First Community Corporation (FCCO): BCG Matrix [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking for a clear-eyed view of First Community Corporation's business lines, and the BCG Matrix is defintely the right tool to map where the cash is coming from and where the investment should go. Honestly, the picture shows a bank with a powerful core: Stars are driving loan growth at 10.4% and Cash Cows are pumping out reliable income thanks to a 3.27% Net Interest Margin, all while the bank stays rock-solid with 13.10% Tier 1 capital. Still, we have to weigh that against the Dogs-like the low-volume mortgage production bringing in just $934 thousand in fees-and the big Question Mark surrounding the Metro Atlanta expansion and advisory services managing $1.103 billion in AUM. Keep reading to see the precise breakdown of where First Community Corporation is winning and where it needs to make tough calls on investment.

Background of First Community Corporation (FCCO)

You're looking at First Community Corporation (FCCO), which you should know is the bank holding company for First Community Bank. Honestly, this is a local community bank with deep roots in the midlands of South Carolina. It trades on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker FCCO, which is handy for tracking.

First Community Corporation serves a clear customer base: small-to-medium sized businesses, professionals, and individuals. They deliver this through three main operational segments. These are Commercial and Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, and the Investment Advisory and Non-Deposit services. It's a fairly standard, diversified community bank structure, to be fair.

As of late 2025, specifically looking at the data from September 30, 2025, First Community Corporation reported total assets reaching $2.1 billion. That's a solid number for a regional player. They operate across South Carolina-in the Midlands, Upstate, Aiken, and Piedmont Regions-and also have a presence in the Augusta region of Georgia, with 21 full-service banking offices in total.

The bank provides the usual deposit products you'd expect, like checking, NOW, and savings accounts, plus longer-term certificates of deposit. What's interesting is their focus on strategic moves; they've been active in both organic growth and acquisitions. For instance, they recently announced an agreement to acquire Signature Bank of Georgia to bolster their market position and add SBA/GGL lines of business.

If you track dividends, you'll note a consistent history here. As of the first quarter of 2025, First Community Corporation had just paid its 93rd consecutive quarterly cash dividend. This commitment to returning capital is definitely a key characteristic of their financial profile leading into the end of 2025.

First Community Corporation (FCCO) - BCG Matrix: Stars

You're looking at the business units within First Community Corporation (FCCO) that are dominating high-growth areas, which is exactly where the BCG Matrix labels a Star. These units require significant cash to maintain their leading position, but they are the future cash cows, so we need to keep feeding them investment for now.

The core banking operations, particularly in lending and deposit gathering within the primary footprint, show clear Star characteristics based on recent performance metrics. This is where the bank is winning market share in a growing environment.

Consider the performance of the primary lending activities:

• Commercial and Retail Lending in Core Markets saw a 10.4% annualized loan growth rate in Q1 2025, signaling strong regional market share capture.
• The overall revenue trajectory is projected at 17.2% per year, which outpaces the US market growth rate of 10.4% per year, placing FCCO in a high-growth market position.

The profitability engine, the Net Interest Margin (NIM), shows sustained success, which is critical for a Star. This indicates that the high growth isn't coming at the expense of core profitability.

The foundation of this Star status is the established market leadership in the core operating area. This high relative market share is the entry ticket to the Star quadrant.

• Core Deposit and Loan Franchise is the largest community bank in the South Carolina Midlands.
• Total Assets stood at $2.1 billion as of September 30, 2025.
• Investment Advisory Assets Under Management (AUM) reached a record of $1.103 billion in Q3 2025.

To keep these units as Stars, FCCO must continue to invest heavily in promotion and placement to fend off competitors, ensuring they transition into Cash Cows when the market growth inevitably slows down. The high growth rate means cash coming in is immediately reinvested to support that growth.

First Community Corporation (FCCO) - BCG Matrix: Cash Cows

You're looking at the core engine of First Community Corporation (FCCO) performance, the units that fund everything else. These are the market leaders in mature segments, generating more cash than they need to maintain their position. For First Community Corporation (FCCO), these cash cows are foundational to its stability and ability to fund riskier growth areas.

Core Deposit Franchise: This franchise provides the stable, low-cost funding that defines a banking cash cow. The focus here is on relationship accounts over price-sensitive funding sources. The cost of deposits improved to 1.81% in Q3 2025, which is excellent for funding asset growth. Total deposits stood at $1.771 billion as of September 30, 2025, with customer deposits (total deposits excluding brokered CDs) increasing by $27.6 million during the quarter. Non-interest bearing accounts are a key indicator of franchise strength, growing by $7.4 million to $483.3 million, representing 27.3% of total deposits.

