In a presentation via conference call Thursday morning, officials of Live Oak Bancshares reported a strong first quarter for 2016 and indications that its subsidiary Live Oak Bank will show continued growth this year.
Live Oak Bancshares’ net income for the first quarter was nearly $4.7 million, with net diluted income per share of 13 cents, the company’s financial statement shows. The same benchmarks for the first quarter of 2015 were higher - $8.07 million net income and 27 cents per diluted share – but the Q1 2015 income was inflated with a pre-tax gain of $3.8 million, or 7 cents per diluted share, from Live Oak’s sale of its banking software spinoff nCino.
Highlights for the recently concluded quarter included net interest income and loan servicing revenues of $13.5 million, a 56 percent increase from those in the first quarter of 2015; $155.6 million in guaranteed loans sold, a 14 percent increase over the same period in 2015; and loan originations of $284.5 million, a 15 percent increase over the same period in 2015.
“Our sustained loan generation efforts continue to propel core earnings,” CEO James (Chip) Mahan III said in a statement released Wednesday after market close. “We typically witness a slowing of business activity in the first quarter of each year but we are pleased to have started out 2016 with our highest-ever level of first quarter originations and core revenues. We remain confident in our ability to achieve targeted origination volumes for the full year.”
Officials said in the conference call they expect loan originations in 2016 to total between $1.35 and $1.4 billion.
Since January 2015, Live Oak Bank, the only Wilmington-based public company, has added six new industries to its SBA-backed lending program: wine and craft beverage, self storage, independent insurance agents, hotels, renewable energy and government contractors.
The bank is also augmenting other revenue sources, according to Live Oak president Neil Underwood.
Saying that the bank had a “great first quarter,” Underwood noted that Live Oak had launched a “very successful” deposit campaign, with 2,706 new deposit accounts opened, representing $198 million in new core deposits in the form of one- and two-year CDs, during the period.
And coming soon, according to Underwood, is Live Oak’s business checking program, nicknamed Acorn. That new offering is on track for a pilot in June, with general availability at the start of 2017, he said.
Live Oak CFO Brett Caines echoed Mahan’s statement about the strengths of the first quarter financials and noted the bank’s seasonality.
“Business volumes tend to ramp up later in the year,” he said.
