PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mark W. Jaindl (mjaindl@pcbanker.com) Phone: 610-366-1800
American Bank, Inc. Toll-Free: 888-366-6622
President and Chief Executive Officer Fax: 610-366-1900
American Bank Reports Record Earnings,
Initiates Annual $.10 Per Share Dividend
Allentown, PA, January 21, 2004 - American Bank, Inc. (NasdaqSC: AMBK), the
parent company of American Bank, today announced record earnings for the fourth
quarter and year ended December 31, 2003. Net income for the quarter was
$717,000, or $.10 per diluted share, an increase of $9,000 or 1.3% from the same
period in the prior year. For the year ended December 31, 2003, American Bank,
Inc. posted net income of $2,637,000, or $.39 per diluted share, an increase of
$121,000 or 4.8% from the prior year. Earnings for the year were positively
impacted by a $1,044,000 increase in non-interest income and although earning
assets of the Company increased by $28.2 million to $472.3 million, earnings
were negatively affected by a decrease of 47 basis points in the net interest
margin since December 31, 2002. During 2003, loans outstanding increased by
$69.9 million, or 51.8%, to $204.8 million at December 31, 2003, while the
quality of American Bank's loan portfolio remained high with no non-performing
assets at year end.
President and CEO Mark Jaindl stated, "For the year ended December 31, 2003, our
operating expense to asset ratio declined to 1.10% from 1.28% for the year 2002.
Less than 1% of the all commercial banks in the United States have a ratio at or
below this level and commercial banks with assets between $100 million and $1
billion have an average operating expense to asset ratio over 3.00%. Reducing
this ratio has been an important component of American Bank's business model. By
maintaining low operating expenses, we can consistently offer our customers
attractive rates on loan and deposit products." American Bank, Inc.'s efficiency
ratio improved to 55.29% for the year ended December 31, 2003 compared to 57.70%
for the year 2002.
Chairman of the Board of Directors Frederick Jaindl stated, "We are pleased with
the progress of American Bank, Inc. during the past year and look forward to
continued growth in 2004. We remain focused on enhancing shareholder value and
on March 1, 2004 American Bank, Inc. will commence an annual cash dividend
policy, paying to shareholders of record on February 16, 2004 a $.10 per share
annual cash dividend. In addition, shareholders enrolling at least 375 shares in
certificate form in the Plan will be given the opportunity to reinvest, at a 10%
discount, the dividend and additional optional cash payments in common shares of
American Bank, Inc." As described in the Prospectus, shareholders will be
allowed to make optional cash payments up to four times the amount of dividends
received on the shares enrolled in the Plan. A Prospectus will be mailed to
shareholders during the next week outlining the specific terms of the Dividend
Reinvestment Plan.
American Bank, Inc. common stock last traded at $9.25 per share.
About American Bank
American Bank offers a complete selection of banking services that includes
checking, money market, savings, certificates of deposit, consumer and
commercial loans, free personal online bill payment, credit cards and VISA debit
cards. Pcbanker.com delivers a full range of real-time Internet banking,
insurance and discount brokerage services, while consistently offering some of
the best loan and deposit rates in the United States. American Bank has been
recognized as one of the top Internet banks in the country by Gomez Advisors,
Inc and has received the Bankrate.com(R) Top Tier award for consistently
offering annual percentage yields (APYs) that were among the highest reported.
American Bank is FDIC insured.
American Bank Online and pcbanker.com are registered trade marks for the
Internet financial services provided by American Bank, a state-chartered, FDIC
insured full-service financial institution serving customers throughout the
United States. American Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained herein are not based on historical facts
and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Such forward-looking statements may be identified by reference to a future
period or periods, or by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "may,"
"will," "believe," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "continue," or similar
terms or variations on those terms, or the negative of those terms.
Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties,
including, but not limited to, those related to the economic environment,
particularly in the market areas in which the Company operates, competitive
products and pricing, fiscal and monetary policies of the U.S. Government,
changes in government regulations affecting financial institutions, including
regulatory fees and capital requirements, changes in prevailing interest rates,
risks associated with the conduct of the Company's business over the internet,
credit risk management, asset-liability management, the financial and securities
markets and the availability of and costs associated with sources of liquidity.
