James A. Ajello
Analyst · Nick Yuelys of Gabelli & Company
Thanks, Connie. As a backdrop to our results and outlook, I'll briefly comment on Hawaii's economy, which continues to improve. Tourism industry surpassed last year's record-breaking numbers year-to-date through June, continuing the positive growth trend from 2012. Year-to-date, visitor arrivals were up 5.6%, and expenditures were up 6.9% compared to 2012. The 2013 outlook for the visitor industry remains positive. Statewide unemployment was 4.6%, with Honolulu at 4.1% in June, continuing its declining trend and remains low compared to the national average of 7.6% in June. Oahu single-family home sales and prices were up 10.4% and 9.2%, respectively, for the month of June 2013. And now, construction activity is adding to the economic rebound. Private building permits increased 15% year-to-date through May, and total commitments to build are expected to increase over 20% in 2013. The full effects of sequestration, however, which began in early July, still remain unclear. Overall, we expect to see strengthening growth in the Hawaii economy, with expectations of recovery in the construction industry and continued expansion of the visitor industry. As shown on Slide 7, second quarter earnings were $0.41 per share in 2013 compared to $0.40 per share in the prior quarter. On Slide 8, you can see that utility net income for the second quarter of 2013 was $28.7 million compared to $29.4 million in the second quarter of 2012. The detailed variances are shown here, and I'll just highlight a few. Utility net revenues after tax were flat. $3 million in increases at the Oahu utility for the additional recovery of costs were offset by a net $3 million decrease at Maui Electric Company, primarily related to the refund from the 2012 final decision and order. Operations and maintenance expenses after tax were lower than the second quarter last year, largely due to delays in plant overhauls and the reversals of previously expensed pension and integrated resource planning costs resulting from the weak OD&O. This was partially offset by higher customer service expenses. At the bank, net income for the second quarter of 2013 was $15.9 million or $1.8 million higher than the linked quarter and $1.7 million higher than the prior year quarter. Compared to the linked quarter, the primary after-tax driver for the increase was $2 million in lower provision for loan losses, which resulted in a $1 million release of reserves in the second quarter related to the strategic sale of our credit card portfolio in conjunction with the introduction of a new, more competitive credit card offering for our customers, which closed on August 1, 2013. For the year, the net earnings impact of the sale is not expected to be material. Other after-tax drivers at the bank were a $1 million gain from the sale of investment securities; $1 million in lower mortgage banking income, as a large portion of new residential mortgages were allocated to the portfolio rather than sold; and $1 million of higher noninterest expense, largely due to timing of marketing and service expenses and additional reserves on unfunded commercial lines of credit. Compared to the second quarter of 2012, provision for loan losses was $2 million lower, and gains on sale of securities were $1 million higher, consistent with the linked-quarter variance. This is primarily -- or partially offset by $1 million in higher noninterest expense due to the targeted staffing increases to support increased business volumes, IT and risk management capabilities. As shown on Slide 9, HEI's core ROE for the last 12 months was 10%, with the utility contributing an ROE of 8.3% and the bank of 11.7%. Since we've had an extensive discussion about the utility, I'll now look more closely at the bank. Turning to Slide 11, year-to-date, American recorded very good performance. We continued to grow the bank in a prudent manner and delivered year-to-date annualized loan growth of 9.1%. This was primarily driven by residential mortgages, as more of the continued strong production was added to the portfolio rather than sold. Strong loan growth helped mitigate the impact of the low interest rate environment. And our continued good asset quality and strong risk management resulted in very low net charge-offs and credit costs year-to-date. The bank delivered solid profitability metrics relative to our targets and the median of our publicly traded peers. Year-to-date, annualized return on assets was 119 basis points. Excluding the release of reserves related to the credit card sale discussed earlier, the bank's year-to-date annualized return on assets would have been 116 basis points, slightly better than expectations and remains attractive compared to our peers. Year-to-date net interest margin was 3.79%, higher than our expectations, due to the favorable loan mix and loan fees. Overall, the bank continues to maintain its low-risk profile, strong balance sheet, terrific funding base and straightforward business model. On Slide 12, our net interest margin of 3.79% in the second quarter of 2013 was 1 basis point higher than the linked