News Details

Strong Capital Ratios Increased, Net Interest Margin Stable, Other Real Estate Owned Decreased by 29%

HOQUIAM, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSBK) (“Timberland” or “the Company”) today reported fiscal 2012 first quarter net income of $1.28 million. Net income available to common shareholders, after adjusting for the preferred stock dividend and the preferred stock discount accretion, was $1.02 million, or $0.15 per diluted common share. This compares to a net loss to common shareholders of $(339,000), or $(0.05) per diluted common share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 and net income to common shareholders of $1.10 million, or $0.16 per diluted common share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.

“We are pleased to announce a profitable first fiscal quarter that included a 29% reduction in other real estate owned. Net interest margin was stable, capital ratios remained strong and loan originations increased 39% over the prior quarter,” said Michael R. Sand, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We continue to benefit from historically low interest rates and a strengthening regional economy which have contributed to an increased demand for home mortgage and business loans.”

“Our emphasis on cash management services has contributed to an improvement in our deposit mix and has supported this quarter’s growth in the C&I loan portfolio,” stated Sand. “Non CD deposits now represent 63% of total deposits compared to 58% one year ago.”

Fiscal First Quarter 2012 Highlights (at or for the period ended December 31, 2011, compared to December 31, 2010, or September 30, 2011):

• Recorded net income of $1.28 million;
• Earned $0.15 per diluted common share;
• Capital levels remain very strong: Total Risk Based Capital of 16.65%; Tier 1 Leverage Capital Ratio of 11.26%; Tangible Capital to Tangible Assets Ratio of 11.14%;
• Loan originations increased 39% over the prior quarter;
• Non-interest income increased 31% to $2.44 million from $1.86 million for the quarter immediately prior;
• Net interest margin remained strong at 3.73%;
• OREO and other repossessed assets decreased 29% during quarter;
• The provision for loan losses decreased to $650,000 compared to $1.76 million for preceding quarter and $900,000 for comparable quarter one year ago;
• Net charge-offs were $624,000 compared to $1.60 million for preceding quarter and $415,000 for comparable quarter one year ago; and
• Book value per common share increased to $10.12, and tangible book value per common share was $9.26 at quarter end.

Capital Ratios and Asset Quality

Timberland Bancorp remains very well capitalized with a total risk-based capital ratio of 16.65%, a Tier 1 leverage capital ratio of 11.26% and a tangible capital to tangible assets ratio of 11.14% at December 31, 2011.

Timberland provisioned $650,000 to its loan loss allowance during the quarter ended December 31, 2011 compared to $1.76 million in the preceding quarter and $900,000 in the comparable quarter one year ago.

Non-accrual loans totaled $27.8 million at December 31, 2011 and were comprised of 71 loans and 60 credit relationships. By category: 39% of non-accrual loans are secured by land and land development properties; 38% are secured by commercial properties; 17% are secured by residential properties; 3% are secured by residential construction projects; 2% are secured by commercial real estate construction projects; and 1% are commercial business loans.

Total delinquent loans (past due 30 days or more) and non-accrual loans were $49.1 million at December 31, 2011 compared to $43.4 million at September 30, 2011. The majority ($4.9 million) of the increase in total delinquent loans was related to one credit relationship secured by a one-to four-family house and ocean front and ocean view building lots on Washington’s Pacific coast. These loans were 60 days delinquent at quarter end. While Timberland cannot assure the actions of the guarantors, the guarantors have communicated to Timberland that they have resolved their internal disagreement and anticipate eliminating the delinquency by January 31, 2012. Loans past due 90 days and still accruing increased to $2.7 million at December 31, 2011 from $1.8 million at September 30, 2011. “The increase in loans past due 90 days and still accruing was almost entirely due to a delay in obtaining final plat approval for a pre-sold residential building plat in King County, Washington,” said Dean Brydon, Chief Financial Officer. “We expect the sale to be consummated in the next few weeks which will reduce the present loans in the past due 90 days and still accruing category by $2.3 million.” The non-performing assets to total assets ratio was 5.55% at December 31, 2011 compared to 5.01% three months earlier and 5.87% one year ago.

Other real estate owned (“OREO”) and other repossessed assets decreased by $3.1 million, or 29%, to $7.7 million at December 31, 2011 from $10.8 million at September 30, 2011 and by 39% from $12.6 million at December 31, 2010. The OREO portfolio consisted of 52 individual properties and three other repossessed assets at December 31, 2011. The properties consisted of 37 land parcels totaling $3.5 million, ten single family homes totaling $1.6 million, three commercial real estate properties totaling $1.2 million, a condominium project of $842,000 and a land development project of $469,000. The three other repossessed assets totaled $73,000. During the quarter ended December 31, 2011, 12 OREO properties and other repossessed assets totaling $3.7 million were sold for a net loss of $271,000.

