New Century Bancorp Reports Second Quarter 2013 Earnings

Strong earnings trend continues as New Century prepares to establish full-service office in Wake County market.

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Aug 07, 2013, 08:39 ET

DUNN, N.C., Aug. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- New Century Bancorp (the "Company"NASDAQ: NCBC), the holding company for New Century Bank, today reported net income of $1.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, and basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.18 compared to net income of $1.2 million and basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.17 for the second quarter of 2012. For the six months ended June 30, 2013, net income was $2.1 million with basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.30, compared to $3.3 million and basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.47 for the six months ended June 30, 2012, a period during which New Century benefited from a substantial loan recovery and from the gain on the sale of branch offices in Pembroke and Raeford, NC.

Total assets, deposits, and loans for the Company as of June 30, 2013, were $550.0 million, $465.5 million, and $355.7 million, respectively, compared to total assets of $563.7 million, total deposits of $471.2 million, and total loans of $390.4 million as of the same date in 2012. Loan demand remains soft in New Century's market and in a number of key business sectors, which is reflected in decreases in total loans and total deposits in a year-to-year comparison.

New Century President and CEO William L. Hedgepeth II commented on the earnings report, "On behalf of our board, management team and staff, I am pleased to report these positive results from operations. We continue to work on improving asset quality, which is critical to our ongoing success. Noninterest expenses are down in both a year-to-year comparison and on a linked-quarter basis, and core earnings—results achieved from the day-to-day operations of our bank—remain strong.

"Our loan production office in Wake County is establishing a good presence in this important North Carolina market and as a result we have announced plans to open a full-service office there during fourth quarter 2013. While loan growth in many markets remains soft, demand in Wake County, part of North Carolina's Research Triangle, is improving more quickly than in other areas. We've introduced new products and services; remained focused on delivery channels that meet customer needs for easy access to funds and quick, convenient transaction times; and, continued to be focused on both serving our customers and our shareholders."

New Century Bank has branch offices in these North Carolina communities: Dunn, Clinton, Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Lillington, and Lumberton, as well as loan production offices in Greenville and Raleigh.

The information as of and for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, as presented is unaudited. This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, (i) statements regarding certain of our goals and expectations with respect to earnings, earnings per share, revenue, expenses and the growth rate in such items, as well as other measures of economic performance, including statements relating to estimates of credit quality trends, and (ii) statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "may," "could," "should," "would," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "projects," "outlook" or similar expressions. The actual results might differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements for various reasons, including, but not limited to, our ability to manage growth, substantial changes in financial markets, regulatory changes, changes in interest rates, loss of deposits and loan demand to other savings and financial institutions, and changes in real estate values and the real estate market. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in the Company's SEC filings, including its periodic reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, copies of which are available upon request from the Company.

NewCenturyBankNC.com

New Century Bancorp, Inc.
Selected Financial Information and Other Data
($ in thousands, except per share data)
REVISED		At or for the three months ended					At or for the six months ended

		June 30, 2013	March 31, 2013	December 31, 2012	September 30, 2012	June 30, 2012	June 30, 2013	June 30, 2012	June 30, 2011
Summary of Operations:
	Total interest income	$ 5,968	$ 5,878	$ 5,990	$ 6,198	$ 6,325	$ 11,847	$ 12,944	$ 15,713
	Total interest expense	1,355	1,418	1,552	1,623	1,684	2,773	3,457	4,433
	Net interest income	4,613	4,460	4,438	4,575	4,641	9,074	9,487	11,280
	Provision for loan losses	(375)	(100)	-	189	(649)	(475)	(2,786)	3,706
	Net interest income after provision	4,988	4,560	4,438	4,386	5,290	9,549	12,273	7,574
	Noninterest income	755	619	1,015	757	1,199	1,373	1,826	1,533
	Noninterest expense	3,756	3,921	4,201	4,170	4,648	7,678	8,865	10,417
	Income before income taxes	1,987	1,258	1,252	973	1,841	3,244	5,234	(1,310)
	Provision for income taxes (benefit)	728	465	517	341	683	1,192	1,964	(570)
	Net income	$ 1,259	$ 793	$ 735	$ 632	$ 1,158	$ 2,052	$ 3,270	$ (740)

