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8-K - 8-K - UNITED BANCORP INC /OH/d810123d8k.htm

EXHIBIT 99

 

 

LOGO

P. O. BOX 10 MARTINS FERRY, OHIO 43935 Phone: 740/633-BANK         Fax:740/633-1448

We are United to Better Serve You

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

 

United Bancorp, Inc. 201 South Fourth Street, Martins Ferry, OH 43935

 

Contact:    Scott A. Everson    Randall M. Greenwood
   President and CEO    Senior Vice President, CFO and Treasurer
Phone:    (740) 633-0445 Ext. 6154    (740) 633-0445 Ext. 6181
   ceo@unitedbancorp.com    cfo@unitedbancorp.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:         1:00 p.m. October 24, 2014

 

Subject:    United Bancorp, Inc. Reports Quarterly Diluted Earnings per Share of $0.38 for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2014, and $0.14 for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2014 driven by a Growth in Core Earnings

MARTINS FERRY, OHIO ¨¨¨ United Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: UBCP), headquartered in Martins Ferry, Ohio reported diluted earnings per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 of $0.38 compared to $0.41 for the same period in 2013. Both net income and diluted earnings per share decreased for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 due to a net decrease of $900,000 related to a non-core, tax-exempt BOLI benefit. Excluding this net BOLI benefit, core earnings realized for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 increased by $805,000. On a linked quarter basis, earnings have increased for each of the quarterly periods in the current year and it is anticipated that this positive trend will continue in the coming quarters. The increase in core earnings for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 can be attributed to several key factors including a reduction in the provision for loan losses, a reduction in the provision for losses on impairment on foreclosed real estate, an increase in service charge income and a decrease in the level of overall non-interest expense or overhead. Each of these factors has led to continued core earnings improvement this year as explained below.

Randall M. Greenwood, Senior Vice President, CFO and Treasurer remarked, “We are very happy to report on the core earnings improvement of our Company for the nine months ended September 30, 2014. From an operating perspective, the Company’s net interest margin improved to 3.86% as of September 30, 2014 compared to 3.59% the prior year. The Company was able to improve its margin by originating quality loans and decreasing its levels of higher costing deposits and lower-yielding investment alternatives at the Federal Reserve. On a year-over-year basis, Average loans were up by $17.8 million, or 6.01%, while higher costing time deposits and short term, lower-yielding investment alternatives, listed as Average cash and due from Federal Reserve Bank, were down by $12.3 million, or 14.85%, and $29.9 million, or 46.22%, respectively. The Company continued to keep its excess funds in lower-yielding investment alternatives, which totaled $34.7 million on an average basis as of September 30, 2014, and resist the temptation of extending the duration of its investment portfolio to achieve higher investment yields which would produce higher levels of revenue in the present term. This conservative posture continued to be maintained to protect the Company’s capital and earnings when interest rates increase in future periods to more normalized levels. The Company’s investment in marketable securities declined on an average basis by $7.2 million, or 19.47%, from September 30, 2013 to September 30, 2014 to a level of $29.8 million. The Company’s credit quality improved as non-accrual loans were down $1.5 million, or 51.58%, to a level of $1.4 million and net loans charged off were $528,000, or 0.17% of average loans, which was down by $229,000, or 30.23%, from the previous year. With the improvement in credit quality, the Company decreased the provision for loan losses which was $657,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 compared to $1,013,106 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, a decrease of $356,000. Even with this reduction in the provision for loan losses, the overall total allowance for loan losses to total loans was 0.97% resulting in a total allowance for loan losses to nonperforming loans of 221.92%, compared to 0.99% and 105.34% respectively at September 30, 2013. With this continued trend of improving credit quality and coverage, the Company projects a further reduction of its provision for loan losses which will have a positive impact on future core earnings.

