Chesapeake, VA: Monarch Financial Holdings, Inc. announced for 2014 net income of $11,211,850 compared to $11,091,007 for the same period in 2013, a 1% increase.
The 2014 return on average equity (ROE) was 10.95%, and the return on average assets (ROA) was 1.13%. Annual diluted earnings per share were $1.05 compared to $1.08 in 2013, as our higher earnings were more than offset by the number of additional outstanding shares.
Brad E. Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased with our quarterly and annual financial performance, with very strong organic loan growth finally taking hold in the fourth quarter. Unlike many of our peers we have grown loans with our bankers, in our markets, and have not purchased loans to drive this growth. Mortgage production was in line with the previous year with our best year ever for purchase mortgage loan closings. We improved our performance in all three lines of business to include banking, mortgage, and wealth management. Non-performing assets remained low, our margin improved due to asset mix and pricing discipline, and our capital grew stronger with our retention of earnings. The market has responded to our performance with price appreciation in our common stock that, when combined with the increase in our common stock dividends, produced a 14% total shareholder return for 2014.”
Monarch Financial Holdings is the bank holding company for Monarch Bank. Net income was $2,683,163 for the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to $2,156,566 for the same period in 2013, a 24% increase. The quarterly annualized return on average equity (ROE) was 10.03%, and the annualized quarterly return on average assets (ROA) was 1.04 %, both metrics up from the same period a year ago. Diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter were $0.25, up 25% from the previous year.
