First BancTrust Corporation Reports First Quarter Results and Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

PARIS, Ill., May 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- First BancTrust Corporation (the "Company") (OTCQB: FIRT), today reported a 2012 first quarter net income available to common shareholders of $765,324 or 36 cents per diluted share, compared with $709,857 or 33 cents per diluted share, for the same period in the prior year. The Company's net income was positively impacted primarily by higher levels of noninterest income.

Net Interest Income

Net interest income for the first quarter of 2012 increased 0.29 percent, or $8,662, to $3.00 million compared with $2.99 million for the first quarter of the prior year. Although interest expense for the quarter was $314,734 less than the first quarter of 2011, interest income was $306,072 less than the same time period of the previous year. Both interest income and interest expense were affected by the lower interest rate environment, as well as by reductions in volume of interest–bearing assets. A pre-payment penalty of $83,452 associated with the early retirement of a 4.75% $5 million Federal Home Loan Bank advance was included in interest expense for the quarter. This amount will be offset in the second quarter by the savings achieved by the early retirement of the advance. This action culminates the retirement of $20 million of relatively high rate advances since 2010 year-end.

Noninterest Income, Expense

First quarter 2012 noninterest income increased by $276,146 to $1.31 million compared to $1.03 million for the same period a year ago. This is primarily a result of increases in net gains on loan sales and a one-time event for gains on sales of securities. The low interest rate environment has been conducive to elevated year over year levels of sales of mortgage loans in the secondary market resulting in an increase in income from net gains on loan sales of $137,291. Also during the quarter selected securities were designated for sale to take advantage of favorable market conditions. The result of this activity was a $180,223 gain to the bank. Partially offsetting the year over year increase was a one-time positive event in 2011 of $58,500 in the increase in cash surrender value of life insurance relating to the receipt of proceeds on a bank owned life insurance policy.

Noninterest expense for the first quarter of 2012 increased $43,707 or 1.57% to $2.83 million from the $2.79 million reported during the same quarter last year. The primary reason for the increase was increases in salaries and benefits ($141,528) which was partially offset by a decrease in foreclosed asset expense ($108,191).

Assets, Loans, Deposits

Total assets at March 31, 2012, were $397.50 million compared with $392.84 million at December 31, 2011, an increase of $4.66 million or 1.19 percent. During the same period, loans net of allowance for loan losses, decreased by $4.38 million to $282.37 million from the 2011 year end level of $286.75 million.  The decrease in loans was the result of early payoffs combined with lower than average uses of agricultural lines of credit in the first quarter. Deposits increased by $12.54 million or 4.19 percent to $311.99 million compared with $299.45 million at year-end 2011. The loan to deposit ratio as of March 31, 2012 was 92.01 percent.

Quarterly Dividend

The Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of one cent per common share, payable June 15, 2012 to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 1, 2012.  A minimal dividend level remains appropriate at this time in relation to the preservation of capital for the final repayment of TARP funds. This dividend level will allow the corporation to maintain its desired capital level while accumulating funds to retire the remainder of TARP. In following this strategy, the Company will position itself to continue asset and income growth with no shareholder dilution thus creating a favorable position for the Company and its shareholders at its culmination. Consistent earnings over the past several quarters allowed us to implement the plan with a 50% or $3.675 million partial redemption of TARP funds on January 18, 2012. The redemption did have an initial negative impact of $46,642 compared to first quarter of 2011 as a result of the accelerated accretion of the related discount for the redeemed shares. Going forward, the redemption will result in a reduction of preferred dividends associated with the funds on a quarterly basis of $45,938.

About First BancTrust Corporation

First BancTrust Corporation is a holding company that owns all of the capital stock of First Bank & Trust, S. B., an Illinois-chartered savings bank that conducts business from its main office located in Paris, Illinois, and branch banks in Marshall, Savoy, Rantoul, Champaign, and Martinsville, Illinois. On March 31, 2012, the Company had $397.50 million of total assets, $360.47 million of total liabilities and $37.03 million of stockholders' equity. First Bank & Trust, S. B. remains a well-capitalized bank with a Tangible Ratio of 10.30, Tier 1 Ratio of 10.30 percent, a Tier 1 Risk-Based Ratio of 14.21 percent, and a Total Risk Based Ratio of 15.47 percent.

Footnote:

This earnings report may contain certain forward-looking statements which are based on management's current expectations regarding economic, legislative, and regulatory issues that may impact the Company's earnings in future periods.  Factors that could cause future results to vary materially from current management expectations include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, changes in interest rates, deposit flows, real estate values, and competition, changes in accounting principles, policies, or guidelines, changes in legislation or regulation, and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting the Company's operations, pricing, products, and services. These risks and uncertainties should be considered in evaluating forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including additional factors that could materially affect the company's financial results is available at https://www.firstbanktrust.com/investor-relations-center.htm or by faxing a request for a copy of our latest press release to 217.465.0285. First BancTrust Corporation stock is traded Over-the-Counter (OTC). Investors can view First BancTrust Corporation's security quotes and profile on www.otcmarkets.com under ticker symbol, "FIRT". 

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SOURCE First BancTrust Corporation

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