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BIMINI CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCES FOURTH QUARTER 2021 RESULTS
VERO BEACH, Fla. (March 10, 2022) – Bimini Capital Management, Inc. (OTCBB:BMNM),
(“Bimini Capital,” “Bimini,” or the
“Company”) today announced results of operations for the three month period
ended December 31, 2021.
Fourth Quarter 2021 Highlights
●
Net loss of $0.6 million, or $0.05 per common share
●
Book value per share of $3.08
●
Company to discuss results on Friday, March 11, 2022, at 10:00 AM ET
Management Commentary
Commenting on the fourth quarter results, Robert E. Cauley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “The country and economy
appear to be on the verge of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stimulated by unprecedented monetary and fiscal policy, the
most significant combination of the two since the Second World War, the fading effect of the pandemic is clearly causing the economy
to run at unsustainable levels, resulting in very tight labor markets and the highest
level of inflation in decades. The Federal Reserve
(the “Fed”) is in the midst of a rapid transformation from accommodation to constraint
and will likely begin raising short-term rates at
their meeting in March of 2022.
Currently the market anticipates the Fed will continue to raise rates throughout
the year and into 2023,
possibly by as much as 200 basis points.
Further, they are rapidly winding down their asset purchases and will likely stop asset
purchases altogether – possibly by the end of the year – as they begin the process
of “normalizing” the size of their balance sheet.
The
effect of these developments on interest rates has been a material flattening of the U.S. Treasury curve, whereby short
and
intermediate term rates rise and more so relative to longer maturity U.S. Treasuries. The Russian invasion
of Ukraine on February 24,
2022 may cause the Fed to alter their monetary policy decisions over the course
of 2022. The outbreak of hostilities has raised the
threat of a more widespread war and will certainly be inflationary, especially with respect to commodities. However, given the level of
inflation and strength of the economy at present, such developments would
likely have to be severe in order to meaningfully impact the
path of monetary policy over the near-term.
“Orchid had another strong quarter growing its shareholders’ equity after raising
net proceeds of approximately $115.5 million through
its “at the market” program during the fourth quarter of 2021. Through the end
of 2021, Orchid has increased its shareholders’ equity by
approximately $352.8 million, or 85%.
As a result, Bimini Advisor’s advisory services revenue
increased 19% over the third quarter.
Dividend income on our shares of Orchid common stock was unchanged from the
third quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2020
at $0.065 per share per month. In January 2022, Orchid announced it will be reducing
its monthly dividend to $0.055 per share.
“The Agency RMBS portfolio at Royal Palm Capital decreased by 6%
during the fourth quarter of 2021, the combined effect of $2.5
million of paydowns, return of investment on the structured securities portfolio
of $0.2 million and $0.9 million market to market loss.
Prepayment activity during the quarter was 13.7 CPR for the pass-through portfolio,
a decline from 15.5 CPR in the third quarter, and
35.2 CPR for the structured securities portfolio, an increase from 26.9 CPR
for the third quarter.
The combined portfolio prepaid at
21.1 CPR for the fourth quarter versus 18.3 CPR during the third.
The pass-through securities owned by Royal Palm are
predominantly higher coupon and more seasoned, and while rates on the loans
underlying theses securities are still in the money and
the economic incentive to refinance is still present, we are finally seeing slower
speeds, or burnout. We did see some widening in
spreads of these securities as specified pool pay-ups softened late in the quarter.
As a result, for the fourth quarter of 2021, we