SouthCrest Financial Group Reports Preliminary 4Q16 Earnings

SouthCrest Financial Group Reports Preliminary 4Q16 Earnings

WOODSTOCK, Ga., Jan. 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Brian D. Schmitt, Chief Executive Officer of SouthCrest Financial Group, Inc. (PinkSheets:SCSG) announced today that the Company reported preliminary net income of $315,000 or $0.04/share for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016.

“We continue to push towards our long term profit goals after what I view as a very successful fourth quarter for SouthCrest. We grew loans by over 20% annualized, we absorbed the cost of selling two newly closed locations, and we continue to make progress towards better customer relationships, a higher level of employee satisfaction and higher, more consistent profitability for our shareholders,” Schmitt said.

“The quarter included one-time, pre-tax expenses of approximately $700,000,” Schmitt continued.  “This was primarily due to the sale of two buildings and costs related to benefits and incentive plans. Excluding these one-time expenses, earnings for the quarter would have been $0.10/share.

“While we may have additional one-time expenses during the next few quarters as a result of additional building sales to improve our facilities costs, the goal is to have each individual sale meet a two-year earn-back hurdle,” Schmitt added. “At this time, we believe the largest of the potential losses have occurred, but we will use the two-year period to make each decision.” 

Core pre-tax earnings for the quarter were $1.14 million, with net unusual items during the quarter totaling $700,000 of pre-tax expenses.  On a core basis, expenses for the quarter were $4.4 million, flat with 3Q16 and down from approximately $5.6 million in 4Q15.  The Company continues to have a long-term ROA target of 1.0% after tax.

Loan growth was very strong, with balances increasing by nearly $16 million from 3Q16, a 23% annualized rate.  The Company added one new lender during the quarter, but actually achieved the loan growth with two fewer lenders net than the Company had in 3Q16.  Management currently expects significant loan growth to continue, although perhaps at a slightly slower pace than in the fourth quarter.  The Company is also currently targeting additional lending hires for the metro Atlanta market in 1Q17.

Deposits were lower year over year by 3%, which was primarily a result of an upwardly adjusted fee schedule and deposit pricing discipline. Deposits increased from 3Q16 by over 4% or 17% annualized, which is consistent with historic seasonality.  Balances in DDAs and interest bearing checking increased 4% year over year, with a 12% year over year decline in CD balances.

The estimated Tier 1 Leverage ratio at the end of the quarter for SouthCrest Bank was 9.20%.  On a fully converted basis (including the conversion of all preferred equity), TBV/share ended the quarter at $7.06 per share, with the decline completely driven by the decrease in the investment portfolio that occurred late in the quarter.  The current fully converted share count at the end of the quarter is 8.39 million shares.  In addition, the Company still retains a small deferred tax asset valuation allowance related to state taxes that totals approximately $0.06/fully converted share.

Asset quality continued its multi-quarter improvement trend, however the Company did move $2.8 million of bank buildings that are projected to be sold over the next several months to OREO.  Excluding these buildings 4Q16 NPAs/total assets declining to 0.83% of assets, including the buildings, the number level was 1.33%.  The sale of two of these buildings is expected to occur in 1Q17.  Excluding the impact of the Bank building OREO, NPAs stood at the lowest level since March, 2008, with OREO totaling only $667,000.   

ABOUT SOUTHCREST
SouthCrest Financial Group, Inc. is a $550 million asset bank holding company headquartered in Woodstock, Ga. The company operates a 10 branch network throughout Georgia and Alabama through its subsidiary bank, SouthCrest Bank, N.A.  The bank provides a full suite of retail and commercial banking services, and online banking services. 

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This presentation may contain certain “forward-looking statements” that are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results and shareholder values to differ materially from those projected.  Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include economic conditions, government regulation and legislation, changes in interest rates, credit quality, competition, and other risk factors. 

 Statement of Operations ($000s, Unaudited)                  
    2015     2016
  Q4   Q1   Q2   Q3   Q4
Interest Income                   
Loans                  
Construction and Development $ 205     $ 206     $ 143     $ 153     $ 150  
Commercial Real Estate   1,512       1,465       1,479       1,537       1,645  
Commercial Loans   275       280       280       276       291  
Multi Family   27       26       18       18       31  
Residential Mortgage   1,454       1,415       1,337       1,289       1,230  
Consumer Loans   178       166       156       139       122  
County/Municipal Loans   65       29       28       29       42  
Loss Share Loans   140       116       132       132       119  
Investment Securities                   
Federal Funds/Overnight Funds $ 22     $ 38     $ 27     $ 42     $ 28  
Bank Owned CDs   8       7       8       6       6  
Investment Securities   916       1,030       1,083       933       1039  
Total Interest Income  $ 4,803     $ 4,779     $ 4,685     $ 4,556     $ 4,703  
                   
Total Interest Expense  $ 302     $ 299     $ 267     $ 246     $ 247  
Net Interest Income  $ 4,501     $ 4,480     $ 4,417     $ 4,311     $ 4,456  
Provision for Loan Losses   150       50       0       0       94  
Net Interest Income after Loan Losses  $ 4,351     $ 4,430     $ 4,417     $ 4,311     $ 4,362  
                   
