Susan Riel
Analyst · David Bishop with Seaport Research Partners. Your line is open. Please go ahead
Thank you, Charles. Good morning everyone and welcome to our earnings call for the second quarter of 2021. I'm pleased to report another great quarter for the bank. Similar to last quarter earnings again are at record levels. Equity has risen to an all time high, asset quality remains high with favorable credit terms and efficiency remains a strength. A key difference from last quarter is that there was an increase in total loans, excluding loans held for sale and PPP loans. There was a modest increase of almost $60 million, but it breaks the downward trend. Focusing on earnings first, earnings for the quarter were 48 million or $1.50 per share. This was a 1.68% return on average assets and a 16.25% return on the average tangible common equity. The larger items impacting earnings this quarter included 4.7 million of accelerated interest income from the sale of PPP loans and 4.6 million reversal from the allowance for credit losses on loans and reserved for unfunded commitments. Earnings over the last four quarters, which includes the third quarter of 2020, when the nation was still locked down, totaled 171.7 million or $5.35 per diluted share. These earnings continue to build our common equity, which at the end of the quarter was 1.3 billion or 11.92% of assets. Turning to asset quality, at the end of the quarter and NPAs were 50 basis points of assets. And for the quarter annualized net charge offs was 30 basis points of average loans. These asset quality ratios combined with an improved economic outlook nationally and locally informed our decision to make a second conservative reversal from allowance for credit losses, and reserve for unfunded commitments. With the reversal of 4.6 million for the quarter, the total reversal for the first half of 2021 was 7.4 million. After the reversal our reserves were 1.32% of loans, excluding PPP loans. In terms of operating efficiency, we continue to be a leader with an efficiency ratio of 37.1% for the quarter. We are always prudent in our approach to expense management. For example, this quarter, we closed our Rosslyn, Virginia branch, as it had an expiring lease, and our customers can be served from other Northern Virginia branches. The combined annual pre-tax cost savings and rental expense will be about 263,000 and there was no write-off of leasehold improvements, as these had been fully amortized upon the expiration of the lease. We are also pleased that all of the employees working at the brands have filled or will be filling positions within the company. Additionally, given the bank's robust capital levels, we requested and received board and regulatory approval to redeem 150 million of subordinated debt issued in 2016. Charles will have more details on this later. Before discussing loans, I would like to once again mention the contributions of the residential mortgage and FHA teams. Our residential mortgage team had another great quarter with lots loans of 248 million, and again on sales mortgage loans of 3.5 million. Even with mortgage volume off slightly from last quarter, we expect the residential mortgage division will continue to contribute meaningfully to the bottom line. Our FHA team also did well generating trade premiums of 2.6 million that are included in non-interest income. The revenue stream from the FHA division is not smooth from quarter-to-quarter. Comparatively, the FHA division has larger transactions and less volume than the mortgage division, which has smaller transactions and higher value. In regard to loans, last quarter on this earnings call, I said EagleBank intends to more assertively pursue loan opportunities. This past quarter our funding for new loan originations and advances increased, while payoffs and pay downs decrease. As a result, loans excluding loans held for sale and PPP loans increased by $60 million. Jane will talk in more detail about this later. While still talking about loans during the quarter we made a decision to sell 170 million of our PPP loans which generated nearly 4.7 million in accelerated net deferred fees and costs into interest income. The sale was to a well regarded firm with significant expertise in the ongoing servicing and processing associated with PPP loans. Additionally, just below 116 million in loans were forgiven during the second quarter. The PPP loans retained totaling 238 million with those that had already started the forgiveness progress on our platform or those that we decided to retain for customer service reasons. The sale of the PPP loans, and with the remaining loans moving through the forgiveness process, will enable us to free up personnel to focus on originating new business and to continue to provide a high level of service to our clients. In regard to our market, we serve a strong and robust market, anchored by the Federal government and government contracting, a growing technology presence, which includes Amazon's HQ2, many substantial domestic and international firms, several large hospital systems and a long list of universities. Our home market continues to see companies open, hotels are doing more business, tourists have returned and many of the restaurants are full. Internally EagleBank, which has been operating remotely where possible since the beginning of the pandemic will have its workforce return in a hybrid environment on September 13th. We also have a legal update, we are pleased to have initiated discussions with commission staff about a potential resolution or settlement regarding the Commission's investigation, which we first disclosed in July 2019. We hope to resolve the Commission's investigation as it relates to the Company within the next few months. This would be a welcome development for EagleBank and its shareholders. In addition, we are also pleased to have initiated discussions with the staff of the Federal Reserve Board about a potential resolution or settlement regarding the Federal Reserve Board's investigation. We also hope to resolve the Federal Reserve Board's investigation as it relates to the Company in a timely manner. We also disclosed in yesterday's press release that our CFO Charles Levingston received the Wells Notice in connection with the ongoing SEC investigation. Charles made a submission to the SEC in response to the Wells Notice and is cooperating with the SEC investigation. Charles is continuing to serve in his capacity as CFO. While we can't comment on the allegations against Charles, I want to stress that making the decision to have Charles continue to serve as CFO. The Board evaluated the circumstances, considered a number of factors and consulted with members of management and external advisors, including our independent auditors. The board's top priority is as it always has to act in the best interests of the Company and the Company’s stockholders. And we and the Board remain confident in the Company’s disclosure controls, accuracy of its financial reporting, and the professionalism of the Company’s finance function and personnel. We work closely with other members of the Company’s management, the Company’s disclosure Controls Committee, the Company’s independent auditors, the Company’s outside Disclosure Counsel, and other advisors and consultants to ensure that the company maintains strong internal controls over financial reporting. Given that the investigation is ongoing, we obviously cannot speculate or comment further on these developments at this time, nor are we able to speculate or comment on former employees and directors potential interactions with the SEC. Accordingly, we cannot answer any questions about the investigation during our Q&A. Before turning it over to Jan, I would like to reiterate that we remain focused on building stockholder value. Book value rose to $40.87 per share up 11% from a year ago, and tangible book was $37.58 per share up 12% from a year ago. We also increased the quarterly dividends to $0.35 per share. This is up $0.25 from the prior quarter and $0.22 the quarter before that. Based on recent stock prices for Eagle, a dividend of $0.35 per share puts our dividend yield more in-line with our peers. I would like to thank all of our employees for their hard work and their commitment to support our clients. Additionally, we remain committed to a culture of respect, diversity and inclusion in both the workplace and the communities we serve. With that, I would like to turn the speaking duties over to Jan Williams, our Chief Credit Officer.