Balance Sheet Management

Total assets decreased slightly to $735.8 million at December 31, 2011 from $738.2 million at September 30, 2011. The decrease in total assets was primarily the result of a $3.1 million decrease in OREO and other repossessed assets.

Liquidity as measured by cash and cash equivalents, CDs held for investment and available for sale investments was 21.2% of total liabilities at December 31, 2011 compared to 21.1% at September 30, 2011 and 19.5% one year ago. “We continue to stay on the short end of the yield curve to manage interest rate risk,” said Brydon.

“We have an extensive and profitable history of lending to owner builders and funding custom construction projects in our local communities. We are continuing to focus on the origination of non-speculative construction loans to qualified borrowers in our market areas,” said Sand. Net loans receivable increased $1.0 million to $529.0 million at December 31, 2011 from $528.0 million at September 30, 2011. The increase was primarily due to a $4.9 million increase in commercial business loan balances, a $3.8 million increase in commercial real estate construction loan balances, and a $2.6 million increase in custom and owner/builder construction loan balances. These increases were partially offset by a $4.2 million decrease in one-to four-family loan balances, a $3.0 million decrease in land loan balances and a $2.9 million decrease in consumer loan balances.

Timberland continued reducing its exposure to land development loans and land loans. Land development loan balances decreased to $1.8 million at December 31, 2011, a 17% decrease from the preceding quarter and a 66% decrease year-over-year. The Bank’s land loan portfolio decreased to $46.2 million at December 31, 2011, a 6% decrease from the preceding quarter and a 21% decrease year-over-year. The well diversified land portfolio consists of 372 loans on a variety of land types including individual building lots, acreage, raw land and commercially zoned properties. The average loan balance for the entire land portfolio was approximately $124,000 at December 31, 2011.

Timberland’s loan originations increased 39% to $51.6 million during the quarter ended December 31, 2011 compared to $37.1 million for the preceding quarter and increased 5% from the $49.1 million originated during the quarter one year ago. Timberland continues to sell fixed rate one-to four-family mortgage loans into the secondary market for asset–liability management purposes and to generate non-interest income. During the quarter ended December 31, 2011, $22.9 million fixed-rate one-to four-family mortgage loans were sold compared to $16.1 million for the preceding quarter and $26.9 million for the quarter ended one year ago.

Timberland’s mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”) and other investments decreased by $637,000 during the quarter to $10.2 million at December 31, 2011 from $10.9 million at September 30, 2011, primarily as a result of prepayments and scheduled amortization. During the quarter ended December 31, 2011, other-than-temporary-impairment (“OTTI”) credit related write-downs and realized losses of $60,000 were recorded on the private label mortgage-backed securities that were acquired in the in-kind redemption from the AMF family of mutual funds in June 2008. At December 31, 2011, the Bank’s remaining private label mortgage-backed securities portfolio had been reduced to $3.2 million from an original acquired balance of $15.3 million.

Total deposits decreased less than 1% to $589.2 million at December 31, 2011, from $592.7 million at September 30, 2011 primarily as a result of an $8.6 million decrease in certificates of deposit account balances and a $3.3 million decrease in non-interest bearing account balances. These decreases were partially offset by a $5.2 million increase in money market account balances, a $1.7 million increase in savings account balances and a $1.5 million increase in N.O.W. checking account balances.

Total shareholders’ equity increased $1.13 million to $87.33 million at December 31, 2011, from $86.21 million at September 30, 2011. The increase in shareholders’ equity was primarily a result of net income for the quarter. Book value per common share was $10.12 and tangible book value per common share was $9.26 at December 31, 2011.

Operating Results

Fiscal first quarter operating revenue (net interest income before provision for loan losses, plus non-interest income excluding OTTI charges and valuation allowances or recoveries on mortgage servicing rights (“MSRs”)) increased to $8.72 million from $8.61 million for the preceding quarter and decreased from $8.78 million for the comparable quarter one year ago. Operating revenue increased in the current quarter compared to the preceding quarter primarily due to an increase in gain on sale of loans as Timberland’s loan originations increased from the preceding quarter.

Net interest income decreased to $6.30 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, from $6.34 million for the preceding quarter and from $6.33 million for the comparable quarter one year ago. The net interest margin for the current quarter of 3.73% decreased slightly from the 3.75% margin reported for the preceding quarter and the 3.82% margin reported for the comparable quarter one year ago. The decrease in the net interest margin for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 relative to the preceding quarter was primarily due to the reversal of interest income on loans placed on non-accrual status during the current quarter.

Timberland provisioned $650,000 to its loan loss allowance for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, compared to $1.76 million in the preceding quarter and $900,000 in the comparable quarter one year prior. Net charge-offs for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 decreased to $624,000, which included a $450,000 recovery of a loan charged off in the prior quarter, compared to $1.60 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 and $415,000 for the quarter one year ago.