Other Income                  
Service Charges on Deposits $ 110     $ 105     $ 215     $ 245     $ 228  
NSF/Overdraft Fees   525       475       515       575       542  
Other Service Charges   93       74       79       96       83  
ATM/Billpay/DR Card Income   370       293       336       302       303  
Other Income   475       829       (47 )     339       -386  
Total Other Income  $ 1,573     $ 1,776     $ 1,098     $ 1,560     $ 768  
Non-Interest Expense                   
Salaries, Other Comp (+ FAS123R) $ 2,257     $ 2,006     $ 1,772     $ 1,705     $ 2,014  
Employee Benefits   645       591       360       707       463  
Occupancy & FF&E Expense   919       933       848       860       764  
Professional Fees   263       174       209       212       190  
Data Processing   321       305       521       536       525  
OREO/Credit related Exp.   146       41       36       36       36  
Other Expense   1,409       1,243       927       861       694  
Total Noninterest Expenses $ 5,960     $ 5,293     $ 4,673     $ 4,917     $ 4,687  
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)  ($ 36 )   $ 913     $ 842     $ 954     $ 443  
Income Taxes               (10,592 )     274       128  
Net Income ($ 36 )   $ 913     $ 11,434     $ 680     $ 315  
Preferred Dividends $ 125     $ 125     $ 125     $ 125     $ 125  
                   
                   
Balance Sheet ($000s, Unaudited)                  
    2015     2016
Assets Q4   Q1   Q2   Q3   Q4
Current Assets                  
Cash & Due from Bank $ 44,157     $ 30,427     $ 34,838     $ 31,268     $ 33,015  
Federal Funds/Overnight Funds   2,186       3,306       569       0       4,299  
Bank Owned CDs   1,815       1,815       1,716       1,218       1,069  
Investment Securities   174,998       191,905       161,177       182,614       176,723  
Mortgage Loans Held for Sale   899       0       0       0       0  
Total Current Assets $ 224,055     $ 227,452     $ 198,300     $ 215,100     $ 215,106  
Loans                  
Construction and Development $ 16,229     $ 13,692     $ 11,285     $ 9,776     $ 15,159  
Commercial Real Estate   118,780       116,175       119,419       121,609       138,155  
Commercial Loans   21,246       21,296       21,863       21,247       23,462  
Multi Family   2,117       1,450       1,419       1,401       2,281  
Residential Mortgage   114,803       110,094       107,270       102,512       97,194  
Consumer Loans   9,657       7,096       7,977       7,363       6,893  
County/Municipal Loans   3,911       3,537       4,501       6,456       3,387  
Loss Share Loans   9,543       9,360       7,689       7,589       7,123  
Total Loans $ 296,286     $ 282,700     $ 281,425     $ 277,952     $ 277,952  
Allowance for Loss   (3,052 )     (3,021 )     (2,817 )     (2,701 )     (2,766 )
Net Loans $ 293,234     $ 279,679     $ 278,608     $ 275,251     $ 290,888  
OREO   2,421       1,500       1,769       936       3,581  
FDIC Indemnification   474       419       433       425       304  
BOLI   20,265       20,391       20,548       20,683       20,816  
Fixed Assets, net $ 18,214     $ 17,671     $ 17,362     $ 16,967     $ 13,717  
Intangible Assets   618       583       555       507       468  
Other Assets   6,983       6,651       33,982       16,476       17,953  
Total Assets $ 566,264     $ 554,346     $ 551,557     $ 546,385     $ 562,833  
                   
                   
Liabilities & Stockholders’ Equity                  
Liabilities                  
Deposits                  
DDAs $ 130,877     $ 119,343     $ 112,974     $ 111,290     $ 125,459  
Interest Bearing Demand   62,784       61,172       55,248       54,552       65,654  
Celebration Checking   97,316       108,076       110,894       111,544       112,355  
Money Market Accts   38,643       35,289       33,858       33,956       32,271  
Savings   55,550       55,831       53,397       52,061       50,495  
CDs Less Than $100k   81,930       79,221       76,301       73,964       72,091  
CDs Greater than $100k   44,080       39,576       40,585       39,832       38,922  
Total Deposits $ 511,180     $ 498,508     $ 483,257     $ 477,388     $ 497,247  
                   
                   
Other Liabilities   2,690       1,988       1,919       2,281       1,252  
Net Borrowings (Wholesale Funding)                     317        
Total Liabilities $ 513,870     $ 500,496     $ 485,176     $ 479,797     $ 498,499  
Total Equity   52,394       53,850       66,381       66,548       64,334  
Total Liabilities & Stockholders’ Equity $ 566,264     $ 554,346     $ 551,557     $ 546,345     $ 562,833  
                   
                   
Ratios                  
  4Q 2015   1Q 2016   2Q 2016   3Q 2016*   4Q 2016*
ROAA   -0.01 %     0.66 %     8.29 %     0.53 %     0.22 %
ROAE   -0.1 %     6.8 %     76.1 %     4.74 %     1.96 %
NPAs/Assets (Core)   1.4 %     1.18 %     1.08 %     0.91 %     0.83 %
Est. Tier 1 Leverage   8.87 %     8.94 %     9.54 %     9.84 %     9.73 %
Total Common Equiv. Shares   8,380,337       8,380,337       8,380,337       8,380,337       8,389,954  
NIM   3.57 %     3.47 %     3.59 %     3.59 %     3.67 %
Cost of Funds   0.24 %     0.24 %     0.22 %     0.20 %     0.20 %
Loan/Deposit   57.9 %     56.6 %     58.2 %     58.2 %     59.0 %
Employees   153       129       127       123       122  
                   
*3Q2016 and later ROAA and ROAE are after tax vs. pre-tax prior to 2Q 2016.  2Q 2016 includes DTA valuation allowance recovery.        
         
Contact: Andy Borrmann Chief Financial Officer 678.734.3505