Q3 2020 Diluted EPS $0.74 compared to $0.54 for Q2 2020 and $0.65 for Q3 2019

MOOREFIELD, W.V., Oct. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Summit Financial Group, Inc. (Company or Summit) (NASDAQ: SMMF) today reported third quarter 2020 net income of $9.62 million, or $0.74 per diluted share. In comparison, earnings for second quarter 2020 were $6.95 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, and for third quarter 2019 were $8.06 million, or $0.65 per diluted share.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Summit recorded net income of $21.1 million, or $1.62 per diluted share, compared with $23.7 million, or $1.88 per diluted share, for the comparable 2019 nine-month period, representing a decrease of 11.1 percent or 13.8 percent per diluted share.

I am very pleased to report Summit continues to rise to meet the unique challenges posed by 2020 and deliver well for our stakeholders, commented H. Charles Maddy, III, President and Chief Executive Officer. We posted another quarter of strong core operating performance, highlighted by record levels of net revenue resulting from continuing good growth in net interest income, a relatively stable net interest margin and well-controlled noninterest expenses. These results validate not only our core strategies but also our ability to remain disciplined in trying times. This is a tribute to our management and employees as they continue to put forth consistent, high levels of client service assisting our clients and communities.

Highlights for Q 3 20 20

• Net interest income increased 29.5 percent (annualized) compared to Q2 2020 and increased 27.5 percent versus the same period in 2019, primarily due to loan growth and lower funding costs.

• Net interest margin in Q3 2020 decreased 4 basis points to 3.64 percent as compared to the linked quarter, as yield on interest earning assets and cost of deposits and other funding each declined 16 basis points.

• Excluding mortgage warehouse lines of credit, loan balances increased $40.8 million during the quarter.

• Provision for credit losses of $3.25 million in Q3 2020 compared to $3.00 million in Q2 2020 and $500,000 in Q3 2019; our increased credit provisions in 2020 are principally due to the estimated potential future economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Since year end 2019, Summits allowances for credit losses on loans and unfunded loan commitments have increased a combined 151 percent.

• Efficiency ratio improved to 48.95 percent compared to 51.97 percent in the linked quarter and 52.91 percent for Q3 2019.

• Net foreclosed properties expenses increased to $607,000 in Q3 2020 compared to $240,000 in Q2 2020 and $305,000 in Q3 2019; this is primarily the result of write downs of foreclosed properties to estimated fair values totaling $555,000 in Q3 2020 compared to $218,000 in Q2 2020 and $133,000 in Q3 2019, while realized net gains on sales of foreclosed properties were $44,000 and $61,000 during Q3 and Q2 2020, respectively and realized net losses of $66,000 during Q3 2019.

• Realized $1.52 million securities gains in Q3 2020 compared to no realized securities gains or losses in the linked quarter and realized securities gains of $453,000 in Q3 2019.

• Merger expenses were $28,000 in Q3 2020 compared to $637,000 in the linked quarter, and $74,000 in Q3 2019.

• Nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets improved to 0.94 percent compared to 1.07 percent for the linked quarter and 1.28 percent at year end 2019.

• We announced our entering into a definitive merger agreement to acquire WinFirst Financial Corp. (WinFirst) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, WinFirst Bank, headquartered in Winchester, Kentucky.

Merger & Acquisition Activity

On September 28, 2020, Summit announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement between Summit Community Bank, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Summit, and WinFirst Corp., pursuant to which Summit Community Bank will acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of WinFirst in exchange for cash.   This transaction is expected to close by year end 2020. WinFirst, a savings and loan holding company reported approximately $146 million in assets as of September 30, 2020 and operates two community banking offices in Winchester, Kentucky through its subsidiary, WinFirst Bank. Following the consummation of the merger, Summit Community Bank expects to consolidate WinFirst Bank with Summit Community Bank.

Further, on April 24, 2020, Summit Community Bank completed its acquisition of four branch banking offices located in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia from MVB Bank, Inc., a bank subsidiary of MVB Financial Corp. Summit assumed approximately $195.0 million in deposits and acquired approximately $35.3 million in loans in conjunction with this purchase. Also, Summit completed its acquisition of Cornerstone Financial Services, Inc. (Cornerstone) and its subsidiary, Cornerstone Bank, headquartered in West Union, West Virginia on January 1, 2020. At consummation, Cornerstone had total assets of $195.0 million, loans of $39.8 million, and deposits of $173.0 million.

