Q4 2006 BankAtlantic Bancorp Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: At this time, I would like it welcome everyone to the BankAtlantic Bancorp fourth quarter full year 2006 earnings conference call. [OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference is being recorded, today, February 1, 2007. Thank you. I would now like the introduce Mr. Leo Hinckley, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Hinckley, you may begin your conference.

LEO HINCKLEY, SVP, IR, BANKATLANTIC BANCORP: Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us at the BankAtlantic Bancorp teleconference conference call and webcast discussing our earnings results for the fourth quarter and full year 2006. Our speakers today will be BankAtlantic Bancorp's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Alan B. Levan; and Jim White, BankAtlantic Bancorp's Chief Financial Officer; as well as Mr. Jarett S. Levan, President of BankAtlantic Bancorp and Chief Executive Officer of BankAtlantic. We'll begin our call with a discussion from Alan Levan, and at the conclusion of the discussion and time permitting we will then have a question and answer period.

Copies of the earnings results press release issued on January 31, 2007, are available on the Investor Relations section of our website, BankAtlanticBancorp.com. Copies of the quarterly financials and supplemental financials are also available on the Investor Relations section of the BankAtlantic Bancorp website by clicking the quarterly and/or supplemental financials navigation links. Individual copies and questions may be requested or answered at the investor relations department at 954-940--5300 or by e-mail at Investor Relations@BankAtlantic Bancorp.com.

Before beginning our discussion I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made today may constitute forward-looking statements with respect to plans, projections, and/or the future performance of the Company which includes BankAtlantic Bancorp, BankAtlantic, and Ryan Beck Holdings Inc. Further, statements made today may constitute forward-looking statements with respect to our press release issued also on January 9, 2007, relating to the Ryan Beck Holdings and Stifel Financial transaction. All statements made today not dealing with historical results are forward-looking statements and are based largely on the expectations of BankAtlantic Bancorp and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that are subject to change based on factors which are in many instances beyond the Company's control. Actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. The Company cautions that the foregoing factors are not exclusive.

In addition to the risks and factors identified reference is also made to other risks and factors detailed in the earnings results press release issued on January 31, 2007, and the press release issued on January 9, 2007, announcing the Ryan Beck Stifle transaction as well as reports filed by the Company with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Now it is my great pleasure to introduce Mr. Alan B. Levan. Alan.

JARETT LEVAN, PRESIDENT, BANKATLANTIC BANCORP: Thank you, Leo. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for dialing in this morning. As you can tell our release is much -- is pretty lengthy this morning. There is far more disclosure in this document that we have had in prior quarters, and we've attempted to take a number of your questions and comments over the last few quarters and incorporate it into additional disclosure into the release. Because of the length of it, let me not make opening comments. I will just save those for the end and for Q&A, and let's just start by turning it over to Jim White to talk about the financial results. Jim.

JIM WHITE, EVP, CFO, BANKATLANTIC BANCORP: Thanks, Alan. Earnings for the quarter were $1 million, about $0.02 a share, and for the year 27 million or $0.43. This is all on the discontinued operations basis as Leo has already mentioned in his intro, stripping out the loss of Ryan Beck which was 2.7 million for the quarter and 11.5 for the year. As you might expect, there was a lot of Ryan Beck noise or noise in Ryan Beck's earnings during the quarter reflecting, among other things some of the moves they took early in the fourth quarter to cut expenses and restore it to profitability which of course was prior to the agreement to sell Ryan Beck, so those reports should be viewed as relatively noisy compared to their ongoing earning capability.

The Ryan Beck transaction seems to be going very well. No issues have arisen in the regulatory approval process. In fact, on Tuesday of this week we got accelerated clearance on the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act filing. So what should have taken or could have taken up to 30 days was actually passed in about 15 days from filing. Because of that, while we still expect closing in the first quarter, I would tell you it is more likely that it would be sooner rather than later in the quarter simply because the HSR early clearance.

You probably have noticed the increase in Stifel stock. It is now going at a premium of about 33% having gone from 36 when we negotiated the deal to 48 as of yesterday. While I am on that, I think in last conference -- in the conference call when we announced that transaction, we left the listeners with some confusion about what our intentions were on the Stifel stock. We had not released the definitive agreement at that time and did not feel comfortable commenting on specific aspects of the deals terms until it was filed which occurred later that week, so here it is. We can sell up to one third of our holdings in any one year. We could sell out in a three-year period, and we could also sell earlier if we wanted to and if Stifel agreed to that. What are our specific intentions? I think we will gradually reduce the investment over time and consistent with the limitations of the agreement. I would expect we would sell relatively slowly so as to capture as much as the increase in value that occurs in the Stifel stock from the efficiencies that is we think are in the deal for them, and apparently the market also sees that upside in the deal as is borne out by the increase in its stock.

Our stock buyback program went inactive during the time we were in discussion with various …