WFSC.. $5.75
Weststar Financial Services Corporation Ranked First In North Carolina By Davenport
Aug 31, 2009 09:50:00 (ET)
ASHEVILLE, N.C., Aug 31, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- For the quarter ended June 30, 2009, Weststar Financial Services Corporation (WFSC, Trade ), parent company of The Bank of Asheville, was ranked first in performance and 8th in valuation out of 33 banks in North Carolina by Davenport and Company, LLC in their Davenport Community Bank Quarterly. Financial institutions included in the report ranged in size from $174 million to $2.3 trillion. Davenport's model is somewhat similar to bank regulators' CAMELS System, which evaluates a bank's financial condition in six areas: Capital, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to Market Risk. Their methodology ranked banks according to five categories: profitability, capital, liquidity, asset quality and valuation. The first four categories address company fundamentals and are combined to establish a performance ranking. The valuation ranking is based on price to book value, price to last twelve months earnings and dividend yield.
Weststar exceeded the median in all five ratios used for computing profitability: return on assets, return on equity, efficiency, operating revenue growth and net earnings per share growth. For capital ratios, the Company exceeded the median in tangible equity to assets. The Company also outperformed its peers in all categories of asset quality and liquidity measures.
G. Gordon Greenwood, President and CEO stated, "We thank all our associates for their hard work and commitment that has helped us to achieve this distinction. We also appreciate the great support of our customers and shareholders, who have helped the Company grow and maintain profitability. For without them, we would not have reached this goal. Our commitment remains to be the leading community bank serving Asheville and Buncombe County."
Weststar Financial Services Corporation is the parent company of The Bank of Asheville. Weststar Financial Services Corporation owns 100% interest in Weststar Financial Services Corporation I, a statutory trust. The Bank operates five full-service banking offices in Buncombe County, North Carolina - Downtown Asheville, Candler, Leicester, South Asheville and Reynolds.
This news release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain factors that may cause the company's results to vary from those expected. These factors include changing economic and financial market conditions, competition, ability to execute our business plan, items already mentioned in this press release, and other factors described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's judgment only as of the date hereof. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events and circumstances that arise after the date hereof.
SOURCE Weststar Financial Services Corporation
