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Citizens Bancorp Announces Fourth Quarter 2010 Operating Results

^{Published on 2011-05-11 09:40:37 - Market Wire}
 

NEVADA CITY, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Today, Citizens Bancorp (the aCompanya) (OTCBB: CZNB), the holding company of Citizens Bank of Northern California (the aBanka), announced operating results for the fourth quarter of 2010. The Company recorded a net loss available to common shareholders of $3.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2010, compared to $11.8 million for the same period of 2009 and $8.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, compared to $13.5 million for the same period in 2009. The net loss per common share was $1.55 and $6.09 for the three months ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively, and $3.50 and $7.01 for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

President & CEO Gary Gall said, aThroughout 2010 our country, state and the communities we serve continued to experience wide-spread economic difficulties including the continuing decline in real estate market values, local and regional unemployment, a deeper strain on small businesses and a surge in oil prices. The 'Great Recession' has relentlessly persisted and as your local community bank, Citizens Bank continues to play a vital role in working along side many of our customers to help them work through the challenges their businesses and households are facing. Many economic analysts believe that we hit the bottom of the economic cycle in 2010 and should soon be seeing signs of improvement. Although we are not seeing these signs locally, this is certainly encouraging and we hope improvement will be a reality sooner rather than later.a

Gall continued, aCitizens Bank, as with most other community banks, continues to be affected by the weak economy. While we found 2010 to be one of our most challenging years since our founding, we are determined to stay focused on four key areas: recapitalization, the Banka™s 'Core Operation,' meeting our strategic initiatives and reducing non-performing assets.a

The Company continues to experience a healthy net interest margin, which improved to 4.58% for the year ended December 31, 2010, from 4.53% for the same period in 2009, aided by the Companya™s low cost of funds. Net interest income was $14.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, a decrease of $854 thousand, or 6%, as compared to $15.1 million for the same period of 2009. Forgone interest on non-accrual and restructured loans adversely impacted the net interest margin by 0.95% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2010, compared to 0.64% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009. As of December 31, 2010, the Companya™s loan to deposit ratio was 94.8% compared with 100.7% at December 31, 2009.

The provision for credit losses for the year ended December 31, 2010 was $12.4 million, an increase of $1.2 million compared to the $11.1 million recorded during the same period in 2009, primarily as a result of the continuing declines in underlying real estate collateral values over the last year. Costs and impairment charges associated with other real estate owned (aOREOa) were $1.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, compared to $3.8 million during the same period in 2009.

Consistent with the Companya™s plan to reduce assets and improve its capital ratios, total assets decreased $44.1 million, or 12%, to $326.9 million as of December 31, 2010, from $371.1 million as of December 31, 2009. The Company continues to maintain strong liquidity with $28.2 million in cash and cash equivalents and $19.2 million in time deposits at other banks at December 31, 2010. Total loans for the Company as of December 31, 2010 were $260.6 million, a decrease of $44.1 million, or 14%, from $304.7 million as of December 31, 2009. The allowance for credit losses equaled 5.56% of total loans at December 31, 2010, compared to 4.72% at December 31, 2009.

During the year ended December 31, 2010, the decrease in non-interest expense of $3.2 million over the same period in 2009 was primarily the result of lower expenses related to OREO and the reversal of liabilities totaling $1.3 million associated with certain deferred compensation agreements that were cancelled in June 2010. During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Bank recorded a loss on the sale or write-down of OREO of $1.3 million compared to $3.4 million for the same period of 2009.

This release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are based on managementa™s current expectations regarding economic, legislative, and regulatory issues that may impact the Companya™s earnings in future periods.Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts.They often include the words abelievea, aexpecta, aintenda, aestimatea or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as awilla, awoulda, ashoulda, acoulda or amaya.Factors that could cause future results to vary materially from current management expectations include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, changes in interest rates, deposit flows, real estate values, and competition; changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines; changes in legislation or regulation; and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory and technological factors affecting the Banka™s operations, pricing, products and services.These and other important factors are detailed in various Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation filings made periodically by the Bank, copies of which are available from the Bank without charge.The Company or the Bank undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Citizens Bank of Northern California (the aBanka) was founded in February 1995, and is headquartered in Nevada City, California.The Bank became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company in 2003.The Bank has six branches serving communities throughout Nevada County, including locations in Nevada City, Grass Valley, Penn Valley, Lake of the Pines, and Truckee.In addition to its Nevada County branches, the Bank services the needs of its Placer County customers with a branch located in Auburn.The Bank offers consumer loans and other traditional banking products and services, designed to meet the needs of small and middle market businesses and individuals.