Riverview Bancorp Reports Net Income of $1.6 Million in Second Fiscal Quarter 2025

VANCOUVER, Wash., Oct. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Riverview Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq GSM: RVSB) (“Riverview” or the “Company”) today reported earnings of $1.6 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, in the second fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2024, compared to $2.5 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the second fiscal quarter a year ago.

In the first six months of fiscal 2025, net income was $2.5 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, compared to $5.3 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, in the first six months of fiscal 2024.

“While our second quarter operating results were an improvement compared to the preceding quarter, we still have work to do,” stated Nicole Sherman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We remain focused on improving our performance metrics and profitability in the second half of fiscal year 2025. We were particularly encouraged by the increase in deposit balances during the quarter, as our team is doing a great job of deepening client relationships and bringing in new business.”

“We have made good progress with our operating results since our balance sheet restructuring in March 2024, and we are continuing with that momentum as we look to the future,” said David Lam, EVP and Chief Financial Officer.

Second Quarter Highlights (at or for the period ended September 30, 2024)

• Net interest income was $8.9 million for the quarter, compared to $8.8 million in the preceding quarter and $9.9 million in the second fiscal quarter a year ago.
• Net interest margin (“NIM”) was 2.46% for the quarter, compared to 2.47% in the preceding quarter and 2.63% for the year ago quarter.
• Asset quality remained strong, with non-performing assets at $450,000, or 0.03% of total assets at September 30, 2024.
• Riverview recorded a $100,000 provision for credit losses during the current quarter, compared to no provision in both the preceding quarter and in the year ago quarter.
• The allowance for credit losses was $15.5 million, or 1.46% of total loans.
• Total loans increased $15.9 million during the quarter to $1.06 billion at September 30, 2024, compared to $1.05 billion at June 30, 2024, and increased $45.4 million compared to $1.02 billion at September 30, 2023.
• Total deposits were $1.24 billion, compared to $1.22 billion three months earlier and $1.24 billion a year earlier.
• The uninsured deposit ratio was 24.1% at September 30, 2024. Available liquidity under the FRB borrowing line would cover 100% of the estimated uninsured deposits and available liquidity under both the FHLB and FRB borrowing lines would cover 156% of the estimated uninsured deposits.
• Riverview has approximately $467.0 million in available liquidity at September 30, 2024, including $167.5 million of borrowing capacity from the FHLB and $299.5 million from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (“FRB”). At September 30, 2024, the Bank had $102.3 million in outstanding FHLB borrowings.
• Total risk-based capital ratio was 16.14% and Tier 1 leverage ratio was 10.72%.
• Non-interest income increased $474,000 during the quarter to $3.8 million at September 30, 2024 compared to $3.4 million at June 30, 2024.
  

Income Statement Review

Riverview’s net interest income was $8.9 million in the current quarter, compared to $8.8 million in the preceding quarter, and $9.9 million in the second fiscal quarter a year ago. The increase compared to the preceding quarter was driven by organic loan growth and higher interest earning asset yields due to higher origination rates on new loan growth as well as loan repricing. Additionally, Riverview sold a portion of its converted Visa A shares (formerly Visa B shares) during the second quarter which generated income of $199,000. The decrease in net interest income compared to the year ago quarter was driven primarily by an increase in interest expense on deposits due to higher interest rates and interest rate expense related to borrowings. In the first six months of fiscal 2025, net interest income was $17.8 million, compared to $20.2 million in the first six months of fiscal 2024. Investment income decreased compared to the six month period a year ago due to the strategic investment restructuring that was executed in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.

Riverview’s NIM was 2.46% for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, a one basis point decrease compared to 2.47% in the preceding quarter and a 17 basis-point decrease compared to 2.63% in the second quarter of fiscal 2024. “Our NIM is showing signs of stabilizing, contracting only one basis point compared to the linked quarter, as loan growth and higher interest earning asset yields are keeping up with higher deposit costs,” said Lam. “The slight NIM contraction during the current quarter, compared to the year ago quarter, was a result of higher interest expense due to increased rates on our deposit products and the interest expense related to our borrowings. With the decrease in the federal funds rate occurring late in the second fiscal quarter, we expect the impact of the rate decrease to benefit the NIM in future quarters.” In the first six months of fiscal 2025, the net interest margin was 2.46% compared to 2.71% in the same period a year earlier.

