First Citrus Bancorporation, Inc. Closes Fourth Quarter 2020 With Net Earnings Growth of 23% and Deposit Growth of 37%

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Citrus Bancorporation, Inc. (OTC Markets: FCIT), the parent bank holding company for First Citrus Bank, has released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020.

December 31, 2020, YTD earnings were the highest on record after the fourth quarter produced the strongest quarterly earnings performance in company history. During the fourth quarter, assets, deposits, and loans grew to record levels largely due to loans made under the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and related depository accounts established with new PPP loan customers. Net income in the fourth quarter was $1,439,000.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Highlights (compared to fourth quarter 2019)

• Net earnings growth of 23%;
• Asset growth of 26%;
• Loan growth of 30%;
• Deposit growth of 37%;
• Earnings per share growth of 22%.
  

Fiscal Year-End 2020 Highlights (compared to fiscal year-end 2019)

• Net earnings growth of 24%;
• Earnings per share growth of 23%;
• Book value per share growth of 11%;
• Return on average equity growth of 12%.

Net earnings for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, was $4,901,000, or $2.40 per share, compared to the net income of $3,952,000, or $1.95 per share for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019. Net income for 2020 produced a return on average equity of 12.4% compared to 11.1% for the prior-year period.

Book value per share at December 31, 2020, was $20.70, an increase of 11% over the $18.71 book value per share at December 31, 2019. A $0.40 special cash dividend per share of Common, Class A Preferred, and Class B Preferred was paid on March 4, 2020.

Total assets were $529 million at December 31, 2020, an increase of $109 million, or 26%, from $420 million at December 31, 2019.

Total loans grew to $432 million at December 31, 2020, an increase $100 million, or 30%, from $332 million at December 31, 2019, primarily due to loans made under the Paycheck Protection Program. Paycheck Protection Program lending reached 1,277 loans totaling $110 million during 2020 and ended the year at $80 million as loans were granted forgiveness by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”).

At December 31, 2020, loans delinquent 30 to 89 days totaled $0.2 million. This compares to $0.9 million at December 31, 2019. At December 31, 2020, nonperforming loans defined as nonaccrual loans and loans 90 days past due accruing interest totaled $3.7 million or .86% of total loans compared to $1.1 million or .33% for the prior-year period. Through January 20, 2021, the bank approved temporary loan payment deferments (180-day deferment of principal) in response to the CARES Act for five loans totaling $12.4 million or 2.9% of total loans at December 31, 2020.

Total deposits for December 31, 2020, were $475 million, an increase of $127 million, or 37% over 2019, primarily due to deposits made in connection with the Paycheck Protection Program. Demand deposit balances represented 51% of 2020 total deposits.

"Although 2020 was filled with unprecedented challenges and uncertainty, as the seventh-largest Paycheck Protection Program lender in Florida¹, we could not be prouder of the way First Citrus bankers responded in helping over 1,250 Tampa Bay small businesses throughout the economic stimulus package. We feel fortunate to turn in our fifth consecutive year of record earnings while surpassing half a billion in assets. Our strategy is working, and we are excited to improve upon our track record of success championing local businesses and families in 2021," said John Barrett, President and CEO of First Citrus Bank.

About First Citrus Bancorporation, Inc.
First Citrus Bancorporation, Inc., is a Florida corporation and the parent bank holding company for First Citrus Bank, a Florida commercial bank. First Citrus Bancorporation, Inc., is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and was ranked as the third best-performing regional bank stock in the Southeastern United States over the past three years by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Stock trades on the OTC Markets under the ticker symbol "FCIT."

About First Citrus Bank
First Citrus Bank, a $527 million commercial bank, was established in 1999 and is headquartered in Tampa. Ranked as one of the Top 100 Community Banks in 2020 by American Banker and named Top 5 SBA Lender in Tampa Bay for 2020. First Citrus Bank was selected as the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce 2019 Small Business of the Year and ranked as one of the Top 25 Commercial Loan Producers in the Nation by the magazine Independent Banker. It serves businesses and individuals through a range of tailored financial solutions specializing in retail and commercial banking services with six locations throughout Tampa Bay, including a loan production office.

First Citrus Bank enhances vibrancy throughout Tampa Bay by helping families become more financially secure and businesses economically successful. For additional information, please visit https://www.firstcitrus.com.

Information in this release relating to the company's future prospects, which are forward-looking statements, involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) operating, legal and regulatory risks, such as continued levels of loan quality and origination volume, continued relationships with major customers and technological changes; (2) economic, political and competitive forces affecting our banking business, such as changes in economic conditions, especially in our market area, interest rate fluctuations, competitive product, and pricing pressures within our market, personal and corporate bankruptcies, monetary policy and inflation; (3) our ability to grow internally or through acquisitions; and (4) the risk that management's analyses of these risks and forces could be incorrect and/or that the strategies developed to address them could be unsuccessful. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words, such as "expects,” "believe,” "will,” "intends,” "will be," or "would." First Citrus Bancorporation assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information in this announcement, except as required under applicable law.

¹ Hovde 2020 Florida Bank Peer Performance Report