Capital Bank Financial Corp. Reports Third Quarter Net Income of $13.2 Million or $0.27 per Diluted Share, up 23% Year Over Year

• Record new loans of $445 million, up 53% year over year and 35% year to date;
• Loan portfolio grew sequentially at a 9% annualized rate;
• Nonperforming loans declined sequentially at a 75% annualized rate; and
• Legacy credit expenses down 55% year over year.

CORAL GABLES, Fla., Oct. 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capital Bank Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:CBF) (the "Company") today reported third quarter 2014 net income of $13.2 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, and core net income of $13.5 million, or $0.27 per diluted share. Net income rose 16% year over year and net income per diluted share rose 23%. Core net income rose 6% year over year and core net income per diluted share rose 13%. ROA and Core ROA increased to 0.80% and 0.81%, respectively.

Core adjustments for the third quarter of 2014 included $0.3 million of contingent value right ("CVR") expense, $0.2 million gains on investment securities, and $0.1 million of non-cash equity compensation associated with original founder awards.

Gene Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Capital Bank Financial Corp., commented, "Thanks to the consistent effort of talented teammates across the organization, the Company produced another quarter of record new loans in what is typically our slowest quarter and, as a result, we enjoyed another quarter of steady growth in our loan portfolio."

Chris Marshall, Chief Financial Officer of Capital Bank Financial Corp., added, "In addition to our focus on revenue growth, the Company remains committed to the disciplined management of operating expenses, continued resolution of legacy special assets, prudent underwriting of new loans, and conservative asset liability management. We remain strongly capitalized and are eager to grow customer relationships throughout the Southeast."

Loan Portfolio and Composition

During the third quarter, the loan portfolio increased by $101.6 million to $4.8 billion, a 9% annualized growth rate. New loans of $445.1 million were offset by resolutions totaling $78.6 million, including transfers to OREO of $12.6 million, and principal repayments of $264.9 million.

The relative composition of the Company's loan portfolio at the end of the third and second quarters of 2014 and fourth quarter of 2013 was as follows:

Deposits, Composition and Yields

During the third quarter, total deposits remained consistent at $5.2 billion. The cost of deposits remained flat at 0.34% from the second quarter of 2014 and declined four basis points from the third quarter of 2013. The year over year decline was mainly due to continued shrinkage in high-cost legacy time deposits. The cost of core deposits remained flat at 0.14% sequentially and year over year.

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Net interest income increased $0.6 million sequentially to $61.4 million and declined $4.0 million year over year from $65.4 million. The sequential increase was due to increased loan balances and investment securities yields. The year over year decline was mainly due to the lower yield on new loans as compared to the yields of our legacy portfolio. The net interest margin for the third quarter of 2014 was 4.14%, a decline of 12 basis points sequentially and 31 basis points year over year. The sequential and year over year decline mainly reflects the lower yield on new loans as compared to the yields of our legacy portfolio. The average yield on new loans during the quarter was 3.59%, up sequentially from 3.50%.

Non-Interest Income

Non-interest income declined $1.9 million sequentially to $10.0 million and declined $5.3 million year over year from $15.3 million. The sequential decline was mainly driven by lower credit loss expectations in our legacy loan portfolios, which resulted in an increase of $1.8 million in FDIC indemnification asset amortization, partially offset by a $0.3 million increase in investment advisory fees and $0.3 million in gains on sales of investment securities. The year over year decline was mainly driven by lower credit loss expectations, which resulted in an increase of $3.4 million in FDIC indemnification asset amortization, and the absence of a $1.5 million gain recorded in the prior year on two small investment company partnership interests and a $0.9 million insurance recovery. Partially offsetting the decline was an increase of $0.4 million in investment advisory and trust fees due to increased assets under management and advisory commissions.

Provision for Loan Losses and Credit Quality

The net reversal of provision for loan losses of $1.3 million recorded for the third quarter of 2014 includes a $2.9 million provision for new and acquired non-impaired loans and $4.2 million in reversals of impairments due to improvements in cash flow estimates for certain acquired impaired loan pools.  The improvement in cash flow estimates mainly resulted from higher than anticipated payoffs. Net charge-offs for the third quarter of 2014 were $1.6 million.

At September 30, 2014, the allowance for loan losses was $52.3 million, of which $30.2 million related to acquired impaired loans and $22.1 million related to new and acquired non-impaired loans. The allowance for loan losses represents 1.08% of our total $4.8 billion loan portfolio. 

During the third quarter, non-performing loans declined sequentially by $39.8 million, or 19%, to $172.3 million, a 75% annualized rate.  Acquired impaired loans greater than 90 days past due and still accruing, declined sequentially by $39.1 million, or 19%, to $161.7 million. Nonaccrual loans declined sequentially to 0.32% of total non-purchased credit impaired loans from 0.37%.

New and acquired non-impaired loans now represent 69% of our total loan portfolio as compared to 59% at December 31, 2013.

