Bob Young
Analyst · D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead
Thanks, Todd. And good morning to all of you. During the first quarter, we experienced continued declining rate environment with cuts in the Federal Reserve short-term interest rate now totaling 225 basis points since last July, a relatively flat yield curve, the continuation of the limitation on interchange fees for large banks like us above $10 billion in total assets, the impact related to our adoption of the new Current Expected Credit Losses accounting standard effective January 1 and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first three months ended March 31, we reported GAAP net income of $23.4 million and earnings per diluted share of $0.35 as compared to $40.3 million and $0.74 respectively in the prior year period. Excluding after-tax merger-related expenses from both periods, net income for the first quarter was $27.5 million with earnings per diluted share of $0.41. The year-over-year decreases in both net income and earnings per diluted share were primarily due to the adoption of CECL and its impact on the provision for credit losses in the current environment, as well as the impact from the limitation on interchange fees. In order to provide better comparability to prior periods and to demonstrate the strength of our first quarter operations, it is important to review pre-tax pre-provision results. For the first quarter of 2020, we reported $62 million in pre-tax pre-provision income, excluding merger-related costs, which increased 13.1% and 9.2% respectively compared to the first and fourth quarters of 2019. In addition, pre-tax pre-provision return on average assets calculated on a tax equivalent basis was 1.61% in the first quarter as compared to 1.65% for the fourth quarter of 2019. While financial results for Old Line Bancshares have been included in our results since its November 22, 2019 merger date, cost savings have not yet been fully reflected in our earnings. While no one expected the current operating environment, highlighted by the quickly developing pandemic and it's severe immediate economic impact, we believe our balance sheet is well-positioned for the near term operating environment. During the last several years, we have proactively addressed our various lending portfolios in order to more properly balance risks and reward. Let me review just a few examples of such portfolio positioning. In our commercial real estate portfolio, we proactively reduced our multi-family lending in several geographies and hotel exposures in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region of our footprint. In our commercial and industrial portfolio, we had right-sized several customer relationships that had outsized exposures relative to our comfort level. Further, we have not seen any material change in line utilization, which has remained in the low-40% range as most of our C&I customers are small-to-middle market-sized companies and their lines are mostly for working capital purposes, typically, collateral based and have limitations on how they can be used. During the first quarter, we did not see any significant deposit run off as we reported net deposit inflows of $39.3 million as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, which was driven by strong inflows across demand deposits and savings accounts. Furthermore, when excluding the strategy-driven continued runoff of certain higher-priced certificates of deposit, quarter-over-quarter deposit growth would have been 7% annualized. We also proactively increased our liquidity in March as you can see on the balance sheet in our cash and due from banks line to support our customers as necessary from both additional Federal Home Loan Bank borrowings, as well as the sale of certain agency mortgage-backed securities from our investment portfolio. We also have significant additional liquidity resources from the Federal Home Loan Bank and Federal Reserve facilities, as well as the expected liquidity from cash flows in our investment portfolio. And our loan to deposit ratio remains in the comfortable mid-90% range. In the supplemental presentation we filed last evening, we provided some details on certain commercial loan portfolios, hotels and restaurants -- I'm sorry hotels, retail and restaurants and energy. And as you can see, on that page -- it's page 7, in the separate filing, as you can see across each of these categories there is good diversification, granularity and strong pre-pandemic credit quality. We have minimal exposure to the energy industry with most loans under $1 million. The loans in our hotel portfolio are to well-known seasoned flags and hotel operators across our footprint with a pre-pandemic average loan to value of 58% and debt service coverage ratio of 1.5 times. Our retail loan portfolio which conservatively includes approximately $250 million of mixed use properties that have some element of retail along with commercial or multi-family tenants also has very strong credit quality and is fairly evenly distributed across various subcategories. Further, within our restaurant portfolio, the average commitment is less than $500,000 and we do not typically lend to large restaurant franchisee companies. Consistent with our strong credit culture, during the last 12 months, we have made several enhancements to our credit review processes that put us in an even better position today. These internally driven enhancements were the result of prudent portfolio management practices, as opposed to being driven by any credit deterioration or the current operating environment. During the first quarter, we completed a larger credit internal loan classification methodology project, which began last year to more heavily weighed quantitative measures in our loan risk creating process, in particular, debt service coverage. We also implemented a more robust annual review process for commercial loan relationships over $1 million that will continue to ensure our portfolio is monitored appropriately. Turning now briefly to our credit quality measures. Key metrics such as non-performing assets, past due loans, criticized and classified loans and net loan charge-offs as percentages of total portfolio loans remained at low levels and favorable to peer bank averages, those with total assets between $10 billion and $25 billion. Now moving to net interest income and the margin. As we are seeing across our industry, net interest margins are being negatively impacted by the cumulative 225 basis points of cuts to the Federal Reserve Board's targeted federal funds rates since July of '19 as well as the relatively flat yield curve. Reflecting the significantly lower interest rate environment, we aggressively reduced our deposit rates during the second half of March, which combined with our efforts to reduce certain higher cost CDs helped to lower deposit funding costs to 55 basis points for the first quarter which was 10 basis points lower year-over-year and 8 basis points from the fourth quarter. For the quarter ended March 31, non-interest income increased 0.8% from the prior year to $28 million, driven by organic growth