The Company continued to see a positive return on its strategy of attracting additional customers into lower-cost funding accounts while allowing higher-cost funding to run off. From September 30, 2013 to September 30, 2014, its lower-cost funding accounts increased $15.3 million or 6.5%. This higher level of transaction-type accounts contributed to service charges on deposit accounts increasing by $346,000, or 20.27%, on a year-over-year basis as of September 30, 2014. As the Company continues with this focus of attracting a higher level of transactional-type accounts, it is projected this trend of increasing service charges on deposit accounts will continue even with the heightened implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act which could have a limiting effect on the level of revenue realized per account. This potential limitation will be offset by the Company’s focus on attracting a higher number of transaction accounts that can generate fee based income. Lastly, noninterest expense decreased on a year-over-year basis by $553,000 or 5.23%. Without the previously disclosed


impairment charge of $152,720 taken in the first quarter of this year relating to a foundational collapse that rendered a bank-owned foreclosed real estate property in a condemned state, non-interest expense would have decreased even further for the nine months ended September 30, 2014. The major components of this decrease in non interest expense are reduced salary and benefits costs, reduced provision for losses on foreclosed real estate and decreased Ohio Franchise taxes due to a change in tax laws. Our goal is controlling our noninterest expense while continuing to build and strengthen our operational foundation which will lead to future growth, higher levels of core earnings and, ultimately, a higher level of performance. In the first nine months of this year, we have successfully met this objective and will continue with this focus in the coming quarters.” Greenwood concluded, “With our new retail and training facility which opened toward the end of the second quarter of 2013, the shifting of lower yielding liquid assets into higher yielding quality loans, the continuing growth in service charge income on deposit accounts, the controlling of our overhead and the potential lowering of our loan loss provision, we are projecting continued improvement in our profitability.”

Scott A. Everson, President and CEO stated, “Our conservative risk management posture of keeping our liquidity in short term, lower-yielding investments and not leveraging our investment portfolio by stretching for yield has had somewhat of a limiting effect on our earnings over the course of the past few years. Even with this reality, we firmly believe that our present posture is the prudent one to take with the anticipation of interest rates increasing as the Federal Reserve eases out of its current monetary policy which began this past December with the tapering of its level of asset purchases under its quantitative easing policy (QE). This tapering of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve continues and is anticipated to come to a conclusion by year-end. The Fed’s planned finalization of QE coupled with the anticipation of the easing out of its zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) could put pressure on interest rates to increase within the next twelve to eighteen months. At present, we continue to aggressively make more asset sensitive, quality loans in our banking communities and resist seeking a higher return by stretching the duration of our investment portfolio until we see rates tied to longer-term investment alternatives, such as the 10 Year U.S. Treasury, reach more normalized historic levels. By investing in longer maturity securities today, we could expose our shareholders to losses in capital and earnings when interest rates normalize upward. As you can see in our financial statements, this conservative investment strategy has helped our Company preserve its book value, which improved on a year-over-year basis from $7.72 to $8.30, an increase of 7.51%, and has increased our shareholder’s equity by $3.0 million, or 8.2%, and equity to assets to a level of 9.97% as of September 30, 2014. We continue to be satisfied with our current strategy which has led to higher levels of core earnings and has enabled us to maintain our very generous dividend policy with our cash dividend having a market yield of 3.97% based upon our closing price this past quarter end. Our strategy has also led to our maintaining higher levels of capital and reserves which places our Company in the well-capitalized classification and gives us the ability to quickly grow our earning assets when it is more optimal to do so. We are extremely proud of the fact that our Company was recognized this year by American Banker Magazine as one of the top twenty-five publically traded U.S. banks and thrifts with the highest dividend yield in our country… coming in at number sixteen.” Everson concluded, “We continue to project our present strategy will lead to higher levels of core earnings in the coming quarters as we shift more of our lower-yielding liquid investments into higher-yielding quality loans and attract a higher level of low costing, fee generating accounts to our Company. In addition, we firmly believe that our Company will benefit when interest rates reach more normalized levels and we can comfortably leverage our capital by growing our investment portfolio to levels at which we are more historically accustomed. With our focused commitment to remaining disciplined with our strategy and the improving core earnings of our Company over the course of the past year, we have seen our market value improve by closing on September 30, 2014 at $8.06, an increase of 20.84% from September 30, 2013. Being a strong and profitable Company in this presently changing regulatory and economic environment and rewarding our owners with solid growth in their shareholder value continues to be our priority and our long term focus.”

