Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the South Plains Financial, Inc. Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Steve Crockett, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of South Plains Financial. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate your participation in our second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. With me here today are Curtis Griffith, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Cory Newsom, our President. A replay of this call will be available on our website within two hours of the conclusion of the call until August 5, 2022. Additionally, a slide deck presentation to complement today’s discussion is available on the News and Events section of our website. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this call may contain forward-looking statements and are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated future results. Please see our safe harbor statement in our earnings press release that was issued this afternoon and on slide two of the slide deck presentation available on our website. All comments made during today’s call are subject to those safe harbor statements. Any forward-looking statements presented herein are made only as of today’s date, and we do not undertake any duty to update such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Additionally, during today’s call, we may discuss certain non-GAAP measures, which we believe are useful in evaluating our performance. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures can also be found in our earnings release and on slide 22 of the slide deck presentation. At this point, I’ll turn the call over to Curtis.

Thank you, Steve and good morning. On today’s call, I will review the main drivers to our strong second quarter results, highlighted by robust organic loan growth, combined with stabilizing Mortgage Banking revenues, which taken together have increased the earnings power of South Plains as we look to the second half of the year. Cory will then discuss our loan growth in more detail as we expand our commercial lending capabilities in our major markets of Dallas, Houston, and El Paso. Steve will then conclude with a more detailed review of our Q2 results. Beginning on slide four. We delivered net income of $15.9 million or $0.88 per diluted common share for the second quarter of 2022, which compares to net income of $14.3 million or $0.78 per diluted common share in the first quarter of 2022 and $13.7 million or $0.74 per diluted common share in the year ago second quarter. Our second quarter 2022 results benefited from $0.25 per share of income received related to four loan credits for the recovery of interest income on previously charged off credits, purchase discount, principal recovery, and prepayment penalties. We also had $0.11 per share from SBIC investment income and an increase in the fair value of our mortgage servicing rights. The total of these items was $0.28 per share net of tax. As a reminder, our first quarter 2022 earnings included $0.28 per shared net of tax of a positive fair value adjustment to our mortgage servicing rights and a negative provision for loan losses. The strong earnings growth that we experienced in the second quarter was primarily driven by the 20.8% annualized increase in our loan portfolio compared to the first quarter of 2022, as we continue to benefit from our newly hired commercial lenders who are building their…

Thank you, Curtis and good morning, everyone. As Curtis touched on, loans held for investment increased by $126.9 million or 20.8% annualized compared to the first quarter of 2022 as outlined on slide five. Underlying loan demand was even stronger given the payoff of a $46 million relationship in the energy sector, which we discussed last quarter, combined with a $21.3 million reduction in PPP loans due to the SBA forgiveness and repayments. Loan growth this quarter was primarily in commercial real estate, commercial retail, residential mortgage, and consumer auto. Excluding PPP loans, our loan yields in the second quarter were 5.47%. Excluding the large loan recoveries and prepayment penalties, which we benefit from in the second quarter, our loan yields were 4.77%, which compares to 4.74% in the first quarter of 2022. We have made a deliberate decision to proactively price new loans to account for a higher rate environment and the eventual rise in funding cost to ensure we stay ahead of the market, while trying to stay competitive. Turning to side six. It is also important to highlight that we are a community retail bank in our smaller markets and primarily a commercial bank in our major markets of Dallas, Houston, and El Paso. Our strategy is to redeploy our excess liquidity consisting of low-cost deposits from our community-oriented markets into our commercial markets. To accomplish this, we have added experienced commercial lenders who share our culture and values and who focus on developing long-term customer relationships done the right way. Our loan growth this quarter is a validation of our strategy as our new commercial lenders have quickly grown their portfolios and are reaching breakeven ahead of our original expectation of six months on average, while our seasoned bankers continue to deliver solid organic loan growth.…