and the Old Line acquisition which were partially offset by approximately $2.7 million from the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act's mandatory limitation on interchange fees. Net securities gains of $1.5 million increased $0.8 million year-over-year, primarily due to the sale of approximately $218 million of securities in late March at a $2.2 million net gain to take advantage of market conditions and create additional balance sheet liquidity. These gains were partially offset by a negative $1.3 million market adjustment in the deferred compensation plan. And I would point out this produces a similar offsetting reduction on the employee benefits expense line. Turning to operating expenses, we were pleased that non-interest expense for the first quarter of 2020 came in approximately $2 million lower than our earlier expectations due to a diligent focus across the company on expense management and some initial Old Line Bank related cost savings. Excluding merger related expenses, total non-interest expense increased $14.8 million or 20.8% to $86.2 million compared to the prior year period, again, primarily reflecting the Old Line acquisition. As I just mentioned, employee benefits were positively impacted by the $1.3 million reduction in the deferred compensation plan obligations due to market declines and we experienced lower pension expense. Again, I would note that the deferred compensation decrease represents the offsetting entry to the market adjustment recorded in net securities gains. Turning to capital, for 150 years, the bank's management has a focus on being a strong and sound financial institution for our shareholders. While our capital levels remained strong during the Great Recession a decade or more ago, they are even stronger now, as we have regularly reported capital ratios significantly above both regulatory requirements and well-capitalized levels and we have grown our tangible equity levels. Regarding our capital management strategy, we remain focused on appropriate capital allocation to provide financial flexibility, while continuing to enhance shareholder value. Further, while we have strong capital levels, our actions in the near term will be made with an eye towards capital preservation. An update on CECL. On January 1, we adopted the CECL accounting standard despite the CARES Act ability to delay its implementation and that resulted in an initial adjustment to retained earnings of $26.6 million after tax. The corresponding increase in the allowance for credit losses, specific to loans was $38.4 million representing an allowance to total loans coverage ratio of 88 basis points or $90.8 million upon adoption compared to 0.51% or $52.4 million at December 31, 2019 under the incurred method; this represented a 73% increase upon adoption. At March 31, 2020, the allowance was $114.3 million or 1.10% of total loans, a further 26% increase, which also includes $5.8 million of purchased credit deteriorated loans from Old Line. And additional allowance for loan commitments totaled $5.6 million at quarter end, up from $0.9 million at year-end and $3.8 million at CECL's adoption. This is accounted for in other liabilities. Excluded from the allowance for credit losses and related coverage ratio, our fair market value adjustments, mostly representing initial credit marks, were prior acquisitions including Old Line, representing an additional 49 basis points of total loans. These fair market value adjustments will mostly be recorded in the future through net interest income, but they do serve to reduce a loans cost basis in case of future charge off. It is also worth noting that we completed a sale of certain commercial loans from Old Line in March consistent with our practice in prior acquisitions. The loss attributable to such sales accounted for through goodwill. However, if those loans had remained in the loan portfolio, they would have added approximately 19 basis points to the reserve at quarter end. The increase in the allowance and related provision for credit losses was related to the significant deterioration in macro-economic forecast in late March, primarily driven by the negative forecasted economic impacts of COVID-19. Our forecast, obtained from Moody's Analytics, was based on their March 27 COVID-19 baseline as adjusted judgmentally for consumer and business assistance provided by the extraordinary government and Federal Reserve stimulus and loan programs. With the unprecedented environment in which we are currently operating, which seems to change almost daily, it is difficult to provide meaningful expectations for the rest of the year. That said, I would now like to provide some limited thoughts on our current outlook for 2020. As a slightly asset sensitive bank, we are subject to factors expected to affect industry-wide net interest margins in the near term, including a relatively flat spread between the three-month and 10 year treasury yields and a continued overall lower long term rate environment. Our GAAP net interest margin for 2020 may decrease by 2 or 3 basis points per quarter due to lower purchase accounting accretion from the 22 basis points recorded during the first quarter. In addition, reflecting the 150 basis points in total Fed rate cuts implemented during March, partially offset by the aggressive pricing actions we took on our deposit cost, we anticipated our core net interest margin, excluding purchase accounting accretion, to decline from 3.32% during the first quarter by approximately 20 to 25 basis points over the course of the remainder of the year. I would add that this expectation does not include the impact from the SBA's PPP loan program, which should produce a slightly positive benefit on the net interest margin, primarily over the next couple of quarters. We will continue to maintain our focus on diligent expense management and delivering positive operating leverage. While we still anticipate typical mid-year merit increases for our hard working staff, we expect to delay the implementation of up to $2 million in planned 2020 brand awareness and other marketing expenses into 2021. Furthermore, FDIC insurance expense will increase from 2019 due to a higher assessment rate associated with our larger asset size as well as last year's $3.1 million realized assessment credit from the FDIC, mostly in the back half of the year. As a reminder, the anniversary of the impact from the Durbin Amendment on our electronic banking fees will occur during the third quarter of 2020. PCL, calculated provisions for credit losses will depend upon changes in the macroeconomic forecast, as well as various credit quality metrics and other portfolio changes. And I would note the forecast as of mid-April has changed to include expectations for higher unemployment for the remainder of the year. Lastly, we currently anticipate our effective full year tax rate to be approximately 16% to 16.5% subject to changes in certain taxable income strategies and that, right now, includes the State of Maryland in our total stated income tax provision. We're now ready to take your questions. Operator, would you please review the instructions.