Rurban Financial Corp. Reports 14.3 Percent Increase in Second Quarter Earnings Per Share

Rurban Financial Corp. Reports 14.3 Percent Increase in Second Quarter Earnings Per Share

Rurban Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:RBNF), a leading provider of full-service community banking, investment management, trust services and bank data processing, reported second quarter 2007 net income of $785,000, an increase of 10.0 percent over the $714,000 reported for the second quarter of 2006. Diluted earnings per share increased 14.3 percent to $0.16 from $0.14 reported for the prior-year period. Compared with the first quarter of 2007, net income and diluted earnings per share increased by 11.8 and 14.3 percent, respectively.

For the six months ended June 30, 2007 Rurban reported net income of $1,487,000 up $251,000, or 20.3 percent, compared to $1,236,000 reported for the six months ended June 2006. Diluted earnings per share were $0.30 for the current year, up 20.0 percent from the $0.25 reported for the prior year.

Highlights include:

* Rurban implemented the final steps of its reorganization plan toward
the end of the first quarter 2007. Therefore, this represents
Rurban’s first reporting quarter as a completely restructured
entity, with all bank activities merged into The State Bank and
Trust Company; RDSI, the data and item processing company, remains
a stand-alone data processing subsidiary of the holding company.

* The reorganization had a $0.02 positive impact on earnings per
share in second quarter performance through improvements due to
consolidation; second quarter ROAA was 57 basis points compared
with 51 basis points for the first quarter of 2007.

* Rurban’s net interest margin increased for a second consecutive
quarter. The margin improved to 3.19 percent for the current
quarter from 3.04 percent for the first quarter of 2007; the margin
for State Bank and Trust was 3.56 percent for the second quarter.

* Loan growth accelerated during the second quarter of 2007
increasing $8.4 million, or 9 percent annualized, from March 31,
2007. Year-to-date loan growth was $11.6 million across all loan
categories.

* Non-interest income continued to be a substantial contributor to
Rurban’s revenue stream, increasing 23.5 percent from the prior
year to $6.5 million, and accounting for 63.4 percent of total
revenue. RDSI revenue increased 36.3 percent year-over-year to $4.9
million primarily due to the acquisition of DCM in the third
quarter of 2006.

* On April 12, 2007, Rurban initiated a stock repurchase program,
authorizing the repurchase of up to 250,000 shares or approximately
5 percent of the Company’s outstanding shares. As of the end of the
second quarter, Rurban repurchased 12,000 shares at an average
cost of $12.43

Kenneth A. Joyce, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are making steady progress toward our goals. With a simplified, more transparent organization, we are able to focus more clearly on the issues that require attention, as can our investors. We know there are still many areas for improvement, but I believe we have addressed most of the major factors that have been a drag on our operations and profitability. We have the right team in place to lead our organization to the next level of profitability and growth, and we are already making progress along that path. We look forward to continuing improvement of our fundamental measurements.”