Thank you, Cory. Starting on slide 13. Net interest income was $37.1 million for the second quarter of 2022 as compared to $29.9 million for the first quarter of 2022. The increase since the first quarter was primarily due to $6.1 million increase in loan interest income and $1.6 million increase in interest income from securities and other interest earning assets. As Curtis touched on, we benefited from $4.4 million of large loan recoveries and prepayment penalties during the second quarter. The remaining increase of $2.8 million was a result of our loan growth, liquidity redeployment, and rising interest rates. Looking forward, we continue to believe that we are well-positioned for our net interest income to benefit as we grow our loan portfolio and benefit from the anticipated rise in interest rates through the year. During the second quarter of 2022, we recognized $898,000 in PPP fee income as an adjustment to interest income, which included accelerated income on PPP loans forgiven by the SBA. At June 30, 2022, the company had $401,000 remaining in deferred PPP fees, the majority of which are expected to be recognized as PPP loans continued to be forgiven by the SBA or repaid over the next several quarters. Our net interest margin calculated on a tax equivalent basis was 4.02% in the second quarter of 2022, as compared to 3.33% in the first quarter of 2022. Excluding the $4.4 million of large loan recoveries and prepayment penalties that we recognized in the second quarter, our net interest margin was 3.54%, up 21 basis points as compared to the first quarter. This improvement was driven by our strong organic loan growth combined with the rising rate environment. Our average cost of deposits was 27 basis points, an increase from 23 basis points in the first…

Thank you, Steve. To conclude, our second quarter results represent an inflection point in our business, as our lending team is driving strong organic loan growth, while our mortgage business has declined from historic highs to more traditional levels. Looking forward, we believe the earnings power of South Plains is set to improve as our newly hired lenders drive commercial loan growth in our major markets, while our lenders and our community markets continue to add loans from both new and existing relationships. Importantly, we have remained focused and disciplined on credit, which positions the bank to weather storms that may occur as a result of the Fed's current tightening policy and the persistence of the inflationary environment in the United States. I am very pleased with the success that we have achieved through the second quarter and filled with optimism for the future of South Plains, given the many opportunities for growth that lie ahead. I would like to thank our employees for their hard work, none of this would be possible without their commitment through the bank and our customers. Thank you again for your time today. Operator, please open the line for any questions.

And at this time, we'll be conducting a question-and-answer session. And our first question comes from the line of Brady Gailey with KBW. Please proceed with your question.

Hey. Thank you. Good morning, guys.

Good morning, Brady.

Good morning.

So, you all showed some pretty good expense control in the second quarter. It sounds like the third quarter is going to be inline or better than 2Q. So, I know in the past we've talked about expenses being up kind of low to mid single digit. But it seems like you guys may be able to hold expenses flat this year relative to last year. Is that the better way to think about it now?

Steve?

Yeah, Brady. This is Steve. I would agree with that. Again, a lot of what we have had in the past was on the mortgage side. And as those -- as that has come back down, those variable expenses on that side have dropped. So, we've been able to control that a little better. So, that's how we're forecasting it at this point, relatively flat.

And then, quite the loan growth quarter here, you even losing that $45 million energy lines. So, that's great to see. I know in the past we've talked about kind of the mid to high single digit loan growth. It sounds like you often do better than that. Maybe just kind of how you're thinking about the back half of this year and next year, especially as we potentially head into a recession? Would that cause you to hit the brakes at all on booking some of this loan growth?

You kind of just answered your own question. I really think we -- if things run as they are going today, yeah, we're probably going to be at the high-end of our range or better for 2022. But right now, I'd just say we're cautiously optimistic about that, but a sharp cooling of the national economy could make getting any loan growth very difficult. So, the -- that's all we're saying is let's see what happens with all the rate increases and how much the tightening really does affect everything because of -- a true recession is going to make things tough out there. And that's the reason we're still not trying to jump up and say we're definitely hitting double-digit growth just yet. And 2023, yeah, personal opinion, I think, we could be in at least mildly recessionary environment by then. I think, we'll still get loan growth. We've got a great team in place. We're getting great results out of both our new lenders and our more seasoned ones that have been with us a long time. And Texas economy is still just great. But -- there's some potential dark clouds on the horizon and I think we've got a -- not get overly optimistic. Cory, you got any comment?

