Seacoast Reports First Quarter 2018 Results

Net Income Increased 127% Year-Over-Year to $18.0 Million; Net Revenue Increased 29% to $62.1 Million

Net Interest Margin Expanded 9 Basis Points from Prior Quarter

11% Annualized First Quarter Deposit Growth

Record Level of Consumer and Small Business Loan Originations

STUART, Fla., April 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (“Seacoast” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ:SBCF) reported net income of $18.0 million, or $0.38 per share for the first quarter of 2018, a 127% or $10.1 million increase year-over-year. Seacoast reported adjusted net income¹ of $19.3 million, or $0.40 per share, representing an 88% or $9.0 million increase year-over-year.

For the first quarter 2018, return on average tangible assets was 1.34%, return on average tangible shareholders’ equity was 14.4%, and the efficiency ratio was 57.8%, compared to 0.97%, 10.7% and 64.0%, respectively, in the prior quarter and 0.74%, 8.8%, and 71.1%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2017.  Adjusted return on average tangible assets¹ was 1.38%, adjusted return on average tangible shareholders’ equity¹ was 14.8%, and the adjusted efficiency ratio¹ was 57.1%, compared to 1.23%, 13.5%, and 52.6%, respectively, in the prior quarter, and 0.90%, 10.7%, and 64.7%, respectively, in the first quarter of 2017. 

Dennis S. Hudson, III, Seacoast’s Chairman and CEO, said “Our strong financial and operating performance laid the foundation for driving sustained earnings growth throughout 2018 and beyond. We delivered robust deposit growth that supported margin expansion and achieved higher revenue across all of our business lines.  Further, our ongoing commitment to leverage innovative data analytics has not only proven to be a valuable cost effective tool to better service our customers but has also supported a record quarter of consumer and small business originations.”
  
Hudson added, “Our balanced growth strategy, a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, continues to create value for shareholders. We have successfully completed the integration and cost rationalization of all three of our recent acquisitions, positioning Seacoast for further expansion in some of Florida’s largest and fastest growing markets.”

Charles M. Shaffer, Seacoast’s Chief Financial Officer, said, “Our quarterly results demonstrate our ability to balance a disciplined approach to credit, liquidity and expense management, while achieving strong organic growth. This led to higher shareholder returns, underscored by the increase in tangible book value per share to $11.39. With a loan-to-deposit ratio of 84% and a ratio of tangible common equity to tangible assets of 9.3%, our balance sheet enables us the flexibility to be prudent yet opportunistic in funding organic growth initiatives as well as accretive acquisitions.”

First Quarter 2018 Financial Highlights

Income Statement

• Net income was $18.0 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, compared to $13.0 million or $0.28 for the prior quarter and $7.9 million or $0.20 for the first quarter of 2017.  Adjusted net income¹ was $19.3 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, compared to $17.3 million or $0.37 for the prior quarter and $10.3 million or $0.26 for the first quarter of 2017. 
   
• Net revenues were $62.1 million, a decrease of $12.8 million or 17% compared to the prior quarter, and an increase of $14.0 million or 29% compared to the first quarter of 2017. Prior quarter results include a $15.2 million gain on the sale of Visa Class B stock. Adjusted revenues¹ were $62.2 million, an increase of $2.6 million, or 4%, from the prior quarter and an increase of $14.1 million, or 29% from the first quarter of 2017.  
   
• Net interest income totaled $49.8 million, an increase of $1.5 million or 3% from the prior quarter and an increase of $11.6 million or 30% from the first quarter of 2017. 
   
• Net interest margin was 3.80% in the current quarter compared to 3.71% in the prior quarter and 3.63% in the first quarter of 2017. The increase in the current quarter reflects the positive impact on loans and securities of increases in benchmark interest rates, higher add-on rates for new loan production, and growth in demand deposits.  Partially offsetting, the cost of interest bearing liabilities increased 6 basis points.

• Noninterest income totaled $12.3 million, a decrease of $14.3 million or 54% compared to the prior quarter and an increase of $2.4 million or 24% from the first quarter of 2017. Results in the fourth quarter of 2017 included a $15.2 million gain on the sale of Visa Class B stock.  Adjusted noninterest income¹ totaled $12.4 million for the quarter, an increase of $1.0 million or 9% compared to prior quarter and an increase of $2.5 million or 25% from the first quarter of 2017.  During the quarter, growth across our businesses and markets resulted in improvements in nearly every category.  Other income benefited from continued progress by our SBA lending group, resulting in recognized gains on sale of $0.7 million in the quarter, an increase of $0.5 million from the fourth quarter of 2017. 
   
