Hanmi Reports Fourth Quarter 2018 Results

2018 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Highlights:   

• Fourth quarter net income of $11.4 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, down from $16.1 million, or $0.50 per diluted share from the prior quarter; Full year 2018 net income of $57.9 million, or $1.79 per diluted share, compared with $54.7 million, or $1.69 per diluted share in 2017.
  • Income tax expense for the quarter includes a net charge of $2.7 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, reflecting changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets.
• Loans and leases receivable of $4.60 billion, up 1.6% in the fourth quarter on an annualized basis and up 6.9% year-over-year.
• Deposits of $4.75 billion, up 11.6% in the fourth quarter on an annualized basis and up 9.2% year-over-year driven by an increase of $385 million in time deposits; Loan-to-deposit ratio declined to 96.9% from 99.3% in the prior quarter and 99.0% a year ago.
• Excellent asset quality; nonperforming assets at 0.29% of total assets and net charge-offs of 0.07% for the year; allowance to loans and leases at 0.70%.
• Fourth quarter net interest income was $45.6 million, up 0.7% from the prior quarter (includes FHLB special dividend and loan prepayment penalties of $0.6 million); for the full year, net interest income was $181.0 million compared with $176.8 million last year.
• Fourth quarter net interest margin was 3.51%, up 3 basis points from the prior quarter; net interest margin for the full year was 3.57% compared with 3.82% last year; the FHLB special dividend and loan prepayment penalties represent 5 basis points of the fourth quarter net interest margin.
• Fourth quarter noninterest income was $6.3 million, up 1.4% from the prior quarter; for the full year, noninterest income was $24.5 million compared with $33.4 million last year.
• Fourth quarter noninterest expense of $29.3 million, up 1.0% from the prior quarter, included $0.4 million related to branch closures and staff reductions; noninterest expense for the full year was $117.6 million compared with $114.1 million last year.
• Return on average assets was 0.83% and return on average equity was 7.92% for the fourth quarter; Full year return on average assets and average equity was 1.08% and 10.07%, respectively.
• Repurchased approximately 5.0% or 1.6 million shares, of Hanmi common stock under the previously announced share repurchase program; tangible common equity ratio remains strong at 9.84%

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hanmi Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: HAFC, or “Hanmi”), the parent company of Hanmi Bank (the “Bank”), today reported net income for the 2018 fourth quarter of $11.4 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, compared with $16.1 million, or $0.50 per diluted share for the 2018 third quarter and $11.5 million, or $0.36 per diluted share for the 2017 fourth quarter.

For the 2018 year, net income was $57.9 million, or $1.79 per diluted share, compared with $54.7 million, or $1.69 per diluted share, for 2017.

During the fourth quarter, Hanmi recorded charges for a state deferred tax asset valuation allowance and the finalization of the re-measurement of deferred tax assets due to the change in the 2018 Federal corporate tax rate. This was partially offset by a benefit due to the lapse of the statute of limitations for certain unrecognized tax benefits. As a result, income tax expense increased by $2.7 million and reduced fourth quarter earnings by approximately $0.09 per diluted share.

C. G. Kum, Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our results in the fourth quarter reflect our strategic decision to moderate loan growth, protect net interest margin and reduce expenses given the increasingly challenging banking environment. Although net interest income increased in the quarter, one-time income tax adjustments and a higher loan loss provision resulted in a sequential decline in net income. Consistent with our previously announced growth strategy, our loan and lease portfolio increased slightly from the prior quarter and grew 6.9% for the year, with net interest margin remaining relatively stable. Credit quality continues to be excellent with non-performing assets to total assets at just 29 basis points. Underpinning our cost management initiatives are staff reductions and the rationalization of our branch network. During the quarter we closed two branches and opened one new branch. We also have four additional branch closures scheduled in the first quarter of 2019. In total, we continue to expect our cost management initiatives will reduce non-interest expenses by at least $5 million, or approximately $0.12 per share, in 2019.”

Mr. Kum concluded, “During the fourth quarter we purchased 1.2 million shares of our common stock. This completed the previously authorized stock repurchase program of up to 5%, or 1.6 million shares at an average price of $22.57 per share. Notwithstanding these actions, Hanmi’s tangible common equity ratio remains very strong at 9.84% as do all of our regulatory capital ratios. I believe the share repurchase highlights our confidence in the Hanmi franchise and we see buying shares at this level as a timely and appropriate use of our capital resources.”

