Randall Chesler
Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is open
All right. Thank you, Heather. Well, good morning, and thank you for joining us today. With me here in Kalispell this morning and on the phone are Ron Copher, our Chief Financial Officer; Don Chery, our Chief Administrative Officer; Barry Johnston, our Chief Credit Administrator; Angela Dose, our Principal Accounting Officer; and Don McCarthy, our Controller. So yesterday, we released our second quarter 2018 results. As you can see, the business really began to pick up speed later in the quarter, which resulted in a very strong second quarter and year-to-date performance for the company. Earnings were $44 million, an increase of $10.7 million, or 32% over the second quarter a year ago. Pre-tax income was $53.9 million for the quarter, an increase of $8.3 million, or 18% over the prior year second quarter. Earnings for the first-half of the year were $82.9 million, an increase of $18 million, or 28% over the first-half of 2017. Pre-tax income of $108 million for this period increased $14.2 million, or 16% over the first-half of 2017. We had loan growth of $279 million, or 15% annualized in the second quarter and organic growth of $389 million, or 12% annualized for the first six months of the year. We grew our non-interest bearing deposits $103 million, or 4% from the prior quarter and increased them organically by $209 million, or 9% from the prior year second quarter. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.52, an increase of 21% from the prior year second quarter. Our return on average assets for the quarter was a strong 1.53%, while return on average equity was 12.07% and our return on tangible equity was 16.2%. We declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, which is an increase of $0.03 per share, or 13% over the prior quarter and a 24% increase over the second quarter a year ago. This will be our 133rd consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the company, and we completed the conversion of Inter-Mountain Bancorp, the holding company for First Security Bank in Bozeman, Montana with total assets of $1.1 billion. I’m also very pleased that we added David Boyles to the Board of Directors as well. Dave has a great banking experience in the Colorado market, a very strategic market for us with plenty of room to grow. Dave will be an excellent addition to our existing strong Board of Directors. We got to know Dave when we acquired Collegiate Peaks Bank in Colorado and felt he had the right experience and business perspective to help us as we continue to grow in Colorado and the West. So loan production for the second quarter was $919 million, which was once again generally well distributed among all the divisions. Pay downs were $640 million, which is consistent with past seasonality. The loan portfolio ended the quarter at $7.9 billion. Excluding the last quarter’s acquisitions, the loan portfolio increased $621 million, or 10% since June of 2017, and was primarily driven by growth in commercial real estate loans, which increased $373 million, or 11% over the same period. Our investment securities portfolio of $2.7 billion increased only $8.5 million, or 30 basis points during the current quarter and decreased $4.1 million, or 14 basis points from the prior year second quarter. Investment securities represented 24% of total assets at the end of the second quarter, compared to 28% at the prior year second quarter-end. Our key credit quality ratios improved in most areas, and we remain very confident in our credit quality. Early-stage delinquencies as a percentage of loans in the quarter were 50 basis points, a decrease of 9 basis points from the first quarter and an increase of 1 basis point from the prior year second quarter. Net charge-offs were a moderate $762,000, or 4 basis points as a percentage of total loans consistent with the prior quarter and down slightly 3 basis points from the same period a year ago. Non-performing assets as a percentage of subsidiary assets at the end of the first quarter were 71 basis points, which was an increase or – at the end of the second quarter were 71 basis points, which was an increase of 7 basis points from the prior quarter and an increase of 1 basis point from the prior year second quarter. At the end of the quarter, NPAs were $84.5 million, an increase of $10.6 million, or 14% from the prior quarter. We don’t see any underlying portfolio trend driving these new NPAs and have active plans underway to resolve them. Primarily as a result of strong new loan growth and the increase in NPAs, we increased the loan loss reserve by $4.7 million to $131.5 million. The allowance for loan and lease losses as a percentage of total loans outstanding at the end of this quarter was 1.66%, which is flat to the prior quarter and a decrease of 31 basis points from the end of 2017. Our low-cost and very stable funding foundation across our Western multistate footprint continued to perform really well for the company. Core deposits ended the quarter at $9.2 billion. Excluding acquisitions, core deposits increased $430 million, or 6% from the prior year second quarter. Total core deposits were essentially flat versus the prior quarter as we continue to focus on growing relationship-based business accounts. Non-interest bearing deposits increased $103 million, or 4% from the prior quarter and organically increased $209 million, or 9% from the prior year second quarter. The total cost of funding for the current quarter was 36 basis points, compared to 35 basis points