US Century Bank
NASDAQ:USCB
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Earnings Call Analysis
Summary
Q2-2024
USCB Financial Holdings had an outstanding second quarter, with net income per share reaching $0.31, and return on average assets improving to 1.01% from 0.76% in Q1. The company's net interest margin expanded by 32 basis points to 2.94%, driven by higher asset yields and lower funding costs. Despite economic headwinds, loans grew by $47 million and deposits rose by $35.6 million, showing strong growth across key metrics. Non-interest income also surged by 74% from the prior year, bolstered by strategic initiatives. The company's capital levels remain robust, with a continued focus on diversifying its loan portfolio and maintaining cost-effective deposit growth.
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Good morning, and welcome to the USCB Financial Holdings, Inc. Second Quarter of 2024, Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please also note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Luis de la Aguilera, Chairman, President and CEO of USCB Financial Holdings. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning. With me today reviewing our Q2 highlights is CFO, Rob Anderson; and Chief Credit Officer, Bill Turner, who will provide an overview of the bank's performance, the highlights of which commences on Slide 3. This past Tuesday, July 23, marked the third anniversary since USCB launched a successful IPO that went public, a clear milestone for our bank. Despite strong headwinds, including a prolonged inverted yield curve, growing inflation and an unprecedented rise in interest rates, our team has consistently executed a strategic plan with a sense of urgency, disciplined risk management practices, benign credit metrics and the support of an associate base committed to superior customer service. Over these 3 years, assets have grown 47% or $791 million, while loans and deposits increased 63% or $724 million and 43% or $617 million, respectively. Our clear actionable strategic plan and a motivated team of bankers have combined to deliver continued sustainable results.
Again, this past quarter, the bank has delivered on all our key performance indicators. Our focused efforts to rationalize and lower deposit costs while growing them has led to strong NIM expansion in Q2. Diversified quality loan production with high coupon continues. Noninterest income has surged and record profits in the quarter has led to notable improvement in efficiency, profitability and our earnings per share, all of which Rob will review in the detail in a moment. The backdrop to our results is the strength of the Florida economy, which continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience and growth, significantly outperforming the national average in 2024. The following page is self-explanatory, directionally showing 9 select historical trends at century capitalization, profitable performance based on sound and conservative risk management is what our team is focused on consistently delivering. So let's now turn our attention to our specific financial results and key performance indicators, which will be reviewed by our CFO, Rob Anderson.
Thank you, Luis, and good morning, everyone. Looking at Pages 5 and 6, I would characterize Q2 as a fantastic quarter for USCB. Net income was $0.31 per diluted share and the highest since going public and simplifying our capital structure. Return on average assets was 1.01%, up from 0.76% in Q1. Return on average equity was 12.3%, up from 9.61% in Q1, NIM was 2.94% and up 32 basis points from the prior quarter. The efficiency ratio was 56.33%, down from 63.41% in the prior quarter and tangible book value per share grew to $10.24 up 13% annualized from the prior quarter. Driving this record performance was threefold. First and most notably, with the improvement in the net interest margin as average earning assets continue to reprice upwards and our overall funding costs saw a marked decrease. Net interest income increased $2.2 million or 57.1% annualized compared to the prior quarter and $3.1 million or 22.1% compared to the second quarter of 2023. This momentum will benefit forward earnings as we enter the second half of the year. Next, noninterest income showed a marked uptick as our strategies mentioned over the past year continue to pay off. And last, credit metrics remain benign.
So with that overview, let's discuss deposits on the next page. First, we saw our average deposit balances continue to grow, and most notably with the DDA growth. Average DDA deposits increased $35.6 million or 24.9% annualized compared to the second quarter of '23 and comprised 29.3% of total average deposits for the second quarter. Second, and buoyed by the DDA growth was the decrease in our overall deposit cost. This was driven by the pricing actions we mentioned on our previous call. Specifically, we're able to price down our interest-bearing deposits by 10 basis points through the quarter, and we continue to evaluate all relationship pricing based on the breadth and tenure of that relationship. Going forward, we believe that we can hold the deposit book steady at these rates. The key for us will be to continue to grow the DDA book. With that, let's take a look at our loan portfolio.
