Plumas Bancorp (PLBC)

[56Chevy]

Plumas Bancorp Reports a 175% Increase in Quarterly Earnings

Date : 04/30/2013 @ 9:00AM
Source : Marketwired
Stock : Plumas Bancorp (MM) (PLBC)
Quote : $6.0 -0.33 (-5.21%) @ 10:05AM

QUINCY, CA, Apr 30, 2013 (Marketwired via COMTEX) -- Plumas Bancorp /quotes/zigman/88208/quotes/nls/plbc PLBC -5.21% , a bank holding company and the parent company of Plumas Bank, today announced first quarter 2013 earnings of $616 thousand an increase of 175% from $224 thousand during the first quarter of 2012.

Net income allocable to common shareholders increased by $392 thousand to $445 thousand or $0.09 per share during the three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to $53 thousand or $0.01 per share during the comparable three month period in 2012. (Income allocable to common shareholders is calculated by subtracting dividends and discount amortized on preferred stock from net income.)

Andrew J. Ryback, president and chief executive officer of the Company and the Bank, remarked, "The Board of Directors, executives and I are very pleased with the marked improvement in our performance for the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same quarter a year ago. Our success in growing and diversifying our loan portfolio combined with our focus on maximizing productivity and efficiency are key factors in our continued earnings growth." He added, "Our Company has come a long way by being focused on improving asset quality and growing our core bank earnings."

Ryback continued, "We are also pleased to announce several very important recent developments. First, on April 19, 2013, the Company received notification that the Written Agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, originally entered into on July 28, 2011, was lifted. Our Board of Directors and management team have worked tirelessly to improve our financial condition and it is rewarding to have our regulators acknowledge this improvement by terminating the Written Agreement.

"Another significant development that occurred in April was the repurchase at auction of preferred shares that were issued to the United States Department of Treasury during the low point of the economic recession. If you'll recall, on January 30, 2009, the Company issued 11,949 shares of non-voting preferred shares to the Treasury for the purpose of shoring up our capital position in support of our efforts to improve the asset quality of our loan portfolio. Now, four years later, after having made significant progress towards achievement of our asset-quality improvement goals, we have been successful in repurchasing 7,000 shares, or approximately 60%, of the outstanding securities from the Treasury for $7.6 million. This repurchase at auction results in a discount of approximately 7% on the face value of the preferred shares plus related outstanding dividends. In order to repurchase these preferred securities, the Company used proceeds from the April 15, 2013, issuance of $7.5 million in unsecured borrowings from an unrelated third party. The Company plans to repurchase the remaining 4,949 preferred shares through the continued retention of earnings.

"The repayment to the Treasury and the exit from this government program are indicators of the Bank's progress in successfully navigating through the global financial crisis while at the same time protecting our common shareholders' best interests. Not many of our community bank competitors can say the same. Some of these institutions were unable to access sufficient capital in any form, and as a result, their institutions failed. Many of the institutions that survived did so by issuing dilutive common stock at prices below book value. Our Company on the other hand, was able to access non-dilutive capital and with our strengthening financial condition we are now in a position to repurchase these preferred shares."

Ryback concluded, "With the Treasury auction now behind us we are thrilled to be able to return our full attention to the business of banking as well as our other long-term strategic initiatives. As always, we are appreciative of the patience and support from our shareholders, clients and employees."

Financial Highlights

Three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to March 31, 2012

-- Annualized earnings on average common equity increased from 0.8% in 2012 to 5.9% during the three months ended March 31, 2013.

-- Annualized return on average assets increased from 0.20% to 0.53%.

-- Income before provision for taxes increased by $604 thousand to $954 thousand.

-- Net Interest income increased by $221 thousand, or 5.4% to $4.3 million.

-- Non-interest income increased by $273 thousand and non-interest expense declined by $210 thousand.

-- Net interest margin for the three months ended March 31, 2013 increased to 4.15% compared to 4.09% during the same 2012 quarter.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/plumas-bancorp-reports-a-175-increase-in-quarterly-earnings-2013-04-30

*I do not own shares of PLBC at this time. pps as of 6/17/2013 was an even $6.