STUART, Fla., May 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Seacoast Banking Corporation
of Florida (Nasdaq: NMS) announced that it has completed the merger of Century
National Bank with a Seacoast subsidiary. Century adds approximately
$329 million in assets, $106 million in loans and $300 million in deposits, as
well as three new locations in the Orlando area to Seacoast's Florida East
Coast franchise. Century has offices in downtown Orlando, Maitland and
Longwood, Florida, which are among Florida's fastest-growing cities. As a
result of the merger, Seacoast will have approximately $2.1 billion in assets,
$1.1 billion in loans and $1.8 billion in deposits.
Century's community bank model focuses on developing deep relationships
with small and medium-sized businesses and professional firms in the Orlando
metro area, resulting in outstanding asset quality and a low-cost mix of
deposits. Combining with Seacoast will allow a continuation of this strategy
and provide the existing management team, led by Michael W. Sheffey, as
Orlando Regional President, with greater resources to develop existing and new
relationships in this market. Century will continue to operate under its
present name as a wholly owned subsidiary of Seacoast.
Michael W. Sheffey, President of Century, stated: "We are delighted to
have joined Seacoast, which has a capital base and a critical mass that will
allow us to build upon our success in the Orlando area. Our management team,
which is continuing with Seacoast, shares Seacoast's banking philosophy, and
looks forward to focusing on developing and maintaining deep customer
relationships with personal service through a greater array of products.
Dennis S. Hudson, III, President and Chief Executive Officer of Seacoast,
said, "Over the past few years, we have expanded south into the Palm Beach
market and more recently north into the Brevard County/Melbourne area. This
expansion has provided us with greater opportunities to profitably increase
our loan portfolio and low-cost deposits, which has in turn contributed to
gains in our net interest margin. Our current markets have strong demographics
and growth, and we have been very selective in our approach to acquisitions,
while building value and growing internally. Entering the fast-growing
Orlando area with Mike Sheffey and his team is a logical extension of our
growth plans. Orlando is one of only a few markets whose demographics and
growth are as good as the markets we have historically served. The Orlando MSA
also provides us with an opportunity to further expand our commercial business
in a way that complements our already strong retail and commercial base along
Florida's East Coast. We are going to make a smooth and deliberate transition
following the merger, including keeping the Century National Bank name through
the transition."
The Orlando MSA, which has $25 billion in deposits, is a business center
of Florida that is projected to have the fastest job growth of any MSA in the
United States. This market offers commercial lending opportunities that
complement and diversify Seacoast's current businesses.
Mr. Hudson continued: "Century shares our SuperCommunity Bank philosophy
that brings a sound $2.1 billion institution staffed by highly skilled
professionals, offering what we refer to as the third alternative in banking -
- a unique combination of the sophisticated products and services offered by
large banks, enhanced by the personal relationships and high-quality customer
service of a community bank. It is what we believe people want: local bankers
with decision-making capabilities who are knowledgeable about the markets they
serve and responsive to the requests and needs of the customer."
Seacoast expects that the transaction will be slightly accretive to
earnings per share in 2005, without taking into account revenue or expense
synergies. "We will seek to redeploy Century's balance sheet from its current
securities' holdings into more profitable loans. This increased lending in a
vibrant market is expected to enhance our long-term earnings per share growth
rate," said Mr. Hudson.
Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, statements
about the benefits of the merger between Seacoast and Century, including
future financial and operating results, cost savings, enhanced revenues, and
accretion to reported earnings that may be realized from the merger, as well
as statements with respect to Seacoast's and Century's plans, objectives,
expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical
facts. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking
statements.
Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to our beliefs,
plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, estimates and
intentions, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors, which may be beyond our control and which may cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of Seacoast to be materially different
from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. You should not expect us to update any forward-
looking statements.
You can identify these forward-looking statements through our use of words
such as "may," "will," "anticipate," "assume," "should," "indicate," "would,"
"believe," "contemplate," "expect," "estimate," "continue," "point to,"
"project," "could," "intend" or other similar words and expressions of the
future. These forward-looking statements may not be realized due to a variety
of factors, including, without limitation: the effects of future economic
conditions; governmental monetary and fiscal policies, as well as legislative
and regulatory changes; the risks of changes in interest rates on the level
and composition of deposits, loan demand, and the values of loan collateral,
securities, and interest sensitive assets and liabilities; interest rate risks
and sensitivities; the effects of competition from other commercial banks,
thrifts, mortgage banking firms, consumer finance companies, credit unions,
securities brokerage firms, insurance companies, money market and other mutual
funds and other financial institutions operating in our market areas and
elsewhere, including institutions operating regionally, nationally and
internationally, together with such competitors offering banking products and
services by mail, telephone, computer and the Internet; and the failure of
assumptions underlying the establishment of reserves for possible loan losses.
The risks of mergers and acquisitions, include, without limitation: unexpected
transaction costs, including the costs of integrating operations; the risks
that the businesses of Seacoast and Century will not be integrated
successfully or that such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or
costly than expected; the potential failure to fully or timely realize
expected revenues and revenue synergies, including as the result of revenues
following the merger being lower than expected; the risk of deposit and
customer attrition; any changes in deposit mix; unexpected operating and other
costs, which may differ or change from expectations; the risks of customer and
employee loss and business disruption, including, without limitation, as the
result of difficulties in maintaining relationships with employees; the risk
of obtaining necessary governmental approvals of the merger on the proposed
terms and schedule; increased competitive pressures and solicitations of
Century's customers by competitors; as well as the difficulties and risks
inherent in seeking to increase the volume of loans in the highly competitive
Orlando market.
All written or oral forward looking statements attributable to us are
expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice, including,
without limitation, those risks and uncertainties described in our annual
report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 under "Special
Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements," and otherwise in our
SEC reports and filings. Such reports are available upon request from
Seacoast, or from the Securities and Exchange Commission, including through
the SEC's Internet website at http://www.sec.gov.
SOURCE Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida
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Related links:
http://www.seacoastbanking.net
CONTACT:
Dennis S. Hudson, III, President and Chief
Executive Officer, +1-772-288-6086, or William R. Hahl, Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, +1-772-221-2825, both
of Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida
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