Business
Business First Bancshares, Inc., Announces Financial Results for Q3 2019
BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: BFST) (Business First), parent company of Business First Bank,
About this update from Business First Bancshares, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: BFST) (Business First), parent company of Business First Bank, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, today announced its unaudited results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, including quarterly net income of $5.5 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, increases of $1.6 million and $0.07, respectively, from the quarter ended September 30, 2018. Core net income, which excludes noncore income and expenses, was $6.3 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, which reflects increases of $1.8 million and $0.09, respectively, from the quarter ended September 30, 2018. \n “I am pleased with our company’s performance for the quarter as we continue to successfully navigate our way through the uncertainties of the current interest rate environment,” said Jude Melville, president and CEO. “In addition to maintaining a healthy net interest margin despite multiple reductions in the federal funds rate over the course of the quarter, we booked double-digit annualized loan growth and, most importantly, maintained sound credit quality.” On October 17, 2019, Business First’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend based upon financial performance for the quarter in the amount of $0.10 per share, same as the prior quarter, to the common shareholders of record as of November 15, 2019. The dividend will be paid on November 30, 2019, or as soon thereafter as practicable. Quarterly Highlights Continued, Strong Loan Growth. Total loans held for investment at September 30, 2019 were $1.7 billion, an increase of $52.2 million compared to June 30, 2019. Annualized loan growth for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, was 12.7%, compared to 14.2% loan growth for the quarter ended June 30, 2019, and 14.5% year to date.Mitigated Net Interest Margin and Spread Impact. Net interest margin and spread were negatively impacted compared to prior quarter due to two 25 basis points federal funds rate cuts for the quarter ended September 30, 2019, one at the end of July and one in mid-September. Net interest margin and net interest spread were 4.10% and 3.66%, respectively, for the quarter ended September 30, 2019 compared to 4.19% and 3.75% for the quarter ended June 30, 2019. Excluding loan discount accretion, net interest margin and spread were 3.99% and 3.55%, respectively, for ...