Hammond, Louisiana, August 1, 2016 – First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (the "Company" or First Guaranty") (NASDAQ: FGBI), the holding company for First Guaranty Bank, announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ending June 30, 2016.  The second quarter 2016 concluded with a continuation of outstanding results.  The business strategy of moving assets from lower earning investments to higher earning loans continued to be successful as the loan portfolio as of June 30, 2016 totaled $896.4 million, a new record for the loan portfolio.  This number is up $42 million from March 31, 2016 and $86 million from June 30, 2015, an increase of 10.6%.  As planned in the strategy, in order to fund the strong loan growth, it was necessary to sell securities.  Due to the high quality of the Investment portfolio, this strategy of transferring assets from lower yielding securities to higher yielding loans resulted in a pre-tax gain on the sale of securities for the second quarter of $2.2 million or $1.5 million after tax.  As of June 30, 2016, First Guaranty was $18.7 million ahead of budget for core loans, $11.3 million ahead on all loans.

Because of the strong loan portfolio growth, First Guaranty was required, according to normal loan loss reserve calculations, to fund approximately $210,000 to the loan loss provision in excess of budget.  This extra provision is funded from the gains on securities which were required to fund the loans.

The loans to deposits ratio improved to 70% as of June 30, 2016, up from 66% as of March 31, 2016 and 60% as of June 30, 2015.

The net interest margin for the second quarter 2016 increased to 3.43% compared to 3.30% for the first quarter of 2016 and 3.16% for the second quarter 2015.  The increase in the net interest margin confirms and validates the business strategy of moving assets from lower yielding securities to higher yielding loans.

The increase in the size of the loan portfolio has improved loan interest income which totaled $11.3 million in the second quarter of 2016 compared to $10.8 million for the first quarter of 2016 and $10.4 million for the second quarter 2015.

When you combine the effects of the larger loan portfolio, increased net interest margin, and gains from sales of securities required to fund the loans, the net income improved substantially to $4.4 million for the second quarter of 2016 compared to $3.2 million for the first quarter of 2016.  Earnings per common share totaled $0.58 for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 compared to $0.41 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016.

For the 92^nd consecutive quarter, First Guaranty paid a quarterly dividend.  This dividend was $0.16 per share.  Since 1993, First Guaranty Bank has paid a total of $59.2 million in common dividends to shareholders.

Total equity as of June 30, 2016 equaled $127.4 million or $16.74 per share, an increase of $9.2 million from December 31, 2015.

In December 2015, First Guaranty issued a 10% stock dividend which resulted in a book value dilution of $1.56 per share.  As of June 30, 2016, First Guaranty had earned back $0.67, or 43% of that dilution.  If the earnings trend continues, the projected earn back date of the stock dividend dilution is February 28, 2017, 14 months from issuance.

Total deposits as of June 30, 2016 were $1.3 billion.

The provision to loan loss for the quarter was $0.9 million, and for the year to date $1.7 million compared to $1.0 million year to date as of June 30, 2015.  Approximately $0.5 million of the increase in loan loss provision between 2015 and 2016 is due to the $54.8 million increase in the loan portfolio.

Total non-interest expense for the year to date through June 30, 2016 was $16.4 million compared to $15.6 million year to date through June 30, 2015.  Year to date non-interest income as of June 30, 2016 totaled $5.5 million compared to $3.9 million year to date through June 30, 2015.

As of June 30, 2016, nonperforming assets had decreased to $25.0 million compared to $26.0 million as of March 31, 2016.

Alton B. Lewis, President and CEO commented: "Everyone throughout the entire organization is working together toward our common goals.  As a result, the first half of 2016 has been strong.  We intend to continue these efforts.  We intend to continue and improve the way we take care of our customers and to build on those efforts to obtain our goals."

About First Guaranty

First Guaranty, a Louisiana-based company, has approximately $1.5 billion in assets as of June 30, 2016 and provides personalized commercial banking services through 21 banking facilities located across Louisiana.  For more information, visit www.fgb.net.

Certain statements contained herein are "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward looking statements may be identified by reference to a future period or periods, or by the use of forward looking terminology, such as "may," "will," "believe," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "continue," or similar terms or variations on those terms, or the negative of those terms. Forward looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, as described in our SEC filings, including, but not limited to, those related to the real estate and 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, the financial and securities markets and the availability of and costs associated with sources of liquidity.

The Company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above could affect the Company's financial performance and could cause the Company's actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements. The Company does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions, which may be made to any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.