Raymond James Awards Community Banker Cup to Timberland Bancorp

Ranks as one of the Top 10% of Banks in the Nation


HOQUIAM, Wash., March 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSBK) (“Timberland” or “the Company”) today was awarded the Community Bankers Cup by Raymond James & Associates for operating one of the top performing community banks in the country.

“It is an honor to be recognized by Raymond James as one of the Country’s top community banks,” said Michael Sand, President and CEO. “The hard work and dedication of our entire team resulted in Timberland’s strong financial performance in 2017 which qualified us for this award.”

Raymond James stated in the announcement of the awards: “Of the 272 community banks considered for the 2017 Community Bankers Cup, the top 10% demonstrated superior performance on a relative basis in one or more of the following measurements of financial performance and stability: nonperforming assets to loans and real estate owned, five-year average core deposit percentage, net interest margin, efficiency ratio, return on average assets, and return on average tangible common equity.”  The selected banks had assets between $500 million and $10 billion, as of December 31, 2017.

On January 22, 2018, Timberland reported net income of $3.61 million, or $0.48 per diluted common share, for its first fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2017. This compares to net income of $3.15 million, or $0.43 per diluted common share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2016, and net income of $3.62 million, or $0.48 per diluted common share for the preceding quarter ended September 30, 2017.  Assets at December 31, 2017 totaled $993.90 million. 

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 loan loss 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 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 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, institute a formal or informal enforcement action or 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 or impose additional requirements or restrictions, which could adversely affect our liquidity and earnings; 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 including as a result of Basel III; the impact of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the implementation of related rules and regulations; our ability to attract and retain deposits;  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 consolidated 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; the availability of resources to address changes in laws, rules, or regulations or to respond to regulatory actions; our ability to pay dividends on our common and stock; 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 2018 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.

Contact: Michael R. Sand,
President & CEO
Dean J. Brydon, CFO
(360) 533-4747
www.timberlandbank.com