Yeah. And I agree with Curtis. But one thing that I -- if you look at the -- our pipeline is really, really strong. And we've always said is, we're going to keep this bank positioned in a recession to be opportunistic with some stuff that's out there. So, I mean, we don't want to be overzealous in what we think can happen, but I think we're pretty positive.

Alright. And then, finally for me, just on the share buyback. You had a nice step-up in activity in the second quarter. Should we view this as kind of the new run rate from here, or was 2Q just an especially strong quarter for the buyback?

Well, the way our board looks at it, we do have our kind of internal metrics on valuation of our stock. And as long as we believe it is undervalued, we're going to keep buying it back. So, we've got our levels that the board is comfortable with and we're not terminating the plan.

Yeah. Brady, I would just add. We did have the opportunity to look at a couple of larger block transactions during the quarter on that. And so, when we can take advantage, I like that. We'll continue to do that, but you just -- we don't necessarily know how often those come up.

But it was different. To kind of skew our second quarter numbers, as Steve pointed out, because there were a couple of block purchases in there that -- the opportunity arose and the price was right, so we took advantage of it and we will do so in the future.

Okay. That’s great color. Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Thanks Brady.

Our next question comes from the line of Brad Milsaps with Piper Sandler. Please proceed with your question.

Hey. Good morning, guys.

Good morning, Brad.

How are you doing?

Doing well. Thanks. Thanks for taking my questions. Cory, I apologize if I missed this in your prepared remarks. But I was just curious where you guys are in terms of the number of lenders you have hired. I think you were targeting 20 at one point. I think you were -- you had been roughly halfway there. Just kind of curious what that number was? I apologize if I missed that in your prepared remarks.

Yeah. I don't think we actually put that number. We're basically at the finish line on that. We're not stopping on the hiring by any stretch, but we probably hit the 18, 19 umber range on where we were. But we've still got quite a bit of stuff that we're working on, and feel very confident about it.

Okay. Great. Great. And it sounds like those are guys -- those folks are just now hitting their stride based on kind of what you said in terms of the annualized growth coming out of Houston. I'm sure there's -- those folks that you brought in still have plenty of capacity.

Yeah. Houston is a great example, but it's by no means an anomaly for us. If you look at all of the metro -- and we talked about the metro markets, but we can't ever forget about the South Plains. I mean, the things that we've been able to accomplish here just as well. We like the markets that we're in and we've been able to pick up really good talent. But as we've said all along, it's a pretty rigorous effort that we go through before we actually bring somebody on, because we want to make sure that they have the same culture as we do. And so, it's worked out. And when you look at the thing that -- the way we've been able to measure those and see how quickly they are turning to a breakeven and then profitable, it's been very, very good for us.

Specifically in the Houston and Permian markets, we do have still fairly new, I'll say, leadership in place there and those changes have allowed us to bring on some great other additional lenders in those. And we are going to continue to hire good lenders in any market we are in. That's still a key part of our long-term business strategy. This was just a period for a -- I guess, faster than usual ramp up maybe in hirings and it's working out really well for us. These lenders have come on and brought some great customer relationships with them. And we think there's still a lot of room to run in those relationships, but it doesn't mean we're not going to still be hiring good people. We're not stopping on that.

And we've taken some -- I mean, from some approaches with the expenses. If you look at some of the metro markets we're in, we've just got and added square footage in existing properties just to be able to expand those without bringing in all the other overhead that comes with it. So, it's been a really good program that we put into play. But I will tell you, I mean, we had -- we didn't -- we've never not been in the hiring business and very much focused on the way we've done it and keep moving forward.

Great. That's helpful. And Steve, just maybe want to touch on the margin a little bit. You had nice core expansion this quarter. I think pre-COVID you guys were kind of in the high threes, close to four. Obviously, the bond portfolio is a little bigger now, but just kind of curious kind of how you see you guys benefiting from continued rate hikes in terms of margin expansion?

