City Holding Co. announces 2009 earnings

    CHARLESTON -- City Holding Company, a $2.6 billion bank holding company headquartered in Charleston, today announced net income of $42.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to $28.1 million during 2008. Diluted earnings per share increased .94 per share, from $1.74 in 2008 to $2.68 in 2009 primarily due to a decrease in other-than-temporary impairment charges on investments and a lower provision for loan losses. Return on assets for the full year was 1.63%, return on tangible equity was 18.0%, the net interest margin was 4.18%, and the efficiency ratio was 50.0%.

    For the fourth quarter of 2009, the Company reported net income of $11.1 million, or .70 per diluted share compared to $4.2 million or .26 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2008. For the quarter, the Company achieved a return on assets of 1.69%, a return on tangible equity of 17.7%, a net interest margin of 4.07%, and an efficiency ratio of 50.3%.

    Charles Hageboeck, Chief Executive Officer and President stated "While the U.S. economy continued to struggle in 2009, I am quite pleased with City's results. Our asset quality continues to improve with non-performing assets, net charge-offs, and past due loans all improving as compared to December 31, 2008. We attribute this improvement to our disciplined lending approach and the relative stability of the markets in which we operate. For example, the national unemployment rate was 10.0% for November 2009 compared to 8.4% for West Virginia. Likewise, the national foreclosure rate for November 2009 was 0.24% compared to 0.01% for West Virginia. Our primary asset quality problems continue to be non-owner occupied residential construction at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and real estate in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, a distant part of the Washington DC metropolitan area. These properties accounted for approximately one half of City's net charge-offs in 2009."

    "City continues to have strong capital, solid liquidity, and a stable core-deposit franchise, and our asset sensitive balance sheet is poised to benefit from future interest rate increases. We are well positioned to compete against banks as they continue to work through asset quality and liquidity issues. We are proud to have been able to maintain our strong quarterly dividend of 34 cents per share while many of our peers eliminated or greatly reduced dividends to shareholders. City remains one of the most profitable, most liquid, and best capitalized publicly traded banks in the U.S. and looks forward to continuing to help our shareholders and customers through this difficult economic environment," Hageboeck concluded.

    City Holding Company is the parent company of City National Bank of West Virginia. City National operates 67 branches across West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Southern Ohio.

City Holding Company releases third quarter earnings

CHARLESTON -- City Holding Company, a $2.6 billion bank holding company headquartered in Charleston, today announced net income per diluted share for the third quarter of $0.66 compared to a net loss of $(0.16) per diluted share in the third quarter of 2008.

Net income for the third quarter of 2009 was $10.5 million compared to a loss of $2.6 million in the third quarter of 2008. For the third quarter of 2009, the Company achieved a return on assets of 1.60%, a return on tangible equity of 17.49%, a net interest margin of 4.09%, and an efficiency ratio of 48.8%. Net income for the first nine months of 2009 was $31.6 million compared to $23.9 million in the first nine months of 2008. For the first nine months of 2009, the Company achieved a return on assets of 1.62%, a return on tangible equity of 18.1%, a net interest margin of 4.22%, and an efficiency ratio of 49.8%.

City's CEO Charles Hageboeck said in a prepared statement that, "Despite the continuing impact of the recession that the U.S. economy is experiencing, City's earnings have held up relatively well, and we believe that our shareholders will be pleased with our third quarter results during this challenging economic environment. Like many retail-deposit focused banking franchises, City's net interest income has been negatively impacted by historically low interest rates. However our asset quality improved during the third quarter of 2009 with net charge-offs, non-performing assets, and past due loans all declining as compared to the second quarter of 2009. City's franchise has benefited from lower unemployment rates within the markets it serves as compared to state and national averages. The unemployment rate for the markets served by City approximated 8.1% in July 2009 compared to 9.0% for the state of West Virginia and 9.4% for the United States. City's most significant asset quality problems continue to be non-owner occupied residential construction at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and real estate in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, a distant part of the Washington DC metropolitan area."

On September 30, 2009, the Board approved a quarterly cash dividend to 34 cents per share payable October 31, 2009, to shareholders of record as of October 15, 2009. During the quarter ended September 30, 2009, the Company repurchased 56,323 common shares at a weighted average price of $32.00 as part of a one million share repurchase plan authorized by the Board of Directors in August 2007.

City Holding Company is the parent company of City National Bank of West Virginia. City National operates 68 branches across West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Southern Ohio.