Sussex Bancorp Announces a 46% Increase in EPS for the Second Quarter of 2015 and Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

ROCKAWAY, N.J., July 27, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sussex Bancorp (the "Company") (Nasdaq:SBBX), the holding company for Sussex Bank (the "Bank"), today announced reported net income of $884 thousand, or $0.19 per basic and diluted share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, as compared to net income of $607 thousand, or $0.13 per basic and diluted share, for the same period last year. This increase equates to a 46.2% increase in net income per diluted common share for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, as compared to the same period last year. The improvement for the second quarter of 2015 was driven by increased interest income related to loan growth and a 59.7% decline in credit quality costs (provision for loan losses, loan collection costs and expenses and write-downs related to foreclosed real estate) as a result of improved credit quality as non-performing assets ("NPAs") (excluding performing troubled debt restructured loans) fell to 1.45% of total assets at June 30, 2015 from 2.34% at June 30, 2014.

"Our continued earnings improvement reflects our capacity to grow our businesses combined with a reduction in credit quality costs. The $47.5 million in new commercial loan production makes the second quarter one of our highest commercial loan production quarters. However, our production was offset in part by the sale of $18.1 million in loan participations combined with $13.6 million in early loan payoffs resulting in an annualized loan growth of 4.9% for the second quarter. Our loan pipeline remains strong and we expect solid loan production in subsequent quarters," said Anthony Labozzetta, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank.

In addition, Mr. Labozzetta stated, "We are also seeing strong momentum on the funding side of our balance sheet. Our new Astoria branch continues to exceed our expectations and contributed to a 12% annualized growth in our deposits for the second quarter. Of note is that our non-interest bearing demand accounts increased 17.8% for the quarter (71.2% annualized), which benefits both our current and future earnings."

Opening of New Branch

The Bank received regulatory approvals for a new branch location in Oradell (Bergen County), New Jersey, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2016. "We are excited about opening a physical location in Bergen County to better support and serve our customers in a familiar market where we currently have $62.0 million in loan relationships, or over 13% of our current loan portfolio," said Mr. Labozzetta.

Russell Microcap® Index

In June 2015, the Company was added to Russell Microcap® Index. FTSE Russell determines membership for its Russell indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes. "We are honored to be a part of this Index, it represents another validation point of our strategic growth and direction we are headed. We look forward to further raising awareness in the investment community about Sussex Bancorp," noted Mr. Labozzetta.

Declaration of Quarterly Dividend

The Company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.04 per share, which is payable on August 24, 2015 to common shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 10, 2015.

Financial Performance

Net Income. For the quarter ended June 30, 2015, the Company reported net income of $884 thousand, or $0.19 per basic and diluted share, as compared to net income of $607 thousand, or $0.13 per basic and diluted share, for the same period last year. The increase in net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 was primarily due to an increase in net interest income of $484 thousand and a decline in the provision for loan losses of $200 thousand.  The aforementioned were partially offset by increases in non-interest expenses of $185 thousand and income tax expense of $265 thousand.

For the six months ended June 30, 2015, the Company reported net income of $1.8 million, or $0.40 per basic and diluted share, as compared to net income of $1.3 million, or $0.28 per basic and diluted share, for the same period last year. The increase in net income for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was largely due to increases in net interest income of $980 thousand and non-interest income of $353 thousand, which were partially offset by an increase in non-interest expenses of $787 thousand.

Net Interest Income. Net interest income on a fully tax equivalent basis increased $465 thousand, or 10.2%, to $5.0 million for the second quarter of 2015, as compared to $4.6 million for the same period in 2014. The increase in net interest income was largely due to a $58.0 million, or 11.1%, increase in average interest earning assets, principally loans receivable, which increased $55.3 million, or 13.2%. The Company's net interest margin was 3.47% and 3.50% for the second quarter of 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Net interest income on a fully tax equivalent basis increased $936 thousand, or 10.4%, to $9.9 million for the first six months of 2015 as compared to $9.0 million for the same period in 2014. The increase in net interest income was largely due to a $57.6 million, or 11.1%, increase in average interest earning assets, principally loans receivable, which increased $61.7 million, or 15.0%, and was partially offset by a decrease in the average balance on the securities portfolio of $5.7 million, or 5.7%. The Company's net interest margin was 3.49% and 3.51% for the first six months of 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Provision for Loan Losses. Provision for loan losses decreased $200 thousand, or 50.0%, to $200 thousand for the second quarter of 2015, as compared to $400 thousand for the same period in 2014.

