Capital Bank Financial Corp. Reports 3Q EPS and Record Core EPS of $0.33

• Net income of $15.3 million increased 18% sequentially;
• EPS grew 18% sequentially and 22% year over year;
• Record new loans of $490 million increased 10% year over year;
• Loan portfolio grew 12% year over year;
• ROA and Core ROA excluding commercial indemnification expense, increased to 0.86%, and 0.92%, respectively; and
• Declared a $0.10 quarterly common stock dividend.

CORAL GABLES, Fla., Oct. 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capital Bank Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:CBF) (the "Company") today reported net income for the third quarter of 2015 of $15.3 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, and core net income of $15.4 million, or $0.33 per diluted share. Net income rose 18% sequentially and 16% year over year, while net income per diluted share rose 18% and 22%, respectively.

Core adjustments for the third quarter of 2015 mainly included $0.2 million in gains on sales of facilities, offset by a $0.2 million charge related to an early termination of a technology contract and $0.1 million of severance.

Gene Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Capital Bank Financial Corp., commented, "The Company's improving profitability, loan growth, commencement of a dividend program, and continued stock repurchase all demonstrate our commitment to generating strong investor returns."

Chris Marshall, Chief Financial Officer of Capital Bank Financial Corp., added, "We are very pleased with our third quarter results, which include record core EPS and record new loan growth. We continue to see a consistently significant improvement in our ROA, driven by strong organic loan growth, responsible efficiency initiatives, and the benefit of reduced legacy credit expenses."

Loan Portfolio and Composition

During the third quarter, the loan portfolio increased by $198.5 million to $5.4 billion, a 15% annualized rate. New loans of $490.2 million were partially offset by resolutions totaling $43.4 million, including transfers to OREO of $1.8 million, and principal repayments of $246.4 million.

The relative composition of the Company's loan portfolio at the end of the third and second quarters of 2015 and fourth quarter of 2014 was as follows:

Deposits Composition and Cost of Funds

During the third quarter, total deposits increased by $73.2 million to $5.6 billion, or a 5% annualized rate. The sequential increase included $82 million in wholesale time deposits, which provided a lower cost source of funding than higher rate legacy time deposits. The cost of core deposits remained flat at 0.15%. Core deposits include all checking, savings and money market accounts and represent 68% of total deposits. Sequentially and year over year, the cost of total deposits increased three basis points and five basis points, respectively, to 0.39%, largely as a result of the amortization of purchase accounting. The contractual cost of total deposits, which excludes purchase accounting, increased one basis point sequentially and was flat year over year at 0.40%.

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Net interest income increased $1.0 million to $61.6 million from $60.7 million for the second quarter of 2015 and increased slightly from $61.4 million for the third quarter of 2014. The net interest margin for the third quarter of 2015 was 3.82%, a decline of twelve basis points sequentially and thirty-two basis points year over year. The sequential and year over year net interest margin decline was due to the lower average yield on new loans as compared to the yields of the Company's legacy acquired loans and the slight increase in the cost of total deposits. The implementation of interest rate swaps during the year resulted in $0.8 million in additional interest income during the third quarter and had a five basis point impact on net interest margin. New and acquired non-impaired loans represent $4.3 billion or 79% of our total loan portfolio, up from 76% and 73% at June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively. New loans outstanding represent $3.9 billion with an average yield of 3.58%, compared to $1.1 billion of acquired impaired loans outstanding with an average yield of 8.32%.

Non-Interest Income

Non-interest income increased $1.1 million to $11.4 million from $10.4 million for the second quarter of 2015 and increased $1.5 million from $10.0 million for the third quarter of 2014. The sequential increase was mainly driven by a decline in FDIC indemnification asset amortization due to the impairment and write down of loans and OREO covered under commercial loss sharing provisions with the FDIC and higher service charges on deposits accounts, partially offset by lower fees on mortgage loans due to a decline in mortgage loan sales and a decline in investment advisory fees. Going forward, as the commercial loss sharing portion of the agreements expired during the third quarter, the Company expects FDIC loss share amortization to be significantly lower than amounts recorded in prior quarters.

