THE FINANCIAL HOLDING COMPANY OF
WESTERNBANK PUERTO RICO
ANNOUNCES A THREE-FOR-TWO (3 X 2) STOCK SPLIT
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, November 4, 2003. W HOLDING COMPANY, INC. (NYSE: "WHI"), the financial holding company of WESTERNBANK PUERTO RICO, announced today that the Company’s Board of Directors authorized a three-for-two (3 X 2) stock split of the Company’s $1.00 par value common stock to be paid on December 10, 2003, to stockholders of record as of November 28, 2003.
The split will have the effect of increasing the number of shares of the common stock issued and outstanding from 68,651,651 to approximately 102,977,476. W Holding will pay cash to the stockholders in lieu of fractional shares at a rate equal to the closing price of the stock as of the record date, November 28, 2003.
Commenting on this action Frank C. Stipes, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer stated: “the stock split is intended to further enhance the liquidity and availability of the Company’s stock to a larger market by reason of price and number of outstanding shares. In order to know what amount of shares each stockholder will receive, all they have to do is multiply their holdings by 1.5. This will give them the amount of total shares they own. Year to date, W Holding stock has increased over 47.00%, adding this to its history and pattern of growth and continued appreciation, being the past year, 2002, the most recent year with a consistent market value increase of virtually 52.00%. Stockholders that acquired shares of the Company at the original stock offering have experienced an increase over their original investment of 13,633.16%, in addition to receiving every year cash dividends, which are being distributed monthly.”
W Holding recently reported a net income of $34.6 million or $0.41 earnings per basic common share ($0.40 on a diluted basis) for the third quarter ended September 30, 2003, as compared to a net income of $22.7 million or $0.30 earnings per basic and diluted common share for the same quarter in 2002, a very strong increase of $12.0 million or 52.76%. At September 30, 2003, driven by very strong increases in W Holding activities, total assets ended at $10.8 billion, surpassing the year end goal of reaching $10 billion in total assets.
W Holdings management expects to end this year with earnings in the vicinity of $112.0 to $115.0 million, while for year 2004, management expects earnings to range from $165.0 to $175.0 million, as market and economic conditions may permit. These expectations are translated into earnings per share of $1.28 to $1.32 and of $2.01 to $2.15, respectively after payment of dividends of preferred stock.
This press release may contain some information that constitutes “forward-looking statements.” Such information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue,” or “believe” or the negatives or other variations of these terms or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements with respect to future financial conditions, results of operations and businesses of the Company are always subject to various risk and market factors out of management’s control which could cause future results to differ materially from current management expectations or estimates and as such should be understood. Such factors include particularly, but are not limited; to the possibility of prolonged adverse economic conditions or that an adverse interest rate environment could develop.
W HOLDING COMPANY, INC. is among the three largest public financial holding companies headquartered in Puerto Rico, based on total assets. WESTERNBANK PUERTO RICO operates throughout Puerto Rico through 51 full fledged branches, including 33 in the Southwestern region of Puerto Rico, 7 in the Northeastern region, and 11 at the San Juan Metropolitan area of Puerto Rico. W HOLDING COMPANY, INC. also owns Westernbank Insurance Corp., a general insurance agent placing property, casualty, life and disability insurance, whose results of operations and financial condition are reported on a consolidated basis.