Share and Per Share Data:
	Earnings per share - basic	$ 0.18	$ 0.12	$ 0.11	$ 0.09	$ 0.17	$ 0.30	$ 0.47	$ (0.11)
	Earnings per share - diluted	$ 0.18	$ 0.12	$ 0.11	$ 0.09	$ 0.17	$ 0.30	$ 0.47	$ (0.11)
	Book value per share	$ 8.00	$ 7.93	$ 7.84	$ 7.76	$ 7.66	8.01	7.66	7.08
	Tangible book value per share	$ 7.97	$ 7.89	$ 7.79	$ 7.72	$ 7.61	7.98	7.61	6.99
	Ending shares outstanding	6,921,352	6,916,506	6,913,636	6,913,636	6,913,636	6,916,233	6,913,636	6,913,636
	Weighted average shares outstanding:
	Basic	6,921,352	6,914,934	6,913,636	6,913,636	6,913,636	6,916,233	6,913,636	6,913,636
	Diluted	6,922,942	6,916,011	6,914,345	6,914,085	6,913,636	6,917,471	6,913,636	6,913,636

Selected Performance Ratios:
	Return on average assets	0.91%	0.56%	0.50%	0.44%	0.83%	0.73%	1.15%	-0.24%
	Return on average equity	9.09%	5.86%	5.37%	4.69%	8.82%	7.52%	12.76%	-2.95%
	Net interest margin	3.61%	3.37%	3.33%	3.49%	3.63%	3.49%	3.64%	3.92%
	Efficiency ratio ⁽¹⁾	69.97%	77.20%	77.04%	78.21%	79.59%	73.50%	78.36%	81.30%

Period End Balance Sheet Data:
	Loans, held for sale	$ 406	$ 432	$ -	$ -	$ -	$ 406	$ -	$ -
	Loans, net of unearned income	355,651	360,431	367,892	386,096	390,403	355,245	390,403	458,523
	Total Earning Assets	499,819	523,675	543,674	525,962	515,397	499,819	515,397	583,854
	Core Deposit Intangible	240	269	298	327	356	240	356	622
	Total Assets	550,008	567,517	585,453	577,833	563,682	550,008	563,682	629,135
	Deposits	465,489	482,983	498,559	481,320	471,184	465,489	471,184	538,812
	Short term debt	13,858	14,658	17,848	26,195	22,953	13,858	22,953	23,746
	Long term debt	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	14,372
	Shareholders' equity	55,403	54,840	54,179	53,671	52,954	55,403	52,954	48,965

Selected Average Balances:
	Gross Loans	$ 359,559	$ 365,871	$ 375,413	$ 386,217	$ 396,190	$ 362,698	$ 402,600	$ 463,263
	Total Earning Assets	512,953	537,230	530,344	520,852	514,147	525,024	524,732	579,642
	Core Deposit Intangible	252	283	310	339	379	267	454	659
	Total Assets	557,298	577,092	580,974	569,048	563,850	567,141	574,232	631,205
	Deposits	472,986	489,150	485,844	474,069	471,829	481,024	483,739	577,956
	Short term debt	13,851	18,215	23,961	24,609	22,961	16,021	23,719	23,863
	Long term debt	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	12,372	14,372
	Shareholders' equity	55,529	54,890	54,352	53,619	52,783	55,211	51,541	50,525

Asset Quality Ratios:
	Nonperforming loans	$ 15,656	$ 11,180	$ 14,094	$ 18,613	$ 16,579	$ 14,518	$ 16,579	$ 16,307
	Other real estate owned	2,370	2,340	2,833	2,849	3,859	2,370	3,859	3,380
	Allowance for loan losses	7,218	7,775	7,897	8,588	8,510	7,218	8,510	10,378
	Nonperforming loans ⁽²⁾to period-end loans ⁽⁴⁾	4.40%	3.10%	3.83%	4.82%	4.25%	4.09%	4.25%	3.56%
	Allowance for loan losses to period-end loans ⁽⁴⁾	2.03%	2.16%	2.15%	2.22%	2.18%	2.03%	2.18%	2.26%
	Delinquency Ratio ⁽³⁾	0.87%	0.79%	0.32%	0.47%	0.77%	0.87%	0.77%	0.48%
	Net loan charge-offs to average loans	0.20%	0.02%	0.85%	0.11%	-0.42%	0.11%	0.63%	1.43%



(1) Efficiency ratio is calculated as non-interest expenses divided by the sum of net
	interest income and non-interest income.
(2) Nonperforming loans consist of non-accrual loans and restructured loans.
(3) Delinquency Ratio includes 30-89 days past due and excludes non-accrual loans.
(4) Excludes loans held for sale