Yeah. We have historically been slightly asset-sensitive. We still are. We're probably just a little bit less asset-sensitive than we were at the end of last quarter based on the on the loan growth and some of the securities purchases. But we did show good expansion in NIM during the quarter, even factoring in the large items that came through. Just -- so, I mean, we hope to keep that healthy NIM. It's probably going to be a little bit lower than where it was a couple of years ago. There's definitely a lot of competition out there on the loan side. So, while rates have gone up, competitively, the loan rates are maybe down a little bit on that side. I would add on the -- interest expense, we did see an increase there. It only showed up slightly for Q2. That will be a little bit more in Q3 just based on the timing of when we did some of those increases in rates. That was probably for the last part -- middle of the last part of June. So, interest expense will be up a little bit more next quarter or so.

And this is Cory. We're also -- we're trying to be very proactive about how we approach that. And it's got -- I mean, we're rolling out some deposit products in some markets that we've not had some specific products in those markets that we think will help us manage that better. So, we're kind of excited about that.

I might give a little more color too. We're seeing very wide disparity right now in our markets, in -- at least some of our markets in deposit rates, especially for CDs, but -- so far, most banks in our markets are trying just like we are to maintain a very favorable beta between the rate we're seeing on the Fed increases and actual deposit rates. So, if everybody stays that course, we are going to see increased deposit rates, but I don't think it's going to be anything dramatic.

Great. And just maybe a final question for me. I know these aren't large numbers. But it looks like your insurance business is tracking at least through the first six months of the year maybe up close to 30% year-over-year. I know in the third quarter, it takes another leg up due to some payments that you received. But usually that business is kind of a 9%, 10% grower. Is this just a function of a harder market in insurance? Are you doing anything differently there? Just kind of curious kind of what's driving the increase, again not huge numbers, but every little bit helps.

I mean -- this is Cory -- and Steve will probably have some color to add to this. But one of the things. Those cycle between when the premiums stuff coming in and if claims are filed earlier, and we've had some of that happening with lack of rainfall in some of our markets. And so, it just -- that's how those track. So, I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary. I think, it'll probably stabilize on the end of the year.

I would agree. Some of that is a little bit just timing issues. We have probably a couple of very small acquisitions that were done last year, that could have just incrementally added to some of the revenue numbers, but the expense side on those would be up a little bit as well. So, nothing -- shouldn't be anything significant on insurance.

And a little more clarity. Our insurance business, remember, is federal crop insurance business. So, it does not run in the cycles of traditional P&C or anything like that as far as hard markets or whatever. It's a standardized rate. And as Cory mentioned, I think one of the things -- other than we did pick up a couple of agency acquisitions that helped a little this spring. But in our very dry conditions out here right now, we have some farmers that are collecting on crop insurance earlier than they would in a normal year and which is actually -- other than we don't get the fundings we might like to have on our Ag loans. It's probably -- we don't really have any credit risks there. These guys are going to do well based on their returns on their coverage, but that allows us to recognize that income on the premium side, because those policies are now fully paid up and actually the farmers have received the benefits from.

Great. Thank you, guys. Appreciate all the color.

Thank you.

Thanks Brad.

And we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the call back over to Curtis Griffith for closing remarks.

Thank you, operator. Just to summarize, we're very pleased with our second quarter results. It has been driven by some strong loan growth from both our new lenders and our existing team. We believe that our mortgage business has now returned to more historical levels and seasonal cycles, as it always has. So, we think that we're not going to see anything that will negatively impact us moving into the second half of the year from that. Our Texas markets continue to be very strong, very robust economic growth and we tend to try to take advantage of those opportunities where we can. And we also see opportunities to grow the company as we expand both our community markets across the South Plains, as well as in our major markets in Dallas, Houston and El Paso. It's a good time to be in Texas banking. And we're going to focus very hard on our organic growth, in our footprints that we have, grow market share and put more dollars to the bottom line. And for that, we thank you for your time today. And please reach out to us if you have any questions.

And this concludes today's conference. And you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.