United Bancorp, Inc. is headquartered in Martins Ferry, Ohio with total assets of approximately $402.8 million and total shareholder’s equity of approximately $40.1 million as of September 30, 2014. Through its single bank charter with its nineteen banking offices, a dedicated training center and an operations center, The Citizens Savings Bank through its Community Bank Division serves Athens and Fairfield Counties and through its Citizens Bank Division serves Belmont, Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson and Tuscarawas Counties in Ohio. United Bancorp, Inc. is a part of the Russell Microcap Index and trades on The NASDAQ Capital Market tier of the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol UBCP, Cusip #909911109.

Certain statements contained herein are not based on historical facts and are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements, which are based on various assumptions (some of which are beyond the Company’s control), may be identified by reference to a future period or periods, or by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as “project,” “may,” “will,” “believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “continue,” or similar terms or variations on those terms, or the negative of these terms. Actual results could differ materially from those set forth in forward-looking statements, due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, those related to the economic environment, particularly in the market areas in which the company operates, competitive products and pricing, fiscal and monetary policies of the U.S. Government, changes in government regulations affecting financial institutions, including regulatory fees and capital requirements, changes in prevailing interest rates, acquisitions and the integration of acquired businesses, credit risk management, asset/liability management, changes in the financial and securities markets, including changes with respect to the market value of our financial assets, and the availability of and costs associated with sources of liquidity. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or carry forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


United Bancorp, Inc. (“UBCP”)

 

     For the Three Months Ended September 30,     %  
     2014     2013     Change  

Earnings

      

Interest income on loans

   $ 3,674,510      $ 3,716,158        -1.12

Loan fees

     283,510        280,179        1.19

Interest income on securities

     177,697        234,458        -24.21
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total interest income

     4,135,717        4,230,795        -2.25

Total interest expense

     615,752        750,102        -17.91
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

Net interest income

     3,519,965        3,480,693        1.13

Provision for loan losses

     225,000        354,059        -36.45

Net interest income after provision for loan losses

     3,294,965        3,126,634        5.38

Service charges on deposit accounts

     723,896        627,484        15.36

Net realized gains on sale of loans

     6,304        4,205        49.92

BOLI benefit in excess of surrender value

     —          935,000        N/A   

Net realized gain on sale of other real estate and repossessions

     10,256        —          N/A   

Gain on sales of available-for-sale securities -net

     26,660        —          N/A   

Other noninterest income

     203,134        224,810        -9.64

Total noninterest income

     970,250        1,791,499        -45.84

FDIC insurance premiums

     56,999        74,399        -23.39

Provision for losses on impairment of foreclosed real estate

     16,920        219,750        N/A   

Other noninterest expense

      

(Excluding FDIC insurance premiums and provision for losses on impairment of foreclosed real estate)

     3,177,625        3,538,661        -10.20

Total noninterest expense

     3,251,544        3,832,810        -15.17

Income tax expense

     295,456        6,518        4432.92
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

Net income

   $ 718,215      $ 1,078,805        -33.42

Per share

      

Earnings per common share - Basic

   $ 0.14      $ 0.22        -36.36

Earnings per common share - Diluted

     0.14        0.22        -36.36

Cash Dividends paid

     0.08        0.07        14.29

Shares Outstanding

      

Average - Basic

     4,857,652        4,804,957        —     

Average - Diluted

     4,933,466        4,864,621        —     
     For the Nine Months Ended September 30,     %  
     2014     2013     Change  

Earnings

      

Interest income on loans

   $ 11,077,918      $ 11,164,776        -0.78

Loan fees

     696,833        801,017        -13.01

Interest income on securities

     592,127        806,885        -26.62
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total interest income

     12,366,878        12,772,678        -3.18

Total interest expense

     1,862,002        2,374,772        -21.59
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

