Colony Bankcorp, Inc. reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2021 and for the year ended December 31, 2021. Financial highlights are shown below.

Financial Highlights:

• Net income was $4.2 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2021. Net income for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $18.7 million, or $1.66 per diluted share.

• Operating net income of $5.5 million, or $0.40 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2021 and $22.2 million, or $1.98 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2021. (see Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures).

• $50,000 in provision for loan losses was recorded in fourth quarter of 2021 and $700,000 was recorded for the full year of 2021.

• Total loans, excluding loans held for sale and PPP, totaled $1.3 billion at December 31, 2021, an increase of $36.6 million, or 2.8% from the prior quarter.

• Mortgage production was $99.5 million, with $26.2 million in refinances, and $73.3 million in purchases in the fourth quarter of 2021. Total mortgage production in 2021 was $405.0 million.

• Small Business Specialty Lending (“SBSL”) closed $41.6 million in Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loans and sold $24.3 million in SBA loans in the fourth quarter and closed $100.0 million and sold $58.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

• Non-recurring charges of $600,000 related to efficiency efforts incurred in the fourth quarter of 2021.

• Losses on sales of securities of $200,000 were recognized in the fourth quarter of 2021. Underperforming securities were sold and higher yielding securities were purchased.

The Company also announced that on January 20, 2022, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1075 per share, to be paid on its common stock on February 18, 2022, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 4, 2022. Outstanding shares as of January 20, 2022 were 13,741,848.

Commenting on the announcement, Heath Fountain, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “First, I would like to thank all of the Colony team members who were involved with the successful integration of the SouthCrest platform in November. These projects are critical to the success of any acquisition and our team dedicated the hours necessary to achieve the best outcome possible. As a result of these efforts, we are currently on track to achieve the efficiencies that were projected for this acquisition.

“Clearly COVID remains a big part of the economic picture, and while we continue to see accelerated loan repayments, our lending team was able to grow net loans over 11% annualized during the quarter which is within our stated goal of 8-12%. Our current expectations are that this level of loan growth should continue into 2022.

“We were also very pleased with the growth in core deposits during the quarter. The majority of the nearly $180 million increase from the third quarter balances occurred in the non-interest bearing and interest bearing deposit categories. While some of this growth was due to seasonally strong public funds deposits, the growth to the overall balance sheet will provide us an excellent base for potential future earnings.

“The Company continues to experience very mild credit losses and non-performing asset levels. Non-performing loans decreased primarily due to one large payoff and multiple smaller upgrades due to recent payment performance.

“Finally, we continue to have significant opportunities to grow earnings at Colony through merger activity, market dislocation due to other acquisitions, ancillary business line acquisition and additional production hires. We continue to optimize the existing platform to take advantage of these opportunities, and expect to continue our growth as Georgia’s pre-eminent community bank.”

Balance Sheet

• Total assets were $2.7 billion at December 31, 2021, an increase of $927.7 million, or 52.6%, compared to the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily related to acquisition of SouthCrest Financial Group, Inc. (“SouthCrest”).

• Total loans, including loans held for sale, totaled $1.38 billion at December 31, 2021, an increase of $264.2 million, or 23.8% from the same period in 2020. Legacy loan growth was up $116.6 million or 13.4% compared to the same period in 2020. The increase in total loans was primarily the result of the acquisition of SouthCrest offset by the forgiveness of loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”).

• Total deposits totaled $2.4 billion at December 31, 2021, an increase of $929.6 million, or 64.3%, compared to the same period in 2020. The increase was in all types of deposits and was primarily the result of the acquisition of SouthCrest.

• Total borrowings at December 31, 2021 totaled $88.4 million, a decrease of $78.6 million, or 47.1%, compared to the same period in 2020.

Capital

• Colony continues to maintain a strong capital position, with ratios that exceed regulatory minimums required to be classified as “well-capitalized.”

• Preliminary tier one leverage ratio, tier one capital ratio, total risk-based capital ratio and common equity tier one capital ratio were 7.48%, 11.90%, 12.69%, and 10.46%, respectively, at December 31, 2021.

Fourth Quarter Results of Operations

• Net interest income, on a tax-equivalent basis, for the fourth quarter of 2021 totaled $19.2 million, compared to $15.2 million for the fourth quarter 2020. The increase during the quarter is primarily attributable to a full quarter of loan interest income related to loans acquired in the acquisition of SouthCrest.

• Net interest margin decreased 42 basis points from prior year fourth quarter of 2020 primarily driven by a decrease in deferred fee income recognized on PPP loans and a decrease in interest rates on loans and investments during 2021 offset by a decrease in rates paid on deposits.

• Noninterest income totaled $10.8 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $2.8 million, or 34.5%, compared to the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily attributable to SBSL loan sales, Southcrest and insurance acquisitions, growth in interchange fee income and service charges on deposits offset by gain on the sale of assets that happened in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021.

• Noninterest expense totaled $24.5 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021, compared to $16.0 million for the same period in 2020. The increase in noninterest expense primarily resulted from a $3.9 million increase in salary expense and $1.4 million increase in acquisition expenses related to the acquisitions of SouthCrest and The Barnes Agency (“Barnes”).

Asset Quality

• Nonperforming assets totaled $5.8 million and $13.1 million at December 31, 2021 and September 30, 2021, respectively. Nonaccrual loans decreased $6.7 million due to loan payoffs and loans moved to accruing status that were properly performing.

• OREO and repossessed assets totaled $330,000 at December 31, 2021, a decrease of $480,000, or 59% compared to September 30, 2021, primarily related to sale of two OREO properties in the fourth quarter.

• Net recoveries on loans charged-off were $17,000, or (0.01)% of average loans for the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to net charge-offs of $144,000 or 0.05% for the third quarter of 2021.

• The loan loss reserve was $12.9 million, or 0.96% of total loans, at December 31, 2021, compared to $12.9 million, or 0.98% of total loans, at September 30, 2021.

Asset quality remains strong as indicated by the overall improvement in asset quality ratios as of the fourth quarter 2021.