Investment securities decreased $8.2 million during the quarter to $354.9 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $363.2 million at June 30, 2024, and decreased $75.1 million compared to $430.0 million at September 30, 2023. The average securities balances for the quarters ended September 30, 2024, June 30, 2024, and September 30, 2023, were $378.4 million, $391.3 million, and $466.0 million, respectively. The weighted average yields on securities balances for those same periods were 2.05%, 2.11%, and 2.00%, respectively. The duration of the investment portfolio at September 30, 2024 was approximately 5.0 years. The anticipated investment cashflows over the next twelve months is approximately $49.2 million. There were no investment purchases during the second fiscal quarter of 2025.

Riverview’s yield on loans improved to 4.80% during the second fiscal quarter, compared to 4.70% in the preceding quarter, and 4.51% in the second fiscal quarter a year ago. “Loan yields improved during the current quarter as a result of higher rates on new loan originations and higher rates on existing loans that have come up for repricing, when compared to the existing loan portfolio. We continue to explore opportunities to enhance our loan yield by expanding our commercial business portfolio offerings,” said Robert Benke, EVP and Chief Credit Officer. Deposit costs increased to 1.26% during the second fiscal quarter compared to 1.14% in the preceding quarter, and 0.59% in the second fiscal quarter a year ago.

Non-interest income increased to $3.8 million during the second fiscal quarter of 2025 compared to $3.4 million in both the preceding quarter and in the second fiscal quarter of 2024. The current quarter included approximately $525,000 in income related to a legal expense recovery from the prior year. In the first six months of fiscal 2025, non-interest income increased to $7.2 million compared to $6.7 million in the same period a year ago.

Asset management fees were $1.4 million during the second fiscal quarter, compared to $1.6 million in the preceding quarter, and $1.3 million in the second fiscal quarter a year ago. The decrease compared to the first fiscal quarter was due to tax preparation fees included in the first fiscal quarter. Asset management fees increased compared to the year ago quarter due to new client relationships and the continued positive market performance in the equity markets during the second quarter. Riverview Trust Company’s assets under management were $871.6 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $897.9 million at June 30, 2024, and $875.7 million at September 30, 2023.

Non-interest expense was $10.7 million during the second fiscal quarter, compared to $11.0 million in the preceding quarter and $10.1 million in the second fiscal quarter a year ago. Salary and employee benefits were up modestly during the current quarter compared to the preceding quarter, due to strategic hiring. Occupancy and depreciation costs increased modestly during the quarter due to updates and modernization of Riverview’s facilities, but these expenses have started to level off. The efficiency ratio was 83.7% for the second fiscal quarter, compared to 90.0% for the previous quarter and 76.1% in the second fiscal quarter a year ago. Year-to-date, non-interest expense was $21.7 million compared to $20.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2024.

Riverview’s effective tax rate for the second fiscal quarter of 2025 was 21.4%, compared to 20.8% for the preceding quarter and 22.0% for the year ago quarter.

Balance Sheet Review

Loans increased during the second quarter due to a combination of organic loan production along with construction draws, as well as the purchase of $10.0 million in consumer loans. Total loans increased $15.9 million during the quarter to $1.06 billion at September 30, 2024, compared to $1.05 billion three months earlier and increased $45.4 million compared to $1.02 billion a year earlier. Riverview’s loan pipeline was $43.5 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $32.3 million at the end of the preceding quarter. New loan originations during the quarter were $25.6 million, compared to $23.2 million in the preceding quarter and $39.5 million in the second fiscal quarter a year ago.

Undisbursed construction loans totaled $34.1 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $48.0 million at June 30, 2024, with the majority of the undisbursed construction loans expected to be funded over the next several quarters. Undisbursed homeowner association loans for the purpose of common area maintenance and repairs totaled $11.1 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $14.5 million at June 30, 2024. Revolving commercial business loan commitments totaled $48.4 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $50.7 million at June 30, 2024. Utilization on these loans totaled 23.88% at September 30, 2024, compared to 32.07% at June 30, 2024. The weighted average rate on loan originations during the quarter was 7.65% compared to 8.06% in the preceding quarter.

The office building loan portfolio totaled $112.4 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $113.4 million at June 30, 2024. The average loan balance of the office building loan portfolio was $1.5 million with an average loan-to-value ratio of 54.0% and an average debt service coverage ratio of 2.0x. Office building loans within the Portland core consists of three loans totaling $20.8 million which is approximately 18.5% of the total office building loan portfolio or 2.0% of total loans.

