COMMUNITY BANCORP /VT - Quarter Report: 2004 September (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

FORM 10-Q

[ x ]  QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Quarterly Period Ended September 30, 2004

OR

[   ]  TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                to                 

Commission File Number 000-16435

COMMUNITY BANCORP.

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file for such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes ( X )  No (  )

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).  Yes (   )  No (X)

At November 9, 2004, there were 3,826,171 shares outstanding of the Corporation's common stock.

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 1. Financial Statements (Unaudited)

The following are the consolidated financial statements for Community Bancorp. and Subsidiary, "the Company".

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

NOTE 1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND CONSOLIDATION

     The interim consolidated financial statements of Community Bancorp. and Subsidiary are unaudited. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary for fair presentation of the financial condition and results of operations of the Company contained herein have been made. The unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2003, contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003.

NOTE 2.  RECENT ACCOUNTING DEVELOPMENTS

     Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 133 Implementation Issue C13, "When a Loan Commitment Is Included in the Scope of Statement 133," requires commitments to originate mortgage loans that will be held for sale upon origination to be accounted for as derivatives, but does not provide guidance on how the fair value of those commitments should be measured. 

     In March 2004, the SEC issued Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 105, "Application of Accounting Principles to Loan Commitments" in which the staff indicated it believes loan commitments are written options and therefore should never result in the recognition of an asset under SFAS No. 133.  Rather, the staff indicated lenders should initially recognize a liability for loan commitments, with the offsetting debit recognized as a derivative loss to the extent a premium is not received from the potential borrower.

     The staff indicated it would not object to a registrant's recognizing loan commitments as assets provided it discontinues that practice for commitments entered into in the first reporting period beginning after March 15, 2004 and provided assets recorded on loan commitments entered into prior to that date are reversed when the related loan closes or the commitment expires.

     SAB No. 105 did not have a material effect on the Company's consolidated financial statements and results of operations.

     Earnings per common share amounts are computed based on the weighted average number of shares of common stock issued during the period and reduced for shares held in Treasury.

NOTE 4.  COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

The Company's total comprehensive income for the comparison period is calculated as follows:

     The decrease in unrealized gain from September 30, 2003 to September 30, 2004 is due primarily to the effect of rising interest rates during 2004. When rates rise, the value of interest-bearing securities decreases.

NOTE 5. INCOME TAXES

NOTE 6. HELD TO MATURITY SECURITIES

     During the third quarter of 2004, the Company sold an investment from the held to maturity portfolio as permitted by special provisions of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 115. This security was called on November 2, 2004

ITEM 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
for the Period Ended September 30, 2004

     The Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations may contain certain forward-looking statements about the Company's operations, financial condition and business. When used therein, the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "plans," "predicts," or similar expressions, indicate that management of the Company is making forward-looking statements.

     Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They necessarily involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results of the Company may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Examples of forward looking statements included in this discussion include, but are not limited to, management's expectations as to future asset growth, income trends, results of operations and other matters reflected in the Overview section, estimated contingent liability related to the Company's participation in the FHLB Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) program, assumptions made within the asset/liability management process, and management's expectations as to the future interest rate environment and the Company's related liquidity level. Although these statements are based on management's current expectations and estimates, many of the factors that could influence or determine actual results are unpredictable and not within the Company's control. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements as they speak only as of the date they are made. The Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

     Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements include, among others, the following possibilities: (1) competitive pressures increase among financial services providers in the Company's northern New England market area or in the financial services industry generally, including competitive pressures from nonbank financial service providers, from increasing consolidation and integration of financial service providers, and from changes in technology and delivery systems; (2) interest rates change in such a way as to reduce the Company's margins; (3) general economic or monetary conditions, either nationally or regionally, are less favorable than expected, resulting in a deterioration in credit quality or a diminished demand for the Company's products and services; and (4) changes in laws or government rules, or the way in which courts interpret those laws or rules, adversely affect the Company's business.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES

     The Company's consolidated financial statements are prepared according to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of such financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in the consolidated financial statements and related notes. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has defined a company's critical accounting policies as the ones that are most important to the portrayal of the Company's financial condition and results of operations, and which require the Company to make its most difficult and subjective judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates of matters that are inherently uncertain. Because of the significance of these estimates and assumptions, there is a high likelihood that materially different amounts would be reported for the Company under different conditions or using different assumptions or estimates.

     Management evaluates on an ongoing basis its judgment as to which policies are considered to be critical. Management believes that the calculation of the allowance for loan losses (ALL) is a critical accounting policy that requires the most significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of its consolidated financial statements. In estimating the ALL, management utilizes historical experience as well as other factors including the effect of changes in the local real estate market on collateral values, use of current economic indicators and their probable impact on borrowers and changes in delinquent, non-performing or impaired loans. Management's estimates used in the ALL may increase or decrease based on changes in these factors resulting in adjustments to the Company's provision for loan losses. Actual results could differ significantly from these estimates under different assumptions, judgments or conditions.

     Occasionally, the Company acquires property in connection with foreclosures or in satisfaction of debt previously contracted. To determine the value of property acquired in foreclosure, management often obtains independent appraisals for significant properties. Because the extent of any recovery on these loans depends largely on the amount the Company is able to realize upon liquidation of the underlying collateral, the recovery of a substantial portion of the carrying amount of foreclosed real estate is susceptible to changes in local market conditions. The amount of the change that is reasonably possible cannot be estimated. In addition, regulatory agencies, as an integral part of their examination process, periodically review the Company's allowance for losses on loans and foreclosed real estate. Such agencies may require the Company to recognize additions to the allowances based on their judgments about information available to them at the time of their examination.

     Management utilizes numerous techniques to estimate the carrying value of various assets held by the Company, including, but not limited to, property, plant and equipment, mortgage servicing rights, and deferred taxes. The assumptions considered in making these estimates are based on historical experience and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Management acknowledges that the use of different estimates or assumptions could produce different estimates of carrying values.

     The Company's net income for the third quarter of 2004 was $800,123, representing a decrease of 20% over net income of just over $1 million for the third quarter of 2003. This resulted in earnings per share of $0.21 and $0.27, respectively, for the third quarter of 2004 and 2003. Net income for the first nine months of 2004 was $2.4 million, representing a decrease of $615,360, or 21%, compared to a net income figure of just under $3 million for the first nine months of 2003. Earnings per share of $0.62 were reported for the nine months ended September 30, 2004, versus $0.80 for the nine months ended September 30, 2003.

INTEREST INCOME LESS INTEREST EXPENSE (NET INTEREST INCOME)

     The following table shows the reconciliation between reported net interest income and tax equivalent, net interest income for the nine month comparison period, of 2004 and 2003:

AVERAGE BALANCES AND INTEREST RATES

     The table below presents average earning assets (including non-accrual loans) and average interest-bearing liabilities supporting earning assets, as well as interest income and interest expense expressed (on a tax equivalent basis) both in dollars and as a rate/yield for the 2004 and 2003 comparison periods.