German American reports record earnings | Business

German American Bancorp, Inc. reported record earnings for the year ended on December 31, 2012. The coporation says 2008-2012 represents the best five years in the Company’s history in terms of reported annual earnings.  German-American's return on average shareholder equity of 13.57% in 2012 also was a record, and represents the eighth consecutive year that German American has delivered double-digit returns on shareholders’ equity.

The Company’s 2012 net income of $24.1 million, or $1.90 per share, was an increase of 18%, on a per share basis, over its previous record annual net income of $20.2 million, or $1.61 per share reported in 2011, and represented a 57% increase, on a per share basis, from the $13.4 million, or $1.21 per share, record earnings the Company reported in 2010. Fourth quarter earnings were $6.2 million, or $0.49 per share, an increase of approximately 11% from 2011 fourth quarter results of $5.6 million, or $0.44 per share.

This 2012 record performance was attributable to both an increased level of net interest income, driven by a higher level of earning assets within both the Company’s loan portfolio and securities portfolio, and a reduced level of provision for loan loss, as the Company’s historic level of strong asset quality improved even further in 2012.

The Company also announced an increase in the level of its regular quarterly cash dividend. German American’s Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share which will be payable on February 20, 2013 to shareholders of record as of February 10, 2013. This level of regular quarterly cash divided represents approximately a 7% increase above the Company’s prior quarterly cash dividend level.

Additionally, the Company also announced that it will, effective April 1, 2013, redeem all $19.25 million of its outstanding 8% Redeemable Subordinated Debentures due 2019 at a redemption price of 100 percent of the outstanding principal amount plus accrued unpaid interest. The Debentures, which constitute supplemental regulatory capital for the Company, were issued in April 2009 as a precautionary measure in the face of the looming economic crisis. Given the Company’s strong financial performance throughout the economic downturn and the stabilization of the current economic environment, the Company’s Board of Directors determined this supplemental regulatory capital is no longer needed, and, therefore, elected to invoke the early redemption feature of the debenture issue.

Mark A. Schroeder, German American Chairman & CEO, stated, “This continuation of the trend of our Company’s exceptional financial performance in 2012 is truly a reflection of the skill of our team of financial professionals, the commitment of our client base to honor their financial obligations, and the economic strength within our market area of Southern Indiana. We are extremely pleased to be able to once again deliver upon our pledge to our customers and our shareholders to offer the very best in financial products and services throughout our Southern Indiana footprint in a safe, sound, and secure manner. The achievement of this record level of performance over the course of the past five years during an extremely difficult economic period places German American among a very elite group of financial institutions nationwide, and has provided us with the financial wherewithal to prudently redeem the precautionary supplemental regulatory capital issued in 2009, and, most importantly, to increase the level of cash dividends paid to our shareholders.”

Schroeder continued, “As we have previously stated, our Company’s sole focus is on our clients located throughout Southern Indiana, and we recognize that our past, present, and future success as an organization is explicitly linked to the financial well-being of those clients and to the prosperity of the Southern Indiana communities in which we do business. Within our historic Southern Indiana markets, we’ve enjoyed a very strong level of organic deposit growth during the past several years and in 2012 we saw a significant increase in the level of loan demand from both our business and consumer clients. Additionally, our presence has been extremely well received by a growing base of new clients since our expansion into the Bloomington, Indiana market in 2007, the Evansville, Indiana market in 2010, and now the Columbus, Indiana market in 2012.

Clearly, clients throughout Southern Indiana are, in increasing numbers, recognizing the value of doing business with German American, and are reaching out to us to assist them in the achievement of their financial goals. We very much appreciate the opportunity these clients have afforded us and we pledge to them that we will work diligently to achieve their financial goals and to earn their confidence and trust.”

-Story from German-American