Hanmi's Earnings Up 7.7% in the Third Quarter With Net Interest Margin Expanding to 4.28%

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hanmi Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:HAFC), the holding company for Hanmi Bank (the "Bank"), today reported that improving operating efficiencies and expanding net interest margin generated a 7.7% increase in net income during the third quarter of 2013. Third quarter net income grew to $10.3 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared to $9.5 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, for the second quarter this year. Pretax income improved 9.7% to $16.8 million in the third quarter of 2013 from $15.3 million in the second quarter of 2013. In the third quarter of 2012, following a net tax benefit of $644,000 resulting from the reversal of a deferred tax asset ("DTA") valuation allowance, Hanmi earned $13.3 million, or $0.42 per diluted share.

In the first nine months of 2013, net income was $30.0 million, or $0.94 per diluted share, compared to $76.4 million, or $2.42 per diluted share, in the first nine months a year ago, which included the $47.7 million net tax benefit from the DTA valuation allowance reversal. Year-to-date pretax income grew 63.9% to $47.0 million from $28.7 million for the first nine months of 2012.

"We continue to make progress implementing our strategic plan to build a premier business bank serving the Korean American community. To build competitive advantage and ultimately achieve this vision, we will continue to invest in technology, infrastructure and talented bankers," said C. G. Kum, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We recently launched our new Corporate Banking Center and hired four of the top lenders in our market to increase our lending capacity, particularly for commercial and industrial loans. Our skilled and dedicated lending team continues to build an impressive pipeline of new loans. We are also strengthening our cash management offerings for business customers with the addition of an experienced banker who will manage the newly created Cash Management department. Hanmi will be the only Korean American bank to actively market a full complement of cash management products and services to deepen our customer relationships and to generate core deposits."

Financial Highlights (at or for the period ended September 30, 2013 compared to June 30, 2013 or September 30, 2012)

• Third quarter net income was $10.3 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared to $9.5 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2013.
• Net interest margin ("NIM") increased 18 basis points to 4.28%, from 4.10% in the second quarter of 2013, and increased 59 basis points from 3.69% in the third quarter of 2012.
• Efficiency ratio continued to improve to 52.98% for this quarter from 56.55% for the second quarter of 2013 and 59.81% for the same quarter a year ago.
• New loan production totaled $136.0 million, mainly consisting of $84.6 million of commercial real estate loans, $22.8 million of commercial and industrial ("C&I") loans, and $27.9 million of Small Business Administration ("SBA") loans.
• C&I lending almost doubled to $22.8 million in the third quarter of 2013, compared to $11.9 million in the preceding quarter.
• Average gross loans were up 11.7% year-over-year.
• Asset quality improved, with non-performing assets declining to 0.81% of total assets.
• A cash dividend of $0.07 per share of common stock was paid on September 17, 2013.

Results of Operations

Third quarter net interest income, before provision for credit losses, increased 4.9% to $28.5 million, from $27.2 million for the second quarter of 2013, and was up 14.3% from $24.9 million for the third quarter of 2012. Interest and dividend income increased 4.1% from the preceding quarter and 7.6% from the third quarter a year ago, while interest expense decreased 2.2% and 29.7% from the preceding and year ago quarters, respectively. Year-to-date, net interest income before provision for credit losses, improved 8.9% to $81.2 million compared to $74.6 million for the first nine months of 2012.

"Our net interest margin continued to expand, growing 59 basis points to 4.28% in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the third quarter a year ago. The elimination of interest payments on trust preferred securities that were paid off earlier in the year, as well as solid yields on loans and stable costs on deposits contributed to margin expansion in both the quarter and year-to-date results," said Mark Yoon, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. For the first nine months of 2013, NIM increased to 4.08% from 3.74% for the first nine months of 2012. The following table details the asset yields, liability costs, spread and margin.  

Hanmi is benefitting from the continuing improvement in the credit performance of its loan portfolio. Net charge-offs for the third quarter of 2013 were $2.2 million compared to $5.9 million in the third quarter of 2012.  The improvement in our asset quality metrics when applied in our allowance for loan losses methodology resulted in an allowance of $57.6 million, which is a coverage ratio of 2.67% of gross loans and 253.07% of non-performing loans ("NPLs") as of September 30, 2013, compared to 2.88% of gross loans and 186.03% of NPLs as of December 31, 2012.  There was no provision for loan losses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013. 

For the first nine months of 2013, net interest income after provision for credit losses increased 18.4% to $81.2 million, compared to $68.6 million, which included a $6.0 million provision for credit losses, for the first nine months of 2012.

Non-interest income in the third quarter of 2013 was $7.3 million, compared to $8.2 million in the preceding quarter. The modest decline reflects lower gains from selling SBA loans. For the first nine months of 2013, non-interest income increased 37.4% to $23.8 million from $17.3 million for the like period a year ago, reflecting a significant reduction in losses from selling NPLs, partially offset by lower gains from selling SBA loans and investment securities.  

