June 30, 2003
McNamee Hosea Principal, Milton D. Jernigan, II who serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of CommerceFirst Bank in Annapolis, Maryland reports the bank's third consecutive profitable quarter for the period ending September 30, 2003. CommerceFirst Bank is a commercial bank co-founded by Mr. Jernigan and a group of Organizers and Directors in Annapolis,Maryland. The bank raised $8.2 million in its initial public offering, received all necessary state and federal bank regulatory approvals and opened in June 2000. McNamee Hosea represented the bank in its organization and formation and continues to represent the bank in various regulatory and business matters as its General Counsel.
CommerceFirst Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for CommerceFirst Bank, earned a consolidated net profit of $100,557 ($.12 per diluted share) for the nine months ending September 30, 2002. This compares to a loss of $371,325 for the nine months ending September 30, 2002, a year-to-year improvement of $477,882 for the nine-month period. The month of September marks the bank's ninth consecutive month of profitable operations as it continues to achieve its 2003 business plan.
The Company's balance sheet also continues to develop in accordance with its business plan. Total assets reached $47.4 million as of September 30, 2003. During this period of history-making low interest rates, the bank has sharpened its focus on interest rate spread management, being careful not to build the bank too quickly with a high percentage of fixed rate assets which could expose earnings to interest rate risk when rates eventually increase. The bank has worked to slow down the build-up of more expensive interest bearing deposits in order to keep liquidity strong, but not excessive. Closely managing deposit costs has helped strengthen the Company's net interest margin is a significant factor in increasing profit levels.
