SANTA ROSA, Calif., Jan. 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Luther Burbank Corporation (NASDAQ:LBC) (the “Company”), the holding company for Luther Burbank Savings (the “Bank”), today reported net income available to common shareholders of $20.4 million, or $0.45 diluted earnings per common share (“EPS”), for the quarter ended December 31, 2017, compared to net income available to common shareholders of $13.3 million, or $0.32 EPS, for the quarter ended December 31, 2016. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, net income available to common shareholders totaled $69.4 million, or $1.62 EPS compared to $52.1 million, or $1.24 EPS, for the comparable 2016 period.  Net income for the fourth quarter of 2017 reflects a net tax benefit of $5.8 million which amount includes a $5.3 million tax benefit from the restatement of the Company's net deferred tax assets related to the revocation of its S Corporation status and the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and a $2.9 million tax benefit from the partial deductibility of contingent IPO costs not recognized as GAAP expenses, partially offset by a $2.4 million tax provision on fourth quarter earnings.  Excluding these one-time benefits of $8.2 million, EPS for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 and the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 were $0.27 per share and $1.42 per share, respectively. 

John G. Biggs, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Our 34 year history of profitability continues with earnings of over $20 million for the fourth quarter of 2017.  What makes this possible is a loan portfolio that now exceeds $5 billion, which was achieved by deeper loan and deposit penetration into our attractive west coast markets.”

Mr. Biggs continued, “Asset growth continues to excel, exceeding 13% for the year.  The Company completed a successful common equity IPO, raising net proceeds of over $138 million.  This additional capital will allow us to continue building a strong and growing company.”

“At the same time, we remain vigilant to achieving exceptional efficiency of our operations, with one of the best efficiency ratios of our real estate and commercial bank peers.  Coupled with our excellent efficiency is our extremely low level of non-performing assets, which at year end was only 0.12% of total assets, again, one of the best ratios of our peers.”

Board Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.015 Per Share
On January 25, 2018, the Board of Directors of the Company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.015 per common share.  The fourth quarter dividend declared is prorated based on a regular quarterly cash dividend on our common stock of $0.0575 per share and the portion of the fourth quarter of 2017 during which the Company was a public company, which was 24 days.  The dividend is payable on February 15, 2018 to shareholders of record as of February 5, 2018.

Fourth Quarter and Twelve Months Earnings Summary
Net interest income for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 totaled $27.6 million compared to $28.8 million for the previous quarter and $24.2 million for the 2016 fourth quarter.  The net interest margin for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 was 2.05%, compared to 2.02% for the previous quarter and 1.98% for the 2016 fourth quarter.  For the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, net interest income totaled $111.0 million, compared to $94.6 million for the comparable 2016 period, and the net interest margin was 2.05% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, up slightly from 2.04% for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2017, a $1.3 million loan loss provision was recorded compared to a $1.6 million provision in the prior quarter and a $3.6 million reversal recorded in the 2016 fourth quarter.  For the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, we recorded a loan loss reversal of $3.4 million compared to a $12.7 million loan loss reversal for the comparable 2016 period.

Noninterest income for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 totaled $1.4 million, compared to $4.9 million for the previous quarter and $3.1 million for the 2016 fourth quarter.  Noninterest income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 totaled $7.4 million compared to $7.8 million for the comparable 2016 period.  The reduction of $3.4 million in noninterest income, or 70.6%, for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 compared to the linked quarter ended September 30, 2017, was attributable to the gain on the $626.1 million multifamily securitization transaction in the third quarter 2017.   The reduction of $1.6 million in noninterest income, or 53.1%, for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 compared to the prior quarter ended December 31, 2016, was primarily attributable to a decrease in FHLB dividends of $825,000 as the FHLB provided an special dividend in the fourth quarter of 2016 of $917 thousand and a decrease of $1.2 million in the gain on sale of loans due to no loan sale activity in the quarter ended December 31, 2017.  The quarter ending December 31, 2016 included gains from retail single family mortgage banking operations which operations were ended in the first quarter of 2017 and gains from multifamily residential portfolio loans sales completed for purposes of asset liability management.

General and administrative ("G&A") expense for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 totaled $13.2 million compared to $13.8 million for the previous quarter and $17.1 million for the 2016 fourth quarter.  The reduction of $3.9 million in G&A expenses, or 22.7%, from the quarter ended December 31, 2017 compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2016, was primarily attributable to compensation and related benefits, resulting from a decrease of $1.1 million in salaries and a $2.3 million reduction in incentive compensation related to the retail mortgage banking operations ending in the first quarter of 2017.   

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, G&A expense totaled $56.5 million, down from $61.2 million for the 2016 comparable period.  The reduction of $4.7 million in G&A expenses, or 7.7% was the result of a net decrease of $2.0 million in compensation and employee benefits, a decrease of $542,000 in professional and regulatory fees and a decrease of $1.8 million in other expenses.  The decrease in compensation and employee benefits was primarily related to the retail mortgage banking operations ending in the first quarter of 2017.  The decrease in other noninterest expense was primarily attributable to a net reduction in the provision for off-balance sheet items.  This was associated with a reduction in unfunded construction loan commitments in 2017 versus an increase in unfunded construction loan commitments in 2016.

Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets at December 31, 2017 were $5.7 billion, an increase of over $640.8 million from December 31, 2016. The increase was primarily due to a $601 million increase in loans and a $48 million increase in investments available for sale. 

The multifamily residential (“MFR”) mortgage loan portfolio totaled $2.9 billion at December 31, 2017 compared to $2.6 billion at December 31, 2016 and represents 57.3% of the total loan portfolio. For the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2017, MFR loan originations totaled $344.2 million and $1.30 billion, respectively, compared to $338.9 million and $1.06 billion, for the 2016 comparable periods. At December 31, 2017, the MFR pipeline totaled $188.4 million.

The single family residential mortgage loan portfolio totaled $2.0 billion at December 31, 2017, compared to $1.7 billion at December 31, 2016 and represents 38.8% of the total loan portfolio.  For the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2017, residential loan originations for portfolio totaled $221.1 million and $726.5 million, respectively, compared to $203.7 million and $782.6 million for the comparable 2016 periods.  At December 31, 2017, the residential mortgage pipeline totaled approximately $114.0 million.

Deposits totaled $4.0 billion at December 31, 2017, an increase of $617.3 million from December 31, 2016. 

Stockholders’ equity totaled $549.7 billion, or 9.6% of total assets at December 31, 2017, an increase of $145.4 million from December 31, 2016, or an increase of 35.9%.  Luther Burbank Savings’ capital levels continue to be significantly above the minimum levels required to be designated as “well-capitalized” for bank regulatory purposes. At December 31, 2017, Tier 1 leverage, Common Equity Tier 1 risk based, Tier 1 risk-based and Total risk-based capital ratios were 12.54%, 19.90%, 19.90% and 20.84%, respectively for the Bank, and 11.26%, 16.05%, 17.84% and 18.78%, respectively for the Company. At December 31, 2017, the Company’s tangible common equity ratio was 9.58%.

Asset Quality
Non-performing loans (“NPLs”), totaled $7.0 million, or 0.14% of total loans, at December 31, 2017, compared to $2.6 million, or 0.06% of total loans, at December 31, 2016.  There was not any real estate owned at December 31, 2017 or December 31, 2016.

About Luther Burbank Corporation

Luther Burbank Corporation, with assets of $5.7 billion, is the holding company for Luther Burbank Savings. Established in 1983, Luther Burbank Savings, with deposits in California totaling $4.0 billion, is the 19^th largest commercial bank in California and provides its business and retail customers and local communities it serves with quality financial products and services through nine convenient banking branch locations in Northern and Southern California and eight lending offices in California, Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.  The Company also has multiple delivery channels, including its flexible mobile banking app.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this earnings release are forward-looking statements that reflect the Company’s current view with respect to, among other things, future events and our Company’s financial and operational performance.  These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of such words as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “outlook,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions.

Forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions and analyses made by us in light of our management’s experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors (many of which are beyond our control) that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, without limitation, the following: the timing and occurrence or non-occurrence of events that may be subject to circumstances beyond our control; increases in competitive pressure among financial institutions or from non-financial institutions; changes in the interest rate environment; changes in deposit flows, loan demand or collateral values; changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines; changes in general economic conditions, either nationally or locally in some or all areas in which we do business, or conditions in the real estate or securities markets or the banking industry; legislative or regulatory changes, including those that may be implemented by the new administration in Washington, D.C.; supervision and examination by federal and state banking regulators; our ability to successfully implement technological changes; our ability to successfully consummate new business initiatives; or our ability to implement enhanced risk management policies, procedures and controls commensurate with shifts in our business strategies and regulatory expectations. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this communication, and we do not intend, and assume no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release, except as required by applicable law.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Certain of the financial measures and ratios we present, including “pre-tax, pre-provision net earnings,” “tangible book value,” “efficiency ratio,” “tangible assets,” “tangible stockholders’ equity,” “tangible stockholders’ equity to tangible assets,” “return on average tangible equity,” “proforma net income” and “proforma ratios” are supplemental measures that are not required by, or are not presented in accordance with, U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). We refer to these financial measures and ratios as “non-GAAP financial measures.” We consider the use of select non-GAAP financial measures and ratios to be useful for financial and operational decision making and useful in evaluating period-to-period comparisons.  We believe that management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our performance and when planning, forecasting, analyzing and comparing past, present and future periods.

These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP and you should not rely on non-GAAP financial measures alone as measures of our performance. The non-GAAP financial measures we present may differ from non-GAAP financial measures used by our peers or other companies. We compensate for these limitations by providing the equivalent GAAP measures whenever we present the non-GAAP financial measures and by including a reconciliation of the impact of the components adjusted for in the non-GAAP financial measure so that both measures and the individual components may be considered when analyzing our performance. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures is included at the end of the financial statement tables.