Earnings Labs

WesBanco, Inc. (WSBC)

Q2 2013 Earnings Call· Wed, Jul 24, 2013

$34.57

+0.01%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

+1.00%

1 Week

-2.32%

1 Month

-0.23%

vs S&P

+0.90%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning and welcome to WesBanco’s Conference Call. My name is Gary and I will be your conference facilitator today. Today’s call will cover WesBanco’s discussion of results of operations for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. Please be advised all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks there will be a question-and-answer period. (Operator Instructions). This call is also being recorded. If you object to the recording, please disconnect at this time. Forward-looking statements in this presentation relating to WesBanco’s plans, strategies, objectives, expectations, intentions and adequacy of resources are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The information contained herein should be read in conjunction with WesBanco’s 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports which are available at the SEC’s website www.sec.gov or at WesBanco’s website www.wesbanco.com. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements, which are not historical fact, involve risks and uncertainties including those detailed in WesBanco’s 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC under the section Risk Factors in Part I, Item 1A. Such statements are subject to important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. WesBanco does not assume any duty to update any forward-looking statements. WesBanco’s second quarter 2013 earnings release was issued yesterday and is available at www.wesbanco.com. This call will include about 20 to 30 minutes of prepared commentary followed by a question-and-answer period, which I will facilitate. An archived webcast of this call will be available at wesbanco.com. WesBanco’s participants in today’s call will be Paul Limbert, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jim Gardill, Chairman of the Board; and Robert Young, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. And all will be available for questions following opening statements. Mr. Limbert, you may begin your conference.

Paul Limbert

Management

Thank you, Gary. Good morning. Thank you for participating in WesBanco’s second quarter 2013 earnings conference call. We are pleased you have joined us this morning to hear about WesBanco’s excellent operating results. I would like to make some opening comments. Bob Young, our CFO, will provide financial highlight. And then, Jim Gardill, our Chairman, will moderate the question-and-answer period. A press release detailing the results of our second quarter and first half of the year was issued last evening. A copy of the entire press release is available on our website. We will assume that all participants are familiar with WesBanco and we can begin our discussion of the first half results. WesBanco had an excellent second quarter and half of the year. The return on average assets for the second quarter was 1.12% and for the first half of 2013 the return on average assets was 1.1%. The return on tangible equity was 16.9%. These ratios include the expenses incurred relating to the Fidelity merger, but they still represent above peer group returns. Earnings in 2013 represent an increase of 38% from the first half of 2012. These results have allowed us to raise our 2013 quarterly dividend to $0.19 or an increase of 5.6%. Our dividend has been increased five times in the last 10 quarters. The increased earnings was provided by improvement in net interest income, growth in non-interest income, significant loan growth, continued improvement in credit quality and the control of other operating expenses. Bob Young will provide additional details relating to these improvements. We have been pleased to be able to complete the Fidelity transaction quickly. From announcement date to the customer data conversion the elapsed time was only eight months. We have now turned our attention to improving our market position in Pittsburgh.…

Robert Young

Management

Thank you, Paul. Earnings per share for the second quarter were $0.58, up from $0.45 last year, an increase of almost 29%. GAAP net income was $17 million versus $12 million last year, up almost 42%. For the six month period ended June 30th, earnings per share was a robust $1.13 per share as compared to $0.90 per share for the first half of last year, some 25.6% of an increase. Net income was $33 million versus $24 million for the same comparable period is up 37.7%. Excluding merger-related and restructuring expenses of $1.2 million, net income was $33.8 million and EPS were a strong $1.16, up 41.1% and 28.9% respectively from last year for the first half. Continued improvements in credit quality resulted in a $1 million quarterly loan loss provision lower than any quarter since prior to the recession start. Once again the quarter and first half of the year showed positive operating leverage post-acquisition of Fidelity, whereby total revenues from net interest income and non-interest income increased at a faster pace than operating expenses. Year-to-date, the Fidelity acquisition and improved cost of funds helped to improve the net interest margin and pre-tax, pre-provision earnings increased to 1.72% measured as a return on average assets up from 1.67% last year. Earnings per share was up by a lesser percentage than net income due to the 2.6 million common shares issued for last year’s Fidelity acquisition. As Paul mentioned return on average assets and return on average equity are significantly ahead of last year’s result and core operating efficiency also improved to just under 60%. Return on tangible equity increased to 16.9% putting us in a high performing tier of similar size banks, based on first quarter peer group numbers. Turning to the income statement, net interest income increased…

Operator

Operator

We’ll now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Stephen Scouten of KBW. Please go ahead.

Stephen Scouten - KBW

Analyst

Good morning, gentlemen. Great quarter, love to see the loan growth there.

Paul Limbert

Management

Thank you, Steve. Good morning.