Quarterly Highlights
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)

Results of Operations
Net interest income was $45.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with $45.3 million for the third quarter of 2018. Fourth quarter interest and fees on loans and leases increased 2.8%, or $1.6 million, from the preceding quarter due to an increase in the average yield and an increase in loan prepayment fees. In addition, borrowing costs decreased $0.8 million in the fourth quarter as deposits increased and borrowings declined.  However, these benefits were partially offset by an increase in interest expense on deposits of 20.9%, or $2.4 million, from the preceding quarter due to a 6.1% increase in average interest-bearing deposits.

Net interest income of $181.0 million for the full year in 2018 increased 2.4% compared with $176.8 million for the full year in 2017.

The year-over-year improvement in net interest income reflects an increase in average yield on higher average loan and lease balances offset by an increase in interest expense on average deposits.

Net interest margin on a tax equivalent basis was 3.51% for the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with 3.48% for the third quarter of 2018, up three basis points primarily due to an increase in prepayment fees (two basis points) and a FHLB special dividend (two basis points), partially offset by higher costs of deposits. For the full year, net interest margin was 3.57% compared with 3.82% for 2017.

The average earning asset yield (tax equivalent) was 4.76% for the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with 4.60% for the third quarter of 2018. The 16 basis point increase was due to the increase in average yields for loans and leases receivable and the FHLB special dividend. Full year yields increased 11 basis points year-over-year to 4.62%.

The cost of interest-bearing liabilities was 1.83% for the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with 1.66% for the third quarter of 2018. The 17 basis point increase was primarily due to a 6.1% increase in interest bearing deposits and a 20 basis point increase in the average rate paid on interest bearing deposits. For 2018, the cost of interest-bearing liabilities was 1.55% compared to 1.04% for the full year 2017, reflecting the rising interest rate environment throughout the past year.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, the loan and lease loss provision was $3.0 million compared with $0.2 million for the preceding quarter, and $0.2 million for fourth quarter 2017.  Fourth quarter noninterest income increased 1.4% to $6.3 million from $6.2 million for the third quarter, primarily due to a $0.1 million increase in service charges on deposit accounts and a $0.1 million increase in other operating income. This was partially offset by a $0.1 million decrease in gain on sale of SBA loans. Gains on sales of SBA loans were $1.0 million for the fourth quarter 2018, down from $1.1 million for the preceding quarter reflecting lower trade premiums. The volume of SBA loans sold for the 2018 fourth quarter and third quarter were $17.9 million and $19.8 million, respectively.  

Noninterest income was $24.5 million for the full year 2018 compared with $33.4 million for 2017 primarily due to lower gain on sale of SBA loans and securities and a decrease in disposition gains on PCI loans.

During the fourth quarter, noninterest expense increased 1.0% to $29.3 million from $29.0 million in the third quarter primarily due to a $0.9 million increase in other operating expenses, a $0.5 million increase in advertising and promotion and a $0.4 million increase in occupancy and equipment. This was partially offset by a decrease of $1.6 million in salaries and benefits and $0.5 million in merger and integration costs. Included in fourth quarter noninterest expense is approximately $0.4 million in charges related to the closure of two branches and staff reductions in the quarter. The increase in advertising was due to the timing of various marketing campaigns while the increase in data processing, professional fees and other operating expenses represents investments in technology and the new accounting standard for credit losses. The reduction in salary and benefits was primarily related to lower incentive compensation. As a result of the increase in noninterest expenses outpacing the increase in revenues (noninterest income and net interest income) for the quarter, the efficiency ratio increased slightly to 56.40% in the fourth quarter from 56.28% in the prior quarter.

Noninterest expenses for the year ended December 31, 2018 were $117.6 million, reflecting an increase of $3.5 million from the year ended December 31, 2017 stemming mostly from increased salaries and employee benefits expense, higher professional fees and other operating expenses, and merger and integration costs incurred during the second and third quarter of 2018. The efficiency ratio for full year 2018 was 57.20% compared to 54.28% for the prior year.

