TrustCo Announces First Quarter Pretax Earnings Up 25%; Net Income Up 21%

GLENVILLE, N.Y., April 23, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TrustCo Bank Corp NY (TrustCo) (Nasdaq:TRST) today announced net income for the first quarter of 2012 of $8.9 million, up 20.7% over the prior-year period and equal to diluted earnings per share of $0.095, compared to net income of $7.4 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.096 for the first quarter of 2011. First quarter 2012 per share results include the full quarter effect of the common stock offering completed on July 6, 2011.

On a pre-tax basis, earnings were up 24.6% from $11.4 million in the first quarter of 2011 to $14.2 million in the first quarter of 2012. The first quarter of 2012 also saw continued core balance sheet growth. Robert J. McCormick, President and Chief Executive Officer noted, "We are pleased that the first quarter resulted in solid earnings gains and continued core loan and deposit growth. We look forward to the rest of 2012 with optimism, though we note that our industry continues to face challenges. Return on average equity and return on average assets were 10.45% and 0.84%, respectively, for the first quarter of 2012, compared to 11.61% and 0.75% for the first quarter of 2011. Increased capital from the common stock offering led to a lower return on average equity for the first quarter of 2012. The efficiency ratio was 52.51% for the first quarter of 2012, compared to 52.18% for the first quarter of 2011.

Mr. McCormick also noted "We continue to see some signs of economic improvement in the markets in which we operate, although some core problems remain, particularly high levels of unemployment. We believe our long-term focus on traditional lending criteria and conservative balance sheet management has helped us avoid most of the problems that have affected many banks, which has enabled us to maintain a strong balance sheet with continued profitability. As a result, we have been able to focus on conducting business, which has put us in a position to take advantage of the significant upheaval that customers of other banks have seen. We are particularly encouraged by the continued growth of our core loan and deposit portfolios."

TrustCo continued to report solid growth in loans and deposits on a year-over-year basis. For the quarter ended March 31, 2012, average loans were up $171.2 million or 7.3% compared to the same period in 2011, while average deposits increased $197.6 million or 5.5% over the same period. One new office was added to the branch network, with 137 offices open at the end of the quarter. Mr. McCormick noted that, "In addition to growth throughout the franchise, we are especially pleased with the progress that we have made in growing loans and deposits through our recently completed branch expansion program. We remain mindful that fully achieving our goals for our newer branches will take time and continued hard work. We believe our success in growing customer relationships provides the basic building blocks that will help drive profit growth over the coming years."

Nonperforming loans were $51.2 million as of March 31, 2012, compared to $48.8 million at December 31, 2011 and $50.4 million at March 31, 2011. Nonperforming assets were $54.9 million at March 31, 2012, compared to $54.0 million at December 31, 2011 and $57.1 million at March 31, 2011. At March 31, 2012, nonperforming loans were equal to 2.03% of total loans, compared to 1.93% at December 31, 2011 and 2.14% at March 31, 2011. Nonperforming assets to total assets fell to 1.25% at March 31, 2012, compared to 1.27% at December 31, 2011 and 1.42% at March 31, 2011. The allowance for loan losses as a percentage of gross loans and as a multiple of net charge-offs remains strong. Allowance to total loans were 1.92% at March 31, 2012, compared to 1.85% at March 31, 2011, and covered annualized first quarter net charge-offs by 3.7 times, compared to an annualized 3.9 times for the first quarter of 2011. The coverage ratio, or allowance for loan losses to nonperforming loans was 94.9% at March 31, 2012, compared to 99.9% at December 31, 2011 and 86.7% at March 31, 2011.

Net interest margin for the first quarter of 2012 was 3.23%, down from 3.35% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and from 3.40% in the first quarter of 2011. The decline in the margin reflects the continued effect of the low rate environment on both the loan and investment portfolios, partly offset by lower deposit pricing as well as management's decision to maintain a higher level of short term liquidity.

On July 6, 2011 the Company completed an offering of 15.6 million common shares, raising net proceeds of $67.6 million. The additional capital significantly improved the Company's capital position. At March 31, 2012 the tangible equity ratio was 7.87% compared to 6.44% at March 31, 2011. Tangible book value per share also increased, from $3.34 per share to $3.68 per share over that period.

TrustCo Bank Corp NY is a $4.4 billion savings and loan holding company and through its subsidiary, Trustco Bank, operated 137 offices in New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Florida at March 31, 2011.

In addition, the Bank's Financial Services Department offers a full range of investment services, retirement planning and trust and estate administration services. The common shares of TrustCo are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol TRST.

A conference call to discuss first quarter 2012 results will be held at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on April 24, 2012. Those wishing to participate in the call may dial toll-free 1-877-317-6789. International callers must dial + 1-412-317-6789. A replay of the call will be available until July 24, 2012 by dialing 1-877-344-7529 (1-412-317-0088 for international callers), Conference Number 10012389. The call will also be audio webcast at: http://services.choruscall.com/links/trst120424.html, and will be available until April 24, 2013.

Safe Harbor Statement

All statements in this news release that are not historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The "forward-looking statements" may include statements regarding future events or performance and statements regarding TrustCo's ability to offer and sell securities under its shelf registration statement. Such forward-looking statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially for TrustCo from those discussed. TrustCo wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The following important factors, among others, in some cases have affected and in the future could affect our actual results and could cause our actual financial performance to differ materially from that expressed in any forward-looking statement: credit risk, the effects of and changes in, trade, monetary and fiscal policies and laws, including interest rate policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, inflation, interest rates, market and monetary fluctuations, competition, the effect of changes in financial services laws and regulations (including laws concerning taxation, banking and securities), real estate and collateral values, changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the bank regulatory agencies, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") or the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; changes in local market areas and general business and economic trends and the matters described under the heading "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, as amended, and in our subsequent securities filings.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures Reconciliation

Tangible book value per share and tangible equity as a percentage of tangible assets at period end are non-GAAP financial measures derived from GAAP-based amounts. We calculate tangible equity and tangible assets by excluding the balance of intangible assets from shareholders' equity and total assets, respectively. We calculate tangible book value per share by dividing tangible equity by common shares outstanding, as compared to book value per common share, which we calculate by dividing shareholders' equity by common shares outstanding. We calculate tangible equity as a percentage of tangible assets at period end by dividing tangible equity by tangible assets at period end. We believe that this is consistent with the treatment by bank regulatory agencies, which exclude intangible assets from the calculation of risk-based capital ratios.

The efficiency ratio is a non-GAAP measure of expense control relative to recurring revenue. We calculate the efficiency ratio by dividing total noninterest expenses as determined under GAAP, but excluding other real estate expense, net, which we refer to below as recurring expense, by net interest income (fully taxable equivalent) and total noninterest income as determined under GAAP, but excluding net gains on securities from this calculation, which we refer to below as recurring revenue. We believe that this provides one reasonable measure of core expenses relative to core revenue.

We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide information that is important to investors and that is useful in understanding our financial position, results and ratios. However, these non-GAAP financial measures are supplemental and are not a substitute for an analysis based on GAAP measures. As other companies may use different calculations for these measures, this presentation may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures reported by other companies. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures of tangible common equity, tangible book value per share and efficiency ratio to the underlying GAAP numbers is set forth below.