Provision for loan losses decreased $348 thousand, or 40.8%, to $505 thousand for the first six months of 2015, as compared to $853 thousand for the same period in 2014.

Non-interest Income. Non-interest income increased $43 thousand, or 2.9%, to $1.5 million for the second quarter of 2015, as compared to the same period last year. For the second quarter of 2015, insurance commissions and fees and other income increased $40 thousand and $37 thousand, respectively, as compared to the same period in 2014. The increases were partially offset by a decline in service fees on deposit accounts of $52 thousand for the second quarter of 2015, as compared to the same period in 2014.

The Company reported an increase in non-interest income of $353 thousand, or 11.6%, to $3.4 million for the first six months of 2015 as compared to the same period last year. The increase in non-interest income was largely due to increases in insurance commissions and fees and gains on securities transactions of $222 thousand and $162 thousand, respectively, which were partially offset by a decrease in service fees on deposit accounts of $103 thousand for the first six months of 2015, as compared to the same period in 2014.

Non-interest Expense. The Company's non-interest expenses increased $185 thousand, or 3.9%, to $4.9 million for the second quarter of 2015, as compared to the same period last year. The increase for the second quarter of 2015, as compared to the same period in 2014, was largely due to increases in salaries and employee benefits of $348 thousand and furniture and equipment expenses of $102 thousand, which were partially offset by decreases in expenses and write-downs related to foreclosed real estate of $126 thousand, loan collection costs of $110 thousand and FDIC fees of $51 thousand. 

The Company's non-interest expenses increased $787 thousand, or 8.5%, to $10.0 million for the first six months of 2015 as compared to the same period last year. The increase for the first six months of 2015, as compared to the same period in 2014, was largely due to increases in salaries and employee benefits of $710 thousand, furniture and equipment expenses of $148 thousand and other expenses of $109 thousand, which were partially offset by decreases in FDIC fees of $103 thousand, loan collection costs of $90 thousand and expenses and write-downs related to foreclosed real estate of $62 thousand.

The increases for the second quarter and six month periods for 2015 as compared to 2014 in salaries and employee benefits expense were due in part to an increase in personnel to support our growth initiative in new markets, including the opening of our Astoria branch in the first quarter of 2015, additional staffing for business development and a temporary increase in staffing costs related to the development of a digital banking division. The increases for the second quarter and six month periods for 2015 as compared to 2014 in furniture and equipment expenses were mostly related to costs associated with our new core application system, which was implemented in the third quarter of 2014.

Financial Condition

At June 30, 2015, the Company's total assets were $620.0 million, an increase of $24.1 million, or 4.0%, as compared to total assets of $595.9 million at December 31, 2014. The increase in total assets was largely driven by growth in the securities portfolio of $15.9 million, or 18.9% and loans receivable of $7.1 million, or 1.5%. 

Total loans receivable, net of unearned income, increased $7.1 million, or 1.5%, to $479.1 million at June 30, 2015, as compared to $472.0 million at December 31, 2014. During the first six months of 2015, the Company had $52.9 million in loan production, which was largely offset by $19.8 million in loan prepayments, an increase in commercial line of credit pay downs and the sale of $18.1 million in loan participations to mitigate concentration risk.