Stephen Scouten - KBW

Analyst

I was curious a little more details into that loan growth. Paul, I know you addressed some of this and forgive me I missed the first couple of minutes of your remarks there, but you detailed the year-over-year growth that was derived from the Western PA regions and I was wondering if you had the split this quarter in terms of the loan growth that was seen, that was derived from those markets as well?

Paul Limbert

Management

Bob, you have those, I don’t have for the second quarter I just had for the first half, Steve. Bob has got it though; he will get it for you.

Stephen Scouten - KBW

Analyst

Okay. And then in regards to that great loan growth obviously we saw in the loan yield there was about -- it was 22 basis points lower in the reported loan yields. Was most of that from lower accretion or was a portion of that related to this loan growth coming on at slightly lower yields? Can you give any color to that break down?

Paul Limbert

Management

Yeah, I think what we're seeing in our organization is the new volume of loans that are coming into our portfolio are at the current market rates which is tending to pull down our overall average rates earned on the loan portfolio.

Bob Young

Analyst

I can give you a little bit more color.

Stephen Scouten - KBW

Analyst

Great.

Bob Young

Analyst

On business loans for the second quarter you are looking at anywhere between 6 and 9 basis points a month that, let’s call that 7 basis points impact from purchase accounting. And on mortgage real estate loans it’s about 4 basis points. Those are the two big categories some home equities as well. As we said it’s about 11 basis point impact on the first half of the year and there is some $2.8 million in overall accretion related all three categories in the first half of the year. That breaks down to about $1.7 million, $1.8 million at first quarter $1.1 million in the second quarter.

Stephen Scouten - KBW

Analyst

Okay, great. And last quick question, have you guys changed your outlook as of late on the percentage of the mortgage originations that you indeed to keep on balance sheet? I know some of the 15 year maturity unless you are retaining but with the strong commercial growth you are seeing now, does that changed your philosophy on that any?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

You see as part of the overall assets and liability management program and we continue to update that and evaluate that of each month. So, as you have seen I think there was a little drift where we sold a few more in the secondary market in the second quarter than in the first quarter. I think Bob’s comment was it was about 50-50. So that ratio has drifted downward as we’ve sold more. We’ll continue to evaluate that as well as evaluating the impact of the new ability to repay and QM rules it will come into place in the first quarter of next year. So we are looking at that aspect of it as well.

Stephen Scouten - KBW

Analyst

Great. Thanks for taking my call guys. Great quarter.

Paul Limbert

Management

Okay, Steve. Thank you.

Robert Young

Management

I’ll follow up with you afterwards, Steve, on the loans by market.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from William Wallace of Raymond James. Please go ahead.

William Wallace - Raymond James

Analyst

Good morning guys. Thanks for taking my call.

Robert Young

Management

Good morning, Wally.

William Wallace - Raymond James

Analyst

I wanted to dig into the loan growth a little bit more if we could. So, Paul, in your prepared remarks you talked about loan originations for the first half of the year. Have you seen any acceleration in production as the year has progressed or is it been relatively steady from month to month?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

Yeah. I can start that conversation, Wally, and then I’ll let kind of Paul weigh in. But we did see better production in the second quarter than in the first quarter and certainly in the Southwestern Pennsylvania markets and Paul?

Paul Limbert

Management

Okay. Yeah I would certainly echo that and I would only add two quick points, Wally. One the Columbus market has been very strong for us in the second quarter. And remember we are adding additional commercial lending officers as we go through the year and that is also contributing to the increase in loan originations.

William Wallace - Raymond James

Analyst

As you look kind of into the third quarter, where we stand now, do you expect a continued acceleration from what we saw in the second quarter?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

We’ve shown nice growth so far as Bob has indicated I think 6% of growth rate. The pipeline as Bob mentioned is also pretty strong so we’re very comfortable with where we are today. Our -- I think comfort was in fact that the pipeline has held up even though originations have been very strong.

Robert Young

Management

And we were up about $40 million in production in the second quarter as compared to the first quarter in total loans, Wally. And as mentioned in my prepared remarks or Paul’s for the first half of the year that was about 54% growth rate over last year.

William Wallace - Raymond James

Analyst

Right. And then looking specifically at the commercial and industrial line that was up 9% sequentially and I’m wondering if we could dig into that a little bit? Are you seeing any changes in the utilization rates or is that all from new loans?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

And I’ll let Bob speak to that a little bit, Wally, but it is the utilization rates have increased in the second, third quarter over the first and especially over the end of last year, so it’s a combination of loan originations and utilization rates on the line. Bob, do you have some numbers on that?

Robert Young

Management

Yeah. If you go back to the end of the year, we were trending between 38% and 40%, 41% and line usage on higher commercial lines total now are at 44%. So, two aspects: one you have the growth from the end of the year, which in this particular category is over $15 million and two you have the higher utilization.

