BIMINI CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER 2022 RESULTS
VERO BEACH, Fla., (May
12, 2022) – Bimini
Capital Management, Inc. (OTCQB:
BMNM), (“Bimini Capital,” “Bimini,”
or the “Company”),
today announced results of operations for the three-month period ended March
31, 2022.
First Quarter 2022 Highlights
●
Net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.33 per common share
●
Book value per share of $2.77
●
Company to discuss results on Friday, May 13, 2022, at 10:00 AM ET
Management Commentary
Commenting on the
first quarter results,
Robert E. Cauley,
Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer,
said, “The first
quarter of 2022
was
extremely volatile as the Federal Reserve
(the “Fed”) pivoted quickly from unprecedented monetary
policy accommodation to the rapid
removal of the accommodation. The Fed announced their first rate hike of the cycle at
their March 2022 meeting of 25 basis points and
last week announced another hike, this time of 50 basis points and stated 50 basis
point hikes were on the table for the June 2022 and
July 2022 meetings as well. Current market
pricing in the futures markets implies the Fed
will raise the target for the
Fed Funds rate to
approximately 2.70% by
the end of
2022 and to
slightly over 3.00%
by the second
quarter of 2023.
The U.S. economy
has recovered
quickly from the COVID-19 induced downturn with the help of the Fed’s monetary policy
and equally unprecedented fiscal stimulus from
the government. As the
economy recovered rapidly,
inflationary pressures emerged including labor,
with a sub-4% unemployment rate
which continues to fall and wage growth well above 5%. The war in Ukraine has further stimulated inflationary pressures as Russia and
Ukraine are leading
suppliers of food,
energy, and many other commodities.
COVID-19 induced shutdowns
in China have also
increased
supply constraints, another source
of inflationary pressure. As
the second quarter of 2022
unfolds, these trends have
intensified, and the
Fed has stated their
intention to get the
policy rate to neutral
as quickly as practical.
The Fed will also
begin their balance
sheet reduction
commencing in June of 2022.
“Orchid Island
Capital reported
a first
quarter 2022
loss of
$148.7 million
and its
shareholders equity
declined from
$768.1 million
to
$592.4 million. The market conditions described above
drove the loss as agency MBS underperformed comparable
duration treasuries
and the
Orchid’s hedge
positions. The decline
in shareholders
equity will
lead to
reduced management fees
at Bimini
Advisors in
the
near-term since the management
fees are a
function of Orchid’s
equity. Orchid
also reduced its monthly
dividend twice during the
first
quarter from $0.065 per month
to $0.045 per month. The reductions
in the monthly dividend
decreased the revenues to the
Company on
its
approximately 2.5
million shares.
Orchid, like
Bimini, will
focus
on weathering
the current
market conditions
and looks
forward to
capitalizing on the attractive returns that historically have become available as markets
settle.
“The Agency RMBS
portfolio at Royal
Palm Capital decreased
by 10% during the
first quarter of
2022, the combined
effect of $2.8 million
of paydowns, return
of investment on the
structured securities portfolio of
$0.2 million and a
net $3.1 million
market to market
loss. As
the market continues
to be impacted by
the events described above and
MBS assets remain under pressure,
we have further reduced
our RMBS holdings in order to preserve cash and book value.
For the second quarter of 2022 to date, we have
sold RMBS assets with
a market value at the time of sale of $23.1 million, realizing a loss of $0.9 million. The RMBS portfolio has a market value as of April 30,
2022 of
approximately $29.0
million. Our
intention is
to grow
our cash
position until
we see
clear evidence
the market
has stabilized
before redeploying
our cash
to resume
growing the
portfolio. We
may add
to our
Orchid share
holdings given
the stock
is trading
at
attractive levels but do not have unlimited capacity to do so.