WGNB Corp. drops to 52-week low as Q4 profit disappoints
Shares of WGNB Corp. (Nasdaq: WGNB) have fallen to a new 52-week low on news after the close on Wednesday that the holding company for First National Bank of Georgia expects fourth-quarter net income to come in below Wall Street’s projections.
The Carrollton, Ga.-based bank expects that earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 to be $0.07 cents per share, well below the $0.42 per share forecasted by one analyst polled by Thomson Financial.
The company said that it will report an increase in both non-performing assets and the loan loss provision for the quarter due to the ongoing slump in the U.S. housing sector.
WGNB Corp. expects to report a loan loss provision of approximately $2.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2007, compared with $0.75 million for the third quarter of 2007. Non-performing assets as of Dec. 31 were $42 million, or 6.3% of total loans and other real estate owned, compared with $23.5 million, or 3.5% of loans and other real estate owned as of Sept. 30, 2007.
“In response to market conditions, management has been actively reviewing our loan portfolio with a particular emphasis on our residential real estate exposure,” said CEO H. B. Lipham, III in a statement. “We have spent the last three months evaluating credit, analyzing valuations and aggressively collecting on problem residential real estate loans.”
Nevertheless, Lipham said he is optimistic WGNB will get through the current rough patch. The company announced that it has no plans on changing the dividend of $0.21 per share previously announced on Dec. 24, 2007.
Final results for the quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2007 will be reported during the week of Jan. 14.
At 1:24 p.m. ET shares of WGNB Corp. (WGNB) had lost $1.82, or 9%, to $17.55. The previous 52-week low of $19.12 was established on Dec. 21, 2007. The 52-week high of $33 was touched on Jan. 26, 2007.