Net interest income

     10,504,876        10,397,906        1.03

Provision for loan losses

     657,000        1,013,106        -35.15

Net interest income after provision for loan losses

     9,847,876        9,384,800        4.93

Service charges on deposit accounts

     2,052,416        1,706,467        20.27

Net realized gains on sale of loans

     22,459        54,545        -58.82

BOLI benefit in excess of surrender value

     35,398        935,000        N/A   

Net realized gain on sale of other real estate and repossessions

     10,256        —          N/A   

Gain on sales of available-for-sale securities -net

     26,660        —          N/A   

Other noninterest income

     620,091        647,854        -4.29

Total noninterest income

     2,767,280        3,343,866        -17.24

FDIC insurance premiums

     193,997        230,839        -15.96

Provision for losses on impairment of foreclosed real estate

     179,340        230,090        -22.06

Net realized loss on sale of other real estate and repossessions

     —          15,419        N/A   

Other noninterest expense

      

(Excluding FDIC insurance premiums, net realized loss on sale of other real estate and repossessions and provision for losses on impairment of foreclosed real estate)

     9,663,847        10,103,900        -4.36

Total noninterest expense

     10,037,184        10,590,588        -5.23

Income tax expense

     659,516        124,800        428.46
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

Net income

   $ 1,918,456      $ 2,013,278        -4.71

Per share

      

Earnings per common share - Basic

   $ 0.38      $ 0.41        -7.32

Earnings per common share - Diluted

     0.38        0.41        -8.21

Cash dividends paid

     0.24        0.21        14.29

Shares Outstanding

      

Average - Basic

     4,841,235        4,805,811        —     

Average - Diluted

     4,917,049        4,865,475        —     

At quarter end

      

Total assets

   $ 402,813,210      $ 400,081,381        0.68

Total assets (average)

     405,256,000        423,371,000        -4.28

Other real estate and repossessions

     1,237,234        2,265,515        -45.39

Gross loans

     312,743,549        298,108,752        4.91

Allowance for loan losses

     3,024,070        2,964,519        2.01

Net loans

     309,719,479        295,144,233        4.94

Net loans charged off

     527,874        756,632        -30.23

Non-accrual loans

     1,362,707        2,814,229        -51.58

Loans past due 30+ days (excludes non accrual loans)

     1,852,490        1,280,229        44.70

Average loans

     313,764,000        295,965,000        6.01

Cash and due from Federal Reserve Bank

     37,367,426        41,217,822        -9.34

Average cash and due from Federal Reserve Bank

     34,732,000        64,582,000        -46.22

Securities and other required stock

     30,062,736        34,947,821        -13.98

Average securities and other required stock

     29,766,000        36,961,000        -19.47

Intangible asset

     96,240        215,280        -55.30

Mortgage servicing asset

     74,573        91,387        -18.40

Total deposits

     320,479,835        317,482,766        0.94

Non interest bearing demand

     66,714,536        63,283,722        5.42

Interest bearing demand

     113,689,015        103,231,738        10.13

Savings

     69,713,351        68,333,984        2.02

Time

     70,362,933        82,633,322        -14.85

Securities sold under agreements to repurchase

     9,133,669        10,529,302        -13.25

Advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank

     26,779,615        27,146,312        -1.35

Shareholders’ equity

     40,142,002        37,113,206        8.16

Shareholders’ equity (average)

     39,632,000        37,118,000        6.77

Stock data

      

Market value - last close (end of period)

   $ 8.06      $ 6.67        20.84

Dividend payout ratio

     63.16     50.72     24.51

Price earnings ratio

     15.21  x      12.58  x      20.84

Book value (end of period)

     8.30        7.72        7.51

Market price to book value

     97.11     86.40     12.40

Key performance ratios

      

Return on average assets (ROA)

     0.63     0.63     0.00

Return on average equity (ROE)

     6.45     7.23     -0.78

Net interest margin (federal tax equivalent)

     3.86     3.59     0.27

Interest expense to average assets

     0.61     0.75     -0.14

Total allowance for loan losses to nonaccrual loans

     221.92     105.34     116.58

Total allowance for loan losses to total loans

     0.97     0.99     -0.02

Nonaccrual loans to total loans

     0.44     0.94     -0.50

Nonaccrual assets to average assets

     0.64     1.20     -0.56

Net charge-offs to average loans

     0.17     0.26     -0.09

Equity to assets at period end

     9.97     9.28     0.69