USCB - USCB Financial Holdings Inc. Reports First Quarter 2022 Results

MIAMI, April 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: USCB) , the holding company for U.S. Century Bank, reported net income of $4.9 million or $0.24 per diluted share for the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared with net income of $4.8 million or $0.78 and $0.16 per diluted share for Class A and Class B common stock, respectively, for the same period in 2021. On December 21, 2021, the Company agreed to exchange all the outstanding shares of Class B common stock for Class A common stock at a ratio of 5 to 1. As of December 31, 2021, the Company’s only class of securities issued and outstanding was Class A common stock.

“Despite recent broad macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns, I am pleased with our first quarter financial results, which showed continued growth in both our loan and deposit portfolios. We continue to employ excess liquidity to purchase securities and maximize returns while maintaining pristine credit quality,” said Luis de la Aguilera, President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”).

During the first quarter of 2022, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) approved a share repurchase program of up to 750,000 shares of Class A common stock. Under the repurchase program, the Company may purchase shares of Class A common stock on a discretionary basis from time to time through open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions, or other means. As of March 31, 2022, the Company had not repurchased any shares.

During the quarter ended March 31, 2022, the Company appointed the following three new Board members:

• Ramon A. Rodriguez (appointed February 15, 2022) - A well-respected Certified Public Accountant in Florida with decades of experience, currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Cable Insurance, a property and casualty insurer dedicated to the commercial automotive market. Previously, he was CEO of Madsen Sapp Mena Rodriguez & Co. from 1971 until he retired from public accounting in 2009. Mr. Rodriguez was a founder and board member of DME Corporation, a manufacturing company in the defense and aerospace sector, from 1975 to 2009. He also served on the board of Republic Services, Inc., a solid waste company listed on the NYSE, from 1999 to 2020 and is a past chairman of the board.
  
  
• Robert E. Kafafian (appointed March 28, 2022) - A recognized banking industry leader in performance measurement and the founder, Chairman and CEO of The Kafafian Group, Inc. He has a distinguished 40-year career consulting and advising more than 500 financial institutions across the United States and has been instrumental in the design and development of a nationally recognized bank profitability software product. Mr. Kafafian is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of banking subjects and is often quoted in banking periodicals. He teaches at numerous state, regional, and national banking schools.
  
  
• Maria C. Alonso (appointed March 31, 2022) - A highly regarded business executive with a proven track record spanning more than 25 years across banking, marketing, social responsibility, and community engagement, most recently served as the President and CEO of United Way Miami, one of the region’s largest philanthropies, from 2017 through 2021. Her involvement in community organizations has included: New World School of the Arts (past Executive Committee Chair), Leadership Florida, International Women’s Forum, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce (past Board Chair), Miami-Dade Beacon Council (past One Community, One Goal Co-Chair), Camillus House, Miami Dade College Foundation, The Miami Foundation, and Teach for America. Ms. Alonso is a recognized community leader having received numerous awards celebrating her civic, business, and philanthropic contributions to the South Florida community.
  

Unless otherwise stated, all percentage comparisons in the bullet points below are calculated for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 versus the quarter ended March 31, 2021 and annualized where appropriate.

Profitability

• Annualized return on average assets for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 was 1.03% compared to 1.23% for the first quarter of 2021.
  
  
• Annualized return on average stockholders’ equity for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 was 9.75% compared to 11.30% for the first quarter of 2021.
  
  
• The efficiency ratio for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 increased to 58.88% compared to 58.64% for the first quarter of 2021.
  
  
• Net interest margin decreased to 3.22% for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 compared to 3.35% for the first quarter of 2021.
  
  
• Net interest income was $14.4 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, an increase of $1.9 million or 15.3% compared to the first quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily driven by higher loan and investment income along with lower deposit costs.
  

Balance Sheet

• Total assets were $2.0 billion at March 31, 2022, representing an increase of $333.9 million or 20.4% from March 31, 2021.
  
  
• Total deposits were $1.7 billion at March 31, 2022, representing an increase of $309.1 million or 22.0%, from March 31, 2021.
  
  
• Total shareholders’ equity was $192.0 million at March 31, 2022, representing an increase of $21.6 million or 12.7% from March 31, 2021.
  
  
• Total loans were $1.3 billion at March 31, 2022, representing an increase of $154.4 million or 14.0% from March 31, 2021.
  

Asset Quality

• The allowance for credit losses was $15.1 million and $15.0 million as of March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
  
  
• The allowance for credit losses represented 1.20% of total loans at March 31, 2022 compared to 1.36% at March 31, 2021. The decrease in coverage was primarily driven by reduced uncertainty around the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our loan portfolio.
  
