Investar Holding Corporation Announces 2014 Second Quarter Results

BATON ROUGE, La., July 25, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Investar Holding Corporation (Nasdaq:ISTR) (the "Company"), the holding company for Investar Bank, today announced financial results for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2014. For the quarter ended June 30, 2014, the Company reported net income of $1.1 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, as compared to $0.9 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2014 and $1 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2013 after adjusting for the bargain purchase gain and other acquisition expenses. This represents an increase of $0.05 per diluted share, or 23.8%, over the first quarter of 2014 and an increase of $0.01 per diluted share, or 4%, over the second quarter of 2013. For the six months ended June 30, 2014, the Company reported net income of $1.9 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, as compared to $1.6 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, after adjusting for the bargain purchase gain and other acquisition expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2013. This represents an increase of $0.03 per diluted share, or 6.8%, over the six months ended June 30, 2013.

Investar Holding Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer John D'Angelo said, "We are very pleased with our results for the second quarter. We are continuing to grow our balance sheet, with solid growth in both loans and deposits. Our earnings growth remains strong with a 23.8% increase in earnings per share over the first quarter of 2014. We remain very excited about the recent completion of our IPO, which we believe positions us for continued growth."

Performance Highlights

• Increase in net interest income of $0.4 million, or 6.5%, compared to the first quarter of 2014, and $1.6 million, or 32.5%, compared to the second quarter of 2013.
   
• Tangible book value per share of $13.86 as of June 30, 2014.
   
• Total assets have grown to $729.1 million at June 30, 2014, an increase of $94.1 million, or 14.8%, from December 31, 2013.
   
• Total loans increased $59.9 million, or 11.9%, to $564.0 million at June 30, 2014 from $504.1 million at December 31, 2013.
   
• Deposits increased $46.1 million, or 8.7%, to $578.7 million at June 30, 2014 from $532.6 million at December 31, 2013.
   
• The Company's cost of deposits for the three and six month periods ending June 30, 2014 was 0.84%, a decrease of six and eight basis points compared to the same periods in the prior year.
   
• On July 3, 2014 the Company completed an initial public offering of 2,875,000 shares of its common stock generating gross proceeds of $37.6 million to support future growth.

Loans

Total loans were $564.0 million at June 30, 2014, an increase of $59.9 million, or 11.9%, from December 31, 2013. Loan growth was primarily driven by increases in 1-4 family and nonfarm, non-residential real estate loans.

The following table sets forth the composition of the Company's loan portfolio as of the dates indicated.

The provision for loan loss expense was $0.4 million for the quarter, an increase of $0.2 million from the first quarter of 2014 and an increase of $0.3 million compared to the second quarter of 2013. The allowance for loan losses was $3.9 million, or 296.24% and 0.69% of nonperforming loans and total loans, respectively, at June 30, 2014, compared to $3.5 million, or 206.1% and 0.67% of nonperforming loans and total loans, respectively, at March 31, 2014, and $2.8 million, or 141.01% and 0.66% of nonperforming loans and total loans, respectively, at June 30, 2013.

Nonperforming assets totaled $4.7 million at June 30, 2014, a decrease of $0.6 million compared to March 31, 2014 and a decrease of $0.3 million compared to December 31, 2013. The ratio of total nonperforming assets to total assets was 0.65% at June 30, 2014, compared to 0.79% at March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013.

Deposits

Total deposits at June 30, 2014 were $578.7 million, an increase of $46.1 million, or 8.7%, from December 31, 2013. Total noninterest bearing demand deposits at December 31, 2013 were slightly inflated by a $14 million short term deposit made by a commercial customer in late December 2013 that was fully withdrawn in January 2014. The increase in total deposits was driven primarily by an increase in NOW accounts of $21.7 million, or 28.1%, an increase of $11 million, or 18.7%, in noninterest bearing demand deposits after adjusting for the $14 million short term deposit, and an increase in time deposits of $23.9 million, or 9.1%, from December 31, 2013. We believe our deposit cross sell strategy has resulted in both noninterest bearing demand deposit and NOW account growth.

The following table sets forth the composition of the Company's deposits as of the dates indicated.

Net Interest Income

Net interest income for the second quarter of 2014 totaled $6.3 million, an increase of $0.4 million, or 6.5%, from the first quarter of 2014 and an increase of $1.6 million, or 32.5%, from the second quarter of 2013. Net interest income for the six months ended June 30, 2014 totaled $12.1 million, an increase of $4 million, or 49.4%, from the six months ended June 30, 2013. These increases were the result of continued growth of the Company's loan portfolio.

The Company's net interest margin was 3.85% for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 compared to 3.93% for the first quarter of 2014 and 4.28% for the second quarter of 2013. The decline in the interest margin can be attributed to lower yields on the consumer and real estate loan portfolios. The yield on interest earning assets was 4.56% for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 compared to 4.65% for the first quarter of 2014 and 5.04% for the second quarter of 2013. The cost of deposits remained flat when comparing the second quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2014, and declined six basis points when comparing the second quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2013.