• The provision for loan losses was $1.1 million, compared to $2.3 million in the prior quarter and $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2017, reflecting continuing positive credit trends.   
   
• Noninterest expense was $37.2 million compared to $39.2 million in the prior quarter and $34.7 million in the first quarter of 2017.  In the prior quarter, noninterest expense included a favorable adjustment of $2.0 million of performance related incentives, and charges totaling $6.8 million associated with the fourth-quarter bank acquisitions. Adjusted noninterest expense¹ was $35.7 million compared to $31.4 million in the prior quarter, and $30.9 million in the first quarter of 2017. The increase quarter over quarter in adjusted noninterest expense¹ is the result of the full impact of the two acquisitions, normalized compensation accruals, and the return of seasonal 401k and payroll tax expenses. 
   
• Seacoast recorded $5.8 million in income tax expense in the current quarter, compared to $20.4 million in the prior quarter and $4.1 million in the first quarter of 2017. The effective tax rate of 24.3% in the current quarter reflects the positive impact of the new lower corporate tax rate, offset by the effect of an additional $0.3 million write down of deferred tax assets arising from measurement period adjustments on a prior year bank acquisition. The write down of these assets in the current quarter increased the effective tax rate by 1.1%.

• The efficiency ratio was 57.8% compared to 64.0% in the prior quarter and 71.1% in the first quarter of 2017. The adjusted efficiency ratio¹ was 57.1% compared to 52.6% in the prior quarter and 64.7% in the first quarter of 2017. 

Balance Sheet

• At March 31, 2018, the Company had total assets of $5.9 billion and total shareholders' equity of $701.9 million.  Book value per share was $14.94 and tangible book value per share was $11.39, compared to $14.70 and $11.15, respectively, at December 31, 2017 and $12.34 and $10.41, respectively, at March 31, 2017. Excluding the $7.9 million decline in accumulated other comprehensive income during the quarter, the result of the impact of higher interest rates on available for sale securities, tangible book value per share would have been $11.56.
   
• Net loans totaled $3.9 billion at March 31, 2018, an increase of $78.8 million or 8% annualized in the current quarter, and an increase of $920 million or 31% from March 31, 2017.  Excluding the acquisitions in 2017, loans increased $265 million or 9% from March 31, 2017.   
  • Consumer and small business originations reached a record $98.4 million.
  • Closed residential loans retained were $79.1 million, an increase of 5% from the prior quarter.
  • Commercial originations were $122.1 million. We continue to prudently manage commercial real estate exposure.   Construction and land development and commercial real estate loans remain well below regulatory guidance with construction and land development at 63% and commercial real estate at 206% of total risk based capital, respectively. 
     
• Pipelines (loans in underwriting and approval or approved and not yet closed) have rebounded from the impact of the fall hurricane season. At March 31, 2018, pipelines were $50.4 million in consumer and small business, $70.8 million in residential, and $122.7 million in commercial.
  • Consumer and small business pipelines were higher by $11.5 million, or 30%, compared to the prior quarter.
  • Residential pipelines were higher by $21.9 million, or 45%, from prior quarter. 
  • Commercial pipelines increased by $3.8 million, or 3%, from prior quarter.
     
• Total deposits were $4.7 billion as of March 31, 2018, an increase of $127 million, or 11% annualized in the current quarter, and an increase of $1.0 billion, or 28%, from March 31, 2017.
  • Since March 31, 2017, interest bearing deposits (interest bearing demand, savings and money markets deposits) increased $433 million, or 21%, to $2.5 billion, noninterest bearing demand deposits increased $263 million, or 21%, to $1.5 billion, and CDs increased $345 million, or 86%, to $743 million.
  • Excluding acquired deposits, noninterest bearing deposits increased 8% and total deposits increased 5% compared to March 31, 2017.   
  • The Company’s balance sheet continues to be primarily core deposit funded. Core customer funding was $4.1 billion at March 31, 2018, compared to $4.0 billion at December 31, 2017 and $3.5 billion at March 31, 2017.
  • Overall cost of deposits remains attractive at 0.33%.
     
