Bluefield, VA November 15, 2002 (Business Wire)The Board of Directors of First Community Bancshares, Inc. (FCBC) (www.fcbinc.com) recently declared its Fourth Quarter dividend to stockholders.
The dividend is payable to stockholders of record December 1, 2002, and will be paid on or about December 16, 2002. The dividend, in the amount of $.25, brings total cash dividends for 2002 to $1.00 per common share, representing a 12.4% increase over the $0.89 per common share paid in 2001. The increase is indicative of continued strong earnings by the Company and its subsidiary bank, First Community Bank, N. A. The Company chose to pay four equal quarterly dividends in 2002 versus its previous practice of paying a regular and special dividend the fourth quarter. This change in dividend policy levels dividend payments throughout the year. The cash dividends paid in 2002 are in addition to the 10% stock dividend declared and distributed by the Company in the first quarter of 2002. The Fourth Quarter dividend, when annualized, represents a yield on the recent market price of approximately 3.1%.
First Community Bancshares, Inc. is a $1.49 billion bank holding company with headquarters in Bluefield, Virginia and the Parent of First Community Bank, N. A. First Community Bank, N. A. operates in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina with 38 full service commercial banking locations and through United First Mortgage, Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary, with 11 mortgage origination offices throughout Virginia.
First Community Bancshares, Inc.'s common stock is traded on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market under the symbol, "FCBC." The Company anticipates its next earnings release will be available on or about January 18, 2003.
This news release may include forward-looking statements. These forward- looking statements are based on current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially. These risks include: the timely development, production and acceptance of new products and services and their feature sets; the challenge of managing asset/liability levels; the management of credit risk and interest rate risk; the difficulty of keeping expense growth at modest levels while increasing revenues; and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recent year ended.
First Community Bancshares, Inc.
Robert L. Schumacher, 276/326-9000