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STUART, FL., October 23, 2007 ¿ Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ-NMS: SBCF), today reported net income for the third quarter of 2007 totaling $285,000 or $0.01 diluted earnings per share (DEPS), compared to $5,869,000 or $0.31 DEPS for the third quarter a year ago. For the first nine months of 2007, net income totaled $7,862,000 or $0.41 DEPS, compared to $18,169,000 or $0.98 DEPS for 2006. Earnings for the quarter were impacted by higher credit costs primarily related to residential development loans. The provision for loan losses totaled $8.4 million which reduced DEPS by $ 0.27 for the quarter.
¿Sales activity for new residential real estate product continued to soften over the summer months in Florida after improving somewhat earlier in the year. We have continued to carefully and formally monitor, on a monthly basis, all credit relationships having exposure to the residential market. This quarter we classified as nonperforming several credit relationships that are either currently experiencing, or in the near term are likely to experience, cash flow difficulties. In those instances, we have performed a collateral evaluation (including the potential effects of existing sales contract cancellations) in response to recent changes in the market value for residential real estate and, as appropriate, have established valuation reserves,¿ said Dennis S. Hudson, III Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Seacoast.
Operating results for the quarter, excluding the impact of the provision for loan losses, totaled approximately $5.1 million or cash earnings of approximately $0.27 per share. Noninterest expenses were impacted by the previously announced implementation of expense savings totaling approximately $1.5 million in the quarter, which were offset with higher nonrecurring expenses totaling approximately $1.0 million related to other professional fees, severance and employee recruitment costs. The expense reductions primarily relate to the elimination of executive bonus compensation for the year, lower incentive payouts for senior officers and reduced profit-sharing compensation, all as a result of lower than expected earnings performance. These savings will reduce compensation expense by approximately $500,000 in the fourth quarter, and will remain in effect until the Company produces meaningful earnings improvements. Noninterest expenses are expected to total approximately $19 million in the fourth quarter. The Company has also identified additional savings totaling approximately $3.5 million annually that it intends to implement over the next two quarters involving the consolidation of branch offices, reductions in staff and a reduction in marketing costs and other professional fees.
Included in the results for the first nine months was the impact of the restructuring of the Company¿s investment portfolio; therefore, net income, excluding securities restructuring losses, totaled $11.16 million for the nine months of 2007 or $0.58 DEPS.
Net interest income totaled $21.1 million for the quarter, a decline of $321,000 compared with the second quarter of 2007. The decline was primarily due to increased levels of nonperforming assets. The net interest margin declined by 15 basis points to 3.94 percent in the third quarter 2007 compared to the second quarter of 2007, primarily as a result of higher nonperforming assets and increased costs for interest bearing liabilities. Interest bearing deposit costs increased 10 basis points to 3.69 percent in the third quarter 2007, and total interest bearing liabilities increased from 3.79 percent for the second quarter to 3.88 percent in the third quarter. Since the Fed lowered rates 50 basis points on September 18, 2007, many of the Company¿s deposit products have repriced; therefore, future cost for interest bearing deposits should improve.
Interest bearing deposits declined $14.4 million over the past year and increased $4.4 million linked quarter for the three months ended September 30, 2007. Noninterest bearing demand deposits declined $15.9 million in the third quarter, consistent with past seasonal growth patterns experienced in many of the Company¿s markets, and now comprise 18 percent of total deposits, down from 19 percent last quarter. Past growth in deposits related to seasonal improvements in the fourth and first quarters would suggest improved growth rates compared to the third quarter of 2007.
Total loans outstanding at September 30, 2007 increased 14.3 percent compared to September 30, 2006. With the addition of the new office in Broward County and increased lenders in the Orlando and Brevard County markets, the Company believes it can continue to grow its loan portfolio by approximately 10 percent over the next twelve months as a result of the improved commercial lending capacity. The Broward County market¿s outstanding loans and deposits at September 30, 2007 totaled $49 million and $13 million, respectively. In addition, the commercial loan pipelines totaled $61 million for Broward and $94 million for Brevard/Orlando.
