Mark Klein
Analyst · Brean Capital
Thank you, Sarah, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our first quarter 2026 conference call and webcast. First quarter represented a solid start to the year for SB Financial and really reinforces the consistency and resilience of our operating model. Our results reflected balance sheet performance across the franchise, supported by loan growth stable net interest income, improved fee-based revenue, disciplined expense management and sound credit quality. This quarter also marked the first full anniversary of the Marvelhead acquisition, and we now view that transaction. as a solid contributor to our funding base, expanded the presence in Northern Ohio and overall franchise stability. While the operating environment remains competitive, we continue to feel good about our position. Balance sheet remains sound. Our credit metrics continue to compare favorably, and our business line provides a healthy mix of margin and fee-based revenue. We believe that combination, along with our disciplined approach to growth and capital deployment supports our ability to build long-term shareholder value. Briefly, some highlights for the quarter. Net income of $4.3 million with diluted EPS $0.69 compared to GAAP diluted EPS of $0.33 for the first quarter of 2025. This now marks our 61st consecutive quarter of profitability. Tangible book value per share ended the quarter at $18.45 compared to $15.79 for the first quarter of 2025 and $18 at year-end. Adjusted tangible book value per share, excluding AOCI, now comes in at nearly $22. Our net interest income totaled $12.7 million compared to $11.3 million in the first quarter of 2025 and $12.7 million in the linked quarter. The year-over-year improvement was driven by higher interest income on loans and a stable funding profile while the linked quarter comparison remained relatively consistent. Loan balances increased by approximately $92 million from the prior year quarter and approximately $500,000 from the linked quarter, reflecting continued production across franchise and extended our trend of sequential quarterly growth. Total deposits in the quarter of $1.37 billion compared to $1.27 billion for the first quarter of 2025 and $1.3 billion at year-end. On a year-to-year basis, deposits increased over $100 million or nearly 8%, reflecting continued organic deposit growth and stable client relationships across the franchise. Noninterest income improved to $4.7 million from $4.1 million first quarter of the year and $3.7 million from the linked quarter. Our percentage of fee income to total revenue of 27% was slightly higher than the prior year and were ahead of the linked quarter. Noninterest expense totaled $11.9 million and improved from the prior year quarter, while increasing modestly from the linked quarter. Prior year quarter include acquisition related expenses and incremental operating costs associated with Marblehead, which elevated the comparison period. Asset quality continues to remain a strength of SB Financial. Nonperforming assets totaled $4.8 million or 0.3% of total assets compared to $6.1 million or $0.41 in the first quarter. While nonperforming assets increased modestly from year-end overall credit performance remains sound and reserve coverage remains strong. We're especially pleased with the efforts of not only our lenders, but more importantly, our collection team drove our total delinquency level down to just 28 basis points at quarter end. As we've revealed in prior quarters, we continue to key on our 5 key strategic initiatives growing and diversifying revenue, more scale for efficiency, a greater share of the clients' wallet for more scope, operational excellence and, of course, asset quality. Looking a little closer at revenue diversity and mortgage originations totaled approximately $66 million compared to approximately $40 million for the first quarter of 2025 and approximately $72 million in the linked quarter. Mortgage business remains an important part of our franchise helping us expand household relationships while also contributing meaningful fee income across the company. While weaker volume than we anticipated in the quarter, the pipeline has stabilized at approximately $35 million and we anticipate approximately 25% increase in volume for the second quarter sequentially from the linked quarter. Title continued to perform well during the quarter, benefiting both internal referrals and continued traction of clients outside of the bank. This business remains a valuable part of our product set and an important contributor to fee income diversification. On the scale front, the Marblehead acquisition continued to support our funding profile, and we remain pleased with the stability of those client relationships just 1 year after closing. Deposit growth continued to provide meaningful support to our balance sheet. We remain pleased with the stability of the Marblehead relationships and more broadly. We continue to see opportunities to grow deposits organically through client calling efforts, treasure management activities and the broader relationship model that has served us well across our markets, particularly with the current market disruption and consolidation. As we discussed previously, we committed to 2 nearby markets recently, [indiscernible] Indiana, and [indiscernible] Ohio, and these results have exceeded our admittedly aggressive goals. We have closed nearly now $19 million in loans and approximately $17 million in deposits in just 5 months of operation. These two markets have clearly been at the forefront of market disruption I just mentioned, and we certainly have seized on that opportunity. Client relationships more scope. We remain focused on serving clients through our relationship-based model and emphasizes responsiveness, local market knowledge and a full suite of products and services. We continue to believe that, that approach, combined with our hybrid office model, and expanding digital capabilities positions us well to serve our clients across both legacy and newer urban expansion markets. Referral activity continues to be an important tool in strengthening household relationships across our business line, and we continue to view the cross-functional approach as an important part of deepening client relationships across the franchise and delivering more scope and a greater share of the client wallet. On operational excellence, we remain focused on matching growth with disciplined execution. The first quarter reflected that mindset with expense levels improving from the prior year period and remaining controlled relative to revenue. Whilst we continue to evaluate staffing, technology and physical presence across the franchise to ensure resources are always aligned with current client activity and long-term market opportunities. Capital levels remain strong with improvement in total capital and higher ratios for both TCE and CTE1 regulatory capital. And finally, before I turn it over to our CFO, Tony Cosentino, asset quality. Credit performance remained solid for the quarter, while nonperforming assets increased modestly from year end. They remained well below the prior year quarter level and reserve coverage exceeded 400% and continue to reflect our conservative approach to risk management. Allowance for credit losses at 1.39% remains strong relative to total loans with criticized and classified loans at just $4.6 million, down $2.5 million or 35% from the prior year. We continue to emphasize disciplined underwriting, proactive management of problem assets and prudent growth across all markets. We believe that combination remains one of the key differentiators for SB Financial and an important metric for our long-term performance. Now I'd like to ask Tony to give us some more details on our quarterly performance. Tony?