SVB&T Corporation, Parent Company of Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company, Reports 2019 Full Year and Fourth Quarter Earnings and Increases Quarterly Dividend for First Quarter 2020

JASPER, IN / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2020 / SVB&T Corporation (OTCQX:SVBT), parent company of Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company, announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share of the Corporation's common stock, a 4.00% increase over 2019. The quarterly dividend is payable on or about April 15, 2020 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 16, 2020.

SVB&T Corporation announced unaudited net income for the year ended December 31, 2019 of $4.1 Million or $7.25 earnings per share (EPS), a 2.03% decrease over the same period 2018 EPS. In total dollars, 2019 earnings came in $94,000 below 2018 net income of $4.1 Million. These year to date (YTD) December 31, 2019 results translate to a return on average assets (ROAA) of 0.93%, compared to the same period 2018 of 1.05%.

Net interest income before provision expense for the full year ended December 31, 2019 was $14.0 Million compared to $12.9 Million for the same period 2018, an increase of $1.1 Million. This increase was primarily a result of growth in earnings assets during the year, as well as slightly higher yields on earning assets, which generated an increase in interest income of $2.8 Million over the same prior year period. However, cost of funds increased by $1.7 Million due to higher deposit balances, rate increases resulting from local competition for deposits, and increased borrowings to fund the gap between our loan and deposit growth. Total non-interest income increased $683,000 to $5.9 Million in 2019 from $5.2 Million for the same period 2018. Components of this increase included the rebalancing opportunity of selling bonds from the investment portfolio in order to help fund loan growth and reduce borrowings, providing a pretax gain of $406,000 in the third quarter, as well as increased fee income from sold mortgages and the Financial Advisory Group. Non-interest expense increased $2.0 Million to $14.4 Million for the full year 2019 from $12.4 Million for the same period 2018. This expense increase was primarily driven by various overhead components that have been necessary to build out the infrastructure to support the future growth of Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company. Some of the largest components of this expense have been increased staffing, additional premises and equipment (including two new banking centers), and additional information technology initiatives, including further developing our digital service offering, implementing an interactive teller machine (ITM) network, and data processing support.

Fourth quarter 2019 unaudited earnings of $1.1 Million or $1.96 EPS, was a 6.52% increase over the same period 2018 EPS. This also compares favorably in total dollars to $1.0 Million of unaudited earnings over the same period in 2018. This fourth quarter 2019 performance translates to a return on average assets (ROAA) of 0.96%, compared to the same prior year period of 1.02%. Following the full year trend, fourth quarter net interest income experienced a significant uptick over the prior year fourth quarter with increased loan balances and higher average rates driving income higher, but this bump was muted to some degree as our cost of funding also increased. The increase in net interest income, coupled with an increase in non-interest income, more than offset elevated non-interest expense, leading to the increase in net income for the quarter as noted above. Factors driving higher non-interest income for the quarter included fee income from sold mortgages which significantly outpaced both the fourth quarter of 2018 by $154,000 and the trailing quarter by $35,000, as well as Financial Advisory Group income (including both Trust and Brokerage services) which was higher than the fourth quarter of 2018 by $169,000 and the trailing quarter by $83,000. This is an ongoing point of focus for the bank as we continue to strategically diversify revenue streams with specific emphasis on these sources of fee income to help mitigate reliance on margin via net interest income generation. The current fourth quarter over trailing quarter earnings decreased approximately $194,000 or 15.09%. However, comparing fourth quarter earnings to third quarter earnings, adjusted for the one-time, after-tax gain on sale of bonds, resulted in a fourth quarter over trailing quarter earnings increase of $125,000 or 12.98%.

Book value has risen from $72.70 per share at December 31, 2018 to $82.03 at December 31, 2019 or a 12.83% increase. The SVB&T Corporation stock closed at $79.05 per share on the OTCQX exchange on December 31, 2019.

