NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Newtek Business Services Corp., (NASDAQ: NEWT) (www.thesba.com) The Small Business Authority^®, today announced that it does not believe that it has any direct lending exposure to the oil and gas industry in its current loan portfolio resulting from falling fuel prices.  Companies that deliver oil to residential and commercial businesses and retail gas stations with convenience stores constitute 0.39% and 3.11%, respectively, of the Company's current loan portfolio.

Barry Sloane, Newtek's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, "Our current exposure to companies that deliver fuel to residential and commercial businesses and retail gas stations with convenience stores causes little concern, as we do not believe that lower fuel prices will hurt their profitability or negatively impact their margins over the long term.  In fact, in our opinion, lower fuel and energy costs will be helpful to the vast majority of our borrower base, reducing total expenses of the consumers who purchase goods from our borrowers."

Mr. Sloane continued, "While we currently do not believe that we have exposure to businesses that are positively dependent on high fuel prices, we believe expansion into these industries at current prices would yield attractive long-term borrowers.  It is our practice to employ stringent underwriting guidelines and continually stress test our loans and, as such, we are confident that entry into these industry segments would be prudent if opportunities arose in receivable financing or term lending."  

About Newtek Business Services Corp.

Newtek Business Services Corp., The Small Business Authority^®, is the Authority for the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) market providing a wide range of business services and financial products under the Newtek^® brand. Since 1999, Newtek has provided state-of-the-art, cost-efficient products and services and efficient business strategies to over 100,000 business accounts across all 50 States to help them grow their sales, control their expenses and reduce their risk.

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

Statements in this press release including statements regarding Newtek's beliefs, expectations, intentions or strategies for the future, may be "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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.

Investor Relations 
Contact: Jayne Cavuoto  
Telephone: (212) 273-8179 / jcavuoto@thesba.com  
Contact: Brett Maas 
Telephone: (646) 536-7331 / brett@haydenir.com 
Public Relations 
Contact: Simrita Singh 
Telephone: (212) 356-9566 / ssingh@thesba.com

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SOURCE Newtek Business Services Corp.