Bimini Capital Management Announces Second Quarter 2016 Results

VERO BEACH, Fla., Aug. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bimini Capital Management, Inc. (OTCBB:BMNM), (“Bimini Capital,” or the “Company”), today announced results of operations for the three month period ended June 30, 2016.

Second Quarter 2016 Highlights

• Net income of $0.6 million, or $0.05 per common share
• Book value per share of $5.53
• Company to discuss results on Wednesday, August 10, 2016, at 10:00 AM ET

Details of Second Quarter 2016 Results of Operations

The Company reported net income of $0.6 million for the three month period ended June 30, 2016.   The results for the quarter included net interest income of $0.6 million, net losses on mortgage backed securities (“MBS”) and derivative instruments of $0.5 million, gains on retained interests of $0.5 million, advisory services revenue of $1.3 million, dividends, net of unrealized losses, on Orchid Island Capital, Inc. (“Orchid”) common stock of $0.5 million and operating expenses of $1.4 million.

Management of Orchid Island Capital, Inc.

Upon completion of its initial public offering, Orchid became externally managed and advised by Bimini and its MBS investment team pursuant to the terms of a management agreement.  As manager, Bimini is responsible for administering Orchid’s business activities and day-to-day operations.  Pursuant to the terms of the management agreement, Bimini Advisors provides Orchid with its management team, including its officers, along with appropriate support personnel.  Bimini also maintains a common stock investment in Orchid which is accounted for under the fair value option, with changes in fair value recorded in the income statement for the current period.  For the three months ended June 30, 2016, Bimini’s statement of operations included a fair value adjustment of $(0.1) million and dividends of $0.6 million from its investment in Orchid common stock.  Also during the three months ended June 30, 2016, Bimini recorded $1.3 million in advisory services revenue for managing Orchid’s portfolio consisting of $0.9 million of management fees and $0.3 million in overhead reimbursement.

Capital Allocation and Return on Invested Capital

The Company allocates capital between two MBS sub-portfolios, the pass-through MBS portfolio (“PT MBS”) and the structured MBS portfolio, consisting of interest only (“IO”) and inverse interest-only (“IIO”) securities.  The table below details the changes to the respective sub-portfolios during the quarter.

The tables below present the allocation of capital between the respective portfolios at June 30, 2016 and March 31, 2016, and the return on invested capital for each sub-portfolio for the three month period ended June 30, 2016.   Capital allocation is defined as the sum of the market value of securities held, less associated repurchase agreement borrowings, plus cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash associated with repurchase agreements. Capital allocated to non-portfolio assets is not included in the calculation.

The returns on invested capital in the PT MBS and structured MBS portfolios were approximately 19.0% and (10.6)%, respectively, for the second quarter of 2016.  The combined portfolio generated a return on invested capital of approximately 7.7%.

(1) Amount excludes restricted cash of $268,187 and $313,577 at June 30, 2016 and March 31, 2016, respectively, related to trust preferred debt funding hedges.
(2) Invested capital includes the value of the MBS portfolio and cash equivalents and restricted cash, reduced by repurchase agreement borrowings.

(1) Excludes losses of approximately $404,000 associated with trust preferred funding hedges.
(2) Calculated by dividing the Total Return by the Beginning Capital Allocation, expressed as a percentage.

Prepayments

For the second quarter of 2016, the Company received approximately $3.3 million in scheduled and unscheduled principal repayments and prepayments, which equated to a constant prepayment rate (“CPR”) of approximately 12.6% for the second quarter of 2016.  Prepayment rates on the two MBS sub-portfolios were as follows during the second quarter of 2016 and for each quarter of 2015 (in CPR):

Portfolio

The following tables summarize the MBS portfolio as of June 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015:

(1) Effective duration is the approximate percentage change in price for a 100 basis point change in rates.  An effective duration of 2.503 indicates that an interest rate increase of 1.0% would be expected to cause a 2.503% decrease in the value of the MBS in the Company’s investment portfolio at June 30, 2016. An effective duration of 2.326 indicates that an interest rate increase of 1.0% would be expected to cause a 2.326% decrease in the value of the MBS in the Company’s investment portfolio at December 31, 2015. These figures include the structured securities in the portfolio but not the effect of the Company’s funding cost hedges. Effective duration quotes for individual investments are obtained from The Yield Book, Inc

Financing and Liquidity

As of June 30, 2016, the Company had outstanding repurchase obligations of approximately $103.7 million with a net weighted average borrowing rate of 0.69%.  These agreements were collateralized by MBS with a fair value, including accrued interest, of approximately $109.7 million.  At June 30, 2016, the Company’s liquidity was approximately $5.4 million, consisting of unpledged MBS and cash and cash equivalents.

