The Southern Banc Company, Inc. Announces Preliminary

GADSDEN, Ala., Sept. 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gates Little, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Southern Banc Company, Inc. (OTCBB: SRNN ), the holding company for The Southern Bank Company, announced preliminary unaudited results (subject to audit adjustments following the year-end audit) of operations for the fourth quarter and year ended June 30, 2016:

• For the three months ended June 30, 2016, the Company reported net loss of approximately $1,242,000, or $(1.61) per basic and diluted share as compared to a net loss of approximately $57,000, or $(0.07) per basic and diluted share, for the three months ended June 30, 2015.   
• For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, the Company recorded a net loss of approximately $1,358,000, or $(1.76) per basic and diluted share, as compared to a net loss of approximately $410,000, or $(0.53) per basic and diluted share, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015.  
• For the three months ended June 30, 2016, net interest income before provision for loan losses increased approximately $71,000, or 10.19% as compared to the same period in 2015. The increase in the net interest income for the three month period was primarily attributable to an increase in interest and fees on loans in the amount of approximately $128,000 offset by a decrease in interest and dividends on securities of approximately $57,000. For the three months ended June 30, 2016, interest paid on deposits and borrowings increased approximately $9,000 as compared to the same period in 2015.  
• For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, net interest income before provision for loan losses increased approximately $471,000, or 17.87% as compared to fiscal year 2015.  The increase in the net interest margin for the fiscal year was primarily attributable to an increase in total interest income of approximately $517,000, or 15.23% offset by an increase in total interest expense of approximately $46,000, or 6.11%. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 provision for loan losses increased approximately $1,579,000. The provision for loan losses for fiscal year 2015 was $280,000.  
• For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, non-interest income decreased $112,000, or 27.74% as compared to fiscal year 2015.  The decrease in non-interest income was primarily attributable to a decrease in miscellaneous income of $101,000 and a decrease in fees of approximately $10,000. The decrease in miscellaneous income for the fiscal year was primarily attributable to the receipt of a bond prepayment penalty in January 2015.  The decrease in fees was primarily attributable to decreases in customer service fees.  
• For the three months ended June 30, 2016 total non-interest expenses increased approximately $201,000, or 23.00%, as compared to the same three month period in 2015.  The increase in non-interest expense for the three month period was primarily attributable to increases in salaries and benefits of approximately $84,000 or 17.91% due to the hiring of additional sales staff along with increases in professional service expense of approximately $71,000 or 77.43% from increases in advertising and legal expense.  
• For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, total non-interest expenses increased approximately $313,000, or 9.13%, as compared to fiscal year 2015.  The increase in non-interest expense for the fiscal year was primarily attributable to increases in other operating expenses of approximately $129,000, professional services expense of approximately $70,000, data processing expenses of approximately $27,000 and salary and benefit expenses of approximately $88,000. The increase in other operating expenses was primarily due to increases in advertising expense.  The increase in salary and benefits was primarily due to increases in sales staff.

The Company’s total assets at June 30, 2016 were approximately $98.1 million, as compared to $97.2 million at June 30, 2015.  Total stockholders’ equity was approximately $13.2 million, or 13.4% of assets and $14.2 million, or 14.6% of assets at June 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The unaudited financial information for the three and twelve months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015, has been prepared on the same basis as our audited financial information and includes, in the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary to present the data for such periods.  The Company expects to release its final year end results and its related audited financial statements in October 2016, following completion of the year end audit. Historical results are not necessarily indicative of future results. The Bank has four full service banking offices located in Gadsden, Albertville, Guntersville, and Centre, AL, and one loan production office in Birmingham, AL. The stock of The Southern Banc Company, Inc. is listed on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol “SRNN”.

Certain statements in this release contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “target,” “plan,” “project,” “continue,” or the negatives thereof, or other variations thereon or similar terminology, and are made on the basis of management’s plans and current analyses of the Company, its business and the industry as a whole.  These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic conditions, competition, interest rate sensitivity and exposure to regulatory and legislative changes.  The above factors, in some cases, have affected, and in the future could affect the Company’s financial performance and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements, even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied therein will not be realized. 

(Selected financial data attached)

Contact: Gates Little (256) 543-3860