Noninterest income, excluding securities gains and losses, increased 8.0 percent when compared to the prior year¿s third quarter, reflecting increased revenues primarily from service charges on deposit accounts and marine finance fees. Noninterest income declined by $705,000 or 10.4 percent when compared with the second quarter, due to reduced mortgage production and expected seasonally lower brokerage and marine fees.
Noninterest expenses totaled $19 million, up $140,000 from the prior year's third quarter. The Company previously announced that it would eliminate executive bonuses and lower incentive payouts and reduce profit-sharing as a result of lower earnings performance so far in 2007. These cost reductions totaled approximately $1.5 million for the quarter and are expected to save the Company about $500,000 in the fourth quarter.
Seacoast will host a conference call on Wednesday, October 24 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss the earnings results and business trends. Investors may call in (toll-free) by dialing (800) 640-9765 (access code: 19349003; leader: Dennis S. Hudson). Charts will be used during the conference call and may be accessed at Seacoast¿s website at www.seacoastbanking.net by selecting Presentations under the heading Investor Services. A replay of the call will be available beginning the afternoon of October 24 by dialing (877) 213-9653 (domestic), using the passcode 19349003.
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida has approximately $2.3 billion in assets. It is one of the largest independent commercial banking organizations in Florida, headquartered on Florida¿s Treasure Coast, one of the wealthiest and fastest growing areas in the nation.
Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains ¿forward-looking statements¿ within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, statements about future financial and operating results, cost savings, enhanced revenues, economic and seasonal conditions in our markets, and improvements to reported earnings that may be realized from cost controls and for integration of banks that we have acquired, as well as statements with respect to Seacoast¿s objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control, and which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Seacoast to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. You should not expect us to update any forward-looking statements.
You can identify these forward-looking statements through our use of words such as ¿may,¿ ¿will,¿ ¿anticipate,¿ ¿assume,¿ ¿should,¿ ¿support¿, ¿indicate,¿ ¿would,¿ ¿believe,¿ ¿contemplate,¿ ¿expect,¿ ¿estimate,¿ ¿continue,¿ ¿further¿, ¿point to,¿ ¿project,¿ ¿could,¿ ¿intend¿ or other similar words and expressions of the future. These forward-looking statements may not be realized due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation: the effects of future economic and market conditions, including seasonality; governmental monetary and fiscal policies, as well as legislative and regulatory changes; the risks of changes in interest rates on the level and composition of deposits, loan demand, and the values of loan collateral, securities, and interest sensitive assets and liabilities; interest rate risks, sensitivities and the shape of the yield curve; the effects of competition from other commercial banks, thrifts, mortgage banking firms, consumer finance companies, credit unions, securities brokerage firms, insurance companies, money market and other mutual funds and other financial institutions operating in our market areas and elsewhere, including institutions operating regionally, nationally and internationally, together with such competitors offering banking products and services by mail, telephone, computer and the Internet; and the failure of assumptions underlying the establishment of reserves for possible loan losses. The risks of mergers and acquisitions, include, without limitation: unexpected transaction costs, including the costs of integrating operations; the risks that the businesses will not be integrated successfully or that such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected; the potential failure to fully or timely realize expected revenues and revenue synergies, including as the result of revenues following the merger being lower than expected; the risk of deposit and customer attrition; any changes in deposit mix; unexpected operating and other costs, which may differ or change from expectations; the risks of customer and employee loss and business disruption, including, without limitation, as the result of difficulties in maintaining relationships with employees; increased competitive pressures and solicitations of customers by competitors; as well as the difficulties and risks inherent with entering new markets.
All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice, including, without limitation, those risks and uncertainties described in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December¿31, 2006 under ¿Special Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,¿ and otherwise in our SEC reports and filings. Such reports are available upon request from Seacoast, or from the Securities and Exchange Commission, including through the SEC¿s Internet website at http://www.sec.gov.
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