Total assets increased $51.9 Million to $452.9 Million at December 31, 2019 compared to December 31, 2018 assets of $401.0 Million. Total loans before allowances increased $40.4 Million to $350.3 Million at December 31, 2019 from $309.9 Million at December 31, 2018. The 2019 loan growth was primarily generated in commercial real estate and commercial lines of credit with agriculture real estate and agriculture lines of credit being the largest contributors. This has been a strategic focus of Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company throughout 2019 as we continue to leverage the expertise of our agriculture lending and underwriting staff by focusing on borrowers with demonstrated good management skills, full relationship, significant equity positions, and the wherewithal to prosper even in an environment of low crop yields and pricing. On the liability side of the balance sheet, total deposits increased $29.3 Million to $361.2 Million at December 31, 2019 from $331.9 Million at December 31, 2018. The deposit growth has been generated primarily in higher rate products such as the money market savings, as well as an increase in brokered time deposits and public funds, as local competition for deposits continues, resulting in increased pricing on rate sensitive products.

Another notable development in 2019 included the opening of our Washington Banking Center in Washington, IN. We are extremely excited to be a part of the Washington community and Daviess County with the addition of our banking center to the area. We look forward to a prosperous partnership with Daviess County residents. Additionally, we continued this trend late in 2019, focusing efforts to open a banking center in the Gibson County area which resulted in a banking center opening in Princeton, IN on January 2, 2020. We are equally excited about our entrance into Princeton and Gibson County as we continue to utilize resources to expand our community bank footprint into these high-quality, community oriented areas of Southern Indiana.

"In the second half of 2019, significant adjustments were made in our business plan to recover the momentum lost by events that occurred primarily in the first half of the year," stated President & CEO Jamie Shinabarger. "The focus of Management and our Board of Directors remains a long-term operational view, not one focused quarter-to-quarter. Growth-limiting saturation in the greater Dubois and Orange County legacy markets has been identified as an inhibitor to achieving reasonable operational scale. Thus, de novo growth investments in Washington and Princeton, while negative to short-term operating income, are entirely necessary to sustain long-term performance and incrementally increase shareholder value. Without this "looking to the future" approach, the strong performance record which we have demonstrated since 2012 would be in jeopardy of plateauing or stalling," Mr. Shinabarger added.

For more information contact: Darrell Blocker, Treasurer & CFO, SVB&T Corporation, at 812.634.4803 or [email protected]. On the OTCQX trading platform, find us under ticker symbol SVBT at www.otcmarkets.com.

Information conveyed in this press release regarding SVB&T Corporation and its subsidiaries' anticipated future performance is forward-looking and therefore involves risks and uncertainties that could cause the results or developments to differ significantly from those indicated in these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties inherent in general and local banking, as well as mortgage conditions, competitive factors specific to markets in which the corporation and its subsidiaries operate, future interest rate levels, changes in local real estate markets, legislative and regulatory decisions, capital market conditions, and other factors.

SVB&T Corporation is headquartered at 8482 West State Road 56, French Lick, Indiana 47432, with administrative offices at 1500 Main Street, Jasper, Indiana 47546. Springs Valley has two locations in both Dubois and Orange Counties, one location in Daviess County, and one location in Gibson County. Its subsidiary, Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company, offers full-service bank and trust services. Springs Valley has products and services for all types of individuals, families, and businesses: checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, electronic services, online mortgage applications, and a variety of other loan options. In addition, Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company has a full-service trust department managed by experienced, talented professionals specializing in estate planning, tax planning, and wealth management. Investment Services are also offered by a licensed, professional Springs Valley representative. Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company's online address is www.svbt.bank and phone number is 800.843.4947.

Springs Valley Bank is a member of FDIC and is an Equal Housing Lender.

Selected Consolidated Financial Data of SVB&T Corporation
(In Thousands, Except Shares Outstanding and Per Share Data) 

SOURCE: SVB&T Corporation