Exhibit 99.1
Civista Bancshares, Inc. Announces Share Repurchase Program
Sandusky, Ohio, December 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ – Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) (“Civista”) today announced that the Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program for Civista. The program authorizes the repurchase by Civista of up to 470,000 of its total outstanding shares of common stock and will continue until December 18, 2019.
Dennis G. Shaffer, Civista’s President and CEO commented, “We remain committed to our strategy of growing our franchise. This repurchase program will allow us to be opportunistic given current market dynamics and further deliver value to our shareholders.”
Under the share repurchase program, shares may be repurchased from time to time in the open market or through negotiated transactions at prevailing market rates, or by other means in accordance with federal securities laws. The Board’s action authorizes Civista to execute one or more10b5-1 trading plans. The trading plans would allow Civista to repurchase shares of its common stock at times when it otherwise might be prevented from doing so under insider trading laws by requiring that an agent selected by Civista repurchase shares of common stock on Civista’s behalf.
There is no guarantee as to the exact number or value of shares that will be repurchased by Civista, and Civista may discontinue repurchases at any time that management determines additional repurchases are not warranted. The timing and amount of share repurchases under the stock repurchase program will depend on a number of factors, including Civista’s stock price performance, ongoing capital planning considerations, general market conditions, and applicable legal requirements.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements regarding the financial performance, business prospects, growth and operating strategies of Civista. For these statements, Civista claims the protections of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release should be considered in conjunction with the other information available about Civista, including the information in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. The forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. We have tried, wherever possible, to identify such statements by using words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “will” and similar expressions in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include risk factors relating to the banking industry and the other factors detailed from time to time in Civista’ reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those described in “Item 1A Risk Factors” of Part I of Civista’s Annual Report on Form10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.
