Ottawa Bancorp, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2024 Results

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OTTAWA, Ill., Aug. 13, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ottawa Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company”) (OTCQX: OTTW), the holding company for OSB Community Bank (the “Bank”), announced net loss of ($0.2) million, or $(0.08) per basic and diluted common share for the three months ended June 30, 2024, compared to net income of $0.5 million, or $0.22 per basic and diluted common share for the three months ended June 30, 2023. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, the Company announced net income of $0.1 million, or $0.02 per basic and diluted common share, compared to net income of $1.0 million, or $0.39 per basic and diluted common share for the six months ended June 30, 2023. During the current quarter, the Company executed a balance sheet management strategy designed to re-position the investment portfolio, generate additional liquidity and improve net interest income on a go-forward basis. Twenty-one investment securities were sold generating about $4 million of cash and a realized loss of $0.6 million. Proceeds were utilized to purchase more favorable investment securities and pay down higher cost wholesale funding. Additionally, the loan portfolio, net of allowance, decreased to $302.5 million as of June 30, 2024 from $312.2 million as of December 31, 2023 as originations of $20.3 million were lower than payoffs and payments. Non-performing loans were $5.0 million at June 30, 2024 and $4.8 million at December 31, 2023. Due to the decrease in the loan portfolio and the slight increase in non-performing loans, the ratio of non-performing loans to gross loans increased to 1.62% at June 30, 2024 from 1.52% at December 31, 2023.

As announced on May 29, 2024, the Company initiated its sixth stock repurchase program approved by the Board of Directors since the Company completed its second step conversion in 2016. Through June 30, 2024, the Company has repurchased a total of 965,467 shares of its common stock at an average price of $13.51 per share. Under the current repurchase plan, the Company has repurchased a total of 11,425 shares of its common stock at an average price of $11.72 per share.

“The negative earnings for the quarter were the direct result of the investment portfolio restructuring discussed above,” said Craig M. Hepner, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We felt the time was right to liquidate a number of under-performing investments in order to improve the structure and overall performance of the securities portfolio, allowing us to take advantage of the higher interest rate environment and improve earnings as we move forward. While we continued to experience an increase in our cost of funds during the second quarter, our interest revenue increased at faster pace, resulting in a slight improvement in our net interest margin during the quarter. We continue to closely monitor economic conditions and the performance of our loan portfolio, and I remain pleased with our overall asset quality.”