American Bancorp of New Jersey, Inc. Announces Fiscal 2005 Earnings
November 23 2005 - 2:02PM
Business Wire
American Bancorp of New Jersey, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNJ) ("American")
announced today earnings of $2.0 million for the year ended
September 30, 2005 as compared to $2.2 million for the year ended
September 30, 2004. Basic and diluted earnings per share for the
year ended September 30, 2005 were $0.38 and $0.37, respectively.
By comparison, both basic and diluted earnings per share for the
prior year ended September 30, 2004 were $0.40. The Company's net
interest spread remained constant for both years at 2.28% while its
net interest margin was also unchanged at 2.60% for both years. A
15 basis point improvement in the yield on interest-earning assets
for fiscal 2005 was matched by an equivalent increase in the cost
of interest-bearing liabilities. Average interest-earning assets
grew by $36.9 million to $425.9 million for fiscal 2005, while
average interest-bearing liabilities grew by $36.3 million to
$372.6 million. For the year ended September 30, 2005, loans
receivable, net increased 10.4% to $341.0 million from $309.0
million at September 30, 2004. Total gross loan balances, excluding
loans held for sale, net deferred loan costs and the allowance for
loan loss, grew $32.0 million or 10.3%. The growth was primarily
comprised of net increases in multi-family and commercial real
estate loans totaling $15.4 million coupled with net increases in
one-to-four family mortgages totaling $15.5 million. Additional
components of the net change in gross loan balances included
increases in home equity loans of $2.7 million and net increases in
commercial and consumer loans totaling $304,000. This growth was
offset by a decline in the disbursed balance of construction loans
totaling $1.9 million. Deposits increased by 5.6% to $340.9 million
at September 30, 2005 from $322.7 million at September 30, 2004.
Certificates of deposit increased $34.8 million to $152.8 million
while savings deposits decreased by $20.1 million to $123.3
million. Checking deposits, including demand, NOW and money market
checking accounts, increased $3.6 million to $64.8 million. Overall
growth in loans and deposits contributed significantly to a
$956,000, or 9.5%, improvement in net interest income. However,
improvements in net interest income were more than offset by higher
noninterest expense which increased by $1.3 million, or 16.5%.
Noninterest expense grew primarily as a result of a $1.1 million,
or 22.5%, increase in salaries and benefits expense and a $346,000,
or 37.5%, increase in other noninterest expense which includes
legal, professional and consulting fees. A significant portion of
the increase in salaries and benefits expense was attributable to a
charge of $444,000 resulting from restructuring the Bank's director
retirement plan. Salaries and wages including bonus and payroll
taxes, also increased $324,000 or 9.3% due, in part, to executive
and lending staffing additions coupled with overall annual
increases in employee compensation. Additionally, salaries and
benefits costs increased $207,000 due to the implementation of a
restricted stock plan during the current fiscal year. The overall
increase in other non interest expense was attributable to several
factors. Legal fees increased $129,000 to $234,000 for the year
ended September 30, 2005 from $105,000 for the same period in 2004.
A portion of the increase in legal fees was attributable to matters
presented to shareholders at the Company's annual meeting held
January 20, 2005. Additionally, professional and consulting fees,
including auditing and accounting fees, increased $132,000 to
$274,000 for the year ended September 30, 2005 as compared to the
same period in 2004. A portion of this increase was attributable to
the Company's operation as a public company including
implementation costs associated with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of
2002. Other comparative increases in both legal and professional
and consulting fees were attributable to ongoing evaluation and
implementation of growth and diversification strategies relating to
the execution of the Company's business plan. At September 30,
2005, stock subscriptions totaling $115.2 million were held in
overnight investments pending completion of American's stock
offering in connection with the second-step conversion of American
Savings, MHC from the mutual holding company form of organization
to a full stock corporation. Upon closing of the offering on
October 5, 2005, $33.7 million of oversubscriptions were refunded
and the remainder, less offering expenses, became capital of
American. An additional $9.8 million of deposits were used to
purchase shares in the Company's second-step conversion. In total,
American sold 9,918,750 shares in the conversion at $10.00 per
share including the 793,500 shares sold to the Company's employee
stock ownership plan. Additionally, each share of common stock held
by the public stockholders of ASB Holding Company, the former
middle-tier stock holding company, was converted into 2.55102
shares of common stock of American, resulting in an aggregate of
4,250,719 exchange shares issued. Together, the conversion and
exchanged shares comprise 14,169,469 ABNJ shares now outstanding.
American's common stock began trading on the NASDAQ National Market
under the symbol "ABNJ" on October 6, 2005. Upon closing the
second-step conversion of American Savings, MHC on October 5, 2005,
ASB Holding Company ceased to exist and was replaced by American
Bancorp of New Jersey, Inc. as the holding company of American Bank
of New Jersey, a federally chartered stock savings bank which
conducts business from its main office in Bloomfield, New Jersey
and one branch office in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. The earnings for
the fiscal year ended September 30, 2005 reported by American are
those of ASB Holding Company. The foregoing material contains
forward-looking statements concerning our financial condition,
results of operations and business. We caution that such statements
are subject to a number of uncertainties and actual results could
differ materially, and, therefore, readers should not place undue
reliance on any forward-looking statements. We do not undertake,
and specifically disclaim, any obligation to publicly release the
results of any revisions that may be made to any forward-looking
statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or
unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such
statements.
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