Lyons Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for The Lyons National Bank, reported operating results for the three month period ended March 31, 2011. Net income for the first quarter of 2011 was $1.008 million, representing diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.11, as compared to net income of $1.003 million and $1.17 diluted EPS for the first quarter of 2010. The 2011 per share amount includes the impact of $2.9 million of convertible preferred stock sold to accredited investors in the first quarter of 2010. Return on average shareholder equity, while remaining well above both the average for all New York banks and the national average, fell to 12.61% from 13.25% at March 31, 2010 and 13.16% at December 31, 2010. The diluted book value per share, after adjusting for the convertible preferred stock sold in the first quarter of 2010, fell to $35.08 from $35.66 at March 31, 2010.
Robert A. Schick, President and CEO stated. “We are pleased with our continued solid earnings trend. We are equally pleased with our continued growth in assets, capital adequacy, deposits and market share. Lagging is our growth in loans, which we attribute to an economy that is growing very slowly and a decline in agricultural loan demand, possibly due to this year’s weather related issues.”
Total assets at March 31, 2011 reached a record high of $527.7 million; a 12.0% increase year-over-year and a 2.8% increase from December 31, 2010. Total loans grew to $312.7 million at March 31, 2011, an 8.5% year-over-year increase. When compared to December 31, 2010, loan growth is flat. Deposit growth remains strong, with total deposits of $464.1 million at March 31, 2011; a year-over-year increase of 13.4% and 9.5% from December 31, 2010. The Bank’s newest office in Seneca County is the primarily driver for this growth. At March 31, 2011, deposits at that branch office totaled $33.6 million.
The lack of meaningful loan growth negatively affected the Company’s net interest margin, which fell to 3.55% (on a tax equivalent basis) at March 31, 2011 as compared to 4.06% at March 31, 2010 and 3.66% at December 31, 2010.
Net loan charge-offs to average loans fell to 0.03% at March 31, 2011, compared to 0.10% at March 31, 2010 and 0.14% at December 31, 2010. Non-performing loans increased in the first quarter to 1.93% of period-end loans as compared to 1.79% at December 31, 2010 and 0.68% at March 31, 2010. The Company’s allowance for credit losses increased to $6.6 million or 2.10% of period-end loans at March 31, 2011 from $6.4 million and 2.06% at December 31, 2010 and $5.1 million and 1.78% at March 31, 2010.
Noninterest income totaled $1.3 million, an increase of $158,000 or 13.6% from the same period last year. The increase is primarily due to increases in service charges on deposit accounts, reflecting the strong growth in core deposits year over year. Noninterest expenses totaled $3.9 million, an increase of $383,000 or10.9% over the same period last year. This increase is primarily due to expenses relating to the opening of the new branch office in Seneca County, including salaries, benefits, occupancy expenses, and FDIC insurance.
At the April 19, 2011 board meeting, the Directors of Lyons Bancorp, Inc. declared a dividend of $0.35 per share, payable on July 15, 2011 to shareholders of record as of June 30, 2011. This is an increase of $0.02 per share or 6.1% over the prior quarter, and equates to an annual dividend of $1.40 per share, yielding 3.11% based on the stock price at the close of business on April 19, 2011.
Lyons Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for The Lyons National Bank. The Lyons National Bank is a community bank with offices in Lyons, Clyde, Macedon, Newark, Ontario, and Wolcott in Wayne County; Jordon in Onondaga County; Geneva in Ontario County; Penn Yan in Yates County; and Seneca Falls in Seneca County. Subsidiaries of The Lyons National Bank are Lyons Realty Associates Corp. and Lyons Life Agency, Inc.
