PEOPLES FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP. Declares Second Quarter 2024 Dividend

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Apr 26, 2024, 11:48 ET

SCRANTON, Pa., April 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ: PFIS) declared a second quarter dividend of $0.41 per share. The $0.41 per share dividend represents the same per share dividend declared and paid in the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2023. The dividend is payable June 14, 2024 to shareholders of record May 31, 2024.

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (the "Company") is the parent company of Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company (the "Bank"), an independent community bank serving its retail and commercial customers through twenty-eight full-service community banking offices located within the Allegheny, Bucks, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Susquehanna, and Wyoming Counties in Pennsylvania, Middlesex County in New Jersey and Broome County in New York. Each office, interdependent with the community, offers a comprehensive array of financial products and services to individuals, businesses, not-for-profit organizations and government entities. The Company's business philosophy includes offering direct access to senior management and other officers and providing friendly, informed and courteous service, local and timely.

Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements:

We make statements in this press release, and we may from time to time make other statements regarding our outlook or expectations for future financial or operating results and/or other matters regarding or affecting Peoples Financial Services Corp., Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, and its subsidiaries (collectively, "Peoples") that are considered "forward-looking statements" as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "planned," "estimated," "intend" and "potential." For these statements, Peoples claims the protection of the statutory safe harbors for forward-looking statements.

Peoples cautions you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated in any forward-looking statement. Such factors include, but are not limited to: Peoples cautions you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated in any forward-looking statement. Such factors include, but are not limited to: macroeconomic trends, including interest rates and inflation; the effects of any recession in the United States; the impact on financial markets from geopolitical conflicts such as the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in Israel; risks associated with business combinations, including, but not limited to Peoples proposed merger with FNCB Bancorp, Imc. ("FNCB"), and the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right of one or both of the parties to terminate the FNCB merger agreement; the possibility that the parties may be unable to achieve expected synergies and operating efficiencies in the proposed FNCB merger within the expected timeframes or at all and to successfully integrate operations of FNCB and those of Peoples, which may be more difficult, time consuming or costly than expected; the proposed FNCB merger may divert management's attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; effects of the announcement, pendency or completion of the proposed FNCB merger on our ability to retain customers and retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with our vendors, and on our operating results and business generally; changes in interest rates; economic conditions, particularly in our market area; legislative and regulatory changes and the ability to comply with the significant laws and regulations governing the banking and financial services business; monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, including policies of the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve System; adverse developments in the financial industry generally, responsive measures to mitigate and manage such developments, related supervisory and regulatory actions and costs, and related impacts on customer and client behavior; credit risk associated with lending activities and changes in the quality and composition of our loan and investment portfolios; demand for loan and other products; deposit flows; competition; changes in the values of real estate and other collateral securing the loan portfolio, particularly in our market area; changes in relevant accounting principles and guidelines; inability of third party service providers to perform; our ability to prevent, detect and respond to cyberattacks; and other factors that may be described in our Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

In addition to these risks, acquisitions and business combinations present risks other than those presented by the nature of the business acquired. Acquisitions and business combinations and, specifically, the FNCB merger may be substantially more expensive to complete than originally anticipated, and the anticipated benefits may be significantly harder - or take longer - to achieve than expected, if they are achieved at all. As a regulated financial institution, our pursuit of attractive acquisition and business combination opportunities could be negatively impacted by regulatory delays or other regulatory issues. Regulatory and/or legal issues related to the pre-acquisition operations of an acquired or combined business may cause reputational harm to Peoples following the acquisition or combination, and integration of the acquired or combined business with ours may result in additional future costs arising as a result of those issues. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right of one or both of the parties to terminate the merger agreement between Peoples and FNCB; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Peoples or FNCB; the possibility that the proposed strategic combination will not close when expected or at all because required regulatory approvals are not received or other conditions to the closing are not satisfied on a timely basis or at all, or are obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated (and the risk that required regulatory approvals may result in the imposition of conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction).

The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as may be required by applicable law or regulation, Peoples assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Peoples Financial Services Corp.