The Company's net interest margin was 3.89% for the six month period ended June 30, 2014 compared to 4.10% for the six month period ended June 30, 2013. The decline in the interest margin for both the three and six month comparison periods can be attributed to lower yields on the consumer and real estate loan portfolios.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income, excluding securities gains, for the second quarter of 2014 totaled $1.5 million, an increase of $0.5 million, or 53.8%, compared to the first quarter of 2014, and a decrease of $0.6 million, or 31.9% compared to the second quarter of 2013. The increase in noninterest income for the second quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter of 2014 resulted primarily from an increase of $0.4 million in gain on sale of consumer loans and increased consumer loan servicing fee income. Noninterest income for the second quarter of 2013 included the $0.9 million bargain purchase gain recorded in connection with the Company's acquisition of First Community Bank ("FCB") in May 2013. Excluding the bargain purchase gain, the $0.2 million increase in noninterest income for the second quarter of 2014 compared to the second quarter of 2013 resulted primarily from an increase of $0.5 million in gain on sale of consumer loans offset by a decrease of approximately $0.3 million in fee income on mortgage loans held for sale.

Noninterest income, excluding securities gains, for the six months ended June 30, 2014 totaled $2.4 million, a decrease of $0.6 million, or 21%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2013. Excluding the bargain purchase gain recorded in the second quarter of 2013, noninterest income increased $0.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2014 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2013 primarily as a result of an increase of approximately $0.1 million in consumer loan servicing fee income and $0.1 million in interchange and ATM fee income.

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense for the second quarter of 2014 totaled $5.7 million, an increase of $0.3 million, or 6.4%, compared to the first quarter of 2014 and an increase of $1.3 million, or 28.9%, compared to the second quarter of 2013, excluding acquisition related expenses of $0.2 million. The increase in noninterest expense over the first quarter of 2014 was primarily due to a $0.1 million increase in credit investigation costs related to the increase in our consumer loan production and a $0.1 million increase in professional fees related to the company's implementation costs of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. The increase in noninterest expense over the prior year quarter is primarily attributed to expenses associated with the two branches that the Company acquired as a result of the FCB acquisition in May 2013, as well as with the opening of a branch in Lafayette, Louisiana during the fourth quarter of 2013.

Noninterest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2014 totaled $11.1 million, an increase of $3.2 million, or 40%, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2013, excluding acquisition costs of $0.3 million, due to the full six months of expenses associated with three branches added in 2013.

Taxes

The company recorded income tax expense of $0.5 million and $0.9 million for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2014, respectively, which equates to an effective tax rate of 32.5%.

About Investar Holding Corporation

Investar Holding Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, provides full banking services, excluding trust services, through its wholly-owned banking subsidiary, Investar Bank, a state chartered bank. The Company's primary market is South Louisiana and currently operates 10 full service banking offices located throughout its market and had 165 employees at June 30, 2014.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, or GAAP. These measures and ratios include "tangible book value," "tangible book value per common share," "efficiency ratio," "tangible equity to tangible assets," "adjusted efficiency ratio," and "adjusted return on equity." Management also utilizes non-GAAP performance measures to adjust net income for certain significant activities or transactions that are infrequent in nature. Management believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide information useful to investors in understanding the Company's financial results, and the Company believes that its presentation, together with the accompanying reconciliations, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting the Company's business and allow investors to view performance in a manner similar to management, the entire financial services sector, bank stock analysts and bank regulators. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for GAAP basis measures and results, and the Company strongly encourages investors to review its consolidated financial statements in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure. Because non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized, it may not be possible to compare these financial measures with other companies' non-GAAP financial measures having the same or similar names. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures disclosed in this press release to the comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the financial statement tables.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect the Company's current views with respect to, among other things, future events and financial performance. The Company generally identifies forward-looking statements by terminology such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "could," "should," "seeks," "approximately," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates," or the negative version of those words or other comparable words. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on the historical performance of the Company and its subsidiaries or on the Company's current plans, estimates and expectations. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by the Company that the future plans, estimates or expectations by the Company will be achieved. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and assumptions relating to the Company's operations, financial results, financial condition, business prospects, growth strategy and liquidity. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the Company's underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, the Company's actual results may vary materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements. Information on these factors can be found in the filings that the Company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: For further information contact:
         Investar Holding Company
         John D'Angelo
         President and Chief Executive Officer
         (225) 448-5461
         John.Dangelo@investarbank.com
         
         Investar Holding Company
         Chris Hufft
         Chief Accounting Officer
         (225) 227-2215
         Chris.Hufft@investarbank.com