Non-Interest Expense

Non-interest expense remained consistent at $51.4 million from the second quarter of 2014 and declined $7.9 million from $59.3 million year over year.  Excluding the impact of the higher gains on sales of OREO recorded during the second quarter, non-interest expense declined sequentially mainly as a result of lower salaries and employee benefits, stock-based compensation expense and professional fees. The year over year decline was largely driven by lower legacy credit expenses reflecting the continued resolution of special assets and a decline in stock-based compensation expense and professional fees.

Income Tax Expense

Income tax expense was $8.1 million for the third quarter of 2014, an effective income tax rate of 37.8% as compared to income tax expense of $9.0 million for the third quarter of 2013, an effective income tax rate of 44.0%. The higher prior year third quarter effective rate is mainly due to the impact of a $1.6 million charge as a result of changes in certain statutory rates that were enacted into law.

Financial Position

Total assets increased by $66.3 million to $6.7 billion as of September 30, 2014 from $6.6 billion as of June 30, 2014. During the quarter, the Company's loan portfolio increased by $101.6 million to $4.8 billion, a 9% annualized growth rate.  While sequential deposits remained flat at $5.2 billion, FHLB borrowings increased by $65.0 million.  During the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 820,000 shares of common stock at an average price of $23.78 per share.  Tangible book value per share was $19.00 as of September 30, 2014, an increase of $0.15 and $0.67 over June 30, 2014 and September 30, 2013, respectively.

The Company's national bank subsidiary, Capital Bank N.A., has preliminary Tier 1, Tier 1 Risk-Based and Total Risk-Based capital ratios of 13.4%, 17.1% and 18.2%, respectively, as of September 30, 2014, under currently applicable regulations. 

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (719) 325-2448, and the confirmation pass code is 6357936. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call. A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available through October 24, 2014, by dialing (719) 457-0820 and entering pass code 6357936. The live broadcast of the conference call will be available online at the Company's web site at www.capitalbank-us.com, by following the link to Investor Relations.  An on-line replay of the call will be available at the same site for 90 days.

Forward Looking Statements

Information in this press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, predictions, forecasts, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and may be forward-looking. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believes," "can," "could," "may," "predicts," "potential," "should," "will," "estimate," "plans," "projects," "continuing," "ongoing," "expects," "intends" and similar words or phrases. Accordingly, these statements are only predictions and involve estimates, known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in them. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of several factors more fully described under the caption "Risk Factors" in the annual report on Form 10-K and other periodic reports filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any or all of our forward-looking statements in this press release may turn out to be inaccurate. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated by us will be achieved. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements including, but not limited to: (1) changes in general economic and financial market conditions; (2) changes in the regulatory environment; (3) economic conditions generally and in the financial services industry; (4) changes in the economy affecting real estate values; (5) our ability to achieve loan and deposit growth; (6) the completion of future acquisitions or business combinations and our ability to integrate any acquired businesses into our business model; (7) projected population and income growth in our targeted market areas; (8) competitive pressures in our markets and industry; (9) our ability to attract and retain key personnel; (10) changes in accounting policies or judgments and (11) volatility and direction of market interest rates and a weakening of the economy which could materially impact credit quality trends and the ability to generate loans. All forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates of future results and actual results may differ materially from expectations. You are, therefore, cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements which should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included elsewhere in this press release. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Core net income, core efficiency ratio, core return-on-assets ("core ROA"), tangible book value and tangible book value per share are each non-GAAP measures used in this report.  A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures – net income in the case of core net income and core ROA, total non-interest income and total non-interest expense in the case of core efficiency ratio, and total shareholders' equity in the case of tangible book value and tangible book value per share – appears in tabular form at the end of this release.  The Company believes each of core net income, core efficiency ratio, and core ROA is useful for both investors and management to understand the effects of certain non-interest items and provides an alternative view of the Company's performance over time and in comparison to the Company's competitors.  Neither core net income, core efficiency ratio, nor core ROA should be viewed as a substitute for net income.  The Company believes that tangible book value and tangible book value per share are useful for both investors and management as these are measures commonly used by financial institutions, regulators and investors to measure the capital adequacy of financial institutions.  The Company believes these measures facilitate comparison of the quality and composition of the Company's capital over time and in comparison to its competitors.  These measures should not be viewed as a substitute for total shareholders' equity.

These non-GAAP measures have inherent limitations, are not required to be uniformly applied and are not audited.  They should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analyzes of results reported under GAAP.  These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

About Capital Bank Financial Corp.

Capital Bank Financial Corp. is a national bank holding company, formed in 2009 to create a premier regional banking franchise in the southeastern United States. CBF is the parent of Capital Bank N.A., a national banking association with $6.7 billion in total assets as of September 30, 2014, and 162 full-service banking offices throughout Florida, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. To learn more about Capital Bank, N.A., please visit www.capitalbank-us.com.