I N T H E N E W
Nicolet Bancshares chairman Bob Atwell
optimistic at annual meeting
Company looks for increased profits in 2010
Green Bay Press-Gazette May 4, 2010
Richard Ryman Text
Nicolet Bancshares Inc. Chairman Bob Atwell said 2010
will be a year for grinding out increased profits.
Atwell, who also is president and chief executive officer of
the Green Bay-based bank holding company, said 2009
wasn’t as good a year as they would prefer, but it was
better than 2008 and better than many of their peers and
competitors experienced.
The privately held parent company of Nicolet National
Bank held its annual meeting Monday in the Meyer
Theatre in downtown Green Bay.
Nicolet reported $1.17 million in net income for 2009,
compared with $189,000 in 2008. Total assets were 3
percent less, to $675 million, but total loans were up 2
percent to $487 million, and core deposits were up 21
percent to $394 million.
At the end of 2009, the bank’s Tier 1 ratio was 13.6
percent and its risk-based capital ratio was 14.8 percent.
The budgeted loan-loss reserve for 2010 is $6 million, the
same as was put aside for 2009.
“We feel we are positioned adequately to deal with asset
quality real time out of current earnings,” said Ann
Lawson, chief financial officer.
Nonperforming loans were 1.69 percent, compared with
a statewide average of 4.48 percent. Nonperforming
assets were 1.42 percent, compared with 3.82 percent,
and net charge-offs were 1.11 percent, compared with
2.77 percent.
“We see 2010 as a year of earnings progress, kind of
grinding it out,” Atwell said.
Page 1 of 2 Nicolet Bancshares chairman Bob Atwell optimistic at annual meeting | Green Bay Press-Gazette May 4, 2010
S
Commercial real estate loans will continue to be a
challenge for banks, said Mike Daniels, president and
chief operating officer of Nicolet National Bank.
“Our true commercial and industrial customers are doing
better,” he said. “I think it will take a while yet (before
commercial real estate rebounds). I don’t think it’s gotten
to its worst yet.”
Atwell said that during the bank’s first decade, it focused
on organic growth – attracting more customers – but
in the future acquisitions might play a part. He said the
industry landscape has changed. There were 8,500 banks
in the United States in 2007, when the recession started,
and that number could be reduced to 5,000 in the next six
years through bank failures and consolidations, he said.
“We have the ability to pursue those things if they are
opportune for us,” Atwell said.
Nicolet sold nearly $15 million of preferred stock to the
U.S. Treasury as part of the Capital Purchase Program
designed to prop up the banking system during the
most panicky stretch of the recession. Atwell said public
criticism of the program resulted in Congress attaching
more strings after the stock was sold, but called them
mostly nuisances.
“We saw this as an opportunity for us to grow, and
increase capital for defensive purposes,” he said.
“We’ll repay it when it makes the most sense for our
shareholders. I don’t want to raise $15 million of
common equity right now.”
Banks pay the government a 5 percent annual dividend
for the money.
Member FDIC | Equal Housing Lender
 I N T H E N E W S

The company also raised $9.5 million in private

investment at the time it received the federal money.

Shareholders elected the following Monday as directors:

Atwell, Daniels, Daniel Ariens, John Dykema, Gary
Fairchild, Michael Felhofer, Andrew Hetzel, Jr., Donald
Long, Jr., Benjamin Meeuwsen, Susan Merkatoris, Wade
Micoley, Sandra Renard and Robert Weyers.

Page 2 of 2 Nicolet Bancshares chairman Bob Atwell optimistic at annual meeting | Green Bay Press-Gazette May 4, 2010

Member FDIC | Equal Housing Lender