We may pledge more of our structured MBS as part of a repurchase agreement funding, but retain cash in lieu of acquiring additional assets.  In this way, we can, at a modest cost, retain higher levels of cash on hand and decrease the likelihood we will have to sell assets in a distressed market in order to raise cash.  Below is a listing of outstanding borrowings under repurchase obligations at June 30, 2016.

(1) Equal to the fair value of securities sold (including accrued interest receivable) and cash posted as collateral, if any, minus the sum of repurchase agreement liabilities, accrued interest payable and securities posted by the counterparty (if any).

Hedging

In connection with its interest rate risk management strategy, the Company economically hedges a portion of the cost of its repurchase agreement funding and also its junior subordinated notes by entering into derivative financial instrument contracts.  The Company has not elected hedging treatment under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) in order to align the accounting treatment of its derivative instruments with the treatment of its portfolio assets under the fair value option election. As such, all gains or losses on these instruments are reflected in earnings for all periods presented.  As of June 30, 2016, such instruments were comprised entirely of Eurodollar futures contracts.

The tables below present information related to outstanding Eurodollar futures contracts at June 30, 2016.

1. Open equity represents the cumulative gains (losses) recorded on open futures positions from inception.

Book Value Per Share

The Company's Book Value Per Share at June 30, 2016 was $5.53.  The Company computes Book Value Per Share by dividing total stockholders' equity by the total number of shares outstanding of the Company's Class A Common Stock. At June 30, 2016, the Company's stockholders’ equity was $69.8 million, with 12,631,627 Class A Common shares outstanding.

Management Commentary

The second quarter of 2016 was in many respects a continuation of what we saw in the first quarter, albeit with a few twists and turns as the market reacted to the events that unfolded.  At the conclusion of the Federal Reserve Open Market meeting in late April the committee released a statement that was perceived to be dovish by the market.  The committee was seen to be backing away from earlier calls for 2 to 3 rate increases in 2016 and more concerned with market turmoil and events abroad.  However, the market reaction was apparently stronger than the committee expected and they once again reversed their tone in May and several governors and committee members returned to their data dependent focus in their public comments – appearing to try to talk the market back into expecting further policy normalization.  This seemed to make sense as the incoming economic data improved and event overseas moderated.  Just as the market was starting to price in a meaningful probability of a rate hike in June, the May non-farm payroll data was released in early June.  The lone stalwart of the expansion, job growth, appeared to slow dramatically.  The market was taken by surprise by the magnitude of the slowdown in job creation. Once again the market reversed course and the futures market priced out most policy adjustments for the balance of the year.  Later in the month the Federal Reserve conducted their scheduled meeting and at the press conference Chair Yellen stressed the committee would be even more patient in normalizing rates and needed to see more data on the employment front to determine if the June report was the start of a new trend or an aberration.  The chair also cited the pending referendum in the UK the following week regarding the potential exit of the UK from the EU as another reason for patience.  The following week the market was stunned when voters in the UK voted in favor of the referendum and opted to leave the EU, albeit the process could take up to two years.  The initial market reaction was violent and the futures market priced in a small probability of an easing of monetary policy by the Fed in the months ahead.  The quarter ended with rates, particularly longer term rates, at or near all-time lows.  In early July Germany issued 10 year bunds with a negative yield for the first time. 

“This made for a volatile market as expectations for the path of the economy, Federal Reserve monetary policy and the status of the EU changed violently and often over the course of the quarter.  This has abated substantially in the third quarter.  The impact on the mortgage market was to push spreads wider and heighten prepayment fears. As we move further into the third quarter the market has improved.  The economic data, starting with the June non-farm payroll report on July 8th, and again last Friday when the July report was issued, strengthened and the June report appears to have been an aberration.  The balance of the economic data since – at least data pertaining to the consumer has been strong and the economy appears to be well on its way to recovering from a slowdown in the first quarter.  Secondly, the fall-out from the “Brexit” as it was dubbed appears to have been minimal. Since the event in late June, the European Central Bank has held a meeting and opted to maintain their current monetary policy as they wait to further assess the impact, if any, from the referendum.  The Bank of England announced significant steps recently, involving both a reduction in rates as well as a substantial increase in asset purchases by the central bank.  The markets have reacted accordingly as equities, both here and in Europe, have returned to levels seen before the vote, and in some cases higher.  Interest rates have moved off the extreme lows seen immediately after the vote but have yet to reach pre-Brexit levels, as is the case with the British Pound.  Mortgages have tightened, although still trade at slightly wider levels than those seen before the vote.  Importantly for us, primary mortgage rates did not react meaningfully to the sharp rally in rates as originators appear to be unable or unwilling to lower rates available to borrowers as much as the move in benchmark rates would suggest.  Given the turn in economic data the front end of the curve, and funding levels, have stabilized and are in fact higher than before the UK referendum.  This has likely kept originators from lowering primary rates as their margins would just be squeezed further if they lowered rates to borrowers.

