NEW YORK, March 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Newtek Business Services Corp. ("Newtek" or the "Company"), (NASDAQ:NEWT), an internally managed business development company ("BDC"), announced today its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2015.  

Full Year 2015 Highlights:

• Adjusted net investment income¹ for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $22.2 million, or $2.06 per share.
• Net asset value ("NAV") was $203.9 million, or $14.06 per share, at December 31, 2015; an increase from NAV of $13.10 per share at October 1, 2015.
• Net increase in net assets for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $35.7 million.
• Total investment income for the year ended December 31, 2015 was $26.1 million.
• Funded $242.5 million of SBA 7(a) loans in 2015; an increase of 19.9% over 2014.
• Reaffirmed loan funding forecast of approximately $320 million in SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans, (SBA 504 loans are originated by one of Newtek's controlled portfolio companies) which would represent an approximate 32% increase over 2015.
• Total investment portfolio was $266.9 million at December 31, 2015.
• Debt-to-equity ratio was approximately 66.5% at December 31, 2015.
• Announced a stock repurchase program under which the Company may repurchase up to 150,000 shares of common stock.
• Completed sixth securitization of $40.8 million of Standard and Poor's AA rated Unguaranteed SBA 7(a) Loan-Backed Notes, the Company's largest securitization to date.
  • The Notes were priced and sold to investors at a yield of 2.5%, which represents an approximate 100 basis point improvement in the overall yield since the Company's last securitization.
• Closed an underwritten offering in October 2015 of 2.3 million shares of common stock for total gross proceeds of approximately $38.0 million. 
• Completed a public offering in September 2015 of $8.3 million in aggregate principal amount of 7.5% Notes due 2022. The Notes trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the trading symbol "NEWTZ."
• Acquired Premier Payments LLC in July 2015 as a controlled portfolio company, a national electronic payment processor, for approximately $16.5 million in cash and newly issued restricted Common Shares.  Premier had double-digit revenue and Adjusted EBITDA year-over-year percentage growth in 2015.

2015 Dividend Payments:

• The Company declared $20.9 million, or $1.76⁽³⁾ per share, in cash dividends during 2015, which represented approximately 94.0% of the RIC's 2015 estimated taxable income.
• On December 31, 2015, the Company paid a special dividend of approximately $34.0 million, or $2.69 per share, to shareholders of record on November 18, 2015, with 27% paid in cash and 73% paid in newly issued shares.
  • The Company issued 1.8 million new shares on December 31, 2015 in connection with the special dividend bringing the total outstanding share count to approximately 14.5 million at December 31, 2015.                      

      2016 Dividend Payments:

• Anticipate paying an annual cash dividend of approximately $21.8 million, or $1.50⁽²⁾ per share in 2016 (which does not include the fourth quarter 2015 dividend of $0.40 per share paid on January 19, 2016); which would represent a 4.3% increase over the $20.9 million in cash dividends declared for 2015.
• On February 25, 2016, the Company's board of directors declared a first quarter dividend of approximately $5.1 million, or $0.35⁽²⁾ per share, payable on March 31, 2016 to shareholders of record as of March 22, 2016.

Barry Sloane, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "We are pleased to report 2015 adjusted net investment income of $2.06 per share. For the full year 2015, the Company demonstrated a relatively stable NAV and dividend, which we anticipate will continue in 2016.  We ended 2015 with an attractive debt-to-equity ratio of 66.5% which, if needed, gives us the ability to raise between $65 and $80 million of debt capital based on our December 31, 2015 NAV of $14.06 per share.  As a result, we do not anticipate having to raise equity capital for the foreseeable future. Thus far in 2016, we have experienced strong performance in our businesses, in particular with better than expected metrics in our SBA 7(a) business. The recent increase in bond prices has provided a solid support level for the realized gains we recognize on the sale of the government guaranteed portions of our SBA 7(a) loan investments.  In addition, so far in 2016, the credit quality of our loans has met or exceeded our expectations and indicates strong performance with both minimal credit write-offs and non-performing loans."

Mr. Sloane continued, "Our acquisition of Premier Payments LLC generated approximately $1.4 million of Adjusted EBITDA, proving to be additive to our 2015 dividend income.  In 2015, our electronic payment processing portfolio companies generated $10.9 million in Adjusted EBITDA, compared to $7.1 million in Adjusted EBITDA generated by Newtek Merchant Solutions in 2014.  For 2016, we are forecasting Adjusted EBITDA of $13.1 million for our electronic payment processing portfolio companies, which would represent a 20% increase over 2015."

Mr. Sloane concluded, "We are proud to say that we have been recognized as the leading performing BDC in 2015, generating a total annual return based on market value to our shareholders of approximately 24.46%. We will continue to communicate the various differences innate to our business model within the BDC market, which we believe offer a significant opportunity from an investment standpoint. We will address these differences in detail, and how we believe they provide a unique advantage to Newtek, during our conference call scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8:30am ET."