• First quarter return on average tangible assets (ROTA) was 1.34%, compared to 0.97% in the prior quarter and 0.74% in the first quarter of 2017. Adjusted ROTA¹ was 1.38% compared to 1.23% in the prior quarter and 0.90% in the first quarter of 2017. 

Capital

• First quarter return on average tangible common equity (ROTCE) was 14.4%, compared to 10.7% in the prior quarter and 8.8% in the first quarter of 2017. Adjusted ROTCE¹ was 14.8% compared to 13.5% in the prior quarter and 10.7% in the first quarter of 2017. 
• The common equity tier 1 capital ratio (CET1) was 12.7%, total capital ratio was 15.0% and the tier 1 leverage ratio was 10.7% at March 31, 2018. 
• Tangible common equity to tangible assets was 9.3% at March 31, 2018, compared to 9.3% at December 31, 2017, and 9.0% at March 31, 2017. 

Asset Quality

• Nonperforming loans to total loans outstanding was 0.50% at March 31, 2018, 0.51% at December 31, 2017, and 0.57% at March 31, 2017.
• Nonperforming assets to total assets was 0.50% at March 31, 2018, 0.47% at December 31, 2017 and 0.52% at March 31, 2017.  Of the $29.6 million in nonperforming assets, $3.1 million related to four closed branch properties held as REO. 
• The ratio of allowance for loan losses to total loans was 0.72% at March 31, 2018, 0.71% at December 31, 2017, and 0.83% at March 31, 2017.  The ratio of allowance for loan losses to non-acquired loans was 0.90% at March 31, 2018, 0.90% at December 31, 2017, and 0.95% at March 31, 2017. Net charges offs were near zero for the current quarter, reflecting continued strong credit trends.

Vision 2020

We are confident in our ability to achieve our Vision 2020 targets announced at our Investor Day in February of 2017.  The enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on December 22, 2017 should have a significant positive impact on the United States economy and growth in our Florida markets.  This clearly creates an opportunity for us to accelerate the achievement of our Vision 2020 objectives.   As the impact of this new legislation on our operating markets materializes, we will provide further updates on our progress and updated objectives. 

First Quarter Strategic Highlights

Modernizing How We Sell

• Small Business Administration (SBA) activity saw significant growth from the prior year, driven by streamlined processes and a new technology partnership, resulting in $0.7 million in noninterest income in the current quarter. We expect continued growth in this segment over the remainder of the year.
• Late last year Seacoast Wealth Management migrated its third-party brokerage platform to an industry leading provider. The shift will provide better tools, sales support, and technology.
• In early 2016, we invested in a team of wealth management professionals in the Central Florida market.  This team has contributed to originations of $120 million in new assets under management in the last twelve months, resulting in a record quarter for trust fee income.
• In 2018 we’ll further connect our Bankers with insights to better meet customer needs. We’ll make enhancements to our proprietary Connections portal which provides our Bankers with greater access to customer service/activity timelines and opportunities to better meet customer needs and improve engagement.
• We’re focused on continuing to improve revenue per customer. Since we began applying our proprietary methodology in mid-2015, risk adjusted revenue per customer has grown by 30%. These results were achieved by using analytics and marketing automation combined with improved sales execution to improve customer engagement. This methodology has allowed us to focus our prospecting and relationship deepening efforts on those customers with the largest economic opportunity. Our focus to date has been consumer and small business segments. Our objective in 2018 is to expand to other business units within the franchise.

Lowering Our Cost to Serve

• We consolidated two recently-acquired banking center locations in the first quarter 2018, consistent with our strategy of reducing our footprint to provide funding for technology investments needed to meet the evolving demands of our customers.
• We continue to invest in our Florida call center to support our growth strategy and our 24/7 customer service model. Last year, we migrated operations to the Orlando area; and in 2018, we expect to modernize our software platform to improve our self-serve options for customers and streamline manual processes for associates.

Driving Improvements in How Our Business Operates

• In 2017, we outsourced a portion of our mortgage fulfillment and processing services to create greater scalability. This capability was demonstrated in the first quarter during which we generated near record mortgage originations while maintaining cycle times.
• We are focused on creating more efficient fulfillment and customer service processes, especially in Commercial Banking, by investing in equipment and software upgrades to ensure data quality and our ability to scale efficiently, and improving our analytics and reporting services, resulting in greater operating leverage.

