Bluffton's Atlantic Community Bank named among top performing banks in Southeast

A Bluffton bank ranked among the Southeast's 10 highest-performing publicly traded financial stocks in 2013 for institutions its size, according to data released last month by SNL Financial and Banks Street Partners.

Atlantic Bancshares, Inc. - better known as Atlantic Community Bank - saw its shares rise 318.2 percent from Jan. 1, 2013 to the close of business Dec. 30. That price change ranked fifth for community banks in the Southeast whose market capitalizations are less than $50 million. The bank's current market cap is $5.2 million.

SNL gathered its data from publicly traded banks and thrifts headquartered in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Announced bank mergers were not included.

"I believe this speaks very highly of our bank," said Bob McKinney, president and CEO of Atlantic Community Bank. "The economy in general, and the banking industry specificially, have gone through significant trauma over the last five to six years. So I think when the bank is recognized for its success in any category, that's important."

The bank ranked third on the list among South Carolina banks, finishing behind only First South Bancorp, Inc. of Spartanburg and Independence Bancshares, Inc. of Greenville. It also outperformed the S&P 500 and Russell 3000 indexes in price increase (29.1 and 30.4 percent, respectively) as well as the averages for financial stocks in the Southeast (33.7 percent) and banks and thrifts in the U.S. (33.9 percent).

"I think it's a fair assumption when we see stock values go up, it would indicate that during that year, people had faith that their company was going to continue to grow and prosper," McKinney said. "We're thrilled to have loyal customers, great shareholders and a very strong employee staff here to serve our customers. Someone had enough faith in us to buy stock in greater amount than previously, so we feel pleased and honored that there's faith in us. Our bank is doing very well. I think folks recognize that, and that's what drives it."

Atlantic Community Bank opened in 2007 and has two locations - one in Sheridan Park in Bluffton and the other at Corpus Christie Place on Hilton Head Island. McKinney said it primarily serves individuals and businesses in southern Beaufort County and part of Jasper County.

"We started with the goal of serving our community with loans and deposits, and we believe we've done that," McKinney said. "The challenges that all banks experienced over that time period were certainly there, and the fact that our bank has met those challenges and performed well speaks highly to our staff and board who have been very supportive, as well as our customers who have favored us with the opportunity to serve."