OLNEY, Md., July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc., (NASDAQ:SASR) announced that its Board of Directors recently authorized the repurchase of up to an additional 5%, or approximately 786,000 shares, of its outstanding common stock. Repurchased shares will be available to satisfy stock option exercises and employee benefits plans and for other corporate purposes. The share repurchases are expected to be made primarily on the open market from time to time until March 31, 2009 or earlier termination of the repurchase program by the Board. Repurchases under the program will be made at the discretion of management based upon market conditions and other factors. The recent action replaces the previous share repurchase program, which expired on March 31, 2007.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010424/SSPRINGLOGO-a ) "Although the Company has not been an active purchaser of its own shares in recent periods, we feel that market conditions currently present us with a good opportunity to use our capital for this purpose. Accordingly, we look to be more aggressive in utilizing this repurchase authority," stated Hunter R. Hollar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sandy Spring Bancorp. Sandy Spring Bancorp's 16,461,547 outstanding shares of common stock trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SASR.
About Sandy Spring Bancorp/Sandy Spring Bank With $3.1 billion in assets, Sandy Spring Bancorp is the holding company for Sandy Spring Bank and its principal subsidiaries, Sandy Spring Insurance Corporation, The Equipment Leasing Company and West Financial Services, Inc. Sandy Spring Bancorp is the second largest publicly traded banking company headquartered in Maryland. Sandy Spring is a community banking organization that focuses its lending and other services on businesses and consumers in the local market area. Independent and community-oriented, Sandy Spring Bank was founded in 1868 and offers a broad range of commercial banking, retail banking and trust services through 42 community offices in Anne Arundel, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George's counties in Maryland, and in Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia. Through its subsidiaries, Sandy Spring Bank also offers a comprehensive menu of leasing, insurance and investment management services. Visit http://www.sandyspringbank.com/ to locate an ATM near you or for more information about Sandy Spring Bank. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010424/SSPRINGLOGO-a http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc.
CONTACT: Hunter R. Hollar, President & Chief Executive Officer, , or Philip J. Mantua, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, , both of Sandy Spring Bancorp, +1-800-399-5919 Web site: http://www.sandyspringbank.com/
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