Blue Ridge Bank Reports Fourth Consecutive Profitable Quarter
"On behalf of our 281 Blue Ridge Bank employees, I am pleased to report a fourth consecutive profitable quarter on the strategic journey back to our community banking roots," commented Harry Golliday, interim president and chief executive officer. "As in the prior quarter, our results reflect the impact of separation, severance, and incentive-related expenses, as well as the ongoing reduction of non-strategic loans outside of our local banking footprint-actions that weighed on near-term results but enhance the core earnings power of the community banking franchise. We continue to execute on noninterest expense reduction initiatives to more closely align these expenses with our community banking model. Headcount, a major driver of our noninterest expense, has been reduced by 70, or 20%, since the end of the first quarter of 2025. Results of additional initiatives will be realized in the second half of 2026. This quarter was also our first full quarter of operations after release last November from the regulatory consent order. The improved regulatory standing and lower capital requirements provided flexibility for another special dividend declared on March 30. In addition, we have been able to turn even greater attention to sound growth initiatives and are pleased to see increasing loan and deposit pipelines."
