Seacoast Banking Generates Organic Loan Growth of 12% in 2014; Acquisition and Growth Expands Net Interest Margin 39 bps and Boosts Core Profitability

STUART, Fla., Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Fourth Quarter 2014 Earnings Highlights

• Adjusted net income,⁽¹⁾ (excluding merger costs and other adjustments) for the fourth quarter 2014 increased 27% to $4.2 million or $ 0.13 per diluted share, compared to $3.3 million, or $0.13 per diluted share in 3Q14. Based on GAAP, the net loss in 4Q14 was $1.5 million or ($0.05) per share, including merger charges and other adjustments.
• Fully implemented previously announced expense reductions of $1.8 million and merger savings of $5.5 million during quarter. Total impact will be realized in 1Q15 as the savings achieve full quarter effect.
• Net interest margin improved to 3.56% compared with 3.17% in preceding quarter due to loan growth, acquisition, and investment purchases.

⁽¹⁾ Non-GAAP measure, see reconcilement to GAAP at end of this release.

Fourth Quarter 2014 Growth Highlights

• Assets increased $731.5 million or 31.0% from the preceding quarter, reflecting the $683.2 million from acquisition of The BANKshares, Inc.
• Total loans increased $430.8 million or 31.0% from 3Q14. Adjusting for loans acquired, the loan portfolio grew $66.5 million, or 3.8% in the quarter and 11.8% year-over-year.
• Deposits increased $608.0 million or 33.6% from the prior quarter; excluding deposits acquired, total deposits increased $91.7 million.
• Noninterest bearing deposits grew to 30.0% of total deposits, from 25.7% one year ago.

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ-NMS: SBCF) today reported a fourth quarter 2014 net loss of $1.5 million or ($0.05) per share. Excluding merger related charges and other adjustments as described below, adjusted net income increased 27% to $4.2 million or $0.13 per diluted common share, compared to $3.3 million, or $0.13 per diluted common share in the preceding quarter and $600,000, or $0.03 per diluted common share, a year ago. The company recorded a loan loss provision of $118,000, compared to a recovery of $1.4 million in the preceding quarter and a provision of $490 thousand, a year ago.

"The highlight of 2014 was our acquisition of The BANKshares, Inc., which closed on October 1 and expanded our presence in central Florida, particularly the greater Orlando market.  This acquisition contributed $516.3 million in deposits and $364.3 million in loans to our balance sheet, and significantly boosted net interest margin in the fourth quarter.  It also provides excellent opportunities for future growth in one of Florida's fastest growing markets," said Dennis S. Hudson, III, Chairman and CEO.

"Florida's economic recovery is now well established, with solid job growth, declining unemployment, and high consumer confidence fueling the improvements in our markets," Hudson continued.  "We believe the Florida economy will further strengthen in 2015, as we continue to attract population inflows.  Our housing markets, manufacturing base, tourism and services industries are building on current momentum, and provide a diversified base for our economy.  For more information on these trends, please note the source reports sited at the end of this release."

(1)     Non-GAAP measure

Management believes that the Non-GAAP measures presented facilitates the understanding of the Company's underlying operational performance and potential future prospects.

          

Organic Customer Growth and Acquisition Improve Low Cost Funding

• Noninterest bearing demand deposits increased to 30.0% of total deposits compared with 28.9% for the third quarter 2014 and 25.7% for the fourth quarter of 2013, and;
• Average cost of deposits decreased to 11 basis points from third quarter's 12 basis points and compared to 14 basis points a year ago.

Core customer funding totaled $2.246 billion at December 31, 2014, a $566.9 million increase from the fourth quarter of 2013.  This growth included the acquisition of The BANKShares with approximately $516.3 million in total deposits consisting of $208.4 million in demand deposits, $220.5 million in NOW, money market, and savings accounts, and $87.4 million in certificates of deposit. 

"We are continuing to generate growth in low-cost customer funding as a result of stronger sales execution and return on our investments in digital access for our customers and automated and digital marketing technology in early 2014.  This growth occurred despite announcing and closing six branch locations," said Hudson.  "Our effort to acquire, grow, and retain profitable consumer and business customers resulted in stronger household growth in 2014.  The acquisition of BANKshares increases our number of households by approximately 13%, further strengthening our customer base. We are executing improvements in the number of services per household as we focuses on cross sell execution at account opening and follow-on cross sell offerings through our automated marketing platform delivered via email, telemarketing and outbound direct mail.  The growth in new households, a deepening of relationships with current households, and better retention overall is creating stronger value in our core customer franchise."

