Park National Corporation reports financial result

NEWARK, Ohio, Jan. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park National Corporation (Park) (NYSE MKT:PRK) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and the year ended 2016 (three and twelve months ended December 31, 2016). Park’s Chief Accounting Officer Matthew R. Miller was named executive vice president of Park and its community banking subsidiary The Park National Bank, effective April 1, 2017. Vice President Kelly A. Edds was appointed to assume the chief accounting officer role on the same date.

Park’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.94 per common share, payable on March 10, 2017 to common shareholders of record as of February 17, 2017. The board also approved a share repurchase program authorizing Park to repurchase up to 500,000 of Park’s common shares.

“We ended 2016 as we hoped, increasing loans, deposits, assets under management and net income over 2015,” said Park Chief Executive Officer David L. Trautman. “We are grateful to our associates for another excellent year, and we look forward to finding new ways to serve our clients and communities in 2017.”

Park reported $20.0 million in net income for the fourth quarter of 2016, a 4.2 percent decrease from $20.9 million for the same period in 2015. Net income per diluted common share for the fourth quarter of 2016 was $1.30, compared to $1.36 in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Park’s net income for the 2016 year was $86.1 million, a 6.3 percent increase over $81.0 million for the 2015 year. Net income per diluted common share for the 2016 year was $5.59, compared to $5.26 for the 2015 year.

Park's community-banking subsidiary, The Park National Bank, reported net income of $16.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2016, compared to $23.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2015. The bank’s 2016 net income was $84.5 million, compared to $84.3 million for 2015. The bank had total assets of $7.4 billion at December 31, 2016, rising from $7.2 billion at December 31, 2015.

In 2016, the bank grew consumer loans by $152.5 million (15.6 percent) and commercial loans by $82.2 million (3.2 percent). Total loans for the bank were $5.23 billion at December 31, 2016, a $205.8 million (4.1 percent) increase over $5.03 billion at December 31, 2015.

The board of directors appointed Matthew R. Miller to serve as executive vice president, effective April 1, 2017. Miller joined Park in 2009. In his current role as a senior vice president and chief accounting officer, he is involved in Park’s financial performance, overall growth and ongoing community support. As executive vice president, Miller will provide additional focus on strategic opportunities, such as merger and acquisition options, specific business initiatives, and enhancing relationships throughout Park’s communities and industry.

“Matt exemplifies the best attributes of a Park National banker,” Trautman said. “He welcomes responsibility and the opportunity to serve others. He is humble and dedicated to helping his colleagues, our clients and our communities thrive.”

Miller began his financial career at Deloitte & Touche, LLP after graduating summa cum laude from the University of Akron. He is a graduate of the Ohio Bankers League Bank Leadership Institute. He has completed the Chicago Booth Executive Education program in Strategic Business Leadership, as well as the Licking County Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Program. Miller is a member of the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is vice-chair of the Next Generation Advisory Board for the Ohio Bankers League, and has been part of that board since 2014.

Miller has extensive experience in community leadership, serving currently as president of the Licking County YMCA board (board member since 2009) and chair of the annual giving committee for The Works. He is a member of the development councils for The Works and Licking Memorial Hospital, respectively. He is a member of the Granville chapter of Rotary International. Previously, he served as a board member for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Licking and Perry Counties and as campaign chair for the United Way of Licking County. He also has led the event and finance committees for The Works HATSOFF! Event.

Kelly A. Edds will become chief accounting officer for Park on April 1, 2017. She joined Park in 2010 and currently serves as a vice president and financial reporting manager in the accounting department. Prior to Park, she worked six years at Deloitte & Touche, LLP in Columbus, Ohio. She earned bachelor’s degrees from Ohio University in accounting and management information systems. Edds has served as board treasurer for Pathways of Central Ohio since 2013. She was a campaign ambassador twice for United Way of Licking County and has been a planning committee member for Licking County’s Relay for Life event.

About Park National Corporation:

Headquartered in Newark, Ohio, Park National Corporation had $7.5 billion in total assets (as of December 31, 2016). The Park organization principally consists of 11 community bank divisions, a non-bank subsidiary and two specialty finance companies. Park's Ohio-based banking operations are conducted through Park subsidiary The Park National Bank and its divisions, which include Fairfield National Bank Division, Richland Bank Division, Century National Bank Division, First-Knox National Bank Division, Farmers Bank Division, United Bank, N.A. Division, Second National Bank Division, Security National Bank Division, Unity National Bank Division, and The Park National Bank of Southwest Ohio & Northern Kentucky Division; and Scope Leasing, Inc. (d.b.a. Scope Aircraft Finance). The Park organization also includes Guardian Financial Services Company (d.b.a. Guardian Finance Company) and SE Property Holdings, LLC.