Scaling and Evolving Our Culture

• In February, we welcomed Amie Seymour to Seacoast as EVP, Chief Technology Officer. Amie’s focus is the continued development and execution of the Bank’s overall technology roadmap. Prior to joining Seacoast, Amie worked for Raymond James Financial as Vice President of Information Technology and  Chief of Staff to the Chief Information Officer. Prior, Amie was the Chief Information Officer for a global digital consumer finance company, DFC Global, where she was instrumental in integrating various acquired companies and supporting lending businesses in eight countries.  Prior to DFC Global, she served at Capital One Financial Corporation leading development of the first mobile application and was a founding member of the innovation lab.

OTHER INFORMATION

Conference Call Information
Seacoast will host a conference call on Friday, April 27, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss the earnings results.  Investors may call in (toll-free) by dialing (888) 466-9845 (passcode: 9476 549). Slides will be used during the conference call and may be accessed at Seacoast's website at SeacoastBanking.com by selecting "Presentations" under the heading "Investor Services."  A replay of the call will be available for one month, beginning late afternoon of April 27, 2018 by dialing (888) 843-7419 and using passcode: 9476 549#.

Alternatively, individuals may listen to the live webcast of the presentation by visiting Seacoast's website at SeacoastBanking.com. The link is located in the subsection "News/Events" under the heading "Press Releases." Beginning the afternoon of April 27, an archived version of the webcast can be accessed from this same subsection of the website.  The archived webcast will be available for one year.   

About Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)
Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is one of the largest community banks headquartered in Florida with approximately $5.9 billion in assets and $4.7 billion in deposits as of March 31, 2018. The Company provides integrated financial services including commercial and retail banking, wealth management, and mortgage services to customers through advanced banking solutions, 49 traditional branches of its locally-branded wholly-owned subsidiary bank, Seacoast Bank, and five commercial banking centers. Offices stretch from Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach north through the Daytona Beach area, into Orlando and Central Florida and the adjacent Tampa market, and west to Okeechobee and surrounding counties. More information about the Company is available at SeacoastBanking.com.

Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning, and protections, of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, statements about future financial and operating results,  cost savings, enhanced revenues, economic and seasonal conditions in our markets, and improvements to reported earnings that may be realized from cost controls, tax law changes, and for integration of banks that we have acquired, or expect to acquire, as well as statements with respect to Seacoast's objectives, strategic plans, including Vision 2020, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts.  Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control, and which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Seacoast to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. You should not expect us to update any forward-looking statements. 

You can identify these forward-looking statements through our use of words such as "may," "will," "anticipate," "assume," "should," "support", "indicate," "would," "believe," "contemplate," "expect," "estimate," "continue," "further", "point to," "project," "could," "intend" or other similar words and expressions of the future. These forward-looking statements may not be realized due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation: the effects of future economic and market conditions, including seasonality; governmental monetary and fiscal policies, as well as legislative, tax and regulatory changes; changes in accounting policies, rules and practices; the risks of changes in interest rates on the level and composition of deposits, loan demand, liquidity and the values of loan collateral, securities, and interest sensitive assets and liabilities; interest rate risks, sensitivities and the shape of the yield curve; the effects of competition from other commercial banks, thrifts, mortgage banking firms, consumer finance companies, credit unions, securities brokerage firms, insurance companies, money market and other mutual funds and other financial institutions operating in our market areas and elsewhere, including institutions operating regionally, nationally and internationally, together with such competitors offering banking products and services by mail, telephone, computer and the Internet; and the failure of assumptions underlying the establishment of reserves for possible loan losses.  The risks of mergers and acquisitions, include, without limitation: unexpected transaction costs, including the costs of integrating operations; the risks that the businesses will not be integrated successfully or that such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected; the potential failure to fully or timely realize expected revenues and revenue synergies, including as the result of revenues following the merger being lower than expected; the risk of deposit and customer attrition; any changes in deposit mix; unexpected operating and other costs, which may differ or change from expectations; the risks of customer and employee loss and business disruption, including, without limitation, as the result of difficulties in maintaining relationships with employees; increased competitive pressures and solicitations of customers by competitors; as well as the difficulties and risks inherent with entering new markets.

All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice, including, without limitation, those risks and uncertainties described in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, under "Special Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-looking Statements" and "Risk Factors", and otherwise in our SEC reports and filings. Such reports are available upon request from the Company, or from the Securities and Exchange Commission, including through the SEC's Internet website at

Charles M. Shaffer
Executive Vice President
Chief Financial Officer
(772) 221-7003
Chuck.Shaffer@seacoastbank.com