Accordingly, the results of operations of Cornerstone and acquired MVB Bank branches are included in Summits consolidated results of operations from the dates of acquisition, and therefore Summits third quarter and first nine months of 2020 results reflect increased levels of average balances, income and expenses compared to comparable prior year periods.

Results from Operations

Total revenue for third quarter 2020, consisting of net interest income and noninterest income, increased 33.6 percent to $31.0 million, which included $1.52 million realized securities gains, compared to $23.2 million for third quarter 2019. For the year-to-date period ended September 30, 2020, total revenue was $83.6 million compared to $72.1 million for the same period of 2019, representing a 16.0 percent increase primarily as a result of higher net interest income.

For the third quarter of 2020, net interest income was $24.8 million, an increase of 27.5 percent from the $19.4 million reported in the prior-year third quarter and a 7.4 percent increase compared to the linked quarter. The net interest margin for third quarter 2020 was 3.64 percent compared to 3.68 percent for the linked quarter and 3.63 percent for the year-ago quarter. Excluding the impact of accretion and amortization of fair value acquisition accounting adjustments, Summits net interest margin would have been 3.59 percent for Q3 2020, 3.61 percent for Q2 2020 and 3.59 percent for Q3 2019.

Noninterest income, consisting primarily of service fee income from community banking activities and trust and wealth management fees, for third quarter 2020 was $6.21 million compared to $3.60 million for the linked quarter and $3.76 million for the comparable period of 2019, which included $1.52 million realized securities gains. Excluding realized securities gains, noninterest income was $4.69 million for third quarter 2020 and $3.3 million for third quarter 2019. Mortgage origination revenue increased to $780,000 for Q3 2020 compared to $77,000 in Q3 2019 due to higher volumes of secondary market loans driven primarily by historically low interest rates. Also included in Q3 2020 noninterest income is one-time income approximating $475,000 earned in conjunction with the recent investment in $9.3 million of annuities.

We recorded a $3.25 million provision for credit losses during third quarter 2020 compared to $3.0 million for the linked quarter and $500,000 in Q3 2019. As result of the adoption of CECL, the provision for credit losses now represents an estimate of the full amount of expected credit losses relative to loans, whereas under the pre-CECL incurred loss accounting method, the provision was only an estimate of probable existing loan losses.

Q3 2020 total noninterest expense increased 21.1 percent to $15.5 million compared to $12.8 million for the prior-year third quarter. This year-over-year increase resulted primarily due to the acquisition of Cornerstone and MVB Bank branches during 2020. Additionally, other significant factors contributing to the changes in total noninterest expense period over period are as follows: higher FDIC premiums, as we fully utilized in prior periods our FDICs Small Bank Assessment Credits, increased write downs of foreclosed properties to estimated fair values totaling $555,000 in Q3 2020 compared to $218,000 in Q2 2020 and $133,000 in Q3 2019 and deferred director compensation expense totaling $325,000 in Q3 2020, compared to $6,000 in Q2 2020 and $432,000 in Q3 2019. Also, merger expenses have declined to $28,000 in Q3 2020 compared to $637,000 in Q2 2020 and $74,000 in Q3 2019.

Balance Sheet

At September 30, 2020, total assets were $2.95 billion, an increase of $543.4 million, or 22.6 percent since December 31, 2019. Total loans, net of unearned fees and allowance for loan losses, were $2.22 billion at September 30, 2020, up $322.0 million, or 16.9 percent, from the $1.90 billion reported at year-end 2019. Loans, excluding mortgage warehouse lines of credit, increased $40.8 million during the quarter, or 8.3 percent (annualized). Loans, excluding mortgage warehouse lines of credit, PPP loans and acquired Cornerstone and MVB loans, have increased $44.4 million, or 3.3 percent (on an annualized basis) since year-end 2019.

At September 30, 2020, core deposits were $2.30 billion, an increase of $618.5 million, or 36.8 percent, since year end 2019. During the first nine months of 2020, checking deposits increased $396.6 million or 44.5 percent, core time deposits grew by $41.4 million or 11.1 percent and savings deposits increased $180.5 million or 43.2 percent. Excluding acquired deposits (of both Cornerstone and MVB branches), core deposits have increased $250.5 million, or 14.9 percent, since year end 2019.

Shareholders equity was $272.0 million as of September 30, 2020 compared to $247.8 million at December 31, 2019. In conjunction with the acquisition of Cornerstone on January 1, 2020, Summit issued 570,000 shares of common stock valued at $15.4 million to the former Cornerstone shareholders.

