Ron Ohsberg
Analyst · Piper Sandler. Please go ahead
Thank you Ned. Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us on the call today. I'll review our first quarter of 2020 results in more detail. As Ned mentioned, net income was $11.9 million or $0.68 per diluted share for the first quarter. This compared to $15.5 million and $0.89 per share last quarter. Net interest income up from $32.6 million increased by $608,000 or 2%. The net interest margin was 2.61%, unchanged from the fourth quarter. Fee income from prepayment penalties was modest and totaled $125,000 compared to $189,000 in the fourth quarter. Income and margin were affected by the decline in average LIBOR rates during the quarter as compared with Q4. The average balance of interest-earning assets increased by $164 million on a linked quarter basis. Average loan balances were up by $137 million, while average investment securities were up by $31 million. The yield on earning assets decreased by 10 basis points from the fourth quarter to 3.76% due to lower market interest rates. On the funding side, average in-market deposits rose by $49 million while the average balance of wholesale funding increased by $117 million. The cost of interest-bearing liabilities declined by 12 basis points to 1.41%. Non-interest income comprised 38% of total revenues in the first quarter and amounted to $19.9 million, up by $3.3 million or 20% from the fourth quarter. Wealth management revenues were $8.7 million, down $205,000 or 2% due to a $376,000 or 4% decline in asset-based revenues which was partially offset by seasonal tax-related revenues of $171,000. The decline in asset-based revenues was in line with the average balance of assets under administration which decreased by $239 million or 4% during the quarter. The March 31st end period balance of assets under administration totaled $5.3 billion, down $898 million or 14% and from December 31st, mainly as a result of the decline in financial markets late in the quarter. Our mortgage banking revenues totaled $6.1 million in the first quarter, a record high. The linked quarter increase of $2.4 million or 66% reflected an increase in the mortgage pipeline and a corresponding increase in the fair value of mortgage loan commitments and loans held for sale as of March 31st. The increase was partially offset by a lower sales volume and sales yield on loans sold in the secondary market. Mortgage loans sold totaled $162 million in the first quarter of 2020, down by $14 million. Our mortgage origination pipeline at March 31st was approximately $330 million, up by almost 90% since the end of the year. Loan-related derivative income amounted to $2.5 million in the first quarter. This was up by $1.3 million or 120% from Q4. Now, let me turn to noninterest expenses. Total expenses were up by $1.7 million or 6% from the fourth quarter. The linked quarter change was impacted by a couple of items. In the first quarter, we established a contingency reserve of approximately $800,000, largely due to a potential loss associated with counterfeit checks drawn on a commercial customer's account. This arose at the end of March and remains under investigation and this item was included in other non-interest expenses. In the fourth quarter, a write-down adjustment on an OREO property of $1 million was recognized and classified in other assets -- excuse me in other expenses. Also in the fourth quarter, FDIC assessment credits of $235,000 were recognized. These credits are all fully utilized in 2019. Excluding the impact of these items, non-interest expenses for the first quarter increased by $1.7 million or 6% on a linked quarter basis, reflecting increases in salaries and employee benefits expense as well as outsourced services expense. Salaries and benefits were up by $1.1 million, reflecting merit increases and payroll tax resets associated with the start of the new calendar year. Outsourced services expense was up by $248,000 from the preceding quarter, mainly reflecting volume-related increases in third-party processing costs related to customer derivatives. Income tax expense totaled $3.1 million for the quarter and the effective tax rate for the first quarter was 20.9%, down from 21.8% for the prior quarter. We currently expect our effective tax rate to be about 20.5% for 2020. Turning to the balance sheet, total loans were up by $197 million or 5% compared to December 31st and up by $352 million or 9% from a year ago. Residential loans increased by $61 million or 4%. This included purchases during the quarter of $51 million. Total commercial loans were up by $140 million or 7% in the first quarter. The commercial real estate portfolio increased by $70 million and the C&I portfolio also increased by $70 million. Included in C&I was a single significant line advance of $25 million. Other than that one commercial advance, line utilizations for both commercial and home equity are flat since year-end. Investment securities were up by $18 million, or 2%. In the first quarter, we purchased $116 million of agency mortgage-backed securities. Total securities represented 16% of total assets at March 31. In market deposits were up by $60 million, or 2% from the end of the quarter and by $254 million, or 8% from a year ago. Wholesale brokered CDs were up by $147 million and FHLB borrowings were up by $57 million. Turning to asset quality, we chose to proceed with the adoption of CECL in Q1. This resulted in a day one transition adjustment of $6.5 million, or 24% for loans and $1.5 million for unfunded commitments as compared to December 31. These increases to the allowance resulted in a $6.1 million after-tax decrease to retained earnings. In the first quarter, a provision for credit losses of $7 million was charged to earnings. Approximately $6 million of this was an adjustment