Security National Financial Corporation Reports Financial Results for the Year Ended December 31, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY, March 31, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Security National Financial Corporation (SNFC) (NASDAQ symbol "SNFCA") announced financial results for the year ended December 31, 2020.

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, SNFC’s after-tax earnings from operations increased 410% from $10,894,000 in 2019 to $55,597,000 in 2020, on a 70% increase in revenues to $481,463,000.

Scott Quist, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of SNFC, said, “For the year total revenues increased 94%, profitability increased over 400%, and we achieved a 21% return on equity. Those spectacular results, delivered in difficult circumstances, reflect the excellence of our Company and its people. I applaud the efforts of all our teams in their considerable accomplishment. Most importantly, every business segment delivered impressive results.

“Our mortgage segment was able to take great advantage of the financial market circumstances presented this year. The pandemic-created interest rate declines spurred refinance volumes, made purchase transactions more affordable, and provided generally higher margins. However, taking advantage of the favorable conditions created great operational and staffing problems in the midst of the pandemic, where hiring and training were very difficult. Our hardworking staff met the challenge of the doubled volumes by increasing efficiency in a very difficult environment. Unexpectedly, towards the end of Q4 we were approached regarding the settlement of the 11-year-old Lehman litigation. The litigation had progressed to the point where expensive trial preparation was about to commence, and while we believed we had strong defenses to the claims, weighing the costs of trial versus the certainty of results via settlement, we elected to settle. While the settlement cost was ultimately greater than I anticipated, I feel strongly that the correct decision was to put the matter behind us. Lastly, during 2020 we kept our purchase mortgage strategy firmly in place. While the market naturally provided refinance transactions which we have taken advantage of, more notably we increased our purchase mortgage transactions by 60%. Suffice it to say, our Mortgage Segment provided spectacular results.