Yadkin Valley Financial Corp. of Elkin, N.C., citing a need to preserve capital, cut its quarterly dividend by more than half, to 6 cents a share.
Bill Long, the $1.5 billion-asset company's president and chief executive, said Monday in a press release that the reduced dividend, which will be paid this quarter, "strikes the right balance between rewarding our shareholders and preserving our capital during a prolonged downturn in the economic environment."
By early Monday afternoon Yadkin Valley's shares had climbed 4.5% from Friday's close, to $7.50 a share.
This month Yadkin Valley said it would restate its fourth-quarter results, changing a profit to a loss. It has agreed to buy the $532 million-asset American Community Bancshares Inc. in Charlotte, but a Yadkin Valley director is lobbying to stop the deal.
Yadkin Valley said last month that it had been approved for a $36 million infusion from the Treasury Department's Capital Purchase Program.