attributable to the significant change in the economic forecast due to COVID-19. We used the baseline unemployment rate forecast for Moody's COVID-19 economic scenarios published on March 27 for our CECL modeling. Continued uncertainty regarding the severity and duration of the pandemic and related economic effects remains and it is unclear to what extent various governmental initiatives will be able to mitigate future credit losses. Non-performing assets declined by $571,000 from the end of Q4. This included a $1.1 million decrease in OREO, as we sold our one large commercial property at essentially breakeven. This was partially offset by a $510,000 increase in non-accrual loans. Non-accrual loans were 44 basis points of total loans, compared to 45 basis points at year-end and loans past due 30 days or more were 40 basis points of total loans flat compared to year-end. Net charge-offs of $623,000 were recognized in Q1 compared to net recoveries of $17,000 in Q4. And the allowance for credit losses on loans totaled $39.7 million or 97 basis points of total loans and provided NPL coverage of 221%. Total shareholders' equity was $509 million, up by $5 million since year-end. Washington Trust remains well capitalized with a total risk-based capital ratio of 12.42% and a tangible equity to tangible assets ratio of 7.89% and our first quarter dividend declaration of $0.51 per share was paid on April 9. Finally, I'd like to provide some details concerning our overall loan portfolio, where we see some COVID-19 exposure and where we stand in our customer assistance efforts. As Ned noted, we have a simple, local and secured portfolio of loans that year-in and year-out has performed well from a credit standpoint. This quarter, we added commercial real estate and C&I segmentation tables to our release, and you will note that we have no exposure to credit cards, auto or student loans. Loan deferments as of Friday, totaled $199 million or 5% of March outstandings. This includes commercial real estate of $114 million or 7% of CRE outstandings, C&I of $26 million or 4%, mortgage of $57 million or 4% of that portfolio, and consumer at $3 million or 1%. Taking a deeper look at segment data, I'll start with commercial real estate. Office and multifamily, totaled $770 million and make up almost half of our portfolio between the two property types. Our properties tend to be for smaller footprint suburban tenants. Our multifamily properties are solidly located and of top quality and any disruption here is likely to be short term. Closed deferments total approximately 4% of these two segments. Retail totals $311 million and makes up about 19% of our outstandings. The retail properties generally have strong tenant anchored --strong anchor tenants, often national grocery store chains and closed deferments within this segment total about 10%. Hospitality in total is $137 million, and makes up about 8% of our commercial real estate outstandings. We underwrite this at an LTV of 65% or less, and our portfolio is largely made up of smaller properties with national flags. So far, we have closed deferments of 29% of our hospitality loans. We have two properties under construction that are planned for opening next year both appear to be on track for completion. Health care has total outstandings of $115 million or about 7% of total CRE. This is composed of senior housing and nursing homes. While there will be short-term disruption in senior housing, we expect that this sector will continue to be attractive. Actual deferments at this point are 8%. And then finally in construction, there are currently about 50 active construction loans with $337 million in commitments, 52% of which have been drawn. For the most part we expect these projects to proceed. No projects have been shut down because of COVID-19. We generally get significant upfront cash from our borrowers, so any deals that have yet to fund will only occur preceded by equity. We have never had a loss in our construction portfolio given our careful underwriting and strong partnerships. Now turning to C&I. Our portfolio is very diverse being spread across a dozen-or-so industries, none of which thankfully are energy-related. Educational services at $59 million makes up 9% of total outstandings. These schools are well secured but obviously have -- cash flow will be a short-term concern and the effects on education in general are yet to be determined. We have no deferments at this time. Accommodation and food services totals $44 million and makes up 7% of the portfolio with 24% of that being deferred. Over 50% of this segment is in a single credit in the gaming sector and that credit is not deferred at this time. The deferments are related to a variety of restaurant and food establishments. Education and recreation totals $32 million and makes up 5% of the portfolio. 4% of these loans are deferred. This sector consists largely of golf courses and marinas and the deferments are largely of the golf courses. The largest C&I category is healthcare, which consists of medical and dental practices, orthopedic, medical imaging, et cetera. The deferral rate on this portfolio is less than 1%. As I previously mentioned, we have processed residential deferments totaling $57 million and comprising 4% of outstandings. The average size of these loans is $515,000 and they have an estimated current LTV of 63%. In terms of other customer assistance, as of Friday we had underwritten 762 SBA-approved loans under the PPP program, totaling $160 million at an average size of $209,000. We have another $58 million in process for phase two. Net fees related to SBA-approved loans are estimated to be about $4 million and phase two would add about another $1.5 million. The average fee on these loans is 2.6%. And at this time I will turn the call back to Ned.