Paragon Commercial Corporation Reports 18% Increase in Year-to-Date Earnings for 2016

[ACCESSWIRE]

Highlights:

• Third quarter 2016 net income of $3.5 million including the first quarterly loan loss provision since 2015
• Fully diluted earnings per share of $0.63 reflecting full impact of Initial Public Offering
• Loan growth of $60.0 million in the third quarter
• Credit quality remains strong with nonperforming loans only 0.08% of total loans
• Nonperforming assets remained strong at 0.41% of total assets at September 30, 2016
• Annualized third quarter 2016 ROAA of 0.95% and ROAE of 10.35%
• Book value increased to $24.75 at September 30, 2016 from $24.17 at June 30, 2016

RALEIGH, NC / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2016 / Paragon Commercial Corporation (the "Company") (NASDAQ: PBNC), parent company of Paragon Bank, today reported unaudited financial results for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2016. Net income during the three-month period increased 4% to $3.5 million compared to $3.3 million for the same period in 2015. The increase in earnings was primarily driven by an increase in net interest income as a result of continued loan growth. The increase in net interest income was partially offset by a $391,000 loan loss provision as the Company increased its Allowance for Loan Losses commensurate with loan growth. In addition, the third quarter of 2015 included $145,000 in gain on sale of securities not matched in 2016. Fully diluted earnings per share for the period was $0.63, a 14% decrease over the same period last year as a result of a 19% increase in weighted average diluted shares outstanding included in the calculation due to the Company's initial public offering ("IPO") and listing on NASDAQ during the second quarter of 2016. For the nine-month period ending September 30, 2016, the Company reported net income of $9.8 million, an increase of 18% over the $8.3 million of net income for the same period in 2015. Robert C. Hatley, President and CEO stated, "We are delighted with the results of our first full quarter as a NASDAQ publicly traded company. Our key indicators of success continue to trend in the right direction. We again enjoyed high double digit loan growth, our credit quality is excellent and we recorded another strong quarter of earnings in the third quarter. We look to a good finish to an outstanding year for Paragon."

The annualized return on average assets for the third quarter of 2016 was 0.95% and the annualized return on average equity was 10.35% compared to 0.99% and 14.17%, respectively, for the same ratios in the third quarter of 2015. Those ratios were impacted by the loan loss provision and the additional capital as a result of the IPO.

Consolidated Assets

Total consolidated assets on September 30, 2016 were $1.48 billion compared to $1.31 billion as of December 31, 2015. Assets increased during the quarter by $24.5 million as a result of strong loan demand using funds generated from core deposit growth but offset by the use of funds to repay short-term borrowings.

Loan Portfolio

Loans outstanding increased by $60.0 million during the third quarter from $1.11 billion at June 30, 2016 to $1.17 billion at September 30, 2016. Almost half of the loan growth came in commercial and industrial and owner occupied commercial real estate. The company continues to see strong loan growth throughout the Raleigh, Charlotte and Cary markets.

Deposit Portfolio

Total deposits increased by $98.9 million during the third quarter as the Company experienced strong local funding growth while simultaneously making an effort to reduce its noncore deposit percentage. The deposit portfolio mix continues to experience a shift from time deposits to core transactional accounts. During the quarter, demand account balances increased by $9.3 million while money market and interest checking accounts increased by $112.2 million, increases of 5% and 17%, respectively. During the same period, time deposits decreased by $22.6 million or 8% as the Company continued to implement its strategic initiative to reduce its reliance on time deposits. Since the third quarter of 2015, time deposits have declined from 37% of total deposits to only 20%.

Credit Quality

The Company recorded a $391,000 loan loss provision for the third quarter of 2016 as a result of the growth in total loans. There was no provision for loan losses for the quarter ended September 30, 2015. The allowance for loan losses as a percentage of total loans at September 30, 2016 was 0.68%, down from 0.72% in the previous quarter, impacted in part due to the Company's first net charge-off quarter this year of $452,000.

Asset quality continued to remain strong as nonperforming loans were 0.08% of total loans at September 30, 2016. Loans past due 30 days or greater at quarter end were 0.10% of total and the ratio of total nonperforming assets to total assets including foreclosed real estate was 0.41%.