Total deposits increased $17.8 million during the quarter to $1.24 billion at September 30, 2024, compared to $1.22 billion at June 30, 2024, and decreased $2.3 million compared to a year ago. “The increase in non-interest checking account balances during the quarter was a result of our treasury management team working in partnership with our loan officers to expand loan customers into full banking relationships,” said Lam. “Money market balances and CDs also increased during the quarter as we are still seeing a subset of clients still looking for higher yields.”

Non-interest checking and interest checking accounts, as a percentage of total deposits, totaled 49.2% at September 30, 2024, compared to 50.9% at June 30, 2024, and 49.5% at September 30, 2023.

FHLB advances decreased $11.2 million during the quarter to $102.3 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $113.5 million at June 30, 2024. FHLB advances decreased during the quarter as the increase in deposit balances funded the increase in loans receivable.

Shareholders’ equity was $160.8 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $155.9 million three months earlier and $152.0 million one year earlier. Tangible book value per share (non-GAAP) increased to $6.33 at September 30, 2024, compared to $6.09 at June 30, 2024, and $5.90 at September 30, 2023. Riverview paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share on October 18, 2024, to shareholders of record on October 7, 2024.

Credit Quality

“We continue to monitor our loan portfolio closely resulting in our continued strong asset quality metrics in the second quarter” said Benke. Non-performing loans, excluding SBA and USDA government guaranteed loans (“government guaranteed loans”) (non-GAAP) totaled $149,000 or 0.01% of total loans as of September 30, 2024, compared to $160,000, or 0.02% of total loans at June 30, 2024, and $198,000, or 0.02% of total loans at September 30, 2023. There was one non-performing government guaranteed loan totaling $301,000 at both September 30, 2024 and June 30, 2024. At September 30, 2024, including government guaranteed loans, non-performing assets were $450,000, or 0.03% of total assets.

Riverview recorded $2,000 in net loan recoveries for the second fiscal quarter. This compared to zero net loan charge offs for the preceding quarter. Riverview recorded $100,000 in provision for credit losses for the second fiscal quarter, compared to no provision for credit losses for the preceding quarter.

Classified assets were $326,000 at September 30, 2024, compared to $228,000 at June 30, 2024, and $1.1 million at September 30, 2023. The classified assets to total capital ratio was 0.2% at September 30, 2024, compared to 0.1% at June 30, 2024, and 0.6% a year earlier. Criticized assets were $50.7 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $37.7 million at June 30, 2024, and $35.1 million at September 30, 2023. The increase in criticized assets during the quarter was mainly due to one relationship that was moved to the criticized asset category as the loan goes through probate. The Company does not anticipate any loss from this relationship.

The allowance for credit losses was $15.5 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $15.4 million at June 30, 2024, and at September 30, 2023. The allowance for credit losses represented 1.46% of total loans at September 30, 2024, compared to 1.47% at June 30, 2024, and 1.51% a year earlier. The allowance for credit losses to loans, net of government guaranteed loans (non-GAAP), was 1.53% at September 30, 2024, compared to 1.54% at June 30, 2024, and 1.60% a year earlier.

Capital

Riverview continues to maintain capital levels well in excess of the regulatory requirements to be categorized as “well capitalized” with a total risk-based capital ratio of 16.14% and a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 10.72% at September 30, 2024. Tangible common equity to average tangible assets ratio (non-GAAP) was 8.78% at September 30, 2024.

On September 25, 2024, the Company’s Board of Directors adopted a stock repurchase program. Under this repurchase program, the Company may repurchase up to $2.0 million of the Company’s outstanding shares of common stock, in the open market, based on prevailing market prices, or in privately negotiated transactions. Once the repurchase program is effective, the repurchase program will continue until the earlier of the completion of the repurchase or 12 months after the effective date, depending upon market conditions.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to results presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), this press release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. Management has presented these non-GAAP financial measures in this earnings release because it believes that they provide useful and comparative information to assess trends in Riverview's core operations reflected in the current quarter's results and facilitate the comparison of our performance with the performance of our peers. However, these non-GAAP financial measures are supplemental and are not a substitute for any analysis based on GAAP. Where applicable, comparable earnings information using GAAP financial measures is also presented. Because not all companies use the same calculations, our presentation may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures as calculated by other companies. For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures, see the tables below.

