Park National Corporation Reports Third Quarter 2015 Financial Results and Declares Quarterly Dividend

NEWARK, Ohio, Oct. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park National Corporation (Park) (NYSE MKT: PRK) today announced financial results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2015, including increased net income and continued loan growth in the commercial, consumer, and mortgage categories. The board of directors also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.94 per common share, payable on December 10, 2015 to common shareholders of record as of November 20, 2015.

Park’s net income for the three months ended September 30, 2015 (third quarter) was $20.0 million, compared to $18.3 million for the same period in 2014, an increase of $1.7 million or 9.7 percent. Net income per diluted common share for the third quarter of 2015 was $1.30, compared to $1.19 in the same period of 2014. Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 (first nine months) was $60.1 million, compared to $59.7 million for the same period in 2014. Net income per diluted common share for the first nine months of 2015 was $3.90, compared to $3.87 in the same period of 2014.

Park’s community-banking subsidiary, The Park National Bank, reported net income of $61.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, compared to net income of $60.9 million for the same period of 2014. The Park National Bank had total assets of $7.2 billion at September 30, 2015 and $6.9 billion at September 30, 2014. This performance generated an annualized return on average assets of 1.14 percent and 1.21 percent for the bank for the first nine-month periods of 2015 and 2014, respectively.

The Park National Bank loan portfolio expanded during the third quarter of 2015. Loans outstanding at September 30, 2015 were $4.96 billion, compared to $4.86 billion at June 30, 2015, an increase of $100 million or an annualized 8.19 percent. The bank reported growth in the third quarter across all loan categories: mortgage loan growth of $10 million (3.2 percent annualized), commercial loan growth of $70 million (11.4 percent annualized) and consumer loan growth of $20 million (8.4 percent annualized).

“This quarter, our strong lending capabilities combined with our reputation for reliability created more opportunities for us to serve business owners and families,” said Park Chief Executive Officer David L. Trautman. “We continue to focus our energy and resources on being a top provider of financing.”

About Park National Corporation

Headquartered in Newark, Ohio, Park National Corporation had $7.3 billion in total assets (as of September 30, 2015). The Park organization principally consists of 11 community bank divisions, a non-bank subsidiary and two specialty finance companies. Park's Ohio-based banking operations are conducted through Park subsidiary The Park National Bank and its divisions, which include Fairfield National Bank Division, Richland Bank Division, Century National Bank Division, First-Knox National Bank Division, Farmers Bank Division, United Bank, N.A. Division, Second National Bank Division, Security National Bank Division, Unity National Bank Division, and The Park National Bank of Southwest Ohio & Northern Kentucky Division; and Scope Leasing, Inc. (d.b.a. Scope Aircraft Finance). The Park organization also includes Guardian Financial Services Company (d.b.a. Guardian Finance Company) and SE Property Holdings, LLC.

Complete financial tables are listed below…

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995 
Park cautions that any forward-looking statements contained in this release or made by management of Park are provided to assist in the understanding of anticipated future financial performance. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance.  The forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties.  Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.  Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include, without limitation: Park's ability to execute our business plan successfully and within the expected timeframe; general economic and financial market conditions, specifically in the real estate markets and the credit markets, either nationally or in the states in which Park and our subsidiaries do business, may experience a slowing or reversal of the current economic expansion in addition to continuing residual effects of recessionary conditions and an uneven spread of positive impacts of recovery on the economy and our counterparties, including adverse impacts on demand for loan, deposit and other financial services, delinquencies, defaults and counterparty ability to meet credit and other obligations; changes in interest rates and prices may adversely impact the value of securities, loans, deposits and other financial instruments and the interest rate sensitivity of our consolidated balance sheet as well as reduce interest margins; changes in consumer spending, borrowing and saving habits, whether due to changing business and economic conditions, legislative and regulatory initiatives, or other factors; changes in customers', suppliers', and other counterparties' performance and creditworthiness; asset/liability repricing risks and liquidity risks; our liquidity requirements could be adversely affected by changes to regulations governing bank and bank holding company capital and liquidity standards as well as by changes in our assets and liabilities; competitive factors among financial services organizations could increase significantly, including product and pricing pressures, changes to third-party relationships and our ability to attract, develop and retain qualified bank professionals; clients could pursue alternatives to bank deposits, causing us to lose a relatively inexpensive source of funding; the nature, timing and effect of changes in banking regulations or other regulatory or legislative requirements affecting the respective businesses of Park and our subsidiaries, including major reform of the regulatory oversight structure of the financial services industry and changes in laws and regulations concerning taxes, pensions, bankruptcy, consumer protection, accounting, banking, securities and other aspects of the financial services industry, specifically the reforms provided for in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), as well as future regulations which will be adopted by the relevant regulatory agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to implement the Dodd-Frank Act's provisions, the Budget Control Act of 2011, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and the Basel III regulatory capital reforms; the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and other regulatory agencies, and the accuracy of our assumptions and estimates used to prepare our financial statements; the effect of trade, monetary, fiscal and other governmental policies of the U.S. federal government, including money supply and interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve; disruption in the liquidity and other functioning of U.S. financial markets; the impact on financial markets and the economy of any changes in the credit ratings of the U.S. Treasury obligations and other U.S. government-backed debt, as well as issues surrounding the levels of U.S., European and Asian government debt and concerns regarding the creditworthiness of certain sovereign governments, supranationals and financial institutions in Europe and Asia; unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings or other claims and regulatory and other governmental examinations or other inquiries; the adequacy of our risk management program; the ability to secure confidential information and deliver products and services through the use of computer systems and telecommunications networks; a failure in or breach of our operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of our third-party vendors and other service providers, including as a result of cyber attacks; demand for loans in the respective market areas served by Park and our subsidiaries; and other risk factors relating to the banking industry as detailed from time to time in Park's reports filed with the SEC including those described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of Part I of Park's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. Park does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to publicly release the results of any revisions that may be made to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the events or circumstances after the date on which the forward-looking statement was made, or reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except to the extent required by law.