Earnings Labs

Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (LARK)

Q1 2014 Earnings Call· Thu, May 1, 2014

$26.98

-1.55%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Landmark Bancorp, Inc. Q1 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Michael E. Scheopner, President and CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Michael Scheopner

Analyst

Thank you, and good morning. Thank you for joining our call today to discuss Landmark's earnings and our results of operations for the first quarter of 2014. Joining the call with me today to discuss various aspects of our first quarter performance are Mark Herpich, Chief Financial Officer of the company; and Brad Chindamo, our Credit Risk Manager. Before we get started, I would like to remind our listeners that some of the information we will be providing today falls under the guidelines for forward-looking statements, as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of these guidelines, I must point out that any statements made during this presentation that discuss our hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements, and our actual results could differ materially from those expressed. Additional information on these factors is included from time to time in our 10-K and 10-Q filings, which can be obtained by contacting the company or the SEC. We reported net earnings of $1.7 million for the first quarter 2014, which represents an 18% increase in earnings when compared with the first quarter of 2013. This earnings increase is principally a result of our acquisition of the Citizens Bank Group, which was accretive to our first quarter results. Our first quarter 2014 earnings translates to net earnings per share of $0.53 on a fully diluted basis. As I noted, the acquisition of Citizens Bank, which closed on November 1, 2013, was accretive to our first quarter 2014 earnings. Net interest income totaled $6 million for 1Q '14, up 36.9% from our 1Q '13 level. Our 1Q '14 provision for loan loss totaled $150,000 compared to a provision of $300,000 during 1Q '13. Non-interest income for the first quarter 2014, totaled $3.2 million, up 22.9% from first…

Mark Herpich

Analyst

Thanks, Michael, and good morning to everyone. As Michael has already summarized our results for the first quarter ended March 31, I would like to make a few comments on various elements comprising those results. Starting with the first quarter financial highlights. Net interest income increased $1.6 million to $6.0 million in comparison to the prior year's first quarter. Net interest income was impacted by our net interest margin, which increased to 3.49% from 3.38% during the first quarter of 2013. In comparison to the net interest margin of 3.45% in the fourth quarter of 2013, our net interest margin has improved by 4 basis points from a quarter-to-quarter perspective. The higher net interest income and the net interest margin was primarily impacted by our acquisition of Citizens Bank, resulting in an increase in our interest-earning assets from $565.3 million in the first quarter of 2013 to $736.9 million during the first quarter of 2014. Looking at our provision. We provided $150,000 to the allowance for loan losses in the first quarter of 2014, which was a decline from a $300,000 provision during the first quarter of 2013, but represented an increase from the fourth quarter of 2013 when we did not make a provision for loan losses. Non-interest income increased $602,000 to $3.2 million for the first quarter of 2014 as compared to the same period of 2013. Despite the colder-than-typical weather experienced during January and February, our gains on sales of loans still reflected an increase of $86,000 for the first quarter of 2014 compared to a year earlier. Other factors contributing to this increase were a $362,000 increase in fees and service charges and $180,000 in other non-interest income, primarily a result of the Citizens Bank acquisition. Our first quarter non-interest expenses increased by $1.9 million to…

Bradly Chindamo

Analyst

Thanks, Mark, and good morning to everyone. Net loans outstanding as of March 31, 2014, totaled $411 million. This is a $3 million decrease from the year-end 2013 net loan total of $414 million. We continue to focus on business development efforts to prospect new high-quality commercial banking relationships and to expand existing high-quality relationships. Non-performing loans, which primarily consists of loans greater than 90 days past due, totaled $12.4 million or 2.96% of gross loans as of March 31, 2014. This compares to a level of 2.35% as of year-end 2013. The increase in the March 31 non-performing loans included a $3.8 million in loans greater than 90 days past due but still accruing interest, as the value of collateral securing the loans exceeded the loan balances. This represented one land loan relationship that was in negotiation for renewal, subject to an agreement to begin auctioning the collateral at quarter end. The final agreement was reached shortly after March 31, and an auction is scheduled for late in the second quarter. The remaining balance of non-performing loans are principally associated with 2 credits: the commercial loan relationship consisting of $4.1 million in real estate and land loans, which was placed on nonaccrual status after the borrower filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization protection; and a commercial business loan that was in the middle a liquidation on March 31, with a balance at that time of $3.2 million, which is now reduced to $1.0 million. Another indicator we monitor as part of our credit risk management efforts is our level of loans past due 30 to 89 days. The level of past due loans between 30 and 89 days still accruing interest as of March 31, 2014, totaled $2.6 million or 0.63% of gross loans. Of the loans in the 30-…

Michael Scheopner

Analyst

Thank you, Brad, and I also want to thank Mark for his comments earlier in this call. Before we go to questions, I just want to summarize by saying that we are reasonably pleased with our operating results for the first quarter 2014. I'm also pleased with the progress we have made in the assimilation of the Citizens Bank acquisition and the community reaction to LNB in our newly acquired banking markets. The acquisition was accretive to earnings in the first quarter, and I expect that, that positive earnings impact will continue as we progress through 2014. With that, I'll open up to questions that anyone might have.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Having no questions, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Michael Scheopner for any closing remarks.

Michael Scheopner

Analyst

Thank you, and I want to thank everyone for joining today's call. We truly do appreciate your support, and we look forward to our Annual Meeting next month in May and to having all of our friends join us for our conference call next quarter when we'll review our second quarter results. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.