FRST News & Events

Tangible book value per share was $13.34 vs. $10.42 a year ago. Q4 net interest margin was 3.28% vs. 2.90% a year ago. Common equity tier 1 capital ratio was 9.53% vs. 8.62% a year ago. CEO Dennis Zember, Jr. stated, "We spent 2025 harvesting some of the embedded gains on our balance sheet and used those gains to reposition the company for 2026 and beyond. We rebuilt capital levels and tangible book value and eliminated the noise and excess exposure to the consumer loan portfolio. But the year was more about offense than defense, which is reflected in a substantial increase in earning assets and the portion funded with non-interest bearing demand deposits. The core bank along with all of our divisions had the best year in the last decade and are prepared to continue that momentum into 2026."

Primis Financial approved a stock repurchase program for up to 750,000 of the outstanding shares of the company's common stock. The stock repurchase program will begin on December 18, 2025 and conclude on December 18, 2026, subject to the earlier termination or extension of the repurchase program by the Board or the total shares designated for the stock repurchase program are depleted. The company purchased 79,549 shares at an average cost of $10.00 per share under the previous repurchase plan.

Primis Bank, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Primis Financial, announced it has entered into a sale-leaseback transaction covering 18 branch properties. The transaction itself has a pre-tax gain of $50M and provided the Bank a unique opportunity to restructure several areas of the balance sheet, improve operating earnings and build capital levels to support the growth expected in 2026 and 2027.

Primis Financial reported that it has deconsolidated Panacea Financial Holdings, effective March 31. Accordingly, the company will be revising its earnings release dated April 29 to reflect certain gains associated with recognizing the value of the company's investment in PFH. The Company engaged an independent third party to evaluate the fair market value of its investment in PFH and it was determined that, as of March 31, 2025, the Company's investment was valued at $21.2 million. Additionally, the company expects to recoup certain consolidated operating losses totaling $3.4M. Portions of these amounts are non-taxable and, taken together, the company expects the after-tax gain recorded upon deconsolidation to be approximately $20M, or 81c per share. Commenting on the deconsolidation of PFH, Dennis Zember, Jr., President and CEO said, "Deconsolidating PFH is a welcome step in our path forward. The boost to capital levels and tangible book value is welcome, but importantly, it simplifies our financial statement presentation and positively impacts our reported operating ratios. Our ROA will improve by ten basis points and our operating efficiency ratio will decrease by approximately 14 points. Lastly, Primis Bank will continue to be the exclusive banking partner for all loans and deposits through its Panacea division."