Florida
Community Banks, Inc.
2007
Earnings
Florida Community Banks, Inc.
reported a net loss for the fourth quarter 2007 of $1,584,088 (-$0.19 per
diluted share) compared to net income of $6,858,930 ($0.87 per diluted share)
last year. Net income for the year ending December 31, 2007 was $10,909,219
($1.36 per diluted share) compared to $23,146,069 ($2.90 per diluted share)
during 2006.
CFO Guy
W. Harris said that these numbers were $3,216,007 lower than what was originally
reported when the Company filed its FR-Y9 report’s with the Federal Reserve back
in early February. He said, “Subsequent events became known that resulted in the
bank reversing approximately $400,000 in interest income and adding an
additional $4,811,000 to its allowance for loan losses”.
CEO
Stephen L. Price stated, “As the economy weakened and the housing market in
Southwest Florida experienced a significant restructure, the banking
industry as a whole felt the impact. Credit quality problems exacerbated by the
backlog in court proceedings delaying resolutions and an increased willingness
of borrowers to file bankruptcy instead of working out their problems are just a
few of the obstacles that we had to contend with in 2007.” Price further stated
“We are confident, however that we will rebound and see an improvement in
results going forward. We have been operating in Southwest Florida
for the past 85 years, and in that time we have seen our share of recessions,
operated through the depression and other challenging economic events and have
consistently emerged strong, healthy and profitable”. Florida Community Bank has
consistently been one of the highest performing banks in
Florida. While compared to our own performance we have had a decline
in profits, comparing Florida Community Bank to our peers we still have very
strong earnings with a Return on Average Assets of 1.11% and a Return on Average
Equity of 11.09%.
Florida Community Banks, Inc.
is a $943 million commercial bank holding company, which specializes in
commercial lending and has been serving SW Florida for 85 years, with offices in
Hendry, Collier, Lee, and Charlotte counties. The Company’s 7,909,261
shares of outstanding stock are owned by more than 1,100 shareholders
predominantly residing in the four counties served by the
company. Florida
Community Banks, Inc. corporate headquarters is located in Immokalee,
Florida.