Colony Bankcorp, Inc. today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2022. Financial highlights are shown below.

Financial Highlights:

• Net income increased to $5.3 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2022, compared to $3.4 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2022, and $5.6 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2021.

• Operating net income of $5.3 million, or $0.30 per diluted share remained stable for the third quarter of 2022 as compared to $5.2 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2022, and $6.9 million, or $0.57 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2021 (see Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures)..

• Provision for loan losses of $1.3 million was recorded in third quarter of 2022, compared to $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2022, and $150,000 recorded in third quarter of 2021.

• Total loans were $1.59 billion at September 30, 2022, an increase of $133.81 million, or 9.21% from the prior quarter.

• Mortgage production was $99.4 million, and mortgage sales totaled $68.5 million in the third quarter of 2022 compared to $113.7 million and $82.3 million, respectively, for the second quarter of 2022. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, mortgage production was $310.3 million and mortgage sales totaled $242.0 million.

• Small Business Specialty Lending (“SBSL”) closed $19.4 million in Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loans and sold $14.8 million in SBA loans in the third quarter of 2022 compared to $21.0 million and $18.2 million, respectively, for the second quarter of 2022. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, loans closed were $46.1 million and loans sold were $46.6 million.

• The Board of Directors authorized a $12 million stock buyback program that will be in place through the end of 2023. This equates to approximately 5% of the current shares outstanding at recent market prices.

The Company also announced that on October 20, 2022, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1075 per share, to be paid on its common stock on November 18, 2022, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 4, 2022. The Company had 17,641,123 shares of its common stock outstanding as of October 19, 2022.

Commenting on the announcement, Heath Fountain, Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased to announce improved operating results for the third quarter, including another quarter of well above trend loan growth that drove a significant increase in net interest income. Earnings quality has also improved during the year, with 90% of the net earnings year to date coming from the core bank versus 75% in both 2021 and 2020. This quarter was one of the most dynamic interest rate environments in which we have operated, and the negative impact of increasing rates to the investment portfolio and our cost of funds is something that we will continue to fight if rates stay here or go higher. Our investments in new lines of business, including merchant services, indirect marine and recreational vehicle lending, and our newest lending markets, continued to be a short term drag of 10bps on return on assets during the quarter. Asset quality continues to improve, and we remain comfortable with the overall risk position of the company. The Board of Directors reinforced this belief by adding a $12 million stock buyback authorization to the capital management tools we previously had available.”

“Finally and similar to our comment last quarter, we do expect to show continued strong asset generation for the next three to six months. The current loan pipelines remain very strong, both in volume and quality, even as we continue to increase loan pricing. While asset quality metrics are strong and improving, we recorded higher provision expense than anticipated due to loan growth being meaningfully higher than projected.”

Balance Sheet

• Total assets were $2.81 billion at September 30, 2022, an increase of $77.2 million from June 30, 2022.

• Total loans, including loans held for sale, were at $1.61 billion at September 30, 2022, an increase of $119.2 million from the quarter ended June 30, 2022.

• Total deposits were $2.41 billion and $2.33 billion at September 30, 2022 and June 30, 2022, respectively, an increase of $78.2 million.

• Total borrowings at September 30, 2022 totaled $158.4 million, an increase of $6.3 million or, 4.1%, compared to June 30, 2022 related to additional Federal Home Loan Bank advances which were offset by the reduction in federal funds purchased.

Capital

• Colony continues to maintain a strong capital position, with ratios that exceed regulatory minimums required to be considered 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 9.28%, 13.04%, 15.78%, and 11.81%, respectively, at September 30, 2022.

Third Quarter and September 30, 2022 Year to Date Results of Operations

• Net interest income, on a tax-equivalent basis, for the third quarter of 2022 totaled $21.0 million, compared to $18.0 million for the third quarter of 2021. Net interest income, on a tax-equivalent basis, for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 totaled $59.5 million, compared to $47.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The increase during the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 is primarily attributable to increases in loan volume and purchases of investment securities, partially offset by increases in deposit rates.

• Net interest margin for the quarter decreased 23 basis points from the third quarter of 2021, but increased ten basis points from the second quarter of 2022. This is primarily due to an increase in deposit rates and volume along with an increase in borrowings. Net interest margin for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 decreased 30 basis points from the nine months ended September 30, 2021, but increased four points from the second quarter 2022. Two borrowings from the acquisition of SouthCrest Financial Group, Inc. (“SouthCrest”) were called and the remaining mark of approximately $750,000 was recognized in interest expense in the second quarter of 2022.

• Noninterest income totaled $8.2 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, a decrease of $1.3 million, or 13.3%, compared to the same period in 2021. The decrease was primarily attributable to decreases in service charges on deposits, mortgage fee income and SBSL loan sales, partially offset by increases in interchange fee income and service charges on deposit accounts. Noninterest income totaled $27.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, an increase of $1.9 million, or 7.5%, compared to the same period in 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to growth in interchange fee income, service charges on deposits and increased insurance commissions, offset by a decrease in mortgage fee income.

• Noninterest expense totaled $21.4 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, compared to $21.2 million for the same period in 2021. Noninterest expense totaled $67.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, compared to $54.1 million for the same period in 2021. The increase for the nine month period was primarily related to increases in salaries, information technology, and communications related to the acquisition of SouthCrest in August of 2021.

Asset Quality

• Nonperforming assets totaled $5.5 million and $5.2 million at September 30, 2022 and June 30, 2022, respectively, an increase of $307,000.

• Other real estate owned and repossessed assets totaled approximately $246,000 at September 30, 2022, and $293,000 at June 30, 2022.

• Net loans charged-off were $198,000, or 0.05% of average loans for the third quarter of 2022, compared to net charge-offs of $58,000 or 0.02% for the second quarter of 2022.

• The loan loss reserve was $15.2 million, or 0.96% of total loans, at September 30, 2022, compared to $14.0 million, or 0.96% of total loans at June 30, 2022, and $12.9 million, or 0.96% of total loans, at December 31, 2021.

As noted above and in the table on page 7, overall asset quality remains strong.

Stock Buyback Authorization

On October 20, 2022, the Board of Directors of the Company authorized a stock buyback program, under which the Company may repurchase up to $12 million of its outstanding common stock. Repurchases under this program may be made from time to time through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or such other manners as will comply with applicable laws and regulations. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors including price, corporate and regulatory requirements, market conditions and other corporate liquidity requirements and priorities. The buyback program does not obligate the Company to purchase any particular number of shares and there is no guarantee as to the exact number of shares that will be repurchased by the Company. The buyback program is intended to expire at the end of 2023 but may be suspended, modified or terminated by the Company at any time and for any reason, without prior notice.