Tangible book value per common share increased to $17.31 at September 30, 2020 compared to $16.63 at June 30, 2020, although it decreased from $18.11 at December 31, 2019 as result of the somewhat dilutive impacts of the Cornerstone and MVB Branches acquisitions. Summit had 12,932,415 outstanding common shares at Q3 2020 quarter end compared to 12,408,542 at year end 2019.

As announced in Q1 2020, the Board of Directors authorized the open market repurchase of up to 750,000 shares of the issued and outstanding shares of Summit's common stock. The timing and quantity of stock purchases under this repurchase plan are at the discretion of management. During Q3 2020, no shares of our common stock were repurchased under the Plan.

Asset Quality

We incurred net loan charge-offs of $1,014,000 in third quarter 2020 (0.18 percent of average loans annualized), which included an $880,000 charge-off of a commercial real estate relationship which had previously been fully reserved and exhibited weakness prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to second quarter 2020 net loan recoveries of $51,000 while $3.20 million and $2.51 million were added to the allowance for loan credit losses through the provision for credit losses during Q3 2020 and Q2 2020, respectively. The allowance for loan credit losses stood at 1.30 percent of total loans as of September 30, 2020, compared to 0.68 percent at year-end 2019.

Similarly, during Q3 2020 and Q2 2020, we also added $48,000 and $493,000, respectively, to the allowance for credit losses on unfunded loan commitments through the provision for credit losses.

As of September 30, 2020, nonperforming assets (NPAs), consisting of nonperforming loans, foreclosed properties and repossessed assets, totaled $27.8 million, or 0.94 percent of assets. This compares to $30.5 million, or 1.07 percent of assets at the linked quarter-end and $33.7 million, or 1.45 percent of assets at the end of Q3 2019.

Our actions to identify and assess our COVID-19 related credit exposures by asset classes and borrower types continue, as does our loan modification program to assist both consumer and business borrowers that are experiencing financial hardships due to COVID-19 related challenges. Accordingly, the following tables summarize the aggregate balances of loans the Company has modified as result of COVID-19 as of September 30, 2020 and June 30, 2020 classified by types of loans and impacted borrowers.

About the Company

Summit Financial Group, Inc. is a $2.95 billion financial holding company headquartered in Moorefield, West Virginia. Summit provides community banking services primarily in the Eastern Panhandle, Southern and North Central regions of West Virginia and the Northern, Shenandoah Valley and Southwestern regions of Virginia, through its bank subsidiary, Summit Community Bank, Inc., which operates 41 banking locations.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains comments or information that constitute forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995) that are based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Words such as expects, anticipates, believes, estimates and other similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as will, should, would and could are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially. Factors that might cause such a difference include : the effect of the COVID-19 crisis , including the negative impacts and disruptions on the communities we serve, and the domestic and global economy, which may have an adverse effect on our business; current and future economic and market conditions, including the effects of declines in housing prices, high unemployment rates, U.S. fiscal debt, budget and tax matters, geopolitical matters, and any slowdown in global economic growth; fiscal and monetary policies of the Federal Reserve; future provisions for credit losses on loans and debt securities; changes in nonperforming assets; changes in interest rates and interest rate relationships; demand for products and services; the degree of competition by traditional and non-traditional competitors; the successful integration of operations of our acquisitions; changes in banking laws and regulations; changes in tax laws; the impact of technological advances; the outcomes of contingencies; trends in customer behavior as well as their ability to repay loans; and changes in the national and local economies. We undertake no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this press release.

NOTE (A) Presented on a tax-equivalent basis assuming a federal tax rate of 21%.

NOTE (B) Computed on a tax equivalent basis excluding merger-related expenses, gains/losses on sales of assets, write-downs of OREO properties to fair value and amortization of intangibles.

NOTE (A) Presented on a tax-equivalent basis assuming a federal tax rate of 21%.

NOTE (B) Computed on a tax equivalent basis excluding merger-related expenses, gains/losses on sales of assets, write-downs of OREO properties to fair value and amortization of intangibles.

NOTE (A) Presented on a tax-equivalent basis assuming a federal tax rate of 21%.

NOTE (B) Computed on a tax equivalent basis excluding merger-related expenses, gains/losses on sales of assets, write-downs of OREO properties to fair value and amortization of intangibles.

36,470 36,982Other 13,302 13,053 12,961 14,117 13,371Total loans, net of unearned fees 2,251,804 2,219,707 2,007,269 1,913,499 1,851,832Less allowance for credit losses 29,354 27,166 24,608 13,074 12,941Loans, net$2,222,450 $2,192,541 $1,982,661 $1,900,425 $1,838,891