(1)   Total deposits and sweep repurchase agreements, excluding certificates of deposits.

Organic Loan Growth and Acquisition Improves Loan Portfolio Yield

Total loans were $1.822 billion at December 31, 2014, up $430.8 million from September 30, 2014.  Excluding loans acquired totaling $364.3 million after fair value adjustments, net loans grew $66.5 million or 3.8% (15% annualized) from the third quarter.

Residential real estate mortgage loans declined to 29.4% of total loans at year end compared with 36.6% in the third quarter of 2014 and 37.0% one year earlier.  New loan production and the acquisition resulted in increases in owner occupied commercial real estate loans, commercial real estate loans and commercial and financial loans and consumer loans.  The overall loan portfolio yield increased to 4.67% in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared with 4.26% in the third quarter and 4.29% in the fourth quarter of 2013.   

As indicated in the table below, commercial loan originations for the quarter totaled $94.7 million, an increase of $22.1 million linked quarter and $34.7 million higher than the fourth quarter a year ago.  Commercial loans originated in 2014 totaled $258.0 million, an increase of $58.3 million from 2013, and $146.6 million from 2012. 

• Closed residential mortgage production totaled $57.9 million compared to $66.0 million in the third quarter and $52.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2013; and
• Consumer loan originations (inclusive of lines of credit) totaled $28.3 million compared to $24.5 million in the third quarter, and $8.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Income Statement Highlights

Net interest Income and Margin

Net interest income for the quarter totaled $24.7 million, a $7.54 million increase from the prior quarter. Net interest margin for the quarter increased to 3.56% versus 3.13% (which excludes the 4 bps of nonaccrual loan interest recoveries) in the third quarter.  The acquisition of BANKshares improved the loan mix, which together with organic loan growth during the quarter contributed approximately 33 bps to the margin improvement, in line with expectations. 

During the third and fourth quarters of 2014 average investment securities increased $234.9 million, or $149.5 million excluding securities acquired from the BANKshares acquisition.  Funding for the increase in investments was derived from liquidity, both legacy and that acquired in the merger, and an increase in seasonal funding from our core customer deposit base.  Investments added during the third and fourth quarters were primarily uncapped, floating rate, senior collateralized loan obligations (CLO) securities with average yields at static LIBOR ranging from 1.40 to 3.30% and credit support ranging from 17 to 36%.  The weighted average life of these securities at December 31, 2014, was approximately 6.5 years.  The deployment of liquidity and organic balance sheet growth contributed approximately 10 bps to the margin improvement in the fourth quarter.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income (excluding security gains) increased $992,000 from September 30, 2014.  This increase includes a full quarter effect of fees generated from BANKshares accounts.  Bank owned life insurance investments were transferred to Seacoast as a result of the acquisition, which were added to policies directly acquired during the quarter.  The addition of these investments will provide approximately $1.3 million in tax exempt revenues in 2015.

Noninterest Expense

"During the quarter, we fully implemented previously announced cost reductions primarily from streamlining our core branch network, generating savings totaling $1.8 million annualized.  As expected, the one-time charges were incurred in the fourth quarter and totaled approximately $4.3 million," said Bill Hahl, Chief Financial Officer.  Previously announced annualized cost reductions totaling in excess of $5.5 million were also completed in the fourth quarter relating to the acquisition of BANKshares.  The benefit associated with both items only partially impacted the fourth quarter. Taken together they are expected to further reduce expenses by an additional $1.1 million in the first quarter of 2015.  These expected additional savings were not included in the computation of Adjusted Net Income for the current quarter.

(1)     Non-GAAP measure

Merger related charges in the fourth quarter totaled approximately $2.7 million and were primarily related to core system conversion costs, software and other contract termination charges, and investment banking fees.  All charges related to the acquisition have been incurred or are not expected to be material to earnings moving forward.  We also increased our accrual of long term stock compensation expense related to an improved outlook and other incentive costs related to better than expected production.   

"During the quarter, we invested approximately $697,000 in marketing and other expenditures to refresh and reintroduce our brand," Hudson continued.  "As a part of this brand refresh, we retooled our logo and associated signage throughout our branch network and digital platforms.  All costs for this logo change and additional branding were incurred in the fourth quarter.

Income Taxes

The effective tax rate for the year was 44.4 %.  Moving forward into the first quarter of 2015, this rate is expected to fall into a range of 36 to 38%, assuming no further nondeductible merger related charges are incurred, as expected. The anticipated 2015 rate reduction reflects the acquisition of the tax exempt bank owned life insurance policies in the fourth quarter of 2014 and additional tax exempt municipal securities transferred in the BANKshares acquisition. 

