Business
First Guaranty Reports Net Income of $8.1 Million for the Third Quarter of 2022; Earnings Per Common Share Increased to $0.70 for the Third Quarter of 2022 Compared to $0.67 for the Third Quarter of 2021
HAMMOND, La., Oct. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. ("First Guaranty") (NASDAQ: FGBI), the holding company for First Guaranty
About this update from First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"HAMMOND, La., Oct. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (\"First Guaranty\") (NASDAQ: FGBI), the holding company for First Guaranty Bank, announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ending September 30, 2022. The real strength of your progress is shown when you are swimming against the tide. In the third quarter 2022, First Guaranty Bank showed continued progress and strength by improving its earnings, asset quality and equity while overcoming interest rate increases, adversity due to natural disasters, and market doubts about the economy. With all of these questions, First Guaranty’s earnings for the nine months ending September 30th increased from $1.72 per share in 2021 to $2.05 in 2022 and the earnings for the three months ending September 30th increased from $0.67 per share in 2021 to $0.70 in 2022. This performance resulted in you receiving today, your 117th consecutive quarterly dividend. For the period from September 30, 2021, until September 30, 2022, Fed funds interest rates increased from 0.08% to 3.08%. This is a percentage increase of 3,750%. For that same period of time, First Guaranty’s total interest expense increased by only 28%. This management of our deposits allowed us to not only overcome other adversities of the marketplace; but, to increase our earnings. Perhaps the most significant adversity to crop up was the losses we took on “relief loans.” Over the past seven years, our areas have been hit with a series of natural disasters including two floods, a Covid pandemic, several hurricanes, and an ice storm. For each of these, First Guaranty has quickly stepped forward and offered “relief loans” to its employees, customers, and community members to help them get through the sudden extra expenses and sudden loss of income which comes with these types of events. First Guaranty Bank sees this as part of its duty as a community bank. Hurricane Ida hit parts of Louisiana much more severely than even Katrina. Although the denominations of the relief loans are relatively small ($5,000), the number of losses was much greater than any past experience. We were still able to overcome this adversity and maintain our profitability. Going forward, we have reviewed the criteria for these relief loans in order to still assist our communities, but reduce losses incurred. The strength is i...