New Peoples Bankshares, New Honaker, VA (NWPP)

A Case of Being in People's Hands


As a shareholder, I am in the hands of New Peoples Bank.

More accurately, my investment is in the hands of the people behind New Peoples, as are the investments of 4428 other people.

For myself, and on behalf of these other shareholders, I am grateful to the handful of local business people who put up their own money to turn New Peoples around since 2011, and for the modest performance improvements they had a hand in effecting.

Nonetheless, seven years later, New Peoples Bank is not profitable. It’s time for a handoff.

If the three controlling shareholders play their own hands right, they can garner as much as $3.00 per share in a sale for all of us. If they don’t, we’re all left empty-handed.


Disclosure: As of this posting, I own shares of NWPP and may subsequently either dispose of them or purchase more.


Prospective Buyers

Could one of these local players lend a hand? You'll enhance your own franchise by buying New Peoples Bank and cutting its bloated expenses!

Carter Bank & Trust, Martinsville, VA (CARE)
National Bankshares, Blacksburg, VA (NKSH)
Summit Financial Group, Moorefield, WV (SMMF)

Financial Snapshot
as of 06/30/2018

Total assets:
$685M
Tangible book value per share:   
$2.09
NPAs to assets:
1.9%
Price to book:
91.8%
Market cap:
$45.9M
Dividend yield:
0%
Trailing 12-month ROA:
0.06%
Trailing 12-month ROE:
0.86%

The Crew

Harold Lynn Keane, Chairman
Christopher "Todd" Asbury, President and CEO
John J Boczar, Executive VP, CFO, Treasurer and Secretary

The Skinny

In his last shareholder letter, New Peoples' CEO Todd Asbury professed to be on a path of accelerating the bank from Good to Great.

The problem is: New Peoples' bottomline performance is not even Good, and it's on a path in the opposite direction of Great.

New Peoples Bank reported modest profits in 2013 - 2017, but the bank lost money in two of the past three quarters.

Moreover, Asbury has made clear, shareholders should expect no dividends until New Peoples' recovers the $10.8M in remaining losses accumulated since the bank's inception 17 years ago.

The only person I  can see being able to force a hand on behalf of fellow NWPP shareholders is Richard Preservati. 

Besides having a great name that in and of itself suggests an interest in preserving capital, Richard Preservati owns 12.7% of NWPP stock, is a successful businessman, and knows first hand from other investments what a fair return on a community bank stock looks like.

Two years prior to investing in New Peoples, Preservati bought a significant stake in First Community Bancshares (FCBC), which has handed him a more than fair 1.2% return on assets.

For his sake, my sake, and the sake of the 4427 other shareholders of NWPP, I'm hoping Preservati will lend a hand here.


Sources