Southwest Georgia Financial Corporation, a full-service community bank holding company, today reported results of operations for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2019. Comparisons are to prior-year period unless otherwise noted.

“We continue to make excellent progress in growing our business. Loans and deposits both saw meaningful growth and when combined with our prudent expense management, we measurably increased our earnings,” commented DeWitt Drew, President and CEO. “We believe we are well positioned to continue to capitalize on future growth opportunities and are confident that our customer-focused strategy will continue to yield positive results as we add new customers and further deepen relationships.”

Third Quarter and Nine-Month Income Highlights

• Net income increased 25% to $1.43 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, from $1.14 million, or $0.45 per diluted share. Net interest income improved 9% to $5.2 million, primarily due to growth in average total loans of $32.6 million. The net interest margin held steady at 4.08%. The provision for loan losses was up $130 thousand, due to continued loan growth.

• For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, net income was up 12% to $4.0 million, or $1.56 per diluted share, due mostly to higher net interest income of 9%, or $1.3 million, and increases in noninterest income of 23%, or $704 thousand. Partially offsetting were higher provisions for loan losses of $140 thousand and increased overhead expenses of $911 thousand.

  Balance Sheet Trends

• Total assets at quarter-end were $547.5 million, up 6%, or $32.2 million. Total loans grew approximately 8%, or $28.0 million, to $394.6 million, while continuing to maintain high standards of credit quality. Net charge-offs to average loans were 0.35%.

• Total deposits of $466.1 million were up $39.9 million, or more than 9%, which reflects a 15% increase in noninterest-bearing deposits and nearly 8% increase in interest bearing deposits.

• Federal Home Loan Bank Advances were down $13.7 million given the strong deposit gathering activities. The average cost of all interest bearing liabilities increased 24 basis points to 1.19%, while the average cost of interest bearing deposits increased 30 basis points to 1.10%.

  Capital Management

• Book value per share grew 14% to $19.01 at September 30, 2019.

• In September 2019, the Company paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per common share. For the year- to-date period, cash dividends totaled $0.36, up 3%. Southwest Georgia Financial Corporation or its predecessor, Southwest Georgia Bank, has paid cash dividends for 91 consecutive years.