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Southeastern Banking Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Record Full Year 2023 Results - Celebrates 135 Years of Community Banking - Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.19 Per Share
Southeastern Banking Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Record Full Year 2023 Results - Celebrates 135 Years of Community Banking - Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.19 Per Share.
About this update from Southeastern Banking Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"Southeastern Banking Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter and Record Full Year 2023 ResultsCelebrates 135 Years of Community BankingDeclares Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.19 Per ShareDarien, GA — February 15, 2024 – Southeastern Banking Corporation (OTCPINK:SEBC), the “Company”, the parent of Southeastern Bank, the “Bank”, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. Financial highlights are shown below.The Bank recently celebrated two significant milestones in its history. On December 8, 1888, the State of Georgia issued the banking charter for The Darien Bank, making ours the oldest, active banking charter issued by the State. Shortly thereafter, on January 23, 1889, the Bank commenced operations in Darien, marking the start of 135 faithful years of community banking.Additionally, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share, to be paid March 7, 2024, to shareholders of record on February 29, 2024. This is a one cent per share increase in the quarterly dividend, and equates to an annualized yield of 4.00% based on our year-end closing stock price of $19.00.Commenting on the Company’s results, Donald “Jay” Torbert, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased to report record earnings and a solid overall performance for 2023. Our annual earnings surpassed the $10 million mark for the first time; we posted year-over-year loan growth of 6.4%; and we were able to expand and maintain our net interest margin by holding cost of funds at a relatively low level, all while undertaking a momentous systems conversion that drew heavily on our resources.”Earnings For the year ended December 31, 2023, we posted net income of $10.6 million, an increase of $1.5 million, or 16.8%, compared to 2022.Net income was $2.8 million (or $0.89 per share) for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to $2.1 million (or $0.65 per share) for the third quarter of 2023 and $2.8 million (or $0.90 per share) for the fourth quarter of 2022. Third quarter earnings included $745 thousand (pretax) in nonrecurring charges related to our banking systems conversion.During the fourth quarter we repositioned a portion of our investment portfolio selling $7.2 million in bonds yielding 1.41% with a duration of 3.9 years, incurring a pretax loss of $1.0 million. Proceeds from the sale ...