The Company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on
any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The
Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above could affect its
financial performance and could cause the Company's actual results for future
periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with
respect to future periods in any current statements. The Company does not
undertake and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the
result of any revisions that may be made to any forward-looking statements to
reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect
the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.
American Bank, Inc.
Selected Financial Information
(In thousands, except per share data)
December 31,
------------
2003 2002
Unaudited
Selected Financial Condition Data:
Total assets ........................................... $481,769 $453,265
Loans receivable, net .................................. 204,832 134,926
Allowance for loan losses .............................. 2,412 1,759
Securities available for sale (at fair value) .......... 236,746 276,569
Securities held to maturity (at cost) .................. 15,361 13,466
Deposits ............................................... 332,286 306,751
Short-term debt ........................................ 6,909 7,784
Long-term debt ......................................... 96,357 97,791
Mandatory redeemable convertible debentures ............ 10,200 10,200
Stockholders' equity ................................... 34,934 28,593
Book value per share ................................... $ 5.13 $ 4.70
Shares outstanding ..................................... 6,807 6,078
For the Three For the Year
Months Ended Dec 31, Ended Dec 31,
-------------------- -------------
2003 2002 2003 2002
Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited
Selected Operating Data:
Total interest income ................................... $ 4,893 $ 5,220 $19,281 $20,489
Total interest expense .................................. 2,881 3,204 11,937 12,409
------- ------- ------- -------
Net interest income ............................... 2,012 2,016 7,344 8,080
Provision for loan losses ............................... 187 56 405 212
------- ------- ------- -------
Net interest income after
provision for loan losses ............................ 1,825 1,960 6,939 7,868
------- ------- ------- -------
Fees and service charges ................................ 42 46 165 160
Net realized gain on sale of securities ................. 386 36 862 112
Net realized gain on sale of mortgage loans ............. 8 125 401 296
Other income ...................................... 128 145 573 389
------- ------- ------- -------
Total non-interest income ........................... 564 352 2,001 957
------- ------- ------- -------
Total operating expense ............................. 1,327 1,308 5,167 5,212
------- ------- ------- -------
Income before taxes on income ................... 1,062 1,004 3,773 3,613
Taxes on income ......................................... 345 296 1,136 1,097
------- ------- ------- -------
Net income ...................................... $ 717 $ 708 $ 2,637 $ 2,516
======= ======= ======= =======
Earnings per share-basic ................. $ 0.11 $ 0.12 $ 0.41 $ 0.42
======= ======= ======= =======
-diluted ............... $ 0.10 $ 0.11 $ 0.39 $ 0.40
======= ======= ======= =======
Weighted average shares outstanding for
earnings per share calculation-basic... 6,789 6,055 6,458 6,034
======= ======= ======= =======
-diluted. 8,065 7,494 7,828 7,054
======= ======= ======= =======
American Bank, Inc.
Selected Financial Information
For the Three For the Year
Months Ended Dec 31, Ended Dec 31,
-------------------- -------------
2003 2002 2003 2002
Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited
Performance Ratios(1):
Return on assets (ratio of net income to
average total assets) ............................... .60% .64% .56% .62%
Return on equity (ratio of net income
to average equity) ................................. 8.30% 10.31% 8.27% 9.51%
Net interest margin (ratio of net interest income
divided by average earning assets) ................... 1.74% 1.92% 1.61% 2.08%
Ratio of operating expense to average total assets ..... 1.11% 1.18% 1.10% 1.28%
Efficiency ratio (ratio of operating expenses divided by
net interest income plus non-interest income) ........ 51.51% 55.24% 55.29% 57.70%
Asset Quality Ratios:
Non-performing assets to total assets at end of period . n/a n/a
Allowance for loan losses to non-performing loans ...... n/a n/a
Allowance for loan losses to loans receivable .......... 1.16% 1.28%
Regulatory Capital Ratios-Bank:
Tier I to average assets ............................... 7.81% 8.19%
Tier I risk weighted assets ............................ 13.95% 14.45%
Total capital to risk weighted assets .................. 14.85% 15.63%
_________________________
(1) Ratios for the three month periods are annualized.