Non-interest expense fell 5.0% to $19.0 million in the third quarter of 2013, compared to $20.0 million in the second quarter of 2013, and was up 0.9% from $18.8 million in the third quarter a year ago. For the first nine months of 2013, non-interest expense increased 1.4% to $58.1 million, compared to $57.3 million for the first nine months last year. "With the addition of new personnel, compensation cost increased 5.4% in the quarter and 8.5% from the third quarter a year ago," said Yoon. "Professional fees were down in the third quarter of 2013, due primarily to lower legal expenses incurred in defending lawsuits in the ordinary course of business, as well as lower professional and legal expenses related to strategic reviews.  The decline in legal expenses was mainly a result of not incurring further costs in connection with a lawsuit we prevailed on in the prior quarter and the reimbursement of $634,000 from our insurance company for legal expenses incurred for another lawsuit." 

Balance Sheet

Assets totaled $2.85 billion at September 30, 2013, up from $2.77 billion at three months earlier and from $2.84 billion a year ago.   With loan pay-offs and growing retail deposits this quarter, cash and cash equivalents were $193.9 million, up 149.0% from the second quarter of 2013 and down 35.9% from a year ago.

Excluding loans held for sale, loans receivable decreased 1.2% in the quarter and increased 11.1% year-over-year to $2.10 billion at September 30, 2013, from $2.13 billion at June 30, 2013, and $1.89 billion a year ago. Loans held for sale totaled $5.2 million at September 30, 2013, compared to $2.6 million at June 30, 2013 and $10.7 million at September 30, 2012. Average gross loans, net of deferred loan fees, increased to $2.19 billion for the third quarter of 2013, up from $2.17 billion for the preceding quarter and $1.96 billion for the third quarter a year ago.

Average deposits were $2.38 billion, up slightly from $2.37 billion for the preceding quarter and $2.36 billion for the third quarter of 2012. The overall mix of funding continued to improve with core deposits increasing. The deposit mix is detailed in the table below.

At September 30, 2013, stockholders' equity was $398.0 million.  Tangible common stockholders' equity was $396.7 million, or 13.95% of tangible assets, compared to $362.6 million, or 12.77% of tangible assets, a year ago. Tangible book value per share was $12.49, up from $12.47 three months earlier and $11.52 at September 30, 2012.  Hanmi paid a cash dividend of $0.07 per share, representing an aggregate dividend of $2.2 million, on September 17, 2013.  In addition, volatility in interest rates and the resulting impact on the value of the securities portfolio reduced the accumulated other comprehensive income component of shareholders' equity.  

Asset Quality

NPLs were down 18.6% to $22.8 million for the third quarter of 2013 and 49.1% year-over year, reflecting the continuing improvement in the economy and active management of delinquent accounts. Troubled debt restructurings ("TDRs") totaled $28.0 million at September 30, 2013, down from $29.0 million at June 30, 2013 and $38.0 million at September 30, 2012.  Of these TDRs, $10.2 million were included in NPLs. The following table shows NPLs in each category:

Asset quality continues to improve in all major aspects, and there were no sales of problem loans in the third quarter. Losses associated with our loan sales strategy were just $557,000 year to date, compared to $8.2 million in the first nine months of 2012. Classified loans were $83.7 million, or 3.9% of gross loans, at September 30, 2013, down from $89.6 million, or 4.1%, at June 30, 2013, and from $130.9 million, or 6.7%, a year ago.  

Conference Call

Management will host a conference call today, October 22, 2013, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 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 1-480-629-9723 before 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, 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, Hanmi Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hanmi Financial Corporation, provides services to the multi-ethnic communities of California, with 27 full-service offices in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Diego counties, and loan production offices in Texas and Washington State.  Hanmi Bank specializes in commercial, SBA and trade finance lending, and is a recognized community leader.  Hanmi Bank's mission is to provide a full range of quality products and premier services to its customers and to maximize stockholder value.

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, 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, 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 losses; credit quality and the effect of credit quality on our provision for credit losses and allowance for loan 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 ("SEC"), including, in Item 1A of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current and periodic reports that we will file with the SEC 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.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Tangible Common Equity to Tangible Assets Ratio

Tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio is supplemental financial information determined by a method other than in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). This non-GAAP measure is used by management in the analysis of Hanmi Financial's capital strength. Tangible equity is calculated by subtracting goodwill and other intangible assets from total stockholders' equity. Banking and financial institution regulators also exclude goodwill and other intangible assets from total stockholders' equity when assessing the capital adequacy of a financial institution. Management believes the presentation of this financial measure excluding the impact of these items provides useful supplemental information that is essential to a proper understanding of the capital strength of Hanmi Financial. This disclosure should not be viewed as a substitution for results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor is it necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies.

The following table reconciles this non-GAAP performance measure to the GAAP performance measure for the periods indicated:

CONTACT: Hanmi Financial Corporation
         Shick (Mark) Yoon, CFA CPA CVA
         EVP & Chief Financial Officer
         213-427-5636

         Investor Relations
         The Cereghino Group
         Becky Reid
         206-388-5788
         www.stockvalues.com

Released October 22, 2013