William Wallace - Raymond James

Analyst

Great. And can you remind us how big -- when you talk about the Pittsburgh market are you again talking about all of the Southwestern PA? And then, if so, how big is that market for you now if you can remind me?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

Well it is Southwestern Pennsylvania, Wally, and we were there in the Washington County area, Allegheny County and then the surrounding areas of the Pittsburgh MSA. So, Bob, do we have any numbers on the market itself? And that’s one thing I wanted to clarify for all of our listeners. We merged their systems in, the Fidelity systems in February early March and so, our loan data is showing both the organic growth and the period over period acquisition of their loans. We don’t separate them out any longer but we do have that market. Bob, do you get some numbers for Steve?

Robert Young

Management

Yeah. I don’t have total market demographics with me, Jim, but I can tell you that for us Western Pennsylvania in terms of the total loans, Wally, was about a $320 million total for commercial loans at the end of the year. I don’t have the resi and consumer here in front of me. And that has grown nicely. This may answer Steve’s question as well. It was about $332 million at the end of March and $360 million here at the end of June. So, growth accelerating a little bit. Some of that is the line usage that I mentioned earlier as well. So, that gives you an idea out of total commercial the $1.8 billion that’s about 20%.

William Wallace - Raymond James

Analyst

Okay. Thank you, Bob. And then the three branches, two in Columbus and one in the Pittsburgh market, when are those supposed to open?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

They'll open in different paces because one of them in the exiting building in downtown Columbus that will open sooner and there are two new construction projects. The second one in Columbus is a de novo build from the ground up that will open probably next fall. And then, in the Southwestern Pennsylvania market that is a de novo build that still going through the approval process so we’re probably 9 to 12 months away from opening that one.

William Wallace - Raymond James

Analyst

Okay. Thanks so many guys. That’s all I have got.

Jim Gardill

Analyst

Okay, Wally. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions). Our next question comes from John Moran of Macquarie Capital. Please go ahead.

John Moran - Macquarie Capital

Analyst

Hey, guys, how is it going?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

Okay John. Good John. It’s good to hear from you.

John Moran - Macquarie Capital

Analyst

Good. So just a real quick question. Fidelity off to -- you seem certainly off to a very solid start here. M&A sort of appetite chatter, any sort of also you might have on that would be helpful.

Paul Limbert

Management

We continue to look, we continue to be active. I think as we indicated before we are looking primarily in the markets that we currently operate in, but we also look outside there is markets of but we are active, John, and continue to be involved.

John Moran - Macquarie Capital

Analyst

Okay. And then maybe just one quick one on operating expenses. Bob, I think in terms of in terms of cost saves out of Fidelity have you guys kind of realized what you are going to realize at this point and is the a sort of 38, 39ish number that we have here in June a sort of adjusting for some higher marketing expenses that you guys culled out? Is that probably a good place to be thinking about the expense run rate?

Robert Young

Management

My guidance on that hasn’t changed since the first quarter and I think we talked about a $40 million run rate approximately and that’s basically where I am for the rest of the year.

John Moran - Macquarie Capital

Analyst

Okay.

Robert Young

Management

Slight increase for the fourth quarter but I think the third quarter over second quarter will be reasonably closed to the $39 million, $40 million number that we that were -- well, 39 for this quarter and 40 is what I targeted when we talked about at the end of the first quarter. So, still good on that, John.

John Moran - Macquarie Capital

Analyst

Okay, great. And then just kind of the last one for me. On the fee side, there is some opportunity I think in that Fidelity transaction for revenue synergies. It seems like you are starting to get some of that in the second quarter. Can you give any color on what you are looking at there that would be helpful too?

Jim Gardill

Analyst

As Paul mentioned, we’ve invested in revenue producers in staffing in that market. I think we used a number of approximately $400,000 in revenue growth just in the security side of the business which is then pretty strong. So, we are very pleased with that and it’s a contributing factor to our growth in assets under management as well as the electronic banking and service charges on deposits. So, it’s a contributor across all of our business lines at this point. And I think we are very comfortable with the market growth and what we have seen in that market we believe that it’s going to be very strong market for us and it’s demonstrated that to the second quarter.

John Moran - Macquarie Capital

Analyst

Sure, yeah. Terrific, thanks very much for taking the questions guys.

Jim Gardill

Analyst

Okay. Thanks, John.

Operator

Operator

As there are no further questions this concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jim Gardill for any closing remarks.

Jim Gardill

Analyst

Gary, thank you very much. And I want to thank everyone again for participating in today’s call. We had a very strong second quarter. We're very pleased with the performance and the numbers for the second quarter and we are very pleased about the fact we were able to drive that from revenue growth and loan growth, very strong contributors to the quarter. We've shown continued improvement in credit quality and we’ve also demonstrated our ability to manage operating expense and control operating expense. So, as we look forward to the balance of the year we're very optimistic on the year and we appreciate the results that we’ve been able to achieve to our Fidelity transaction and the contributions which it has made to our overall growth and earnings. So thank you very much and again thanks for participating in the call this morning. That’s all we have.

Operator

Operator

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.