Hanmi Reports 34% Year-over-Year Increase in Net Income for First Quarter 2016

2016 First Quarter Highlights:        

• Net income of $14.8 million or $0.46 per diluted share, up 34% from a year ago
• Loans receivable of $3.3 billion, up 4% quarter-over-quarter and 17% year-over-year
• Noninterest expenses fell 17% from the same period last year
• Noninterest-bearing deposits up 10% from a year ago
• Net interest margin of 3.98%, up 40 basis points from the same period last year after excluding acquisition accounting

LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hanmi Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HAFC) (or “Hanmi”), the holding company for Hanmi Bank (the “Bank”), today reported first quarter net income of $14.8 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, unchanged compared with the prior quarter and up 33.9% from $11.1 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2015.

Mr. C. G. Kum, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “In a highly competitive environment, Hanmi continues to generate exceptional loan growth and earnings. Hanmi’s record results in the first quarter were highlighted by a 55% year-over-year increase in new loan production, helping drive loans up 4% from the prior quarter and 17% from a year ago. In addition, our emphasis on core deposit cultivation has contributed to the low cost deposit base, with demand deposits reaching 34% of total deposits, up 4% from a year ago.”

Mr. Kum continued, “Ongoing success in repositioning the balance sheet is reflected in our expanding net interest margin - up 6 basis points from the prior quarter and 40 basis points from the prior year after excluding the effects of acquisition accounting. Continued focus on expense management has successfully reduced noninterest expense by $5.3 million, or 17% from a year ago.  Overall, we carry significant momentum to achieve our profitable growth objectives throughout the remainder of the year.”

Results of Operations 

First quarter net interest income increased $1.0 million or 2.6% to $38.6 million from $37.6 million for the fourth quarter and increased $1.1 million or 3.0% from the same period last year primarily from the increase in loans.

Net interest margin (on a taxable equivalent basis) for the first quarter of 2016 was 3.98% up from 3.93% for the fourth quarter and 3.89% for the year-ago period.  Net interest margin (excluding acquisition accounting) was 3.68%, up 6 basis points from the preceding quarter and 40 basis points from the first quarter last year. The increase in net interest margin from the preceding quarter was primarily due to loan growth, while the increase from last year was due to loan growth and the change in the mix of earning assets.

The impact of acquisition accounting adjustments on core loan yield, core deposit cost, net interest income and net interest margin are summarized in the following tables. 

For the first quarter of 2016, Hanmi recorded a negative provision for loan losses of $1.5 million, which included a $0.2 million provision for losses on PCI loans. For the prior quarter, the negative provision for loan losses was $3.8 million, which also included a $2.3 million provision for losses on PCI loans.  For the year ago period, Hanmi recorded a negative provision for loan losses of $1.7 million which included $0.4 million of provision for losses on PCI loans.

First quarter noninterest income decreased $5.1 million or 42.3% to $7.0 million from $12.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 primarily due to a $3.0 million decrease in gain on sales of SBA loans, a $1.5 million decrease in disposition gains on PCI loans and a $0.5 million decrease in gain on sales of securities. Gains on sales of SBA loans were $0.9 million for the first quarter 2016, compared with $3.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 and $1.7 million for the year-ago period as the volume of SBA loans sold declined to $12.4 million from $29.3 million for the preceding quarter and $19.9 million for the same quarter last year. Disposition gains on PCI loans were $0.7 million for the first quarter of 2016, compared with $2.1 million for the prior quarter, and $1.2 million for the first quarter last year as PCI loans only declined $0.2 million for the first quarter of 2016, while they declined $5.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 and declined $3.4 million for the first quarter of 2015. There were no sales of securities in the first quarter of 2016, while securities transactions resulted in gains of $0.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 and $2.2 million for the first quarter last year.

Noninterest expense for the first quarter decreased $2.1 million, or 7.5%, to $26.1 million from $28.2 million for the fourth quarter primarily due to a $1.3 million reduction in SBA recourse allowance (recorded in other operating expenses), $0.8 million reduction in advertising and promotions and $0.5 million reduction in professional fees.  Salaries and employee benefits were higher in the first quarter as compared with the fourth quarter as payroll taxes, vacation and other benefits began anew.

Noninterest expense decreased $5.3 million, or 17.0%, from $31.4 million for the first quarter last year primarily due to reductions in merger and integration costs, professional fees and data processing fees related to the August 2014 acquisition of Central Bancorp, Inc. (“CBI”), along with lower salaries and employee benefits and occupancy and equipment expense from the branch closure and consolidations completed in the third quarter last year. As a result of the decrease in noninterest expense, coupled with the improvements in revenue from the growth in earning assets, the efficiency ratio excluding merger and integration costs, improved to 57.25% in the first quarter from 61.65% in the year-ago period.