quarter. Total asset yield was unchanged, and our liability cost declined by 1 basis point to 22 basis points. This is extremely low by industry comparisons and continues to reflect the value of our stable, low-cost deposit base. While stated rates continue to decline and reduce net interest margin by 5 basis points compared to the linked quarter, this was more than offset by loan growth and higher-yielding assets, particularly in residential mortgages, and higher fees associated with prepayments of commercial loans. The rate of growth in the residential portfolio in the quarter is a function of timing and is expected to moderate in the remainder of the year. As such, we continue to expect yields to decline in the second half of 2013. The impact from a higher interest rate environment will gradually feather into the portfolio over time as assets reprice higher. Thus, we do not expect a meaningful impact in 2013. For the year, we expect net interest margin to be -- in the higher end of our guidance of 3.6% to 3.7%. Turning to credit quality. Provision for loan losses was a net credit of $1 million. Excluding the release of the $1 million reserves related to the credit card portfolio, no additional provision expense was incurred. Increases in reserves for loan growth and net charge-offs were offset by $2 million release of reserves associated with specific commercial loan pay-downs. Net charge-offs were $0.8 million in the second quarter, down from the linked and prior year quarter. The net loan charge-off ratio remained low at 8 basis points compared to 12 basis points in the linked quarter and 19 basis points in the prior year quarter. The allowance for loan losses was 1.04% of outstanding loans at quarter end, a decline from 1.11% from the linked quarter, reflecting the release of reserves discussed above. On Slide 14, American's nonperforming assets ratio was 1.56%. That was 33 basis points lower compared to the end of the first quarter and lower than 1.84% at the end of the second quarter last year, better than its high-performing peers and consistent with our improved credit quality. On Slide 15, you can see that American's continued attractive asset and funding mix relative to our peer banks. American's June 30, 2013, balance sheet is stacked against the last complete available data for our peers, which is as of March 31, 2013. 97% of our loan portfolio was funded with low-cost core deposits versus an aggregate of 94% for peer banks. In the second quarter, total deposits declined by $36 million to $4.3 billion. However, average balances increased by $60 million. American remains well capitalized with a leverage ratio of 9.3%, tangible common equity to total assets of 8.4% and total risk-based capital of 12.5% at June 30, 2013. In the second quarter, American paid $10 million in dividends to HEI while maintaining solid capital levels. With respect to regulatory developments impacting capital levels, the rules implementing the Basel III capital framework were finalized on June 3 -- July 3, 2013 and became effective on July 1, 2015. Management believes that its current capital structure is more than adequate to satisfy the new capital rules. HEI continues to make a strong capital structure with consolidated common equity to total capitalization of 51% as of June 30, 2013. On August 1, Moody's issued its annual update for HEI and Hawaiian Electric Company and reaffirmed our ratings with a stable outlook. Now I'll turn to HEI's outlook for 2013. We are reaffirming HEI's 2013 earnings guidance of $1.52 to $1.62 per share, which is on a GAAP basis. At the utility, there are no changes to our assumption. Based on our results to date and outlook for the year, we expect the utility ROE to be in the 7.8% to 8% range in 2013, which assumes an estimated $115 million equity infusion from HEI in the fourth quarter. At the bank, our earnings guidance is unchanged. Our year-to-date trends and recent developments resulted in the following updates to the underlying assumptions: We expect year-over-year noninterest income to be lower in 2013. For the first half of the year, noninterest income was on track, with our original expectations to be higher for the year. However, with HEI's consolidated assets crossing the $10 billion threshold at the end of 2012, effective July 1, 2013, we are no longer exempt from the regulatory limitation on interchange fees under the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. We now expect $3 million after-tax lower interchange fees for the second half of 2013. In 2013, the Durbin impact is more than offset by our updated expectation for a provision for loan losses. Due to the overall improvement in credit quality of the bank's loan portfolio and positive results in the Hawaii economy, we are revising our 2013 guidance on provision for loan losses to $5 million to $7 million pretax, a reduction of $5 million, or $3 million after tax, from our prior guidance. We expect loan growth to moderate in the second half of the year, but may end up on the high end of our guidance range of mid-single-digit growth by year end. I'll now turn the call back to Connie.