The Company's total deposits increased $29.4 million, or 6.4%, to $487.7 million at June 30, 2015, from $458.3 million at December 31, 2014. The increase in deposits was due to increases in both non-interest bearing deposits of $20.0 million, or 28.4%, and interest bearing deposits of $9.4 million, or 2.4%, for June 30, 2015, as compared to December 31, 2014. Included in the aforementioned increase is $18.7 million in new deposits with a cost of under 0.50% attributed to our newest branch in Astoria, New York, which opened in mid-March of 2015. 

At June 30, 2015, the Company's total stockholders' equity was $51.7 million, an increase of $450 thousand when compared to December 31, 2014. The increase was largely due to net income for the six months ended June 30, 2015. At June 30, 2015, the leverage, Tier I risk-based capital, total risk-based capital and common equity Tier I capital ratios for the Bank were 9.85%, 12.72%, 13.93% and 12.72%, respectively, all in excess of the ratios required to be deemed "well-capitalized."

Asset and Credit Quality

The Company continued to improve its asset credit quality as total problem assets and NPAs continued to decline. Total problem assets (foreclosed real estate, criticized assets and classified assets) were down 7.1% from December 31, 2014, and the ratio of NPAs to total assets improved to 1.71% at June 30, 2015 from 2.02% at December 31, 2014. 

NPAs, which include non-accrual loans, loans 90 days past due and still accruing, troubled debt restructured loans currently performing in accordance with renegotiated terms and foreclosed real estate, decreased $1.5 million, or 12.2%, to $10.6 million at June 30, 2015, as compared to $12.0 million at December 31, 2014. Non-accrual loans decreased $870 thousand, or 14.7%, to $5.1 million at June 30, 2015, as compared to $5.9 million at December 31, 2014. The top five non-accrual loan relationships total $3.1 million, which equates to 61.3% of total non-accrual loans and 29.3% of total NPAs at June 30, 2015. The remaining non-accrual loans at June 30, 2015 have an average loan balance of $85 thousand. Loans past due 30 to 89 days decreased $3.4 million, or 59.9%, to $2.3 million at June 30, 2015, as compared to $5.6 million at December 31, 2014. 

The Company continues to actively market its foreclosed real estate properties, which decreased $506 thousand to $3.9 million at June 30, 2015, as compared to $4.4 million at December 31, 2014. The decrease was primarily due to the sale of $1.6 million in foreclosed real estate properties and write-downs of $97 thousand during 2015, which were partially offset by $1.2 million in new foreclosed real estate properties. At June 30, 2015, the Company's foreclosed real estate properties had an average carrying value of approximately $303 thousand per property.

The allowance for loan losses increased $111 thousand, or 2.0%, to $5.8 million, or 1.20% of total loans, at June 30, 2015, compared to $5.6 million, or 1.20% of total loans, at December 31, 2014. The Company recorded $505 thousand in provision for loan losses, which was partially offset by $394 thousand in net charge-offs for the six months ended June 30, 2015. The allowance for loan losses as a percentage of non-accrual loans increased to 113.8% at June 30, 2015 from 95.2% at December 31, 2014.

About Sussex Bancorp

Sussex Bancorp is the holding company for Sussex Bank, which operates through its regional offices and corporate centers in Wantage and Rockaway, New Jersey, its eleven branch offices located in Andover, Augusta, Franklin, Hackettstown, Newton, Montague, Sparta, Vernon and Wantage, New Jersey, and Port Jervis and Astoria, New York, and a loan production office in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, and for the Tri-State Insurance Agency, Inc., a full service insurance agency with locations in Augusta and Rochelle Park, New Jersey. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.sussexbank.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are forward looking and are made pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "estimate," "assume," "believe," "anticipate," "will," "forecast," "plan," "project" or similar words. Such statements are based on the Company's current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements include, among others, changes to interest rates, the ability to control costs and expenses, general economic conditions, the success of the Company's efforts to diversify its revenue base by developing additional sources of non-interest income while continuing to manage its existing fee-based business, risks associated with the quality of the Company's assets and the ability of its borrowers to comply with repayment terms.  Further information about these and other relevant risks and uncertainties may be found in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 and in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to those forward looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after this date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.