Southwest Georgia Financial Corporation, a full-service community bank holding company, reported Tuesday its results of operations for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. 

First Quarter Income Highlights 

• Net income was $701 thousand in the first quarter of 2014, or $0.28 per diluted share, 24% higher than the $566 thousand, or $0.22 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2013. 

• Net interest income grew 3.2%, to $3.2 million when compared with last year’s first quarter, due to lower deposit costs combined with increased revenues from higher volume of earning assets. 

• Non-interest income increased 11.3% to $1.3 million when compared with the first quarter of 2013. A $126 thousand decrease in mortgage banking fees was offset by increases in trust fees, retail brokerage commissions, insurance commissions, and a $154 thousand gain on the sale of the remaining FNMA preferred stock. 

• Non-interest expense fell moderately to $3.5 million mainly due to decreased salary and benefits expenses.  

Balance Sheet Trends and Asset Quality 

• Total assets at March 31, 2014 were $394.8 million, an increase of 7.9% from March 31, 2013. 

• Year over year asset growth continues to be driven by increases in non-interest bearing demand accounts, which at March 31, 2014 were $90.5 million, or 24.6% higher than this time last year. 

• Deposit growth was employed in a $15.1 million growth in loans and a $6.5 million growth in investment securities. 

• Assets quality remains satisfactory with extraordinarily low levels of non-performing assets.  

Capital Management 

• The Corporation has a Total Risk-Based Capital Ratio of 15.30% and a Leverage Capital Ratio of 8.87%, both measurably above the federal “well capitalized” standard. 

• Return on equity increased to 8.71% compared with 7.50% in the first quarter of 2013. 

• Tangible book value per share at March 31, 2014 was $12.65, up from $11.80 compared with the quarter end of a year ago.  

DeWitt Drew, President and CEO commented, “In spite of the challenging regulatory environment, we made a great amount of progress as evidenced by our results in the quarter. We are most encouraged that, as we have grown our loans, we have maintained solid asset quality metrics, including extraordinarily low levels of nonperforming assets. We do, however, have heightened concerns about the effect the plethora of new regulations as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act and the Durbin Amendment to that Act will have on our customers, our Corporation and our communities. We are working tirelessly to adapt to this new environment, but will not give up on the idea that regulatory relief is necessary.” 

Dividends 

In March 2014, the Corporation paid a first quarter cash dividend of $0.08 per common share. Southwest Georgia Financial Corporation or its predecessor, Southwest Georgia Bank, has paid cash dividends for 86 consecutive years. 

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