Provident Bancorp Inc. completed its conversion to a stock company last week, raising more than $100 million in the process to help it grow specialized commercial lending and other initiatives.
The holding company for Amesbury-based The Provident Bank converted from a mutual to a stock holding company on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The company raised $102 million in additional capital and sold 10,212,397 shares in the subscription and community offering, according to a spokesperson from The Provident Bank.
The stock began trading on Oct. 17 on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the trading symbol PVBC. In 2015, Provident offered 4.2 million shares of common stock in a partial IPO.
Provident Bancorp also reported third quarter earnings last week. Net income for the three months ending Sept. 30, 2019, was $3.5 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, compared to $2.1 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, for the three months ending Sept. 30, 2018. Net income for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2019, was $8.3 million, or $0.88 per diluted share, compared to $6.5 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2018.
“I am extremely pleased with the third-quarter results. Year-to-date net loan growth of $91 million, a strong net interest margin of 4.44 percent, and an efficiency ratio of 53.40 percent resulted in our 1.32 percent return on assets results this quarter, the highest we’ve seen since going partially public in 2015,” David Mansfield, CEO of The Provident Bank, said in a statement. “The capital raised through the offering will allow the bank to continue executing its growth strategy in both specialized commercial lending and deposit initiatives. We are proud of our quarterly and year-to-date results, as they reflect the success of our strategic execution. We look forward to building upon this success.”
The Provident Bank during the nine months ended Sept. 30 of this year charged off one commercial and industrial loan totaling $917,000 and accepted a short sale of another loan, each of which was originated through the BancAlliance Network. The accepted short sale resulted in a charge-off of $589,000 on a $1.2 million loan. In May 2011, The Provident Bank joined the BancAlliance Network, a group of approximately 200 community banks that together participate in middle-market commercial and industrial loans as a way to diversify their commercial portfolios. The Provident Bank has seven BancAlliance loans remaining for a total of $9.2 million. Out of the seven relationships, four totaling $4.7 million are pass-rated and three totaling $4.5 million are substandard. The substandard loans include one totaling $1.9 million that is on non-accrual and deemed impaired. The Provident Bank has allocated specific reserves totaling $133,000 for this loan. The bank last originated a loan with BancAlliance in February 2017 and does not anticipate originating any new loans through this network, according to the statement.
