BREMERTON, Wash., Oct. 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- WSB Financial Group (Nasdaq:WSFG), the parent company of Westsound Bank, today reported that the previously announced decision to downsize its mortgage division and eliminate 33 positions in this division will generate a pre-tax charge of approximately $200,000 in the third and fourth quarters of 2007. The company expects to report a profitable third quarter after recognizing approximately half of the downsizing costs.
"While we do not normally provide forward-looking earnings guidance, we wanted to provide additional information this one-time-only regarding these unusual circumstances. We expect to report strongly profitable third quarter earnings in line with results achieved in the first two quarter of this year, and up nicely from net income reported in the third quarter a year ago," said Mark D. Freeman, Chief Financial Officer
"Our overall business offerings are not changing dramatically, only the way we deliver some of our lending products," said David K. Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We will continue to offer residential loans and construction loans to our customers. In light of the changes in the mortgage markets, we determined that our mortgage operation could be much more efficiently operated by doing less in house and using outside mortgage brokers.
"Like many other banks, we began tightening our standards on construction lending earlier this year. Our overall portfolio continues to perform well," said Johnson. "We are taking this opportunity to thoroughly review our loan portfolio. We are seeing moderate increases in nonperforming assets, as are most of our Washington State peers. We believe asset quality metrics are returning to more common levels we've seen in past years.
"The greater Puget Sound area housing market continues to be strong, although it is taking longer for homes to sell and the inventory of unsold homes is up. Median home prices, however, continue to increase and our market has a strong economic base built around the military, the general growth of the Puget Sound market and retirees," Johnson added.
"Two of our directors acquired more shares last week through open market purchases, which should be considered a vote of confidence in the future of our company," Freeman added. "We now have entered our black-out period, which prevents insiders from conducting transactions, so insiders will not be able to make any changes to their ownership positions until two days after the release of our third quarter results."
WSB Financial expects to report its third quarter earnings on Monday, October 29, 2007 before the stock market opens and host a conference call later that day at 11:00 a.m. PDT (2:00 p.m. EDT). David Johnson, President and CEO, and Mark Freeman, CFO, will discuss the bank's operating results. Interested investors may listen to the call live or via replay at www.westsoundbank.com.
ABOUT WSB FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
WSB Financial Group, Inc., based out of Bremerton, Washington, is the holding company for Westsound Bank and Mortgage. The company was founded in 1999, and currently operates nine full service locations and one loan production office, all located within 6 contiguous counties within Western Washington. Our website is http://www.westsoundbank.com.
This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements describe management's expectations regarding future events and developments such as future operating results, growth in loans and deposits, maintenance of the net interest margin, credit quality and loan losses, the efficiency ratio and continued success of the Company's business plan. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect management's views only as of the date hereof. The words "should," "anticipate," "expect," "will," "believe," and words of similar meaning are intended, in part, to help identify forward-looking statements. Future events are difficult to predict, and the expectations described above are subject to risk and uncertainty that may cause actual results to differ materially. In addition to discussions about risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in the Company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements include, among others: (1) local and national general and economic condition; (2) changes in interest rates and their impact on net interest margin; (3) competition among financial institutions; (4) legislation or regulatory requirements; and (5) success of the Company's expansion efforts. WSB Financial Group, Inc. does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements were made. Any such statements are made in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.