USCB - USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. Reports Fully Diluted EPS of $0.34 for Q4 2024 and doubles the quarterly dividend to $0.10 per share; ROAA of 1.08% and ROAE of 12.73%

MIAMI, Jan. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: USCB) , the holding company for U.S. Century Bank (the “Bank”), reported net income of $6.9 million or $0.34 per fully diluted share for the three months ended December 31, 2024, compared with net income of $2.7 million or $0.14 per fully diluted share for the same period in 2023.

“The results in Q4 2024, highlight a record year for USCB. The team outperformed our internal budget and delivered impressive results for our shareholders. A year ago, we posted $0.14 per share in diluted EPS in Q4 2023 and more than doubled those earnings this quarter to $0.34 per share. Our continued focus on reducing deposit costs has contributed to the net interest margin (NIM) expansion, helping us maintain solid profitability. While we did experience an increase in non-interest expense, primarily due to non-routine items, overall profitability was consistent with the third quarter. Given the earnings power of the Company, outlook for 2025, and strong capital levels, the board approved to double the quarterly cash dividend to $0.10 per share. For 2025, we remain focused on managing operating costs efficiently to drive sustainable performance and delivering value to our shareholders,” said Luis de la Aguilera, Chairman, President, and CEO.

Unless otherwise stated, all percentage comparisons in the bullet points below are calculated at or for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 compared to at or for the quarter ended December 31, 2023 and annualized where appropriate.

Profitability

• Annualized return on average assets for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 was 1.08% compared to 0.48% for the fourth quarter of 2023.
  
  
• Annualized return on average stockholders’ equity for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 was 12.73% compared to 5.88% for the fourth quarter of 2023.
  
  
• The efficiency ratio for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 was 55.92% compared to 68.27% for the fourth quarter of 2023.
  
  
• Net interest margin for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 was 3.16% compared to 2.65% for the fourth quarter of 2023.
  
  
• Net interest income before provision for credit losses was $19.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $5.0 million or 34.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
  

Balance Sheet

• Total assets were $2.6 billion at December 31, 2024, representing an increase of $242.1 million or 10.4% from $2.3 billion at December 31, 2023.
  
  
• Total loans held for investment were $2.0 billion at December 31, 2024, representing an increase of $192.0 million or 10.8% from $1.8 billion at December 31, 2023.
  
  
• Total deposits were $2.2 billion at December 31, 2024, representing an increase of $236.9 million or 12.2% from $1.9 billion at December 31, 2023.
  
  
• Total stockholders’ equity was $215.4 million at December 31, 2024, representing an increase of $23.4 million or 12.2% from $192.0 million at December 31, 2023. Total stockholders’ equity included accumulated comprehensive loss of $44.5 million at December 31, 2024 compared to accumulated comprehensive loss of $44.3 million at December 31, 2023.
  

Asset Quality

• The allowance for credit losses (“ACL”) increased by $3.0 million to $24.1 million at December 31, 2024 from $21.1 million at December 31, 2023.
  
  
• The ACL represented 1.22% of total loans at December 31, 2024 and 1.18% at December 31, 2023.
  
  
• The provision for credit loss was $1.0 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, a decrease of $445 thousand compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
  
  
• Non-performing loans to total loans was 0.14% at December 31, 2024 and 0.03% at December 31, 2023. Nonperforming loans totaled $2.7 million at December 31, 2024 and $468 thousand at December 31, 2023.
  

N on-interest Income and Non-interest Expense

• Non-interest income was $3.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $2.3 million or 173.5% compared to $1.3 million for the same period in 2023.
  
  
• Non-interest expense was $12.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $2.1 million or 19.9% compared to $10.7 million for the same period in 2023.
  
  
• Non-interest expense for the three months ended December 31, 2024, increased $1.4 million compared to the three months ended September 30, 2024 due to routine increases of $362 thousand and non-routine increases of $1.0 million. Routine increases for the fourth quarter 2024 were: $110 thousand increase to salaries and employee benefits due to merit increases and higher replacement cost of personnel, $218 thousand increase in consulting and legal fees due to timing of billings throughout the year, and $104 thousand increase in other operating expense. Occupancy, regulatory assessment and fees, and network and information technology had a net decrease of $70 thousand. Non-routine increases for the fourth quarter 2024 were: $620 thousand in salaries and employee benefits due to restricted stock award expense (a shorter initial vesting period; annual expense was recognized in two months), $173 thousand in legal expenses for various items which the Company expects to be reimbursed in coming quarters, $174 thousand increase in other operating expenses due to forced placed-insurance expense related to borrowers which the Company expects to be reimbursed in coming quarters, and $71 thousand due to excise tax related to the Company’s stock repurchases pursuant to its previously announced stock repurchase programs. Non-routine expenses had an impact of ($0.04) on diluted EPS for the fourth quarter 2024.
  

Capital

• On January 21, 2025, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share of the Company’s Class A common stock. The dividend will be paid on March 5, 2025 to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 14, 2025.
  
  
• As of December 31, 2024, total risk-based capital ratios for the Company and the Bank were 13.51% and 13.34%, respectively.
  
  
• Tangible book value per common share (a non-GAAP measure) was $10.81 at December 31, 2024, representing increase of $1.00 or 10.2% from $9.81 at December 31, 2023. At December 31, 2024, tangible book value per common share was negatively affected by ($2.24) per share due to an accumulated comprehensive loss of $44.5 million due to changes in the market value of our available for sale securities during the fourth quarter. At December 31, 2023, tangible book value per common share was negatively affected by ($2.26) per share due to an accumulated comprehensive loss of $44.3 million.
  

Conference Call and Webcast

The Company will host a conference call on Friday, January 24, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the Company’s unaudited financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. To access the conference call, dial (833) 816-1416 (U.S. toll-free) and ask to join the USCB Financial Holdings Call.

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 about us 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 and 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. Forward-looking statements are those that are not historical facts. The words “may,” “will,” “anticipate,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “expect,” “aim,” “plan,” “estimate,” “seek,”“continue,” and “intend,”, the negative of these terms, as well as other similar words and expressions of the future, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, 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 our results of operations and financial condition from expected or potential developments or events, or business and growth strategies, including anticipated internal growth and balance sheet restructuring.

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;
• 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 procedures and processes;
• our ability to comply with the extensive laws and regulations to which we are subject, including the laws for each jurisdiction where we operate;
• adverse changes or conditions in capital and financial markets, including actual or potential stresses in the banking industry;
• deposit attrition and the level of our uninsured deposits;
• legislative or regulatory changes and changes in accounting principles, policies, practices or guidelines, including the on-going effects of the implementation of the Current Expected Credit Losses (“CECL”) standard;
• the lack of a significantly diversified loan portfolio and the concentration in the South Florida market, including the risks of geographic, depositor, and industry concentrations, including our concentration in loans secured by real estate, in particular, commercial real estate;
• the effects of climate change;
• the concentration of ownership of our common stock;
• fluctuations in the price of our 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, and market and monetary fluctuations;
• impacts of international hostilities and geopolitical events;
• increased competition and its effect on the pricing of our products and services as well as our interest rate spread and net interest margin;
• the loss of key employees;
• 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 statements are 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.

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 operations and 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. 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.

All numbers included in this press release are unaudited unless otherwise noted.

Contacts:

Investor Relations
InvestorRelations@uscentury.com

Media Relations
Martha Guerra-Kattou
MGuerra@uscentury.com