The year over year increase was mainly driven by a decline in FDIC indemnification asset amortization due to impairment and write down of loans and OREO covered under commercial loss sharing agreements.

Provision for Loan and Lease Losses and Credit Quality

The provision of $0.8 million recorded for the third quarter of 2015 included a $0.3 million provision for new and acquired non-impaired loans plus an additional $0.5 million impairment due to changes in cash flow estimates for certain acquired impaired loan pools. The changes in cash flow estimates mainly resulted from an anticipated foreclosure of a real estate development loan that was covered by the loss sharing agreement with the FDIC. Net charge-offs for the third quarter of 2015 were $2.6 million, up from $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2015. The sequential increase was due to a $1.1 million charge-off of impairment on an acquired impaired loan pool as the remaining contractual cash flows of active loans in the pool fell below its recorded investment. In such cases, the Company charges off related impairment such that the recorded investment does not exceed the contractual cash flows for the remaining active loans in the pool.

At September 30, 2015, the allowance for loan and lease losses was $46.3 million, of which $25.7 million related to acquired impaired loans and $20.6 million related to new and acquired non-impaired loans. The allowance for loan and lease losses represents 0.86% of the Company's total $5.4 billion loan portfolio.

At September 30, 2015, non-performing loans were $81.7 million, down 12% from June 30, 2015, and down 53%, from September 30, 2014, mainly as a result of resolutions and upgrades. Non-performing loans have declined 79% from a peak of $382.5 million at December 31, 2011. Non-performing loans are comprised of $9.6 million of nonaccrual originated loans and $72.0 million of acquired impaired loans.

Non-Interest Expense

Non-interest expense declined $1.2 million to $48.3 million from $49.5 million for the second quarter of 2015 and declined $3.1 million from $51.4 million for the third quarter of 2014.  The sequential decline was mainly due to the absence of $1.4 million in second quarter charges from net losses on extinguishment of debt assumed through the Company's legacy acquisitions. Contributing to the year over year decline was a reduction in net occupancy expense as a result of cost savings initiatives, a reduction in stock-based compensation expense, and lower contingent value rights ("CVR") expense due to the early redemption of the CVR associated with Southern Community Financial Corporation.

As of September 30, 2015, covered loans and OREO subject to the non-single-family shared-loss agreements expiring during the third quarter, were $89.3 million and $6.9 million, respectively. As a result of the agreements' expiration, FDIC indemnification expense is expected to decline significantly in the fourth quarter of 2015. For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, excluding the impact of the non-single-family FDIC indemnification expense, the Company's efficiency ratio and core efficiency ratio declined to 64.84% and 64.69%, respectively, and ROA and Core ROA increased to 0.92%.

Income Tax Expense

Income tax expense was $8.6 million for the third quarter of 2015, an effective rate of 36%, compared to $7.3 million and 36% for the second quarter of 2015. Income tax expense was $8.1 million and 38% for the third quarter of 2014. The year over year decline in effective rate was mainly due to the favorable impact from higher tax-exempt interest income and lower non-deductible CVR expense in the current year.

Financial Position

Total assets increased by $206.7 million to $7.3 billion as of September 30, 2015, from $7.1 billion as of June 30, 2015.  During the quarter, the Company's loan portfolio increased by $198.5 million to $5.4 billion, a 15% annualized rate.  Deposits increased by $73.2 million to $5.6 billion, a 5% annualized rate, and FHLB borrowings increased $165.0 million. Tangible book value per share was $19.75 as of September 30, 2015, an increase of $0.06 and $0.75 over June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2014, respectively. During the third quarter, the Company repurchased 2.0 million shares of common stock for $59.6 million at an average price of $29.94. The Company has $42.2 million remaining under the current stock repurchase authorization.

The Company's national bank subsidiary, Capital Bank N.A., has preliminary Tier 1 Leverage, Tier 1 Common, Tier 1 Risk-Based and Total Risk-Based capital ratios of 11.19%, 12.85%, 12.85% and 13.69%, respectively, as of September 30, 2015, under currently applicable regulations.