“Effective for tax year 2015 Bimini is no longer a REIT for Federal income tax purposes.  Earlier this year we announced that we would take steps to take advantage of net operating losses available at both Bimini and MortCo, our former mortgage company.  This involved moving the MBS portfolio from Bimini to MortCo, among other things.  We took the initial steps in late 2015 and continued to do so during the first two quarters of 2016.  Going forward, the results of the MBS portfolio will continue to be presented as if the portfolio resides at Bimini, but this is simply because MortCo, as a 100% owned subsidiary, is consolidated.  The second aspect of our operations is the advisor services performed by Bimini Advisors, another subsidiary, which is the external manager of Orchid Island Capital.  Going forward discussions of the results of operations will be divided into these two areas. 

“Over the course of the second quarter of 2016 we increased the capital allocated to our MBS portfolio from $9.9 million to $11.3 million.  The portfolio continues to be biased towards higher coupon, fixed rate securities with various forms of prepayment protection, interest only and inverse interest only securities, and funding hedges positioned primarily on the belly of the curve. While the net effect of economic and market developments in the quarter ended June 30, 2016 described above resulted in a negative mark to market adjustment on our combined MBS portfolio and associated hedges, the portfolio generated a 7.7% return on invested capital for the period – not annualized.  The returns for the two sub-portfolios were quite different with the market rally we experienced – as they were designed to be.  The MBS pass-through portfolio generated a return on invested capital of 19.0%, benefiting from net mark to market gains of $0.3 million.  Conversely, the structured securities portfolio generated a return of (10.6%), as mark to market losses overwhelmed the interest income generated by the securities.  Prepayments on the pass-through portfolio declined from 11.8 CPR for the first quarter of 2016 to 7.8 CPR for the second quarter of 2016.  The structured securities portfolio increased from 16.6 CPR during the first quarter to 20.4 CPR in the second quarter of 2016.  Combined the portfolios slowed from 14.3 CPR in the first quarter of 2016 to 12.6 CPR in the second quarter.

“Bimini has owned shares of Orchid Island Capital since Orchid’s inception.  During the fourth quarter of 2015 we added additional shares of Orchid at the MortCo level. We own these shares as proxies for exposure to the MBS portfolio although the dividends received on all of our Orchid shares are not a component of the total return of our MBS operations described above.  For the second quarter of 2016 the dividends on the Orchid shares were $0.6 million and we recorded $0.1 million on mark to market loss on the Orchid shares.

“The advisory services operations generated revenues of $1.3 million for the second quarter of 2016.  Such revenues are a function of the size of the capital base of Orchid Island, as adjusted, and the prorated allocation of certain Bimini overhead expenses, in both cases in accordance with the terms of the management agreement between the parties.

Summarized Financial Statements

The following is a summarized presentation of the unaudited consolidated balance sheets as of June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015, and the unaudited consolidated statements of operations for the six and three months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015.  Amounts presented are subject to change.

(1)     Average MBS, repurchase agreements and stockholders’ equity balances are calculated using two data points, the beginning and ending balances.
(2)     Portfolio yields and costs of funds are calculated based on the average balances of the underlying investment portfolio/repurchase agreement balances and are annualized for the quarterly periods presented.
(3)     Represents interest cost of our borrowings and the effect of derivative agreements attributed to the period related to hedging activities, divided by average repurchase agreements.
(4)     Average interest rate spread is calculated by subtracting average cost of funds from average yield on MBS.
(5)     Average economic interest rate spread is calculated by subtracting average economic cost of funds from average yield on MBS.

About Bimini Capital Management, Inc.

Bimini Capital Management, Inc. invests primarily in, but is not limited to investing in, residential mortgage-related securities issued by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae). Its objective is to earn returns on the spread between the yield on its assets and its costs, including the interest expense on the funds it borrows.  In addition, Bimini generates a significant portion of its revenue serving as the manager of the MBS portfolio of Orchid Island Capital, Inc.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements herein relating to matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is cautioned that such forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time and on management's good faith belief with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences are described in Bimini Capital Management, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Bimini Capital Management, Inc.'s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Bimini Capital Management, Inc. assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking statements.

Earnings Conference Call Details

An earnings conference call and live audio webcast will be hosted Wednesday, August 10, 2016, at 10:00 AM ET. The conference call may be accessed by dialing toll free (877) 312-5414.  International callers dial (408) 940-3877.  The conference passcode is 63817281.  A live audio webcast of the conference call can be accessed via the investor relations section of the Company’s website at www.biminicapital.com, and an audio archive of the webcast will be available for approximately one year.