American River Bankshares (NASDAQ-GS: AMRB) today reported net income of $579,000 or $0.10 per diluted share for the six months ended June 30, 2009, compared to $3,814,000 or $0.65 per diluted share for the six months ended June 30, 2008. The Company realized a net loss of $704,000 or ($0.12) per diluted share for the second quarter of 2009 compared to net income of $1,981,000 or $0.34 for the second quarter of 2008. The per-share operating results have been adjusted for a 5% stock dividend distributed in December 2008.
AMRB recorded income before income taxes and loan and lease losses (or pre-tax pre-provision earnings) of $5,676,000 and a net interest margin of 4.98% for the six months ended June 30, 2009, compared to $6,690,000 and 4.96% for the six months ended June 30, 2008. For the second quarter of 2009, pre-tax pre-provision earnings were $2,428,000 and net interest margin was 4.87%, compared to $3,392,000 and 4.99% for the second quarter of 2008.
“Reporting the first quarterly loss in over twenty-five years is a disappointment, and is directly related to our $3.8 million loan loss provision and $253,000 special assessment payment to the FDIC,” said David Taber, President and CEO of American River Bankshares. “We’re being prudent with our evaluation of the loan portfolio and as a result, we have built our allowance to $7.8 million or 1.91% of total loans and leases.”
Taber continued, “While it is hard to look past the short term impact these issues have on profitability, we are proactively addressing the challenges faced by some of our borrowers and are pleased with both our ability to maintain a stable net interest margin and our pre-tax pre-provision earnings of $5.7 million during the first half of 2009.”
During the second quarter of 2009, the Company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.143 per share. The Company did not repurchase any of its common stock in the first half of 2009. As the dividend payout for the first half of 2009 exceeded net income, the Board of Directors has decided it is in the Company’s best interest to continue to build capital and temporarily suspend both the cash dividend and the stock repurchase plan.
“The Board of Directors felt it necessary to make the difficult decision to suspend the cash dividend due to the current economic challenges that both the Company and country are facing,” said Charles Fite, Chairman of American River Bankshares. “It is in the best interest to our Company’s long-term success to stick to our plan of building capital and increasing our reserves.” Read the Press Release>>
Standard Podcasts [38:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (16)