The Company declared a cash dividend of $0.10 per share, payable on November 16, 2015, to shareholders of record as of November 2, 2015.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.  The number to call for this interactive teleconference is (719) 457-2727, and the confirmation pass code is 256369. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call. A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available through October 29, 2015, by dialing (719) 457-0820 and entering pass code 256369. The live broadcast of the conference call will be available online at the Company's web site at www.capitalbank-us.com, by following the link to Investor Relations.  An on-line replay of the call will be available at the same site for 90 days.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information in this press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, predictions, forecasts, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and may be forward-looking. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believes," "can," "could," "may," "predicts," "potential," "should," "will," "estimate," "plans," "projects," "continuing," "ongoing," "expects," "intends" and similar words or phrases. Accordingly, these statements are only predictions and involve estimates, known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in them. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of several factors more fully described under the caption "Risk Factors" in the annual report on Form 10-K and other periodic reports filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any or all of our forward-looking statements in this press release may turn out to be inaccurate. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated by us will be achieved. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements including, but not limited to: (1) changes in general economic and financial market conditions; (2) changes in the regulatory environment; (3) economic conditions generally and in the financial services industry; (4) changes in the economy affecting real estate values; (5) our ability to achieve loan and deposit growth; (6) the completion of future acquisitions or business combinations and our ability to integrate any acquired businesses into our business model; (7) projected population and income growth in our targeted market areas; (8) competitive pressures in our markets and industry; (9) our ability to attract and retain key personnel; (10) changes in accounting policies or judgments and (11) volatility and direction of market interest rates and a weakening of the economy which could materially impact credit quality trends and the ability to generate loans. All forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates of future results, and actual results may differ materially from expectations. You are, therefore, cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements, which should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included elsewhere in this press release. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Core net income, core efficiency ratio, core return-on-assets ("core ROA"), tangible book value and tangible book value per share are each non-GAAP measures used in this report.  A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures – net income in the case of core net income and core ROA, total non-interest income and total non-interest expense in the case of core efficiency ratio, and total shareholders' equity in the case of tangible book value and tangible book value per share – appears in tabular form at the end of this release.  The Company believes core net income, the core efficiency ratio and core ROA are useful for both investors and management to understand the effects of certain non-interest items and provide an alternative view of the Company's performance over time and in comparison to the Company's competitors.  These measures should not be viewed as a substitute for net income.  The Company believes that tangible book value and tangible book value per share are useful for both investors and management as these are measures commonly used by financial institutions, regulators and investors to measure the capital adequacy of financial institutions.  The Company believes these measures facilitate comparison of the quality and composition of the Company's capital over time and in comparison to its competitors.  These measures should not be viewed as a substitute for total shareholders' equity.

These non-GAAP measures have inherent limitations, are not required to be uniformly applied and are not audited.  They should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of results reported under GAAP.  These non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

About Capital Bank Financial Corp.

Capital Bank Financial Corp. is a national bank holding company, formed in 2009 to create a premier regional banking franchise in the southeastern United States. CBF is the parent of Capital Bank N.A., a national banking association with $7.3 billion in total assets as of September 30, 2015, and 153 full-service banking offices throughout Florida, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. To learn more about Capital Bank, N.A., please visit www.capitalbank-us.com.

⁽¹⁾ See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures"
⁽²⁾ September 30, 2015 regulatory capital ratios are preliminary. The Company became subject to Basel III capital rules on January 1, 2015.

⁽¹⁾ Presented on a fully tax equivalent basis
⁽²⁾ Includes Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Home Loan Bank and Bankers Bank stocks

⁽¹⁾ Presented on a fully tax equivalent basis
⁽²⁾ Includes Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Home Loan Bank and Bankers Bank stocks

⁽¹⁾ Presented on a fully tax equivalent basis
⁽²⁾ Includes Federal Reserve Bank, Federal Home Loan Bank and Bankers Bank stocks

* Tax effected at an income tax rate of 36%
** ROA: Annualized net income / Average assets
*** Core ROA: Annualized core net income / Average assets

* Efficiency Ratio: Non-interest expense / (Non-interest income + Net interest income)
** Core Efficiency Ratio: Core non-interest expense / (Core non-interest income + Net interest income)

* Tangible book value is equal to book value less goodwill and core deposit intangibles, net of related deferred tax liabilities.