Exhibit 99.1

Civista Bancshares, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2018 Earnings

Sandusky, Ohio, July 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/– Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) (“Civista”) reported net income available to common shareholders of $2.7 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2018, compared with $3.3 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, for the prior year period. For the six-month period ended June 30, 2018, Civista reported net income available to common shareholders of $9.4 million or $0.79 per diluted share, compared to $7.6 million or $0.68 per diluted share, in the same period of 2017. The results for both the second quarter and six-month periods include approximately $3.2 million or $0.20 per diluted share of pre-tax merger related expenses for the acquisition of United Community Bancorp (“UCB”). The increase in diluted earnings per share when comparing 2018 to 2017 was partially offset by an increase in dilutive shares outstanding as a result of the 1.6 million shares of stock issued in February 2017.

“We had a very successful second quarter in 2018. While we have begun to incur expenses related to the acquisition of UCB, those expenses have been in line with our initial projections. Our core earnings per share increased $0.31 per diluted share. Our loan balances have begun to pick up and we had annualized loan growth of 9.1% in the quarter. We recently announced our dividend for the third quarter of 2018 at $0.09 per share which is an increase of 28.6%. We announced earlier this week that we have obtained all necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals for the closing of the UCB acquisition. We look forward to welcoming the UCB shareholders, customers and employees to Civista.” said Dennis G. Shaffer, President and CEO of Civista.

Results of Operations:

Net interest income increased $1.4 million, or 10.5% for the second quarter of 2018, and $3.3 million or 12.5% and for the six months ended June 30, compared to the same periods of 2017. Interest income increased $1.9 million, or 13.6% for the second quarter of 2018 and $4.2 million or 14.9% for the six-month period ended June 30. For both periods, an increase in average loans outstanding, as well as an increase in loan yields, contributed to the increase in interest income compared to 2017. Interest expense increased $533 thousand or 61.9% for the second quarter of 2018 and $887 thousand or 53.5% for the six-months ended June 30 compared to the same periods of 2017. The increase in interest expense is due to both an increase in average balances and an increase in the cost of interest-bearing liabilities. The tax equivalent net interest margin increased 16 basis points to 4.21% for the second quarter of 2018, compared to 4.05% for the same period a year ago and increased 27 basis points to 4.13% for the six months ended June 30, 2018, compared to 3.86% for the same period a year ago.

Mr. Shaffer continued, “While we have seen an increase in our funding costs, the increase in our interest income has exceeded our interest expense. We have been, and continue to be, positioned to take advantage of rising rates.”

Average Balance Analysis

(Unaudited - Dollars in thousands except share data)

Average Balance Analysis

(Unaudited - Dollars in thousands except share data)

No provision for loan losses was recorded during 2018 and 2017.

For the second quarter of 2018, noninterest income totaled $4.4 million, an increase of $289 thousand, or 7.0%, compared to the prior year’s second quarter. Noninterest income for the first six-months of 2018 totaled $10.0 million, an increase of $769 thousand, or 8.3%, compared to the prior year’s first six months.

Noninterest income

Gain on sale of loans increased $72 thousand, or 9.8%, for the six-month period ended June 30 due to an increase in the volume of loans sold of $6.0 million, or 19.1%, compared to the same period in 2017. Wealth management fees increased $98 thousand, or 13.3%, and $243 thousand, or 16.8%, for the second quarter and six-month periods ended June 30, 2018 and 2017. Assets under management increased $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2018 and $13.7 million or 3.0% since the end of the second quarter 2017. Other noninterest income increased for the second quarter and six-month periods due to an increase in swap related income of $108 thousand and $166 thousand, respectively.

For the second quarter of 2018, noninterest expense totaled $15.9 million, an increase of $3.4 million, or 26.9%, compared to the prior year’s second quarter. Noninterest expense for the first six-months of 2018 increased $4.1 million, or 17.0%, when compared to the first six-months of 2017.

Noninterest expense

Compensation expense increased $442 thousand, or 6.4%, for the second quarter and $834 thousand, or 6.0%, for the six-month period ending June 30, 2018. Employee salaries and incentives increased $415 thousand for the three months and $690 thousand for the six months ended June 30, 2018 compared to last year. Additionally, employee benefits increased $17 thousand for the three months and $113 thousand for the six months ended June 30, 2018 compared to last year. Net occupancy and equipment expense increased $113, or 10.5%, and $262, or 12.7%, for the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2018, primarily due to increases in grounds maintenance and utilities, as a result of the extended winter weather we experienced in our region. Contracted data processing expenses increased $2.3 million, or 538.5%, and $2.3 million, or 277.4%, for the three and six-month periods ended June 30, 2018, due to expenses incurred for the data processing conversion of UCB. Both periods of 2018 included approximately $2.4 million of data conversion expenses related to the UCB acquisition. Professional services costs increased $750 thousand, or 102.3%, for the second quarter and $851 thousand, or 71.9%, for the six-month period ending June 30, 2018. Both periods of 2018 included approximately $700 thousand of legal and consulting expenses related to the UCB acquisition.