Investor Conference Call and Webcast

A conference call to discuss the full year 2015 results will be hosted by Barry Sloane, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jennifer Eddelson, Executive Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. ET.  The live conference call can be accessed by dialing (877) 303-6993 or (760) 666-3611.

A live audio webcast of the call with the corresponding presentation will be available in the ‘Events & Presentations' section of the Investor Relations portion of Newtek's website at http://investor.newtekbusinessservices.com/events.cfm. A replay of the webcast with the corresponding presentation will be available on Newtek's website shortly following the live presentation and will remain available for 90 days following the live presentation.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures - Newtek Business Services Corp. and Subsidiaries:

In evaluating its business, Newtek considers and uses adjusted net investment income as a measure of its operating performance.  Adjusted net investment income includes short-term capital gains from the sale of the guaranteed portions of SBA 7(a) loans, which is a reoccurring event. The Company defines Adjusted net investment income (loss) as Net investment income (loss) plus Net realized gains (losses) recognized from the sale of guaranteed portions of SBA 7(a) loan investments.

The term Adjusted net investment income is not defined under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP, and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  Adjusted net investment income has limitations as an analytical tool and, when assessing the Company's operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted net investment income in isolation, or as a substitute for net investment income (loss), or other consolidated income statement data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  Among other things, Adjusted net investment income does not reflect the Company's actual cash expenditures.  Other companies may calculate similar measures differently than Newtek, limiting their usefulness as comparative tools.  The Company compensates for these limitations by relying primarily on its GAAP results supplemented by Adjusted net investment income.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures - Newtek's Controlled Portfolio Company Investments:

The Company's controlled portfolio company investments define Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before, interest expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization, managerial assistance fees, loss on lease and stock compensation expense.  Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental measure to review and assess the operating performance of the portfolio companies.  The Company's portfolio companies also present the Adjusted EBITDA because it believes it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties as a measure of financial performance.

The term Adjusted EBITDA is not defined under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP, and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as analytical tools and, when assessing the portfolio company's operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation, or as a substitute for net income, or other income statement data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  Among other things, Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the portfolio companies' actual cash expenditures.  Other companies may calculate similar measures differently than the portfolio company, limiting their usefulness as comparative tools.  The Company compensates for these limitations by relying primarily on its GAAP results supplemented by Adjusted EBITDA.

¹Adjusted net investment income (loss) = Net investment income (loss) + Net realized gains recognized from the sale of guaranteed portions of SBA 7(a) loans.

²Amount and timing of dividends, if any, remain subject to the discretion of the Company's board of directors. 2016 dividend forecast based on shares outstanding at December 31, 2015.

³ Paid a total of $1.36 per share in cash dividends in the calendar year 2015, with the fourth quarter 2015 dividend of $0.40 per share paid on January 19, 2016. 

Note regarding Dividend Payments:  The Company's Board of Directors expects to maintain a dividend policy with the objective of making quarterly distributions in an amount that approximates at least 90% to 98% of the Company's annual taxable income.  The determination of the tax attributes of the Company's distributions is made annually as of the end of the Company's fiscal year based upon its taxable income for the full year and distributions paid for the full year.

About Newtek Business Services Corp.

Newtek Business Services Corp., The Small Business Authority^®, is an internally managed BDC, which along with its controlled portfolio companies, provides a wide range of business services and financial products under the Newtek^® brand to the small- and medium-sized business ("SMB") market. Since 1999, Newtek has provided state-of-the-art, cost-efficient products and services and efficient business strategies to over 100,000 SMB accounts across all 50 states to help them grow their sales, control their expenses and reduce their risk.

Newtek's and its portfolio companies' products and services include: Business Lending, Electronic Payment Processing,  Managed Technology Solutions (Cloud Computing), eCommerce, Accounts Receivable Financing, The Secure Gateway, The Newtek Advantage^™, Insurance Services, Web Services, Data Backup, Storage and Retrieval and Payroll.

The Small Business Authority^® is a registered trade mark of Newtek Business Services Corp., and neither are a part of, or endorsed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "intends," "expects," "projects," "anticipates," "forecasts," and "future" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, intensified competition, operating problems and their impact on revenues and profit margins, anticipated future business strategies and financial performance, anticipated future number of customers, business prospects, legislative developments and similar matters. Risk factors, cautionary statements and other conditions, which could cause Newtek's actual results to differ from management's current expectations, are contained in Newtek's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available through http://www.sec.gov/.  Newtek cautions you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected or implied in these statements.

Investor Relations

Contact: Jayne Cavuoto

Telephone: (212) 273-8179 / jcavuoto@thesba.com



Public Relations

Contact: Simrita Singh

Telephone: (212) 356-9566 / ssingh@thesba.com

News Provided by Acquire Media