SHREVEPORT, La., Jan. 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana (the “Company”) (Nasdaq:HFBL), the holding company of Home Federal Bank, reported net income for the three months ended December 31, 2015 of $681,000, a decrease of $154,000, or 18.4% compared to net income of $835,000 reported for the three months ended December 31, 2014. The Company’s basic and diluted earnings per share were $0.36 and $0.35, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2015, compared to basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.42 and $0.41, respectively, for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.

The Company reported net income of $1.62 million for the six months ended December 31, 2015, a decrease of $36,000, compared to $1.66 million for the six months ended December 31, 2014. The Company’s basic and diluted earnings per share were $0.85 and $0.83, respectively, for the six months ended December 31, 2015, compared to $0.83 and $0.81, respectively, for the six months ended December 31, 2014.

The decrease in net income for the three months ended December 31, 2015, resulted primarily from an increase of $291,000, or 12.3%, in non-interest expense, and a $22,000, or 0.7%, decrease in net interest income, partially offset by a $79,000, or 19.3%, decrease in income tax expense, a $54,000, or 67.5%, decrease in the provision for loan losses and a $26,000, or 4.4% increase in non-interest income. The decrease in net interest income for the three months ended December 31, 2015, was primarily due to an increase of 51,000, or 8.3%, in aggregate interest expense primarily due to an increase in interest paid on deposits, partially offset by an increase of $29,000, or 0.8%, in total interest income. The Company’s average interest rate spread was 3.39% for the three months ended December 31, 2015, compared to 3.65% for the three months ended December 31, 2014. The Company’s net interest margin was 3.58% for the three months ended December 31, 2015, compared to 3.83% for the three months ended December 31, 2014. The decrease in the average interest rate spread on a comparative quarterly basis was primarily the result of a decrease of 23 basis points in average yield on interest-earning assets. The decrease in net interest margin was primarily the result of a higher average volume of interest earning assets for the three months ended December 31, 2015 compared to the prior year quarterly period.

The decrease in net income for the six months ended December 31, 2015, resulted primarily from an increase of $586,000, or 12.4%, in non-interest expense, partially offset by an increase of $308,000, or 25.2%, in non-interest income, an increase of $181,000, or 3.0%, in net interest income, a decrease of $32,000, or 3.9%, in income tax expense, and a decrease of $29,000, or 24.2%, in the provision for loan losses. The increase in net interest income for the six month period was primarily due to a $319,000, or 4.4%, increase in total interest income, partially offset by a $138,000, or 11.5%, increase in interest expense on borrowings and deposits due to an overall increase in interest bearing liabilities. The Company’s average interest rate spread was 3.43% for the six months ended December 31, 2015, compared to 3.64% for the six months ended December 31, 2014. The Company’s net interest margin was 3.62% for the six months ended December 31, 2015, compared to 3.83% for the six months ended December 31, 2014. The decrease in net interest margin and average interest rate spread is attributable primarily to a decrease of 19 basis points in average yield on interest earning assets.

The following table sets forth the Company’s average balances and average yields earned and rates paid on its interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities for the periods indicated.

The $26,000 increase in non-interest income for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, compared to the prior year quarterly period was due to an increase of $26,000 in service charges on deposit accounts, and an increase of $13,000 in gain on sale of loans, partially offset by a $10,000 decrease in gain on sale of securities, a $1,000 decrease in income on Bank Owned Life Insurance, and a $2,000 decrease in other non-interest income. The $308,000 increase in non-interest income for the six months ended December 31, 2015, compared to the prior year period was primarily due to increases of $267,000 in gain on sale of loans, and $59,000 in service charges on deposit accounts, partially offset by a $10,000 decrease in gain on sale of securities, a $5,000 decrease in other non-interest income, and a $3,000 decrease in income on Bank Owned Life Insurance. The Company sells most of its fixed rate mortgage loan originations other than those loans selected for portfolio.

The $291,000 increase in non-interest expense for the three months ended December 31, 2015, compared to the same period in 2014, is primarily attributable to increases of $156,000 in compensation and benefits expense, $44,000 in franchise and bank share taxes, $34,000 in audit and examination fees, $23,000 in data processing expense, $17,000 in legal fees, $16,000 in deposit insurance premiums, $7,000 in occupancy and equipment expense, $5,000 in advertising expense, and $5,000 in other non-interest expenses. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $16,000 in loan and collection expense. The $586,000 increase in non-interest expense for the six months ended December 31, 2015, compared to the same period in 2014, is primarily attributable to increases of $363,000 in compensation and benefits expense, $59,000 in franchise and bank share taxes, $45,000 in deposit insurance premiums, $34,000 in data processing expense, $32,000 in audit and examination fees, $31,000 in other non-interest expenses, $16,000 in occupancy and equipment expense, and $15,000 in legal fees. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $9,000 in advertising expense. The increases in compensation and benefits expense were primarily due to increases in the compensation paid to mortgage lenders along with increases in support staff for the mortgage lenders.