About Riverview

Riverview Bancorp, Inc. (www.riverviewbank.com) is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington – just north of Portland, Oregon, on the I-5 corridor. With assets of $1.55 billion at September 30, 2024, it is the parent company of the 101-year-old Riverview Bank, as well as Riverview Trust Company. The Bank offers true community banking services, focusing on providing the highest quality service and financial products to commercial and retail clients through 17 branches, including 13 in the Portland-Vancouver area, and 3 lending centers. For the past 10 years, Riverview has been named Best Bank by the readers of The Vancouver Business Journal and The Columbian.

“Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements which include statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, assumptions, future economic performance and projections of financial items. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated or implied by our forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: potential adverse impacts to economic conditions in our local market areas, other markets where the Company has lending relationships, or other aspects of the Company's business operations or financial markets, including, without limitation, as a result of employment levels, labor shortages and the effects of inflation, a potential recession, the failure of the U.S. Congress to increase the debt ceiling, or slowed economic growth caused by increasing political instability from acts of war including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as supply chain disruptions, recent bank failures and any governmental or societal responses thereto; the credit risks of lending activities, including changes in the level and trend of loan delinquencies and write-offs and changes in the Company’s allowance for credit losses and provision for credit losses that may be impacted by deterioration in the housing and commercial real estate markets; changes in the levels of general interest rates, and the relative differences between short and long-term interest rates, deposit interest rates, the Company’s net interest margin and funding sources; the transition away from London Interbank Offered Rate toward new interest rate benchmarks; fluctuations in the demand for loans, the number of unsold homes, land and other properties and fluctuations in real estate values in the Company’s market areas; secondary market conditions for loans and the Company’s ability to originate loans for sale and sell loans in the secondary market; results of examinations of the Bank by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Division of Banks, and of the Company by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or other regulatory authorities, including the possibility that any such regulatory authority may, among other things, require the Company to increase its allowance for credit losses, write-down assets, reclassify its assets, change the Bank’s regulatory capital position or affect the Company’s ability to borrow funds or maintain or increase deposits, which could adversely affect its liquidity and earnings; legislative or regulatory changes that adversely affect the Company’s business including changes in banking, securities and tax law, and in regulatory policies and principles, or the interpretation of regulatory capital or other rules; the Company’s ability to attract and retain deposits; the unexpected outflow of uninsured deposits that may require us to sell investment securities at a loss; the Company’s ability to control operating costs and expenses; the use of estimates in determining fair value of certain of the Company’s assets, which estimates may prove to be incorrect and result in significant declines in valuation; difficulties in reducing risks associated with the loans on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet; staffing fluctuations in response to product demand or the implementation of corporate strategies that affect the Company’s workforce and potential associated charges; disruptions, security breaches or other adverse events, failures or interruptions in or attacks on our information technology systems or on the third-party vendors who perform several of our critical processing functions; the Company’s ability to retain key members of its senior management team; costs and effects of litigation, including settlements and judgments; the Company’s ability to implement its business strategies; the Company's ability to successfully integrate any assets, liabilities, customers, systems, and management personnel it may acquire into its operations and the Company's ability to realize related revenue synergies and cost savings within expected time frames; future goodwill impairment due to changes in Riverview’s business, changes in market conditions, or other factors; increased competitive pressures among financial services companies; changes in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits; the availability of resources to address changes in laws, rules, or regulations or to respond to regulatory actions; the Company’s ability to pay dividends on its common stock; the quality and composition of our securities portfolio and the impact of and adverse changes in the securities markets, including market liquidity; inability of key third-party providers to perform their obligations to us; changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the financial institution regulatory agencies or the Financial Accounting Standards Board, including additional guidance and interpretation on accounting issues and details of the implementation of new accounting standards; the effects of climate change, severe weather events, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics and other public health crises, acts of war or terrorism, and other external events on our business; and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting the Company’s operations, pricing, products and services, and the other risks described from time to time in our reports filed with and furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Moreover, you should treat these statements as speaking only as of the date they are made and based only on information then actually known to the Company. The Company does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to revise any forward-looking statements included in this report or the reasons why actual results could differ from those contained in such statements, whether as a result of new information or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements. These risks could cause our actual results for fiscal 2025 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements by, or on behalf of, us and could negatively affect the Company’s consolidated financial condition and consolidated results of operations as well as its stock price performance.