First Place Financial Corp. Reports Fourth Quarter Net Loss Of $11.9 Million; Nonperforming Loans Continue To Decrease

Highlights

• Net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 was $11.9 million. After deducting preferred stock dividends and discount accretion, the loss attributable to common shareholders was $13.0 million.  
• First Place continued to aggressively address troubled assets in the commercial loan portfolio, contributing to a $14 million, or 12.3%, reduction in nonperforming loans and a ratio of nonperforming loans to total loans that declined to 4.20% from 4.72% a quarter earlier.  
• Capital remains strong as the total risk-based capital ratio at the Bank level was 12.91% at June 30, 2010, compared with 13.03% at March 31, 2010, and well above the 10.00% threshold required to be well capitalized for regulatory purposes.  
• The Company has filed with the SEC for withdrawal of its Form S-1 Registration Statement to sell additional common stock due to unfavorable market conditions.  
• First Place continues to effectively manage its deposit costs, resulting in an increase in the net interest margin to 3.73% from 3.70% in the prior quarter and 3.06% in the year-ago quarter.  
• The continuation of favorable long-term interest rates and the addition of experienced mortgage loan officers resulted in an increase in mortgage loan sales producing related gains of $6.1 million, up $2.3 million from the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Summary

WARREN, Ohio, July 22, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Place Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:FPFC) today reported a net loss of $11.9 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, compared with a net loss of $12.7 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. The improvement is attributable to increases of $3.9 million in net interest income and $2.9 million in noninterest income, coupled with a reduction of $0.6 million in the provision for loan losses. These items were partially offset by an increase of $1.5 million in noninterest expense and a decrease of $5.1 million in income tax benefits. Included in income taxes for the current quarter is a $4.1 million charge taken to increase the valuation allowance on deferred tax assets that are not being recognized at this time. In future periods, the Company anticipates it will have a minimal tax provision until such time as it is able to reverse the deferred tax asset allowance. After deducting preferred stock dividends and discount accretion of $1.1 million from the net loss of $11.9 million, the loss attributable to common shareholders for the quarter was $13.0 million. On a per common share basis, the loss for the current quarter was $0.78, compared with a loss of $0.83 for the same quarter in the prior year. Return on average assets and return on average equity for the current quarter were (1.49%) and (18.40%), respectively, compared with (1.52%) and (17.61%), respectively, for the year-ago quarter.