Arizona Tribune - SVB&T Corporation, Parent Company of Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company, Reports 2024 Fourth Quarter and Annual Earnings and Declares Quarterly Dividend

SVB&T Corporation also announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share of the Corporation's common stock. The quarterly dividend is payable on or about April 15, 2025, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 14, 2025. The dividend declared is a 15.00% annualized increase over the total dividend declared for the 2024 fiscal year.

Net interest income before provision expense for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024 was $4.49 million compared to $4.25 million for the same period in 2023. Interest income increased $695,000 compared to the prior year fourth quarter, primarily due to increased interest rates on loans resulting from the elevated rate environment and assets repricing. Interest expense increased $458,000 compared to the same prior year quarter, due largely to increased interest-bearing deposit balances. Provision expense decreased by $50,000 over the prior year fourth quarter. Additionally, noninterest income increased approximately $507,000 to $2.62 million from $2.11 million. The higher income can be attributed to increased revenue over the prior year fourth quarter from a variety of areas, including the Financial Advisory Group, servicing fees on sold loans, and sold mortgage income. As it has been in the past, noninterest income generation continues to be a strategic focus of SVB&T's by growing the Financial Advisory Group, increasing sold loan income, expanding electronic banking services, and other avenues, to continue to reduce margin dependence. Noninterest expense increased $488,000 to $5.59 million from $5.10 million, attributable to increases in general operating expenses, the largest of which being increased salary expenses, core processing expenses, and expenditures for professional services in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Quarter over trailing quarter earnings decreased approximately $411,000 or 24.04%. The earnings decrease was largely driven by increased salary expenses, professional services expenditures, and marketing expenses. Some of this expense increase was due to year-end accrual adjustments.

SVB&T Corporation book value has increased from $54.86 per share as of December 31, 2023, to $59.14 as of December 31, 2024, a 7.80% increase. SVB&T Corporation stock closed at $42.25 per share on the OTCQX exchange on December 31, 2024. In February of 2021, the Corporation's Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program through December 31, 2022. Under the program, the Corporation was authorized to repurchase, from time to time as the Corporation deemed appropriate, shares of SVB&T Corporation's common stock with an aggregate purchase price of up to $2.00 million. As of December 31, 2022, SVB&T had repurchased (adjusted for 2022 stock split) 24,400 shares, with an average purchase price of $40.59, under the program. As of May 16, 2023, the repurchase program was renewed with an aggregate purchase price of up to $1.00 million. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, 5,952 additional shares have been repurchased under the newly approved plan, with an average purchase price of $42.00.

Total assets increased $23.71 million to $637.26 million on December 31, 2024, compared to December 31, 2023 assets of $613.55 million. Total loans before allowance decreased $4.61 million to $478.99 million on December 31, 2024, from $483.60 million on December 31, 2023. The decrease in loans in 2024 was primarily a result of loan paydowns late in 2024 on commercial lines of credit and agriculture real estate loans. Springs Valley did experience healthy loan demand in 2024; however, the Bank strategically managed loan growth to alleviate some of the pressure on the funding side of the balance sheet as cost of funds remain elevated. Allowance as a percent of total loans was 1.46% as of December 31, 2024, compared to 1.44% as of December 31, 2023. Total deposits increased $29.56 million to $563.02 million on December 31, 2024, from $533.46 million on December 31, 2023. Noninterest-bearing deposits increased by approximately $355,000 due largely to increases in business account balances. Interest-bearing deposits increased by approximately $29.21 million. These increases occurred primarily in Springs Valley's public funds accounts and retail CDs. Core deposit growth continues to be a primary focus of Springs Valley's as it is a critical component in generating sustainable, long-term profitability for the institution.

Year to date (YTD) unaudited earnings for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 was $6.11 million or $5.57 EPS, an 8.37% increase over the same prior year period earnings on a per share basis. This YTD performance translates to a ROAA of 1.00%, compared to the same prior year period ROAA of 0.97%.

Net interest income before provision expense for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 was $16.96 million compared to $17.63 million for the same period in 2023, a decrease of $671,000. Interest income increased approximately $4.01 million as compared to the same prior year period, largely due to increased interest rates on loans resulting from the elevated rate environment and assets repricing. Additionally, interest expense increased by $4.68 million over the same period, due to the elevated interest rate environment and increased interest-bearing deposit balances. YTD provision expense decreased by $424,000, compared to the same prior year period, as the Bank had a sufficient coverage ratio to adequately cover risk in the loan portfolio, and therefore, less provision was needed in 2024. Total noninterest income increased $1.98 million to $10.38 million YTD December 2024 from $8.40 million for the same period in 2023. The largest contributing factors to the favorable variance were increased Financial Advisory Group revenues, Financial Services income from annuity sales, servicing fees on sold loans, sold mortgage income, and a gain on sale of other real estate owned. Growing noninterest income to reduce margin dependence continues to be a strategic focus of Springs Valley Bank & Trust. Noninterest expense increased $1.23 million to $20.19 million YTD December 2024 from $18.96 million for the same period in 2023. This expense increase was largely driven by various overhead components that have been necessary to build out the infrastructure to support the future growth of the Bank and serve a growing customer base. The largest components of this expense increase have been increased salary, health insurance, and core processing expenses.

President and CEO, J. Craig Buse, commented, "Springs Valley continues to focus on relationship-oriented community banking to provide year-over-year financial performance for all stakeholders. With this approach, SVB&T Corporation generated a very healthy 1.00% ROAA in 2024. We believe some of the headwinds of 2024 are beginning to subside as we enter 2025, including some of the political uncertainty attributable to the 2024 election and the subsequent impact on the regulatory environment, as well as the Federal Reserve's projected federal funds rate trajectory and its impact on banks' net interest margin. Even if the currently expected one or two rate cuts do not come to fruition in 2025, the general slope of the yield curve continues to improve, and time continues to pass without rate increases, which allows assets on the balance sheet time to reprice without additional cost of funds pressure. With this in mind, we remain optimistic regarding the Bank's future performance as we expect margin expansion on the horizon as the Bank's cost of funds decrease, assets reprice higher, and asset quality continues to hold up."

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For more information contact: Ryan Heim, Treasurer & CFO, SVB&T Corporation, at 812.634.4889 or [email protected].

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. Its subsidiary, Springs Valley Bank & Trust Company, has locations in Dubois, Daviess, Gibson, and Orange Counties, offering full-service bank and financial services. Springs Valley has products and services for all types of families and businesses, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, electronic services, online consumer and mortgage applications, and a variety of other loan options. Springs Valley Bank is a member of FDIC and is an Equal Housing Lender.

In addition, the company has a full-service financial advisory group 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. Trust and investment products are not deposits; not insured by the FDIC; not a deposit or other obligation of, or guaranteed by, the depository institution; not insured by any Federal Government Agency; and may lose value - subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal amount invested.

More information can be found online at www.svbt.bank. The Corporation's stock is traded on the OTCQX trading platform under ticker symbol SVBT (www.otcmarkets.com).

Information conveyed in this press release regarding SVB&T Corporation's 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 company and its subsidiaries operate, future interest rate levels, changes in local real estate markets, legislative and regulatory decisions, capital market conditions, and/or other factors.

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

SOURCE: SVB&T Corp.

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

G.P.Martin--AT