Hanmi recorded a provision for income taxes of $6.2 million for the first quarter of 2016, representing an effective tax of 29.5%, compared with $10.5 million or 41.4% for the preceding quarter and $7.5 million or 40.5% for the first quarter of 2015.  Income tax expense for the first quarter of 2016 included a $1.8 million benefit arising from the finalization of the 2014 amended income tax returns.  The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2016 would have been 38.0% without this benefit.

Financial Position
Total assets were $4.31 billion at March 31, 2016, a 1.8% increase from $4.23 billion at December 31, 2015, and a 5.6% increase from $4.08 billion at March 31, 2015.  The increases in total assets were primarily due to increases in loans receivable.

Loans receivable, before the allowance for loan losses, were $3.31 billion at March 31, 2016, up 3.9% from $3.18 billion at December 31, 2015, and up 17.2% from $2.82 billion at March 31, 2015. The increase in loans from the end of the 2015 first quarter reflects Hanmi’s strong loan production.  Loans held for sale, representing the guaranteed portion of SBA loans, were $2.6 million at March 31, 2016, compared with $2.9 million at the end of the 2015 fourth quarter and $8.7 million at the end of the 2015 first quarter. 

New loan production for the 2016 first quarter was $208.8 million, up 54.8% from $134.9 million for the first quarter last year and outpaced $59.9 million of loan payoffs.  First quarter 2016 new loan production was comprised of $174.4 million of commercial real estate loans, $15.3 million of commercial and industrial loans, $17.6 million of SBA loans, and $1.5 million of consumer loans. For the 2015 fourth quarter, new loan production was $268.5 million while loan payoffs were $171.8 million. Loan purchases for the 2016 first quarter were $30.7 million, compared with $114.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. SBA loan sales for the 2016 first quarter were $12.4 million, compared with $29.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2015.

Deposits were $3.50 billion at the end of the 2016 first quarter, compared with $3.51 billion at the end of the preceding quarter and $3.55 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2015.  The cost of deposits was 0.43% for the first quarter of 2016 compared with 0.45% for the fourth quarter of 2015 and 0.43% for the first quarter a year ago.

At March 31, 2016, stockholders’ equity was $510.9 million, compared with $493.9 million and $467.5 million at December 31, 2015 and March 31, 2015, respectively.  Tangible common stockholders’ equity was $509.2 million, or 11.82% of tangible assets, compared with $492.2 million, or 11.63% of tangible assets, and $465.5 million, or 11.40%, of tangible assets at December 31, 2015 and March 31, 2015, respectively.  Tangible book value per share was $15.79, up 2.6% from the preceding quarter and 8.3% from a year ago. 

During the first quarter, Hanmi declared a cash dividend on its common stock of $0.14 per share, unchanged from the prior quarter and up 27% from a year ago.  The dividend was paid on March 30, 2016, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 15, 2016. 

Asset Quality
Nonperforming loans, excluding PCI loans, were $16.3 million or 0.50% of loans at the end of the first quarter of 2016, compared with $19.1 million or 0.60% of loans at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015 and $29.3 million, or 1.05% of loans at the end of the first quarter last year.

OREO was $9.4 million at the end of the first quarter of 2016, up from $8.5 million at the end of the prior quarter. The sequential quarter increase in OREO was due to the foreclosure of three individual loans.  Classified loans were $32.3 million, or 0.98% of loans, at March 31, 2015, compared with $39.3 million, or 1.24% of loans, at December 31, 2015, and $56.1 million, or 1.99% of loans, a year ago.  Nonperforming assets were $25.7 million at the end of the first quarter of 2016, or 0.60% of assets, compared with 0.65% of assets at the end of the prior quarter and 1.01% of assets at the end of the same quarter last year.

Gross charge-offs for the first quarter of 2016 were $636,000, compared with $529,000 for the preceding quarter and $86,000 for the same period a year ago. Recoveries of previously charged-off loans for the first quarter of 2016 were $252,000, compared with $937,000 for the preceding quarter and $2.0 million for the first quarter of 2015. As a result, there were net charge-offs of $384,000 for the first quarter of 2016, compared to net recoveries of $408,000 for the preceding quarter and net recoveries of $2.0 million for the year ago period. 

The allowance for loan losses was $41.0 million as of March 31, 2016, generating an allowance of loan losses to loans receivable ratio of 1.24% compared with 1.35% as of December 31, 2015 and 1.88% as of March 31, 2015.

Conference Call       
Management will host a conference call today, April 19, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. PT (4:00 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 1:00 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 42 full-service branches and 6 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, 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 loan 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, including, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, 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.

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’s capital strength. Tangible equity is calculated by subtracting goodwill and other intangible assets from stockholders’ equity. Banking and financial institution regulators also exclude goodwill and other intangible assets from 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. 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: