Banking on profits: 5 things to know about Synovus’ fourth quarter and 2018 financials

By any stretch of one’s imagination, 2018 was a year filled with major activities and events for Synovus Financial Corp. and its banks spread across five Southeastern states.

Kessel Stelling, the Columbus-based company’s chairman and chief executive officer, said as much Tuesday morning as he released the bankholding firm’s financial report for the fourth quarter of the year, as well as numbers for full year.

“Synovus became a stronger company in every respect in 2018,” the CEO said. “From completion of the single-brand transition, to the announcement and successful closing of the FCB acquisition, to surpassing all of our profitability and efficiency targets, we delivered outstanding operating and financial performance last year.”

Here are the highlights from the Synovus earnings report, which includes financial information also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:

The bottom line

The bank reported a fourth-quarter profit of $101.9 million, or 87 cents per diluted share, which was up slightly from $99.3 million, or 84 cents per share in the October-December period of 2017.

That quarterly profit, or net income, came on total revenues of $365.9 million, which was $26.9 million higher than in the same quarter of 2017.

For 2018 as a whole, Synovus posted a profit of $428.5 million, or $3.47 per share, which came on total revenues of $1.43 billion.

Welcome moves for investors

Those owning shares of Synovus common stock will benefit from an ongoing share repurchase effort by the company, along with a solid increase in the stock dividend that will be paid in April.

The company said it bought back $40 million in common stock in the quarter as part of two repurchase programs approved by its board of directors in 2018, allowing $175 million altogether. That amounts to a reduction of 3.7 million shares, or slightly more than 3 percent decrease from December 2017.

Fewer shares on the open market make those remaining in the hands of investors that much more valuable, particularly in the long run. What’s more, the board also authorized stock buybacks of up to $400 million in 2019, signaling that it will repurchase between $300 million to $350 million of that this year.

As for the stock dividend, the board approved a dividend of 30 cents per share, payable in April to those owning stock. That’s up 20 percent from the previous dividend of 25 cents per share.

A glimpse into the future

It was huge news at Synovus last year that the firm was acquiring Weston, Fla.-based FCB Financial Holdings and its Florida Community Bank in a deal valued at $2.9 billion.

The purchase closed two weeks ago, on New Year’s Day, pushing Synovus into a top five Southeast regional bank in terms of deposits. On a national level, it is in the vicinity of a top 50 bank. Combined, Synovus and FCB now has $45 billion in assets, $37 billion in deposits and 300 branches. That includes the 51 FCB branches, while the Synovus employee count climbs from 4,625 to 5,200 post-merger.

On Tuesday, Synovus laid out what Florida Community Bank would have brought to the table financially if it had been on the books in the fourth quarter. In its own report, FCB reported a profit of $41.8 million in the quarter on total income of just over $104 million.

Saying ‘so long’ to the past

Synovus did reach a notable moment in its history in 2018, with the company rebranding its banks throughout Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee to simply, “Synovus.” That meant the departure of longtime names such as Columbus Bank and Trust, the company founded in a local textile mill in the late 1800s, ultimately leading to the creation of the bankholding firm now known as Synovus.

Synovus shares down on New York Stock Exchange

Synovus released its earnings report Tuesday morning before the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, where its shares are traded. Shares slipped 98 cents per share, or 2.8 percent, closing the day at $33.96 apiece. The stock’s 52-week trading range is from a low of $29.93 per share to a high of $57.40 per share.

This story was originally published January 15, 2019 at 5:17 PM.