Non-interest income increased 31% to $2.44 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, from $1.86 million in the preceding quarter and decreased 17% from $2.95 million for the comparable quarter one year ago. The increase in non-interest income compared to the preceding quarter was primarily due to a $382,000 net change in the valuation adjustment of the Bank’s mortgage servicing rights (“MSRs”) and a $224,000 increase in gain on sale of loans. Non-interest income was increased by an $84,000 non-cash MSR valuation recovery in the current quarter and was decreased by a $298,000 MSR valuation allowance in the preceding quarter. The increase in gain on sale of loans was primarily due to an increase in the dollar volume of fixed-rate one-to four-family loans sold during the current quarter.

Total operating (non-interest) expenses decreased 6% to $6.22 million for the first fiscal quarter from $6.63 million for the preceding quarter and 2% from $6.38 million for the comparable quarter one year ago. The decreased expenses for the current quarter compared to the preceding quarter were primarily the result of a decrease in salaries and employee benefits expense. “Salaries and employee benefit expenses were lower in the most recent quarter, primarily because of increased loan origination fees that offset salary expense and a one-time benefit of $99,000 from changing our employee medical insurance provider,” Brydon explained.

About Timberland Bancorp, Inc.

Timberland Bancorp, Inc., a Washington corporation, is the holding company for Timberland Bank (“Bank”). The Bank opened for business in 1915 and serves consumers and businesses across Grays Harbor, Thurston, Pierce, King, Kitsap and Lewis counties, Washington with a full range of lending and deposit services through its 22 branches (including its main office in Hoquiam).

Disclaimer

Certain matters discussed in this press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and often include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “plans,” “targets,” “potentially,” “probably,” “projects,” “outlook” or similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would” and “could.” Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, assumptions and statements about future performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated, including, but not limited to: the credit risks of lending activities, including changes in the level and trend of loan delinquencies and write-offs and changes in our allowance for loan losses and provision for loan losses that may be impacted by deterioration in the housing and commercial real estate markets and may lead to increased losses and non-performing assets in our loan portfolio, and may result in our allowance for loan losses not being adequate to cover actual losses, and require us to materially increase our reserves; changes in general economic conditions, either nationally or in our market areas; changes in the levels of general interest rates, and the relative differences between short and long term interest rates, deposit interest rates, our net interest margin and funding sources; fluctuations in the demand for loans, the number of unsold homes, land and other properties and fluctuations in real estate values in our market areas; secondary market conditions for loans and our ability to sell loans in the secondary market; results of examinations of us by the Federal Reserve and our bank subsidiary by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Banks or other regulatory authorities, including the possibility that any such regulatory authority may, among other things, require us to increase our allowance for loan losses, write-down assets, change our regulatory capital position or affect our ability to borrow funds or maintain or increase deposits, which could adversely affect our liquidity and earnings; our compliance with regulatory enforcement actions, including regulatory memoranda of understandings (“MOUs”) to which we are subject; legislative or regulatory changes that adversely affect our business including changes in regulatory policies and principles, or the interpretation of regulatory capital or other rules; our ability to attract and retain deposits; further increases in premiums for deposit insurance; our ability to control operating costs and expenses; the use of estimates in determining fair value of certain of our assets, which estimates may prove to be incorrect and result in significant declines in valuation; difficulties in reducing risk associated with the loans on our balance sheet; staffing fluctuations in response to product demand or the implementation of corporate strategies that affect our workforce and potential associated charges; computer systems on which we depend could fail or experience a security breach; our ability to retain key members of our senior management team; costs and effects of litigation, including settlements and judgments; our ability to successfully integrate any assets, liabilities, customers, systems, and management personnel we may in the future acquire into our operations and our ability to realize related revenue synergies and cost savings within expected time frames and any goodwill charges related thereto; our ability to manage loan delinquency rates; increased competitive pressures among financial services companies; changes in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits; legislative or regulatory changes that adversely affect our business including changes in regulatory policies and principles, the interpretation of regulatory capital or other rules and any changes in the rules applicable to institutions participating in the TARP Capital Purchase Program; the availability of resources to address changes in laws, rules, or regulations or to respond to regulatory actions; adverse changes in the securities markets; inability of key third-party providers to perform their obligations to us; changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the financial institution regulatory agencies or the Financial Accounting Standards Board, including additional guidance and interpretation on accounting issues and details of the implementation of new accounting methods; the economic impact of war or any terrorist activities; other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting our operations; pricing, products and services; and other risks detailed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Any of the forward-looking statements that we make in this press release and in the other public statements we make are based upon management’s beliefs and assumptions at the time they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this report or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those contained in such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We do not undertake and specifically disclaim any obligation to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements. These risks could cause our actual results for fiscal 2012 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements by, or on behalf of us, and could negatively affect the Company’s operations and stock price performance.

Timberland Bancorp, Inc.
Michael R. Sand, President & CEO
or
Dean J. Brydon, CFO
360-533-4747
www.timberlandbank.com

Source: Timberland Bancorp, Inc.