Hanmi recorded a provision for income taxes of $8.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2018, representing an effective tax rate of 41.9%, compared with $6.3 million, representing an effective tax rate of 28.0%, for the third quarter. The increased tax provision for the quarter includes a net charge of $2.7 million, reflecting charges for a state deferred tax asset valuation allowance and the finalization of the re-measurement of deferred tax assets due to the change in the Federal corporate tax rate, offset by a benefit due to the lapse of the statute of limitations for certain unrecognized tax benefits.

For the full years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, Hanmi recorded a provision for income taxes of $26.1 million and $40.6 million, respectively, representing effective tax rates of 31.1% and 42.6%, respectively. The year-over-year decrease was a result of the lower Federal corporate tax rate beginning in 2018.

Financial Position
Total assets were $5.50 billion at December 31, 2018, a 0.3% increase from $5.49 billion at September 30, 2018. The increase in total assets was primarily due to an increase in loans and leases receivable.

Loans and leases receivable, before the allowance for loan and lease losses, were $4.60 billion at December 31, 2018, up 0.4% from $4.58 billion at the end of the prior quarter. Loans held for sale, representing the guaranteed portion of SBA loans, were $9.4 million at December 31, 2018 compared with $4.5 million at the end of the third quarter.

Loans and leases receivable, before the allowance for loan and lease losses, increased 6.9% from $4.30 billion at December 31, 2017, primarily due to production.

New loan and lease production for the 2018 fourth quarter was $246.2 million while payoffs, amortization and net line utilization totaled $206.6 million compared with $262.4 million and $222.2 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter last year. Fourth quarter 2018 new loan and lease production was comprised of $87.5 million of commercial real estate loans, $68.1 million of commercial and industrial loans, $30.8 million of SBA loans, $59.0 million of commercial leases and $0.8 million of consumer loans. There were no loan purchases in the fourth quarter, compared to $105.0 million in the fourth quarter last year. For the fourth quarter of 2018, commercial real estate loans as a percentage of loans and leases receivable decreased to 70.8% compared with 71.3% for the same period last year.

Bonnie Lee, President and Chief Operating Officer, said, “While total loan and lease production increased on a sequential quarter basis, our portfolio of loans and leases grew modestly during the quarter due to elevated loan prepayments. Consistent with our strategy, fourth quarter production activity reflected our shifting emphasis towards higher-yielding categories with strong asset quality such as equipment leases, while reducing our exposure to lower yielding assets including single family residential loans. As a result, average loan and lease yields improved to above 5% even after adjusting for prepayment fees in the quarter. In addition, solid deposit gathering activities led to an 11.6% increase in total deposits on an annualized basis which helped reduce our loan-to-deposit ratio to 96.9% at year-end compared with 99.0% a year ago.”

Deposits increased 2.9% to $4.75 billion at the end of the fourth quarter from $4.61 billion at the end of the preceding quarter. Money market and savings deposits and time deposits led this growth with increases of 6.4% and 4.0%, respectively. The loan-to-deposit ratio at December 31, 2018 decreased to 96.9% from 99.3% in the third quarter.

Deposits increased 9.2% from $4.35 billion at the end of the fourth quarter last year, as time deposits and money market and savings deposits increased 27.2% and 3.0%, respectively, from a year ago.

At December 31, 2018, stockholders’ equity was $552.6 million, compared with $567.7 million at September 30, 2018. Tangible common stockholders’ equity was $540.4 million, or 9.84% of tangible assets, compared with $555.5 million, or 10.15% of tangible assets at the end of the third quarter. Tangible book value per share increased to $17.47 from $17.31 in the prior quarter.

Hanmi continues to be well capitalized, with a preliminary Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 11.74% and a Total risk-based capital ratio of 14.55% at December 31, 2018, versus 12.21% and 15.01%, respectively, for the third quarter.

Hanmi declared a cash dividend of $0.24 per common share on its common stock in the fourth quarter. The dividend was paid on November 26, 2018, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 2, 2018.

Asset Quality
Nonperforming loans and leases were $15.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, or 0.34% of loans and leases receivable, compared with $18.3 million at the end the prior quarter, or 0.40% of loans and leases receivable. Also during the quarter, criticized loans decreased by 17.6% to $58.7 million from $71.3 million from the end of the prior quarter. Loans and leases 30 to 89 days past due and still accruing were 0.23% of loans and leases receivable at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with 0.15% at the end of the third quarter. The increase was primarily due to a delay in remittance of payments from a servicer resulting in administrative delinquency.

