BELLINGHAM, Wash., March 26, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Horizon Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:HRZB) announced today its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.135 per share. The dividend will be paid on May 2, 2008, to shareholders of record on April 7, 2008.
Horizon Financial Corp. also announced that its Board of Directors has approved a new stock repurchase program, allowing the company to buy up to 300,000 shares, or approximately 2.5% of total shares outstanding. The new plan begins on April 1, 2008, running concurrent with fiscal year 2009, and replaces the program approved a year ago under which Horizon Financial repurchased and retired 399,700 shares.
The repurchase program may be modified, suspended or terminated by the Board of Directors at any time without notice. The extent to which the company repurchases its shares and the timing of such repurchases will depend upon market conditions and other corporate considerations. The company currently has approximately 11.9 million shares of common stock outstanding.
Horizon also announced the earnings release date and dial-in information for management's upcoming earnings conference call. The holding company for northwestern Washington-based Horizon Bank expects to report results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 before the market opens on Thursday, April 24, 2008. Management will host a conference call to discuss the results at 1:30 pm PDT (4:30 pm EDT) on that same day. The live call can be accessed by dialing (303) 262-2137. The replay, which will be available for a month beginning shortly after the call concludes, can be heard at (303) 590-3000 using access code 11110237#.
Horizon Financial Corp. is a $1.4 billion, state-chartered bank holding company headquartered in Bellingham, Washington. Its primary subsidiary, Horizon Bank, is a state-chartered commercial bank that operates 19 full-service offices, four commercial loan centers and four real estate loan centers throughout Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish and Pierce counties, Washington.
Safe Harbor Statement: Except for the historical information in this news release, the matters described herein are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks and uncertainties include: continuing to pay cash dividends, the ability to increase such dividends, successfully targeting new commercial business and expand existing relationships, deposit pricing and the ability to gather core deposits, success in new markets, expense management, expanding or maintaining the net interest margin, interest rate risk, loan quality and the loss levels expected on non-performing loans, the local and national economic environment, and other risks and uncertainties discussed from time to time in Horizon Financial's SEC filings. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Horizon undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.