8/7/2008 - SALEM COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, Harvest Community Bank (OTCBB:HCBP) today reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. The Bank's second quarter net income was $226,743, or $0.20 per share, compared to net income of $192,099, or $0.17 per share, an increase of $34,644 or 18.0% compared to the corresponding second quarter in 2007. The Bank also reported net income of $427,112 or $0.37 per share for the six months ended June 30, 2008 compared to $386,551 or $0.34 per share for the corresponding six month period in 2007, an increase of $40,561 or 10.5%. These increases reflect an improved net interest margin for the period ended June 30, 2008 compared to June 30, 2007. Noninterest income for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008 increased 14.1% compared to the second quarter of 2007. Noninterest income for the six months ended June 30, 2008 increased 21.8% compared to the six months ended June 30, 2007. Noninterest expenses for the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2008 increased 3.0% compared to the similar periods ended June 30, 2007.
Other areas of the Bank's performance showed growth during the first six months of 2008. Total assets increased to $181,595,869 at June 30, 2008, a 1.5% increase over the year ended December 31, 2007. Gross loans increased by $4,451,879, to $139,656,273 as of June 30, 2008, an increase of 3.3% over December 31, 2007. The Bank's total deposits were $165,485,517 at June 30, 2008, which is an increase of $2,480,316, or 1.5%, over December 31, 2007.
Dennis H. Engle, president and chief executive officer, stated, "The Harvest team continues to concentrate on the core areas of our strategic plan. Hard work, coupled with the ongoing support of our customers, has enabled us to achieve additional positive results this quarter. We remain cautiously optimistic that we can continue in this vein through the remainder of fiscal year 2008."
Harvest Community Bank is a community bank headquartered in Pennsville, New Jersey. The Bank has additional branches in Woodstown, Elmer and Salem, New Jersey and an LPO (Loan Production Office) in Millville, New Jersey. The Bank began operations in January 2000 with the purpose of serving small businesses, professionals, and retail customers in Salem, Cumberland and Gloucester Counties, New Jersey. The Bank's deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to a maximum of $100,000 per depositor.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Information in this release relating to Harvest Community Bank's future prospects which are forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) operating, legal and regulatory risks, such as continued levels of loan quality and origination volumes, continued relationships with major customers and technological changes; (2) economic, political and competitive forces affecting our banking business, such as changes in economic conditions, especially in our market area, interest rate fluctuations, competitive product and pricing pressures within our market, personal and corporate bankruptcies, monetary policy and inflation; (3) our ability to grow internally; and (4) the risk that management's analyses of these risks and forces could be incorrect and/or that the strategies developed to address them could be unsuccessful. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "expects," "subject," "believe," "will," "intends," "will be," or "would." More information about factors that potentially could affect Harvest Community Bank's financial results is included in Harvest Community Bank's filings with the FDIC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2007. Harvest Community Bank assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information in this announcement.