Nonperforming assets were $16.2 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, or 0.29% of assets, compared with $19.2 million, or 0.35% of assets at the end of the prior quarter.

Gross charge-offs for the fourth quarter of 2018 were $3.8 million compared with $1.2 million for the preceding quarter. Recoveries of previously charged-off loans for the fourth quarter of 2018 were $1.0 million compared with $0.9 million for the preceding quarter. As a result, there were net charge offs of $2.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with net charge offs of $342,000 for the preceding quarter. For the fourth quarter of 2018, net charge offs represented 0.24% of average loans and leases compared to net charge offs of 0.03% for the preceding quarter. The increase in net charge offs was primarily due to a $2.1 million loan charged-off during the quarter, which carried specific reserves of $2.0 million that were assigned two years ago.

The allowance for loan and lease losses was $32.0 million as of December 31, 2018, generating an allowance for loan and lease losses to loans and leases of 0.70% compared with 0.69% in the prior quarter.

Corporate Developments
In August 2018, Hanmi announced that its Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program of up to 5%, or 1.6 million shares, of its outstanding common stock. As of December 31, 2018, Hanmi completed the authorized share repurchase at an average price of $22.57 for an aggregate investment of approximately $36.1 million.

Conference Call                            
Management will host a conference call today, January 15, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) to discuss these results. This call will also be broadcast live via the internet. Investment professionals and all current and prospective stockholders are invited to access the live call by dialing 1-877-407-9039 before 2:00 p.m. PT, using access code HANMI. To listen to the call online, either live or archived, visit the Investor Relations page of Hanmi’s website at www.hanmi.com.

About Hanmi Financial Corporation
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Hanmi Financial Corporation owns Hanmi Bank, which serves multi-ethnic communities through its network of 39 full-service branches and 9 loan production offices in California, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Washington and Georgia. Hanmi Bank specializes in real estate, commercial, SBA and trade finance lending to small and middle market businesses. Additional information is available at www.hanmi.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue,” or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are “forward–looking statements” for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including, but not limited to, statements about anticipated future operating and financial performance, financial position and liquidity, business strategies, regulatory and competitive outlook, investment and expenditure plans, capital and financing needs and availability, litigation, plans and objectives of management for future operations, developments regarding our capital plans, strategic alternatives for a possible business combination, merger or sale transaction, and other similar forecasts and statements of expectation and statements of assumption underlying any of the foregoing. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statement. These factors include the following: failure to maintain adequate levels of capital and liquidity to support our operations; the effect of potential future supervisory action against us or Hanmi Bank; general economic and business conditions internationally, nationally and in those areas in which we operate; volatility and deterioration in the credit and equity markets; changes in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits; availability of capital from private and government sources; demographic changes; competition for loans and deposits and failure to attract or retain loans and deposits; fluctuations in interest rates and a decline in the level of our interest rate spread; risks of natural disasters related to our real estate portfolio; risks associated with Small Business Administration loans; failure to attract or retain key employees; changes in governmental regulation, including, but not limited to, any increase in FDIC insurance premiums; ability of Hanmi Bank to make distributions to Hanmi Financial Corporation, which is restricted by certain factors, including Hanmi Bank’s retained earnings, net income, prior distributions made, and certain other financial tests; ability to identify a suitable strategic partner or to consummate a strategic transaction; adequacy of our allowance for loan and lease losses; credit quality and the effect of credit quality on our provision for loan and lease losses and allowance for loan and lease losses; changes in the financial performance and/or condition of our borrowers and the ability of our borrowers to perform under the terms of their loans and other terms of credit agreements; our ability to control expenses; and changes in securities markets. In addition, we set forth certain risks in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K that we will file hereafter, which could cause actual results to differ from those projected. We undertake no obligation to update such forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Investor Contacts:
Romolo (Ron) Santarosa
Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
213-427-5636

Richard Pimentel
Senior Vice President & Corporate Finance Officer
213-427-3191

Lasse Glassen
Investor Relations
Addo Investor Relations
310-829-5400

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