At December 31, 2015, the Company reported total assets of $361.0 million, a decrease of $8.9 million, or 2.4%, compared to total assets of $369.8 million at June 30, 2015. The decrease in assets was comprised primarily of decreases in investment securities of $6.5 million, or 13.8%, from $46.9 million at June 30, 2015, to $40.4 million at December 31, 2015 and a decrease in loans held-for-sale of $7.3 million, or 51.6%, from $14.2 million at June 30, 2015, to $6.9 million at December 31, 2015. These decreases were partially offset by increases in cash and cash equivalents of $3.2 million, or 15.1%, from $21.2 million at June 30, 2015 to $24.4 million at December 31, 2015, and other assets of $1.8 million, or 9.3%, from $19.1 million at June 30, 2015 to $20.9 million at December 31, 2015. The decrease in loans held-for-sale results primarily from a decrease at December 31, 2015 in receivables from financial institutions purchasing the Company’s loans held-for-sale.

The following table shows total loans originated and sold during the periods indicated.

Included in the $9.9 million and $15.4 million of construction loan originations for the six months ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, are approximately $9.8 million and $8.1 million, respectively, of one- to four-family residential construction loans and $135,000 and $7.3 million, respectively, of commercial and multi-family construction loans, all of which are primarily located in the Company’s market area.

Total liabilities decreased $8.3 million, or 2.5%, from $326.4 million at June 30, 2015, to $318.2 million at December 31, 2015, primarily due to a decrease in advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas of $12.1 million, or 31.6%, to $26.3 million at December 31, 2015, compared to $38.4 million at June 30, 2015, partially offset by an increase in total deposits of $2.7 million, or 0.9%, to $288.9 million at December 31, 2015, compared to $286.2 million at June 30, 2015. The increase in deposits was primarily due to a $3.1 million, or 9.9%, increase in NOW accounts from $31.2 million at June 30, 2015 to $34.3 million at December 31, 2015, and a $4.0 million, or 21.7%, increase in savings deposits from $18.4 million at June 30, 2015 to $22.4 million at December 31, 2015, partially offset by a $200,000, or 0.4%, decrease in money market deposits from $45.6 million at June 30, 2015 to $45.4 million at December 31, 2015, a $2.1 million, or 1.4%, decrease in certificates of deposit from $146.0 million at June 30, 2015 to $143.9 million at December 31, 2015, and a decrease of $2.1 million, or 4.7%, in non-interest bearing demand deposits from $45.0 million at June 30, 2015 to $42.9 million at December 31, 2015.  At December 31, 2015 the Company had $11.7 million in broker deposits compared to $12.7 million at June 30, 2015. The Company utilizes brokered certificates of deposit as a component of its strategy for lowering Home Federal Bank’s overall cost of funds. The brokered certificates of deposit which have maturity dates greater than twelve months are callable by Home Federal Bank after twelve months pursuant to early redemption provisions.

At December 31, 2015, the Company had $248,000 of non-performing assets compared to $80,000 of non-performing assets at June 30, 2015, consisting of three single-family residential loans, at December 31, 2015, compared to two single family residential loans at June 30, 2015. At December 31, 2015, the Company had two single family residential loans and one commercial real estate loan classified as substandard, compared to one single family residential loan and one line of credit at June 30, 2015. There were no loans classified as doubtful at December 31, 2015 or June 30, 2015.

Shareholders’ equity decreased $600,000, or 1.3%, to $42.8 million at December 31, 2015 from $43.4 million at June 30, 2015. The primary reasons for the decrease in shareholders’ equity from June 30, 2015, were the acquisition of Company stock of $1.8 million, dividends paid of $337,000 and a decrease in the Company’s accumulated other comprehensive income of $253,000. These decreases in shareholders’ equity were partially offset by net income of $1.6 million, the vesting of restricted stock awards, stock options and the release of employee stock ownership plan shares totaling $126,000 and proceeds from the issuance of common stock from the exercise of stock options of $88,000.

The Company repurchased 78,425 shares of its common stock during the six months ended December 31, 2015 at an average price per share of $22.91. On December 9, 2015, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved a sixth stock repurchase program for the repurchase of up to 102,000 shares. As of December 31, 2015, the 102,000 shares remained for repurchase under the program.

Home Federal Bancorp, Inc. of Louisiana is the holding company for Home Federal Bank which conducts business from its five full-service banking offices and home office in northwest Louisiana.

Statements contained in this news release which are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words like “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate” and “intend” or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could” or “may.” We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

CONTACT:
James R. Barlow
President and Chief Executive Officer
(318) 222-1145