Staff Report
Published Oct. 17, 2012

First Community Corp., parent company of First Community Bank, Wednesday reported net income for the third quarter of $881,000, an 11.5% increase from $790,000 in the third quarter of 2011.

Earnings per share were 19 cents for the quarter compared with 24 cents for the prior-year quarter, a 20.8% decrease. This decrease was affected by nonrecurring costs associated with the Capital Purchase Program as part of the Treasury’s Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP-CPP, auction which impacted third-quarter earnings by 4 cents per share, the bank holding company said.

"It is an understatement to say that this was a significant quarter for our company, our shareholders, and our employees,” said Mike Crapps, First Community’s president and CEO.

“First Community is now well positioned to play offense from a position of strength with strong capital, no TARP-CPP funds, excellent credit quality, a diversified revenue model that is working to produce revenue growth and core earnings, and the proven ability to execute a strategic and disciplined growth strategy. We look forward to a bright future," he said.

Year-to-date net income was $2.27 million compared with $1.75 million during the first nine months of 2011, an increase of 29.7%.

However, nonperforming assets increased by $944,000 to $10.5 million, or 1.73% of total assets, at the end of the quarter, compared to $9.5 million, or 1.60% of total assets, as of June 30, 2012.

The company attributed this to three new nonaccrual loans of $1.59 million; the movement of another three loans from nonaccrual to other real estate owned, or OREO, status in the amount of $1.075 million; the sales of OREO properties in the amount of about $375,000; and other smaller miscellaneous items.

Non-interest income increased 42.3% to $2.4 million compared with $1.7 million in the third quarter of 2011. This increase was led by the success in mortgage origination revenue increasing from $698,000 to $1.39 million this quarter.

"The acquisition of Palmetto South Mortgage Corp. in July of 2011 continues to be beneficial and, in combination with the legacy mortgage unit, is a real story of success,” Crapps said. “It is also noteworthy that in this quarter, core non-interest income represented 36.5% of total revenues. We believe that this diversification demonstrates a real strength of our model, in that, in a quarter of decreasing net-interest income and margin compression, we were still able to increase overall revenues."

First Community Bank operates 11 banking offices in Lexington, Richland, Newberry and Kershaw counties in addition to First Community Financial Consultants, a financial planning and investment advisory division and Palmetto South Mortgage, a separate mortgage division.