for the prior quarter and 37 basis points for the prior quarter – prior year second quarter. Once again, our 14 divisions and their teams continue to do an outstanding job of tightly managing deposit cost specific to each of their markets. Interest income increased $14.6 million to $118 million, or 14% from the prior quarter and increased $23.7 million, or 25% over the prior year second quarter with both increases primarily attributable to the increase in interest income from commercial loans due to organic and acquisition growth. Interest income on commercial loans increased $10.3 million, or 16% from the prior quarter and increased $19.6 million, or 35% from the prior year second quarter. The company’s net interest margin as a percentage of earning assets for the quarter was 4.17%, compared to 4.1% in the prior quarter. This 7 basis point increase in the net interest margin was primarily the result of increased yields on the loan portfolio and also included a 2 basis point increase in the loan discount accretion. The current quarter net interest margin increased 5 basis points over the prior year second quarter net interest margin of 4.12, even though there was a current quarter decrease of 14 basis points driven by the decrease in the federal income tax rate. The increase in core margin from the prior year second quarter was a result of the remix of earning assets, the higher-yielding loans, improved interest rates on the loan portfolio and our stable funding cost. Non-interest income for the current quarter totaled $31.8 million, an increase of 5.7%, or 22% from the prior quarter and an increase of $4.2 million, or 15% over the same quarter last year, driven by seasonality and increased accounts from our recent acquisitions. Service charges and other fees of $18.8 million increased $1.9 million, or 11% from the prior year quarter, primarily due to seasonality and the increased number of accounts. Miscellaneous loan fees and charges were up as a result of the recent acquisitions, acquisitions and increased loan growth. Gain on sale of loans increased $2 million, or 34% from the prior quarter as a result of seasonality and strong residential real estate refinance and purchase activity. Non-interest expense for the quarter increased $8.2 million, or 11% over the prior quarter and increased $16.5 million, or 25% over the prior quarter – second quarter, primarily due to the full quarter impact of both our new acquisitions added at the end of the first quarter. Compensation and employee benefits increased $3.3 million, or 7% from the prior quarter and $9.5 million, or 24% from the prior year second quarter due to a full quarter of annual salary increases, the increased number of employees from acquisitions and organic growth. Tax expense, while acquisition-related expenses were $2.9 million during the current quarter, compared to $1.8 million in the prior quarter and $867,000 in the prior year second quarter. Tax expense for the – during the second quarter was $9.5 million, which is a decrease of $2.4 million, or 20% from the prior year second quarter and was attributed to the Tax Act. The effective tax rate in the second quarter of 2018 was 18% compared to 26% in the prior year second quarter. The current quarter efficiency ratio was 55.4%, a 236 basis point decrease from the prior quarter efficiency ratio of 57.8%. The decrease was a result of an increase in interest income and seasonal increases in the gain on sale of loans and deposit charges combined with the company controlling operating costs – core operating cost, I should add. In closing, the second quarter of 2018 represents another excellent quarter for the company. We started the integration process for Collegiate Peaks in Colorado and First Security Bank in Bozeman, Montana. These two transactions added $1.7 billion in assets and grew the company almost 20% in the first quarter alone. We’re starting to see the benefits of those two transactions as the financials start to settle down to reflect their steady operating contribution. A lot of dedicated folks worked very hard to successfully convert First Security over to our core processing system at the end of the second quarter, and we are still on track to convert Collegiate Peaks at the end of the third quarter. Our division presidents and their teams across our seven states really rose to the occasion and delivered very strong results in the second quarter overcoming what looked like a bit of a slow environment at the beginning of the quarter. In closing, for a number of years, you’ve heard me introduce Don McCarthy, our Controller, as part of these earnings calls. Don will be retiring at the end of this month. He has been with the company for 16 years, the last 13 of which he served as our Controller. He has contributed significantly to our company’s success, including assisting with the acquisition and integration of 19 banks. We’re also excited to announce that Melody Pieri has been promoted to the Controller position. Reflective of the bench strength in our company, Mel has been with the company for more than 18 years, the last 10 years of which she served as Controller for Glacier Bank right here in Kalispell. She has worked in the lending operations and accounting areas of Glacier Bank and has assisted with the operational merger of 13 of our bank acquisitions. So congratulations to Melody on the promotion and Don, thank you for all you’ve done for our company. Heather, that ends my formal remarks. And I’d now like to open the line for any questions that the folks or analysts may have.