David Zalman
Analyst · David Rochester with Deutsche Bank
Thank you, Charlotte. I would like to welcome and thank everyone for listening to our year end 2012 conference call. We experienced many successes during 2012. We were rated by Forbes Magazine as the Best Bank in America. Our assets grew 49% from $9,823,000,000 on December 31, 2011, to $14,584,000,000 on December 31, 2012. We announced our first merger outside of Texas into Oklahoma City and surrounding areas. We reported our highest levels of net income and earnings per share with $167.9 million in net income in 2012 compared to $141.7 million in 2011, an 18.4% increase. We posted diluted earnings per share of $3.23 in 2012, compared to $3.01 for 2011, an increase of 7.3%. We saw deposits increase $3,582,000,000, or 44.4%, in 2012. And we saw loans increase $1,414,000,000, or 37.6%, in 2012. In addition to our large increase in deposits and loan growth overall, we realized an organic growth rate on deposits of 10.1% and an organic loan growth rate of 6.2% from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2012. We are very fortunate to be located in the area of the United States that we are. Our market areas continue to experience low unemployment rates, population growth and increasing sales for homes and other products. Further, our market areas are experiencing growth in many industries, especially the oil and gas, chemical, manufacturing, medical and technology areas. Some of our successes in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2012 include an increase in net earnings to $48.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to $36.4 million for the same period in the prior year, an increase of $11.9 million or 32.6%. Our diluted earnings per share were $0.85 for the fourth quarter 2012 compared to $0.77 for the same period in the prior year, a 10.4% increase in earnings per share for the quarter on a linked quarter. Total net income and earnings per share for 2012 are the best we've ever reported. Our Tier 1 leverage ratio of 7.1% at year end 2012 has continued to increase because of our strong earnings. As mentioned earlier, our loans increased 37.5% from $3,766,000,000 at year end 2011 to $5,180,000,000 at year end 2012. Loans increased 2% or 7.9% annualized, or $100.8 million on a linked-quarter basis, compared with loans of $5,075,000,000 at September 30, 2012. Our organic loan growth, excluding acquisitions, was 6.2% year-over-year. Our nonperforming asset ratio of 10 basis points continues to be one of the best in the industry. Our deposits increased 44.4%, or $3,581,000,000, to $11,642,000,000 when compared to their level at December 31, 2011. Our organic deposit growth for 2012, excluding acquisitions, was 10%. Our linked-quarter deposits increased $687.2 million, or 6.3%, 25.1% annualized. However, we do expect some of these fourth quarter deposits to decrease in the second quarter of 2013, as they historically have done. With regard to acquisitions, as you know, we have been very busy. During the last quarter of 2012, we spent a lot of time with the operational integration of the largest bank we ever merged with, American State Bank in West Texas. In October of 2012, we completed the acquisition of Community National Bank, Bellaire, and completed the operational integration of it in December of 2012. We announced on January 1, 2013, that we completed the previously announced acquisition of East Texas Financial Services Inc., in Tyler and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Firstbank. The operational integration is planned for the first quarter of this year. On December 10, 2012, we entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Coppermark Bancshares Inc., a $1.3 billion banking company located in Oklahoma, our first out-of-state banking deal. We expect to complete the merger in the late first quarter or early second quarter of this year, with the operational integration planned for the second quarter of this year. We are very excited about teaming up with Coppermark and their entire team. We believe their values and operations are very similar in nature to ours. Coppermark's current management team will continue to lead our anticipated growth and expansion in Oklahoma. We expect that our industry's current operating environment, with higher regulatory scrutiny and higher operating costs emanating from the new Washington-driven legislative burdens, along with asset quality problems, will result in many banks revisiting their strategic options, including sale to bigger institutions. As we look forward, we recognize the need to grow our balance sheet and, specifically, our loan portfolios to offset the negative pressures on our net interest margin. In 2013, we intend to continue to focus on loan growth, eliminate unnecessary expenses, grow deposits and identify and make accretive acquisitions. Our management teams, along with our associates, are truly engaged and are working to achieve our goals. Again, I would like to thank our whole team for a job well done. Let me turn over our discussion to David Hollaway, our Chief Financial Officer, to discuss some of the specific financial results we achieved. David?