Ameris Bancorp Reports Earnings Results for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year of 2017; Provides Earnings Guidance for the Year 2018
January 26, 2018 at 10:00 am EST
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Ameris Bancorp reported earnings results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2017. For the fourth quarter, the company recorded operating earnings of $0.63 per share, which excludes an adjustment for $0.36 attributable to reevaluation of deferred tax assets from the lower federal tax rates as well as a few small items: merger charges, final expenses related to BSA and a loss on the sale of a portion of the mortgage pools. Including these charges, the company reported earnings of $9.2 million or $0.24 per share. The company recorded operating net income of approximately $23.6 million or $0.63 per share compared to $22.5 million or $0.63 in the same quarter last year.
For the full year 2017, operating earnings were $92.3 million compared to $80.6 million in 2016. For the full year, the company grew operating earnings by 25% to $2.48. Full year-to-date operating earnings, exclude the same amounts for the quarter, and there's a reconciliation at the early part of the press release that you can reference where company detailed all those numbers. Operating ROA for the year came in at 1.26%, down from the 1.32% that is reported in 2016. The main driver in slightly low ROA was mortgages lower as well contributions to earnings, given the core bank's outsized growth during the year. Return on tangible common equity was 13.91% in the fourth quarter, compared to 17.25% for the same period last year. This decline is attributable to increased capital level as company has over $158 million more capital, or 24% increase this year over last year. Part of that increase comes from the capital raised in the first quarter of this year, and the remainder is due to earnings stream that went to dividend paid to shareholders.
The company expects that the lower tax rate will increase EPS by about $0.44 to $0.40 per share in 2018, mainly about a 9-month earn back on this write-off. The company do expect a slightly lower margin going forward from the impact of muni loan and security book by approximately 6 basis points, and the company consider all this in the EPS adjustments that the company is projecting.
Ameris Bancorp is a financial holding company, through its subsidiary, Ameris Bank (the Bank) provides a range of banking services to its retail and commercial customers in 164 locations in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Its segments include the Banking Division, which provides full service financial services, including commercial loans, consumer loans and deposit accounts; the Retail Mortgage Division, which is engaged in origination, sales and servicing of one-to-four family residential mortgage loans; the Warehouse Lending Division is engaged in the origination and servicing of warehouse lines to other businesses are secured by underlying one-to-four family residential mortgage loans and residential mortgage servicing rights; the SBA Division is engaged in the origination, sales and servicing of small business administration loans, and the Premium Finance Division engaged in the origination and servicing of commercial insurance premium finance loans.
AMERIS BANCORP 