The efficiency ratio was 70.3% for the six months ended June 30, 2018 compared to 66.3% for the six months ended June 30, 2017. The increase in the efficiency ratio is due primarily to $3.2 million of expenses related to the pending merger with UCB, partially offset by an increase in net interest income. The merger expenses in the second quarter of 2018 accounted for 790 basis points of the change.

The 2018 impact of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act was a reduction of income tax expense of approximately $195 thousand or $0.02 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2018 and $1.1 million, or $0.09 per diluted share for the first six-months of 2018. Civista’ s effective income tax rate for the second quarter and six-month period ended June 30, 2018 was 6.6% and 12.3%, respectively.

Balance Sheet

Total assets increased $22.5 million, or 1.5%, from December 31, 2017 to June 30, 2018, primarily due to an increase in the loan portfolio of $15.4 million.

End of period loan balances

(dollars in thousands)

The $15.4 million, or 1.3%, increase in the loan portfolio from December 31, 2017 to June 30, 2018 is due to increases in our Commercial Real Estate and Real Estate Construction loan portfolios.

Mr. Shaffer continued, “The growth in our loan portfolio was slowed by the weather in the first quarter of this year. While our year-to-date growth is only 1.3% or 2.6% annually, our annualized growth in the second quarter was 9.1%. Our pipelines are strong and we are optimistic about our growth prospects for the rest of 2018. ”

Total deposits decreased $58.8 million, or 4.9%, from December 31, 2017 to June 30, 2018. The decrease was due primarily to a reduction of brokered deposits partially offset by cash balances related to the tax refund processing program.

End of period deposit balances

(dollars in thousands)

The increase in noninterest-bearing demand is due to an increase in deposits from the tax refund processing program of $53.2 million offset by a decrease in business deposits of $25.4 million. Interest-bearing demand deposits increased due to a $13.4 million increase in public funds accounts. Savings and money market deposits increased due to a $6.1 million increase in statement savings and a $1.9 million increase in personal money market accounts. Brokered deposits decreased due to a shift to overnight FHLB advances for wholesale funding.

Federal Home Loan Bank advances increased $84.3 million to $156.2 million at June 30, 2018 or 117.2% from December 31, 2017 to June 30, 2018, due to a short term shift in wholesale funding sources.

Total shareholders’ equity increased $5.4 million, or 2.9%, from December 31, 2017 to June 30, 2018, primarily due to a $8.2 million increase in retained earnings, partially offset by a $3.4 million decrease in accumulated other comprehensive income. During the second quarter of 2018, $3.8 million of preferred stock was converted to common stock. Since issuance in December 2013, approximately $9.9 million has been converted from preferred stock to common stock.

Asset Quality

The Company recorded net charge-offs of $267 thousand for the first half of 2018 compared to $258 thousand for the same period of 2017.

The allowance for loan losses to loans was 1.09% for 2018 and 1.19% for 2017. The decrease in the ratio is primarily due to our continued improvement in asset quality during 2018. The non-performing assets to assets ratio decreased to 0.49% from 0.71% in 2017. The allowance for loan losses to non-performing loans increased to 168.36% from 154.41% in 2017.

Non-performing assets at June 30, 2018 were $7.6 million, a 20.0% decrease from December 31, 2017.

Conference Call and Webcast

Civista Bancshares, Inc. will also host a conference call to discuss the Company’s financial results for the second quarter of 2018 at 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday July 27, 2018. Interested parties can access the live webcast of the conference call through the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, www.civb.com. Participants can also listen to the conference call by dialing 855-238-2712 and ask to be joined into the Civista Bancshares, Inc. Second Quarter 2018 Earnings call. Please log in or dial in at least 10 minutes prior to the start time to ensure a connection.

An archive of the webcast will be available for one year on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website (www.civb.com).

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements regarding the financial performance, business prospects, growth and operating strategies of Civista. For these statements, Civista claims the protections of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release should be considered in conjunction with the other information available about Civista, including the information in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. The forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. We have tried, wherever possible, to identify such statements by using words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “will” and similar expressions in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include risk factors relating to the banking industry and the other factors detailed from time to time in Civista’ reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those described in “Item 1A Risk Factors” of Part I of Civista’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Civista does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the events or circumstances after the date on which the forward-looking statement is made, or reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except to the extent required by law.

Civista Bancshares, Inc. is a $1.5 billion bank holding company headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio. The Company’s banking subsidiary, Civista Bank, operates 29 locations in Northern, Central and Southwestern Ohio. Civista Bancshares, Inc. may be accessed at HUwww.civb.comUH. The Company’s common shares are traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “CIVB”. The Company’s depositary shares, each representing a 1/40^th ownership interest in a Series B Preferred Share, are traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “CIVBP”.

For additional information, contact:

Dennis G. Shaffer

President and CEO

Civista Bancshares, Inc.

888-645-4121

Civista Bancshares, Inc.

Financial Highlights

(dollars in thousands, except share amounts)

Consolidated Condensed Statement of Income

Selected Balance Sheet Items

Supplemental Financial Information

(Unaudited - Dollars in thousands except share data)

Supplemental Financial Information

(Unaudited - Dollars in thousands except share data)