NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Newtek Business Services Corp . (“Newtek” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: NEWT ), an internally managed business development company (“BDC”), today announced that the BDC and one of its wholly owned portfolio companies funded approximately $245 million of SBA 7(a) and 504 loans in 2015, representing an approximate 21% increase over all SBA loan fundings in 2014. In the fourth quarter of 2015, one of the Company’s wholly owned portfolio companies began funding SBA 504 loans. Both SBA 7(a) and 504 loan programs are administered by the Small Business Administration. In 2016, the Company projects funding approximately $320 million in SBA 7(a) and 504 loans, which would represent an approximate 31% increase over 2015.
Barry Sloane, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, “Our business fundamentals and growth prospects remain strong and have not changed since our third quarter 2015 financial report. We continue to witness strong demand in the SBA loan market and have been able to grow our loan funding volume while maintaining focus on the credit quality of our loans. In 2015, we realized an approximate 21% year-over-year increase in our SBA loan fundings. We expect continued strong demand for our loan products and forecast funding approximately $320 million in SBA loans in 2016, representing an approximate 31% increase over 2015.”
Mr. Sloane continued, “We anticipate continuing to deliver attractive returns to our shareholders in 2016. On January 4, 2016 we announced our forecast of paying a 2016 annual cash dividend of approximately $21.8 million, or $1.50 per share, (based on 14.5 million shares outstanding at December 31, 2015), which represents a 4.3% increase over the 2015 annual dividend of $20.9 million. We look forward to reporting our 2015 financial and operational results during our full year 2015 earnings conference call in early March.”
About Newtek Business Services Corp.
Newtek Business Services Corp. , The Small Business Authority ® , is an internally managed BDC, which along with its controlled portfolio companies, provides a wide range of business services and financial products under the Newtek ® brand to the small- and medium-sized business (“SMB”) market. Since 1999, Newtek has provided state-of-the-art, cost-efficient products and services and efficient business strategies to over 100,000 SMB accounts across all 50 states to help them grow their sales, control their expenses and reduce their risk.
Newtek’s products and services include: Business Lending , Electronic Payment Processing , Managed Technology Solutions (Cloud Computing) , eCommerce , Accounts Receivable Financing , The Secure Gateway , The Newtek Advantage ™ , Insurance Services , Web Services , Data Backup, Storage and Retrieval and Payroll .
The Small Business Authority ® is a registered trade mark of Newtek Business Services Corp., and neither are a part of or endorsed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Words such as “projects,” “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “expects,” “forecast,” “continuing”, “potentially”, “anticipates,” and “future” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, intensified competition, operating problems and their impact on revenues and profit margins, anticipated future business strategies and financial performance, anticipated future number of customers, business prospects, legislative developments and similar matters. Risk factors, cautionary statements and other conditions, which could cause Newtek’s actual results to differ from management’s current expectations, are contained in Newtek’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available through http://www.sec.gov/ .
For more information, please visit the following website: www.thesba.com
FROM: Newtek Business Services Corp. http://www.thesba.com Investor Relations Contact: Jayne Cavuoto Telephone: (212) 273-8179 / jcavuoto@thesba.com Public Relations Contact: Simrita Singh Telephone: (212) 356-9566 / ssingh@thesba.com Contact: Newtek Business Services Corp. Barry Sloane Chairman and CEO 212-356-9500 bsloane@thesba.com
