Standard Financial Corp. Announces Quarterly Dividend Payment And First Quarter Earnings

MONROEVILLE, Pa., Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard Financial Corp. (the "Company") -  (OTCQB: STND), the holding company for Standard Bank PaSB, today announced earnings for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 of $769,000 or $0.28 per share compared to $754,000 or $0.24 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.  The Company's annualized return on average assets and average equity were 0.71% and 4.17%, respectively, for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 compared to 0.69% and 3.77%, respectively, for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

The Company's board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.045 per share of the Company's common stock.  The dividend will be payable to stockholders of record as of February 7, 2014 and will be paid on February 21, 2014.   

Additionally, the Company's board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to 299,100 shares, or approximately 10%, of the Company's outstanding common stock. The stock will be repurchased on an ongoing basis and will be subject to the availability of stock, general market conditions, the trading price of the stock, alternative uses for capital and the Company's financial performance. However, the repurchase program will only become effective at the time that the Company has completed the purchase of authorized shares available for repurchase under the currently effective repurchase program which has 89,524 shares remaining to be repurchased.  

Timothy K. Zimmerman, President & CEO, stated, "We are extremely pleased and believe it is prudent to continue our stock repurchase plan at this time.  The operating environment continues to be very difficult, however, the marginal improvement in earnings is gratifying given all of the challenges we are facing.  There were some encouraging signs during the quarter including moderation of the interest rate margin compression and continued improvement in asset quality and loan demand.  The delisting of our common stock from the Nasdaq Stock Market and deregistration as a Securities and Exchange Commission reporting company is now complete.  We expect to see the related cost savings in our operating results going forward."

Net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 increased $15,000 or 2.0% compared to the same quarter in the prior year.  The increase was primarily the result of a decrease of $225,000 in the provision for loan losses partially offset by lower net interest income of $114,000 or 3.8% and higher noninterest expenses of $111,000 or 4.5% for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 compared to the same quarter in the prior year.

Net interest income declined to $2.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2013 from $3.0 million for the three months ended December 31, 2012. The decrease in net interest income resulted primarily from a lower average yield on interest-earning assets partially offset by a lower average cost of funds.

No provision for loan losses was recorded for the current quarter compared to $225,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.  Non-performing loans at December 31, 2013 were $1.3 million or 0.45% of total loans compared to $2.0 million or 0.68% of total loans at September 30, 2013 and $4.0 million or 1.35% of total loans at December 31, 2012.  The allowance for loan losses to non-performing loans was 319.2% at December 31, 2013 compared to 192.7% at September 30, 2013.

Noninterest income totaled $695,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 compared to $686,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.  The increase in noninterest income was due mainly to higher service fee and other income partly offset by lower net gains on loan sales.

Noninterest expenses totaled $2.6 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 compared to $2.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. The increase in noninterest expenses was due mainly to higher costs relating to real estate owned properties.                            

Standard Financial Corp., with total assets of $432.1 million at December 31, 2013, is the parent company of Standard Bank, a Pennsylvania chartered savings bank which operates ten offices serving individuals and small to mid-sized businesses in Allegheny, Westmoreland and Bedford Counties, in Pennsylvania and Allegany County in Maryland.  Standard Bank is a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender. 

This news release may contain a number of forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors.  The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date on which such statements were made. 

SOURCE Standard Financial Corp.