City Holding Company Holds Annual Meeting and Provides Guidance on First Quarter Earnings

City Holding Company ("Company" or "City") CHCO, a $4.1 billion bank holding company headquartered in Charleston, WV, held its annual meeting of shareholders today on the campus of Marshall University in Huntington, WV, as part of what City has termed its "City on Campus" program. The first program was held on the campus of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia in April 2016. To maximize student involvement in the City on Campus program, City has moved its annual meetings up by a week. As a result, City has not released its earnings for the first quarter of 2017 – a topic which is normally reviewed by management with shareholders in attendance at the annual meeting. City will release its earnings next week on Tuesday, April 25, 2017.

However, City's management did provide some information at today's meeting, which began at 2:30 p.m., regarding earnings for the first quarter of 2017. Highlights of the Company's discussion about expected first quarter performance included the following:

• City's net interest income was $30.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2016 and City's management believes that City will report slightly higher net interest income for the first quarter of 2017.
• City anticipates that its provision for loan loss expense in the first quarter of 2017 will be towards the lower end of the range composed of the low that it reported for the first quarter of 2016 ($0.5 million) and the high that it reported for the fourth quarter of 2016 ($1.3 million).
• During the first quarter of 2017, City sold its remaining interests in the ownership of several pools of Trust Preferred Securities, resulting in investment gains of $4.3 million during the quarter. The gains represented partial recoveries of impairment charges previously recognized on pooled trust preferred securities. As a result of these sales, the Company no longer holds any pooled trust preferred securities in its investment portfolio.
• During the first quarter of 2016, City reported non-interest income of $13.1 million and City's management expects City's non-interest income, excluding security gains, to increase by approximately $1.0 million from the first quarter of 2016. This increase is primarily due to BOLI death benefit proceeds and increased service charges.
• City anticipates that the Company's non-interest expenses will increase less than 2.5% as compared to the first quarter of 2016 ($24.2 million).
• City's management expects the Company will report diluted earnings between $0.84 per share and $0.88 per share for the first quarter of 2017, excluding the tax-adjusted benefit of security gains.

In addition, the Company noted that it had sold 441,000 common shares at a weighted average price of $64.48 per share, net of broker fees, during the quarter ended March 31, 2017. Through April 18, 2017, the Company had sold approximately 548,000 shares at a weighted average price of $64.82 per share, net of broker fees.

City Holding Company is the parent company of City National Bank of West Virginia. City National Bank operates 85 branches across West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that are included pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such information involves risks and uncertainties that could result in the Company's actual results differing materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (1) the Company may incur additional loan loss provision due to negative credit quality trends in the future that may lead to a deterioration of asset quality; (2) the Company may incur increased charge-offs in the future; (3) the Company could have adverse legal actions of a material nature; (4) the Company may face competitive loss of customers; (5) the Company may be unable to manage its expense levels; (6) the Company may have difficulty retaining key employees; (7) changes in the interest rate environment may have results on the Company's operations materially different from those anticipated by the Company's market risk management functions; (8) changes in general economic conditions and increased competition could adversely affect the Company's operating results; (9) changes in other regulations and government policies affecting bank holding companies and their subsidiaries, including changes in monetary policies, could negatively impact the Company's operating results; (10) the Company may experience difficulties growing loan and deposit balances; (11) the current economic environment poses significant challenges for us and could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations; (12) deterioration in the financial condition of the U.S. banking system may impact the valuations of investments the Company has made in the securities of other financial institutions resulting in either actual losses or other than temporary impairments on such investments; (13) the effects of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act") and the regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, which may subject the Company and its subsidiaries to a variety of new and more stringent legal and regulatory requirements which adversely affect their respective businesses; (14) the impact of new minimum capital thresholds established as a part of the implementation of Basel III; and (15) other risk factors relating to the banking industry or the Company as detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those risk factors included in the disclosures under the heading "ITEM 1A Risk Factors" of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016. Forward-looking statements made herein reflect management's expectations as of the date such statements are made. Such information is provided to assist stockholders and potential investors in understanding current and anticipated financial operations of the Company and is included pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date such statements are made. Further, the Company is required to evaluate subsequent events through the filing of its March 31, 2017 Form 10-Q. The Company will continue to evaluate the impact of any subsequent events on the preliminary March 31, 2017 results and will adjust the amounts if necessary.

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