  
• Non-performing loans to total loans was 0.00% at March 31, 2022 compared to 0.06% at March 31, 2021.
  

N on-interest Income and Non-interest Expense

• Non-interest income totaled $1.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, a decrease of $376 thousand or 16.2% compared to the same period in 2021. The decrease was primarily driven by fewer loan sales resulting in gains.
  
  
• Non-interest expense was $9.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022 compared to $8.7 million for the same period in 2021. The increase was primarily driven by higher salaries and employee benefits due to new hires, salary compensation, and seasonal payroll taxes.
  

Capital

• The Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, U.S. Century Bank (the “Bank”), exceeded all regulatory capital requirements and remained significantly above “well-capitalized” guidelines. As of March 31, 2022, total risk-based capital ratio for the Company and the Bank was 14.49% and 14.41%, respectively.
  

Conference Call and Webcast

USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”), will host a conference call on Friday, April 29, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the Company’s unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. To access the conference call, dial (844) 221-2148 (domestically) or (929) 517-0937 (internationally) and use conference code 6069233.

Additionally, interested parties can listen to a live webcast of the call in the “Investor Relations” section of the Company’s website at www.uscentury.com . An archived version of the webcast will be available in the same location shortly after the live call has ended.

About USCB Financial Holdings, Inc.

USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. is the bank holding company for U.S. Century Bank. Established in 2002, U.S. Century Bank is one of the largest community banks headquartered in Miami, and one of the largest community banks in the state of Florida. U.S. Century Bank is rated 5-Stars by BauerFinancial, the nation’s leading independent bank rating firm. U.S. Century Bank offers customers a wide range of financial products and services and supports numerous community organizations, including the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and ChamberSouth. For more information or to find a banking center near you, please call (305) 715-5200 or visit www.uscentury.com .

Forwa rd-Looking Statements

This earnings release may contain statements that are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provided by Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The words “may,” “will,” “anticipate,” “should,” “would,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “expect,” “aim,” “plan,” “estimate,” “continue,” and “intend,” as well as other similar words and expressions of the future, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements related to our projected growth, anticipated future financial performance, and management’s long-term performance goals, as well as statements relating to the anticipated effects on results of operations and financial condition from expected developments or events, or business and growth strategies, including anticipated internal growth.

These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

• the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which we conduct operations;
• the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on us, our employees, customers and third-party service providers, and the ultimate extent of the impacts of the pandemic and related government stimulus programs;
• our ability to successfully manage interest rate risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, and other risks inherent to our industry;
• the accuracy of our financial statement estimates and assumptions, including the estimates used for our credit loss reserve and deferred tax asset valuation allowance;
• the efficiency and effectiveness of our internal control environment;
• our ability to comply with the extensive laws and regulations to which we are subject, including the laws for each jurisdiction where we operate;
• legislative or regulatory changes and changes in accounting principles, policies, practices or guidelines, including the effects of the forthcoming implementation of the Current Expected Credit Losses (“CECL”) standard;
• the effects of our lack of a diversified loan portfolio and concentration in the South Florida market, including the risks of geographic, depositor, and industry concentrations, including our concentration in loans secured by real estate;
• the concentration of ownership of our Class A common stock;
• fluctuations in the price of our Class A common stock;
• our ability to fund or access the capital markets at attractive rates and terms and manage our growth, both organic growth as well as growth through other means, such as future acquisitions;
• inflation, interest rate, unemployment rate, market, and monetary fluctuations;
• increased competition and its effect on the pricing of our products and services as well as our margins;
• the effectiveness of our risk management strategies, including operational risks, including, but not limited to, client, employee, or third-party fraud and security breaches; and
• other risks described in this earnings release and other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
  

All forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates of future results, and there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from expectations. Therefore, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Further, forward-looking statements included in this earnings release are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless required to do so under the federal securities laws. You should also review the risk factors described in the reports the Company filed or will file with the SEC and, for periods prior to the completion of the bank holding company reorganization in December 2021, the Bank filed with the FDIC.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This earnings release includes financial information determined by methods other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). This financial information includes certain operating performance measures. Management has included these non-GAAP measures because it believes these measures may provide useful supplemental information for evaluating the Company’s underlying performance trends. Further, management uses these measures in managing and evaluating the Company’s business and intends to refer to them in discussions about our operations and performance. Operating performance measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative to or substitute for, measures determined in accordance with GAAP, and are not necessarily comparable to non-GAAP measures that may be presented by other companies. To the extent applicable, reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in the ‘Non-GAAP Reconciliation Tables’ included in the exhibits to this earnings release.

You should assume that all numbers are unaudited unless otherwise noted.

Contacts:

Investor Relations
InvestorRelations@uscentury.com

Media Relations
Martha Guerra-Kattou
MGuerra@uscentury.com