Complete financial tables are listed below…

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995

Park cautions that any forward-looking statements contained in this news release or made by management of Park are provided to assist in the understanding of anticipated future financial performance. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. The forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include, without limitation: Park's ability to execute our business plan successfully and within the expected timeframe; general economic and financial market conditions, specifically in the real estate markets and the credit markets, either nationally or in the states in which Park and our subsidiaries do business, may experience a slowing or reversal of the recent economic expansion in addition to continuing residual effects of recessionary conditions and an uneven spread of positive impacts of recovery on the economy and our counterparties, including adverse impacts on the demand for loan, deposit and other financial services, delinquencies, defaults and counterparties' ability to meet credit and other obligations; changes in interest rates and prices may adversely impact the value of securities, loans, deposits and other financial instruments and the interest rate sensitivity of our consolidated balance sheet as well as reduce interest margins and impact loan demand; changes in consumer spending, borrowing and saving habits, whether due to changing business and economic conditions, legislative and regulatory initiatives, or other factors; changes in unemployment; changes in customers', suppliers', and other counterparties' performance and creditworthiness; asset/liability repricing risks and liquidity risks; our liquidity requirements could be adversely affected by changes to regulations governing bank and bank holding company capital and liquidity standards as well as by changes in our assets and liabilities; competitive factors among financial services organizations could increase significantly, including product and pricing pressures, changes to third-party relationships and our ability to attract, develop and retain qualified bank professionals; clients could pursue alternatives to bank deposits, causing us to lose a relatively inexpensive source of funding; uncertainty regarding the nature, timing and effect of changes in banking regulations or other regulatory or legislative requirements affecting the respective businesses of Park and our subsidiaries, including major reform of the regulatory oversight structure of the financial services industry and changes in laws and regulations concerning taxes, pensions, bankruptcy, consumer protection, accounting, bank products and services, fiduciary standards, securities and other aspects of the financial services industry, specifically the reforms provided for in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) and Basel III regulatory capital reforms, as well as regulations already adopted and which may be adopted in the future by the relevant regulatory agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the OCC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve Board, to implement the Dodd-Frank Act's provisions, the Budget Control Act of 2011, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, the JOBS Act, the FAST Act and the Basel III regulatory capital reforms; the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and other regulatory agencies, and the accuracy of our assumptions and estimates used to prepare our financial statements; the effect of trade, monetary, fiscal and other governmental policies of the U.S. federal government, including money supply and interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve Board; disruption in the liquidity and other functioning of U.S. financial markets; the impact on financial markets and the economy of any changes in the credit ratings of the U.S. Treasury obligations and other U.S. government-backed debt, as well as issues surrounding the levels of U.S., European and Asian government debt and concerns regarding the creditworthiness of certain sovereign governments, supranationals and financial institutions in Europe and Asia; the uncertainty surrounding the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union and its consequences; our litigation and regulatory compliance exposure, including any adverse developments in legal proceedings or other claims and unfavorable resolution of regulatory and other governmental examinations or other inquiries; the adequacy of our risk management program; the ability to secure confidential information and deliver products and services through the use of computer systems and telecommunications networks; a failure in or breach of our operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of our third-party vendors and other service providers, including as a result of cyber attacks; fraud, scams and schemes of third parties; the impact of widespread natural and other disasters, pandemics, dislocations, terrorist activities or international hostilities on the economy and financial markets generally or on us or our counterparties specifically; demand for loans in the respective market areas served by Park and our subsidiaries; and other risk factors relating to the banking industry as detailed from time to time in Park's reports filed with the SEC including those described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of Part I of Park's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. Park does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to publicly release the results of any revisions that may be made to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the events or circumstances after the date on which the forward-looking statement was made, or reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except to the extent required by law.

Media contact: Bethany Lewis, 740.349.0421, blewis@parknationalbank.com  Investor contact: Brady Burt, 740.322.6844, bburt@parknationalbank.com Park National Corporation 50 N. Third Street, Newark, Ohio 43055 www.parknationalcorp.com