Timberland Bank Receives Regulatory Approval to Acquire Seven Venture Bank Branches

Business Wire, Sept 30, 2004

HOQUIAM, Wash. -- Timberland Bank, the subsidiary of Timberland Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:TSBK), announced today that it has received regulatory approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to acquire seven branch offices and related deposits from Venture Bank, the subsidiary of Venture Financial Group. Details of the transaction were previously announced on June 24, 2004.

Timberland Bank was founded in Hoquiam, WA in 1915 and has grown to a 16 branch network of full-service community banking locations in five counties. At June 30, 2004, Timberland Bank had $436 million in assets and $308 million in deposits. The Bank's core values are centered on providing exceptional, customer-focused products and services that meet the needs of individuals, families and businesses in the communities it serves. This includes a full range of traditional banking products such as checking, savings, CDs, IRAs, home and consumer loans. In addition, the bank has capitalized on niche lending products such as land and construction loans, and financing for businesses. Financial planning services are available through its subsidiary, Timberland Financial Services Center.

Except for the historical information in this new release, this release contains certain "forward-looking statements." The Company desires to take advantage of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this statement for the express purpose of availing itself of the protection of such safe harbor with forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements may describe future plans or strategies and include the Company's expectations of future financial results. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that might cause actual results to differ materially from stated objectives. These risk factors include but are not limited to the ability of the Company to effectively integrate acquired branches and employees into its systems, effect of interest rate changes, competition in the financial services market for both deposits and loans as well as regional and general economic conditions. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "scheduled" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The Company's ability to predict results or the effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements.