UNITED BANCORP INC /OH/

Inflation

The majority of assets and liabilities of the Company are monetary in nature and therefore the Company differs greatly from most commercial and industrial companies that have significant investments in fixed assets or inventories. However, inflation does have an important impact on the growth of total assets in the banking industry and the resulting need to increase equity capital at higher-than-normal rates in order to maintain an appropriate equity to assets ratio. Inflation significantly affects noninterest expense, which tends to rise during periods of general inflation. Management believes the most significant impact on financial results is the Company’s ability to react to changes in interest rates. Management seeks to maintain an essentially balanced position between interest sensitive assets and liabilities and actively manages the amount of securities available for sale in order to protect against the effects of wide interest rate fluctuations on net income and shareholders’ equity.