BLUEFIELD, VA – First Community Bankshares Inc. (NASDAQ: FCBC) reported last week its third quarter net income jumped by more than 55% over the same period in 2020.
The bank reported net income of $12.61 million, or 73 cents per diluted common share, for the quarter ending Sept. 30. That was an increase of 26 cents per share over the same period a year ago.
For the nine months ending Sept. 30, the bank reported net income of $40.61 million, or $2.32 per share, an even steeper jump of 69.34% in per share earning compared to the same period of 2020.
The banking company also declared a quarterly cash dividend to common shareholders of 27 per share, an increase of 8% over the same quarter in 2020. The quarterly dividend is payable to common shareholders of record on Nov. 5 and is expected to be paid on or about Nov. 19.
This marks the 36th consecutive year of regular dividends to common shareholders.
The increase in net income primarily reflects the reversal of $1.39 million in allowance for credit losses for the third quarter of 2021 compared to $4.70 million in loan loss provision recorded in the third quarter of 2020.
Net income for the nine month period increased $16.24 million compared to the same period of 2020. Similarly, for the nine-month period, a reversal of $7.63 million in the allowance for credit losses for 2021 compared to $12.03 million in loan loss provision for the same period in 2020 accounts for a large part of the increase in net income over the same period in 2020.
”The decreases in credit loss provisioning are primarily due to significantly improved economic forecasts and GDP growth in the current year, versus prior year provisioning driven by the pandemic,” the bank said in announcing the figures.
During the third quarter, the bank continued its stock repurchase plan, buying up 277,386 common shares for $8.46 million. For the year, the bank has repurchased 726,686 common shares for $21.43 million.
More information about the quarter’s performance, and the bank, can be found at www.firstcommunitybank.com.