Other Highlights

Credit Quality

Reflecting organic loan growth and the accounting treatment for the newly acquired loans, the provision for loan losses was $118,000 for the fourth quarter of 2014 versus net recoveries of $3.6 million for the first nine months of 2014.  Acquired loans were recorded in accordance with ASC Topic 805.  As a result, loans acquired on October 1, 2014 from BANKshares, Inc. did not have an allocation for loan losses and were recorded at fair value.  Additional highlights include:

• Nonperforming loans to total loans outstanding at the end of the fourth quarter of 1.2%, down from 2.1 % at December 31, 2013;
• Nonperforming assets to total assets declined to 0.9%, compared to 1.5% a year ago;
• The allowance for loan losses for non-acquired loans to total non-acquired loans was 1.14% at year-end compared with 1.26% in the third quarter of 2014 and 1.54% one year ago.  The discount recorded for acquired loans to total acquired loans at year end was 3.56%.

Capital Ratios

Capital ratios remain healthy and well above regulatory requirements for well-capitalized institutions.  Tier 1 capital ratio is estimated at 17.7% and the total risk based capital ratio was 18.6% at December 31, 2014.  The tier 1 leverage ratio is estimated at 11.7% at December 31, 2014 compared to 11.3 % at September 30, 2014 and 9.6 % the prior year. 

Explanation of Certain Unaudited Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains financial information determined by methods other than Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"). The financial highlights provide reconciliations between GAAP net income and adjusted net income, GAAP income and adjusted pretax, pre-provision income.  Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in its analysis of the Company's performance and believes these presentations provide useful supplemental information, and a clearer understanding of the Company's performance.  The Company believes the non-GAAP measures enhance investors' understanding of the Company's business and performance. These measures are also useful in understanding performance trends and facilitate comparisons with the performance of other financial institutions. The limitations associated with operating measures are the risk that persons might disagree as to the appropriateness of items comprising these measures and that different companies might calculate these measures differently. The Company provides reconciliations between GAAP and these non-GAAP measures. These disclosures should not be considered an alternative to GAAP.

Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Measures.  All amounts are in thousands except per share data (unaudited):

Adjusted Net Income

To better evaluate its earnings, the Company removes certain items to arrive at Adjusted net income, Adjusted pretax, pre-provision income and Adjusted diluted earnings per share (non-GAAP measures) as detailed in the table below:

(1)     Non-GAAP measure

Conference Call Information

Seacoast will host a conference call on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss the earnings results.  Investors may call in at (800) 774-6070 (passcode: 7789246; host: Dennis S. Hudson).  Slides will be used during the conference call and may be accessed at Seacoast's website at SeacoastBanking.net by selecting "Presentations" under the heading "Investor Services."  A replay of the call will be available for one month, the afternoon of January 28, by dialing (888) 843-7419 (domestic), using the passcode 7789246.

Alternatively, individuals may listen to the live webcast of the presentation by visiting Seacoast's website at SeacoastBanking.net.  The link is located in the subsection "Presentations" under the heading "Investor Services."  Beginning the afternoon of January 28, an archived version of the webcast can be accessed from this same subsection of the website.  The archived webcast will be available for one year.   

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ: SBCF)

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is one of the largest community banks headquartered in Florida with approximately $3.1 billion in assets and $2.4 billion in deposits. The Company provides integrated financial services including commercial and retail banking, wealth management, and mortgage services to customers through 43 traditional branches of its locally-branded wholly-owned subsidiary bank, Seacoast National Bank (including BANKshares offices), and five Accelerate Commercial Banking Centers.  Offices stretch from  Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach north through the Space Coast of Florida, into Orlando and Central Florida, and west to Okeechobee and surrounding counties.

Sources: 

http://iec.ucf.edu/file.axd?file=2014%2f12%2ffl-forecast-december-2014-s.pdf

http://floridataxwatch.org/resources/pdf/EconPreview2015.pdf

http://media.floridarealtors.org/market-data/

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/2997

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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, ability to realized deferred tax assets, 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, tax and regulatory changes; changes in accounting policies, rules and practices; the risks of changes in interest rates on the level and composition of deposits, loan demand, liquidity 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, 2013, under "Special Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors", and otherwise in our SEC reports and filings.  Such reports are available upon request from the Company, or from the Securities and Exchange Commission, including through the SEC's Internet website at http://www.sec.gov.

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SOURCE Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Related Links

http://www.seacoastbanking.net