ASHEVILLE, N.C., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- For the quarter ended 9/30/06, Weststar Financial Services Corporation (BULLETIN BOARD: WFSC) , parent company of The Bank of Asheville, was ranked number one in performance and 15th in valuation out of 43 banks in North Carolina by Davenport and Company, LLC in their Davenport Community Bank Quarterly (http://www.investdavenport.com/prodserv/corpFin/docs/2006_Q3%20CBQ.pdf). Financial institutions included in the report ranged in size from $98 million to $1.5 billion in assets. Davenport's model is somewhat similar to bank regulators CAMELS System, which evaluates a bank's financial condition in six areas: Capital, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to Market Risk. Their methodology ranked banks according to five categories: profitability, capital, liquidity, asset quality and valuation. The first four categories address company fundamentals and are combined to establish a performance ranking. The valuation ranking is based on price to book value, price to last twelve months earnings and dividend yield.
Of the five ratios figured for profitability, The Bank of Asheville exceeded the median for all banks included in the report. These ratios included return on assets, return on equity, efficiency, operating revenue growth and net earnings per share growth. For capital ratios, the Bank exceeded the median in loan loss reserve to loans and tangible equity to assets.
Gordon Greenwood, President and CEO stated, "We are extremely pleased with the results of the Davenport Report, which valuates banks in a number of areas other than just growth in assets. The results of this report are attributed to a lot of hard work by our committed associates. As we approach our tenth year of operation we feel that this report helps to validate our original goals and commitment to establishing a financial institution for the long term that provided above market return to our shareholders, exceptional quality service for our customers, and rewarding career opportunities to our associates. As we look to the next ten years, we hope to improve upon our accomplishments of past years."
This news release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain factors that may cause the company's results to vary from those expected. These factors include changing economic and financial market conditions, competition, ability to execute our business plan, items already mentioned in this press release, and other factors described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's judgment only as of the date hereof. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events and circumstances that arise after the date hereof.
