News Press Releases

Year-to-Date Earnings Grow 8.8 Percent at South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc.

SABK | October 21, 2015

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C., Oct. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. (OTCQX: SABK), parent of South Atlantic Bank, today reported net income of $1,612,352 or $0.45 per diluted share for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, compared to the $1,482,184 or $0.42 per diluted share reported for the same period a year ago. These figures represent an 8.8 percent increase in net income year over year. Net income for the three months ended September 30, 2015, was $595,012 or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to $603,026 or $0.17 per diluted share for the three months ended September 30, 2014.

Financial Highlights

Third quarter 2015 represents the company's nineteenth consecutive quarterly profit
Credit quality remains strong with no net charge-offs for the three months ended September 30, 2015
Net interest margin is 3.78 percent
Total loans grew 20.5 percent, to $288.4 million at September 30, 2015 from $239.4 million at September 30, 2014
Total deposits grew 13.0 percent, to $348.4 million at September 30, 2015 from $308.3 million at September 30, 2014
Total assets grew 14.1 percent, to $385.8 million at September 30, 2015 from $338.1 million at September 30, 2014

"We continue to experience solid loan growth which has contributed to our financial performance year-to-date," said South Atlantic Bank chairman and chief executive officer K. Wayne Wicker. "This growth is due to calling officer efforts in our expanded geographic footprint, combined with better economic conditions. Additionally, improvement in mortgage loans and merchant services, along with securities gains, led to increased noninterest income, a key component of our performance."

Wicker continued, "In addition to improved financial performance, our company made strides in several other areas. We successfully migrated our website from the dot com domain to the dot bank domain, which is exclusively available to members of the financial services industry. As our bank grows, we believe this move will provide our customers with even greater security for their online and mobile banking activities. We also listed our South Atlantic Bancshares common stock on the OTCQX Marketplace, in order to improve our visibility with investors and provide shareholders with great liquidity for the stock," Wicker said.

About South Atlantic Bank
South Atlantic Bank, the subsidiary bank of South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. (OTCQX: SABK), is a $384.9 million financial institution that is locally owned, controlled, and operated. The bank is headquartered in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with additional offices in Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, Georgetown, North Myrtle Beach, and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. South Atlantic Bank offers a wide variety of services for businesses and consumers, including South Atlantic Bank goMobile, its mobile banking app. The bank also offers internet banking, no-fee ATM access, checking, CD, and money market accounts, merchant services, mortgage loans, remote deposit capture, and more. South Atlantic Bank was named a "Roaring Twenties" winner as one of the best performing large companies in the state of South Carolina by SC Biz News, in 2012, 2013, and 2015. For more information, visit SouthAtlantic.bank.

Member FDIC

South Atlantic Bancshares, Inc.
Selected Financial Highlights

	For the	For the	For the	For the
	Three Months Ended	Three Months Ended	Nine Months Ended	Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2015	September 30, 2014	September 30, 2015	September 30, 2014
*Quarter End Balances (In Thousands)*
Total assets	$ 385,780	$ 338,097	$ 385,780	$ 338,097
Investment securities	49,481	71,023	49,481	71,023
Loans, net of unearned income (total loans)	288,427	239,402	288,427	239,402
Deposits	348,389	308,263	348,389	308,263
Shareholders' equity	34,635	27,937	34,635	27,937

*Average Balances (In Thousands)*
Total assets	$ 398,895	$ 354,153	$ 369,667	$ 339,879
Earning assets	346,608	313,962	331,588	308,869
Investment securities	50,203	70,901	51,045	70,968
Loans, net of unearned income	280,638	240,986	273,476	236,225
Deposits	354,492	325,608	333,610	307,397
Shareholders' equity	34,216	27,480	33,573	26,342

*Earnings Breakdown (In Thousands)*
Total interest income	$ 3,587	$ 3,309	$ 10,418	$ 9,743
Total interest expense	309	275	860	910
Net interest income	3,277	3,034	9,558	8,833
Total noninterest income	618	505	1,954	1,196
Total noninterest expense	3,086	2,724	9,175	7,851
Provision for loan losses	0	75	165	400
Income before taxes	809	739	2,173	1,778
Taxes	214	136	561	295
Net income	595	603	1,612	1,482
Diluted earnings per share	0.17	0.17	0.45	0.42

Selected % Increases	Year over Year
Total assets	14.10%	8.41%	14.10%	8.41%
Total interest earning assets	9.61%	11.87%	9.61%	11.37%
Total loans	20.48%	20.74%	20.48%	20.74%
Total deposits	13.02%	7.55%	13.02%	7.55%
Interest income	8.40%	17.41%	6.93%	17.11%
Interest expense	12.43%	(14.34)%	(5.51)%	(9.25)%
Noninterest income	22.35%	36.86%	63.46%	(20.56)%
Noninterest expense	13.28%	25.89%	16.86%	24.03%
Net income	(1.33)%	24.58%	8.78%	9.91%

*Selected Ratios (Year-to-Date)*
Return on assets	0.61%	0.68%	0.58%	0.58%
Return on equity	6.90%	8.71%	8.18%	7.52%
Interest income to total average assets	3.65%	3.71%	3.77%	3.83%
Interest expense to total average assets	0.31%	0.31%	0.31%	0.36%
Net interest income to total average assets	3.33%	3.40%	3.46%	3.47%
Loan loss reserve to total loans	0.99%	1.11%	0.99%	1.11%
Nonperforming assets to total average assets	0.14%	0.09%	0.14%	0.09%
Net charge-offs to total average assets	(0.02)%	0.04%	(0.02)%	0.04%
Net interest margin	3.64%	3.73%	3.78%	3.81%