Net Interest Income (NII): This is the primary driver of operational cash flow, consistently bolstered by margin expansion. First Community Corporation (FCCO) reported its sixth consecutive quarter of net interest margin expansion, reaching 3.27% on a tax-equivalent basis in Q3 2025. This efficiency in core lending and funding translated directly to the bottom line. NII rose 4.4% quarter-over-quarter to $15.994 million.

The following table summarizes the key financial outputs from these cash-generating business units for the third quarter of 2025:

Traditional Fee Income (Service Charges): This revenue stream is stable and non-cyclical, requiring minimal new investment to maintain. Total non-interest income increased 6.3% quarter-over-quarter to $4.469 million. This total is supported by specific, high-quality fee components:

• Investment advisory revenue reached $1.862 million, supported by Assets Under Management (AUM) hitting a record $1.103 billion.
• Mortgage line of business fee revenue totaled $934 thousand from $51.6 million in production.
• Non-interest bearing accounts represent 27.3% of the total deposit base.

Strong Regulatory Capital Base: The capital position is robust, which is critical for a bank to maintain its market leadership and support shareholder returns without stressing operations. First Community Corporation (FCCO) maintains ratios well above the well-capitalized thresholds. The Tier 1 Capital Ratio stood at 13.10% in Q3 2025. Furthermore, the Tangible Common Equity to Tangible Assets ratio was 7.15% as of September 30, 2025. This strength directly supports shareholder distributions, evidenced by the consistent dividend policy. The Board approved a cash dividend of $0.16 per common share, marking the 95th consecutive quarter of payments.

The company is actively managing its capital for shareholder return, including the approval of a plan to repurchase up to $7.5 million of its common stock.

First Community Corporation (FCCO) - BCG Matrix: Dogs

You're looking at the units within First Community Corporation (FCCO) that fit the Dogs quadrant-those operating in low-growth markets with a low relative market share. Honestly, these are the areas where capital gets tied up for minimal return, so we need to be clear-eyed about their contribution.

The core idea here is that these business units frequently break even, neither earning nor consuming much cash, but they are prime candidates for divestiture because the money is stuck there. Expensive turn-around plans usually don't help much, so avoidance and minimization are the key strategies.

Residential Mortgage Banking Production

The mortgage line of business shows signs of being a Dog, especially when looking at the fee revenue compared to the overall picture. For the third quarter of 2025, the fee revenue from this segment was only $934 thousand. Compare that to the investment advisory revenue for the same period, which hit a record $1.862 million, and you see the relative drag.

What's more concerning is the trend in production volume. Total mortgage production in Q3 2025 was $51.6 million. This was a clear step down from the linked second quarter of 2025 production of $62.9 million. You can see the quarter-over-quarter fall in the components:

Even looking back to Q1 2025, the fee revenue was $759 thousand, so while Q3 was slightly higher than Q1, the overall production decline suggests low market share momentum in a segment that requires constant volume.

Certain Legacy Loan Portfolios

These older, lower-yielding loan segments are sitting in established markets that aren't seeing much growth, so they are just running off. The overall loan portfolio yield is moving, but slowly. For Q3 2025, the loan yield was 5.84%, up from 5.77% in Q2 2025, but this small increase doesn't overcome the structural issue of runoff in older books.

The pressure from this runoff is visible when you look at the year-over-year change in loan balances and interest income, which points to older assets being paid down faster than new, higher-yielding loans are replacing them in these specific legacy areas. Here's the quick math on that pressure:

• Average balance of loans decreased by $116.18 million year-over-year as of Q3 2025.
• Interest income on loans decreased by $1.30 million year-over-year as of Q3 2025.
• This represents a 4.73% decrease in average loan balance and a 4.05% decrease in interest income from loans compared to Q3 2024.

If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises, and for these legacy assets, the risk is simply slow decay.

Low-Volume Branch Locations

Physical branches in mature, non-growth areas that maintain a low market share are classic Dogs. First Community Bank serves customers across the Midlands, Aiken, Upstate, and Piedmont Regions of South Carolina, plus Augusta, Georgia. As of September 30, 2025, the company operated 21 banking offices across these markets.

While the overall deposit franchise is strong-customer deposits (excluding brokered CDs) were $1.771 billion at September 30, 2025-the contribution from individual, low-volume physical locations is likely minimal compared to the digital channels and larger relationship centers. These branches contribute minimally to net income, acting as necessary, but low-return, infrastructure.

