorb existing product.  Although our local area's unemployment rate has held steady or continued to decline slightly, with further employment gains in higher paying industries, our markets and our performance should benefit.

The Company recovered $15,000 in loan loss provisions in the current quarter and provided $10,000 in provisions for loan losses in the same quarter a year earlier.  The Company had no loan charge-offs and recorded loan loss recoveries of $75,000 from previously charged off loans during the current quarter. The Company had no loans charged off in the quarter ended March 31, 2016. The Company's loan loss allowances amounted to approximately 2.86% of total loans outstanding at March 31, 2017.  Foreclosed assets and non-performing loans amounted to $118,100 and $411,750 at March 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Total assets of the Company amounted to $104,073,950 at March 31, 2017.  Total loans receivable and deposits outstanding at March 31, 2017 amounted to $53,940,900 and $79,068,350, respectively.  Wake Forest Bancshares Inc.'s tier 1 capital ratio was 22.82% at March 31, 2017.

Wake Forest Bancshares, Inc. has 1,140,308 shares of common stock outstanding.  Based in Wake Forest, North Carolina since 1922, the Company conducts business as Wake Forest Federal from its office in Wake Forest, (Wake County), North Carolina.

Contact:  Robert C. White, CEO
(919) 556-5146