Net Interest Income

Net interest income increased by $1.1 million during the third quarter of 2016 compared to the third quarter of 2015. Net interest income totaled $11.8 million during the period, representing a net interest margin of 3.47% on a tax equivalent basis, which was flat compared to the same 3.47% in the third quarter of 2015. For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2016, net interest income increased $3.3 million compared to the nine-month period ended September 30, 2015.

Non-Interest Income

For the third quarter of 2016, non-interest income was $438,000 compared to $544,000 for the same period in 2015. The third quarter of 2015 was impacted by $145,000 in gains on sale of securities. There were no such gains for the same period in 2016.

Non-Interest Expenses

Non-interest expenses in the third quarter of 2016 were $6.8 million compared to $6.2 million in the third quarter of 2015. Personnel expense increased by $534,000 as the Company added lenders and staff to support its strong growth. This expense, however, was partially offset by declines in several other key categories including problem loan and unreimbursed loan costs which declined by $109,000 in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the third quarter of 2015.

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Blair Kelly – MMI Public Relations, 919.233.6600 or [email protected]

Kate Feldhouse - Paragon Bank, AVP/Marketing & Public Relations, 919.534.7462 or [email protected]

INVESTOR INQUIRIES:

Steve Crouse - Paragon Bank, Chief Financial Officer, 919.534.7404 or [email protected]

NEW MEDIA CONTENT:

Paragon Bank LinkedIn Page: http://linkd.in/P0o9Wc

ABOUT PARAGON COMMERCIAL CORPORATION

Paragon Commercial Corporation is the parent company of Paragon Bank, which provides a private banking experience to businesses, professionals, executives, entrepreneurs and other individuals. Founded in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1999, Paragon Bank provides banking services through highly responsive professionals, an extensive courier service, online and mobile technologies, free worldwide ATM access, and a select number of strategically placed offices in Raleigh, Cary and Charlotte, NC. For more information, visit http://ParagonBank.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, without limitation: the effects of future economic conditions; governmental fiscal and monetary policies; legislative and regulatory changes; the risks of changes in interest rates; management of growth; fluctuations in our financial results; reliance on key personnel; our ability to compete effectively; privacy, security and other risks associated with our business; and the other factors set forth from time to time in our SEC filings, copies of which are available free of charge within the Investor Relations section of our website at https://paragonbank.com/investor-relations/ or upon request from our investor relations department. Paragon Commercial Corporation assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Some of the financial measures included in this press release are not measures of financial performance recognized by United States generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures are "overhead to average assets" and "efficiency ratio." Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in its analysis of our performance and because of market expectations of use of these ratios to evaluate the Company. Management believes each of these non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information about our financial condition and results of operation.

"Overhead to average assets" reflects the amount of non-interest expenses incurred in comparison to the total size of the Company and provides investors with an additional measure of our productivity.

The efficiency ratio shows the amount of revenue generated for each dollar spent and provides investors with a measure of our productivity.

These non-GAAP disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for financial results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the tables at the end of this release under the caption "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

PARAGON COMMERCIAL CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(Unaudited)

PARAGON COMMERCIAL CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Unaudited)

PARAGON COMMERCIAL CORPORATION
LOANS
Unaudited)

PARAGON COMMERCIAL CORPORATION
OTHER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
(Unaudited)

(1) This measure is not a measure recognized under United States generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, and is therefore considered to be a non-GAAP financial measure. Please see "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for a reconciliation of this measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

"Overhead to average assets" is defined as non-interest expense divided by total average assets. We believe overhead to average assets is an important indicator of the company's level of non-interest expenses relative to the company's overall size, which assists in the evaluation of our productivity. While the overhead to average assets ratio is a measure of productivity, its value reflects the attributes of the business model we employ.

"Efficiency ratio" is defined as total non-interest expense divided by adjusted operating revenue. Adjusted operating revenue is equal to net interest income (taxable equivalent) plus non-interest income, adjusted to exclude the impacts of gains and losses on the sale of securities and gains and losses on the sale or write down of foreclosed real estate because we believe the timing of the recognition of those items to be discretionary. We believe the efficiency ratio is important as an indicator of productivity because it shows the amount of revenue generated by our operations for each dollar spent. While the efficiency ratio is a measure of productivity, its value reflects the attributes of the business model we employ.

SOURCE: Paragon Commercial Corporation