We can look at the overall deposit base strength versus the physical footprint:

• Total Deposits (as of 9/30/2025): $1.771 billion.
• Customer Deposits (as of 9/30/2025): $1.771 billion (no brokered deposits).
• Number of Banking Offices (as of 9/30/2025): 21.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

First Community Corporation (FCCO) - BCG Matrix: Question Marks

Question Marks for First Community Corporation (FCCO) represent business units operating in high-growth areas but currently holding a low relative market share. These units consume cash to fuel their growth potential, which could eventually see them transition into Stars, or otherwise risk becoming Dogs if market share doesn't increase rapidly.

Investment Advisory Services: High-growth potential with AUM hitting a record $1.103 billion in Q3 2025, but still a small revenue contributor at $1.862 million.

You're seeing significant asset gathering here, which is the hallmark of a market gaining traction. Assets Under Management (AUM) reached a record $1.103 billion as of September 30, 2025. That's a 19.1 % increase year-to-date through September 30, 2025. But, the revenue generated from managing those assets-the investment advisory revenue-was $1.862 million in the third quarter of 2025. To be fair, that revenue is growing, up 16.7% year-over-year from Q3 2024's $1.595 million, but relative to the total asset base, it shows low monetization or a low market share of fee-generating business compared to peers. Honestly, the growth trajectory is what makes this a Question Mark rather than a Dog.

The growth in AUM is clear, but the revenue per dollar managed needs to improve for this to move up the matrix. Here's the quick math: Q3 2025 revenue of $1.862 million on AUM of $1.103 billion implies a fee rate of about 0.169% for the quarter, which seems low for an advisory segment, suggesting low market share capture on the fee side.

Metro Atlanta Expansion: The planned acquisition of Signature Bank of Georgia is a high-risk, high-reward move into a new, competitive growth market.

This acquisition is a clear bet on market share capture in a dynamic area. First Community Corporation agreed to acquire Signature Bank of Georgia in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $41.6 million, based on First Community Corporation's closing price of $24.84 per share as of July 11, 2025. This move expands First Community Corporation's footprint into the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia MSA. On a pro forma combined basis, the resulting entity is expected to have total assets of approximately $2.3 billion, total deposits of $2.0 billion, and total loans of $1.5 billion at closing. The transaction is projected to be accretive to First Community Corporation's earnings per share by nearly 4.4% in 2026. The deal is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2026.

This strategic move is designed to rapidly increase market presence, but it requires significant integration effort, which is cash-consuming in the near term. The transaction structure anticipates tangible book value dilution of approximately 2.6%, with an earnback period of 2.2 years.

SBA/GGL Lines of Business: New, specialized lending segments to be added via the Signature Bank of Georgia acquisition, representing a new, unproven market share for First Community Corporation.

The specialized lending capabilities of Signature Bank of Georgia, particularly in Small Business Administration (SBA) lending, are a key driver for this Question Mark category. Signature Bank of Georgia reported that its net interest margin of 4.63% was higher than peers, largely due to its variable-priced SBA loan portfolio. Leading up to the merger announcement, Signature Bank of Georgia's total loans had increased by over $31 million year-over-year.

You're acquiring an established, albeit smaller, specialized book of business. The integration of these segments means First Community Corporation is immediately competing in a new space with unproven market share for the combined entity. The plan is for Signature Chairman and CEO Freddie J. Deutsch to become the regional market president and director of Specialty Business Lending at First Community Bank.

• Signature Bank of Georgia total deposits were $205.9 million as of June 30, 2025.
• Signature Bank of Georgia net income for Q2 2025 was over $1.1 million.
• The acquisition is expected to enhance First Community Corporation's TCE/TA ratio by approximately 35 basis points, resulting in a pro forma ratio of 7.45%.

Digital Banking Initiatives: Investments in new digital capabilities to compete with larger banks; high investment required for an unestablished market share in the digital space.

First Community Corporation is actively supporting its existing operations with digital tools, but competing digitally against larger institutions requires substantial, ongoing investment for a bank of this size. The bank currently offers FREE Digital Banking and the Xpress by FCB Mobile App for managing money, paying bills, and transferring funds.

While the need for heavy investment to gain digital market share is a classic Question Mark characteristic, the specific financial figures for these digital investments or the resulting market share metrics aren't explicitly detailed in the latest reports. What we do see is that non-interest expense rose by $591K quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2025, driven in part by merger-related costs and marketing spend of $349K. This shows cash consumption from strategic activities, which includes the necessary push to modernize.

The bank's overall non-interest expense was $13.674 million in Q3 2025.