Southern First's second-quarter net profit surged 70% year-on-year, with strong growth in retail deposits
Southern First Bancshares( (Symbol: SFST) announced its second quarter 2026 financial results. The report showed that the company's net profit for the quarter was US$11.2 million, and diluted earnings per share were US$1.20, an increase of 48% from US$0.81 in the same period last year, and slightly higher than US$1.19 in the previous quarter. Performance growth was mainly due to strong loan growth The net interest margin continued to expand, driving net interest income to increase by 28% year-on-year to US$32.4 million. Total revenue reached US$35.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 25%. CEO Art Seaver said the company's retail customer deposits grew by $184 million in the second quarter, an annualized growth rate of 22%, and its loan portfolio grew at an annualized rate of 9%. Asset quality remains stable. Net write-offs in the quarter were approximately US$96,000, accounting for only 0.01% of the average loan annualized ratio, and non-performing assets accounted for 0.27% of total assets. The credit loss provision is US$1 million, and the credit loss provision accounts for 1.10% of the total loans. During the quarter, the company raised $65.2 million by issuing an additional 1.2 million shares of common stock to support strong growth expectations. Affected by this, the tangible common equity ratio increased to 9.62%, an increase of 160 basis points from the same period last year, and the common equity tier 1 capital ratio rose to 12.81%. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Southern First is a community-oriented bank holding company that provides a full range of commercial and retail banking services to small and medium-sized businesses and individual customers primarily in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.