Average loans increased $47 million or $10.6 million annualized compared to the prior quarter and $259.2 million or 16.5% compared to the second quarter of '23. Loan coupons increased 15 basis points compared to the prior quarter and 85 basis points compared to the second quarter of '23. Driving this performance is really laid out on the next page. First, for the past 4 quarters, we have originated $571 million of loans with a weighted average yield of above 8%. That's over 30% of our total loan book. This is a critical component to the improvement in our net interest margin as we look to remix our balance sheet with assets at higher yield. Also, the majority of these loans are fixed rate with 5 to 7-year terms and have embedded floors and prepayment penalties. This will provide protection in a down rate scenario. In terms of the pipeline, we have a steady pipeline with solid credits priced in a similar fashion. Additionally, and very noteworthy is the diversification we have achieved over the past 4 years. CRE loans, which is the predominant loan type opportunity in this market now makes up 56% of our total loan composition, and that's down from 63% just 4 years ago.
Okay, let's turn the page and look at the margin. Q2 showed a marked improvement in both net interest income and net interest margin. This is a direct result of our larger balance sheet, improved earning asset yields and lower funding costs. We remain optimistic about maintaining the NIM around this level near term, but we have several reasons to believe the NIM will improve over time. So let me mention that. Deposits have already been adjusted to a higher rate environment, so we don't expect material jumps in our interest-bearing deposit rates. In fact, this quarter, we lowered them.
Next, if the Fed drop rates in September as the market fully expect we have over $1 billion in money market accounts that can be immediately repriced. We have $175 million of CD maturing in the second half of this year at a weighted average rate of 4.62%. And currently, all of our CD renewal rates are at or below this rate. New loan production has been above 8% for 4 straight quarters, and as shown on the loan side, the yield on the loan book continues to grind higher. We fully expect this trend to continue. Also at the end of June, we executed the sale of $35.5 million of bonds at a net gain of $14,000. The bonds carried an average life of 2.4 years and the funds were reinvested into new loan volume effectively locking in an additional 275 basis points. And with this transaction, we also extended our asset duration, which will protect our balance sheet from an expected lower rates. We expect $23.6 million of cash flows coming off the securities portfolio this year at a weighted average yield of 3.32%, which can be reinvested into higher earning assets. I would also note with interest rates drifting lower, there may be additional opportunities to sell securities to reinvest into higher-yielding assets. And finally, with a strong liquidity position beginning in Q3, we can pass on non-relationship rate-sensitive deposits. Let's go to the next page.
According to our ALM model, the bank's balance sheet remains slightly asset sensitive. However, when compared to the previous quarter, our asset sensitivity has decreased. The reduction in asset sensitivity is the result of management efforts to better position the balance sheet for expected lower rates. As all of you are aware, these rate scenarios are run with parallel shops across all tenders, which is highly unlikely. For transparency purposes, we show these scenarios as it is disclosed in our filings and a regulatory requirement. For example, if rates drop 100 basis points across all centers, which again is highly unlikely, the NIM will contract slightly according to our modeled assumptions. However, a more likely scenario would be for the Fed to reduce short-term rates and the longer-term rates being the 5, 7 and 10-year rates, do not move down in an equal fashion. In these scenarios, we model more [Indiscernible]. So in short, we believe we are well poised to capitalize on the rates down scenario. So with that, let me turn it over to Bill to discuss asset quality.
Thank you, Rob. Please turn to Page 12. As you can see from the first graph, the allowance for credit loss increased to $22.2 million. This was due to a $786,000 provision in the second quarter. The allowance for credit loss ratio increased 1 basis point with adequate 1.19% of the portfolio. The provision was driven by the $48 million net increase in the loan portfolio and net losses remain near 0 for the quarter. The remaining graphs on Page 12 shows the non-performing loans as of quarter end, which increased 1 basis point to 0.04% of the portfolio and classified loans also increased 1 basis point in the second quarter to 0.45% of the portfolio and less than 5% [Indiscernible]. No loans [Indiscernible] are anticipated on these classified loans. The bank continues to have no other real estate.
On Page 13, the first graph shows the loan portfolio mix at 6/30. The portfolio increased $48 million on a net basis in the second quarter to $1.9 billion. As you can see, the composition remains well diversified. Commercial real estate, both owner occupied and non-owner occupied represents 56% of the portfolio or just over $1 billion and is segmented between retail, family, owner occupied, office, warehouse, hotels and construction. The second [Indiscernible] of the commercial [Indiscernible] portfolio is for non-owner-occupied or owner-occupied or non-owner-occupied loans, which also demonstrates the portfolio diversification. The table to the right of the graph shows the commercial real estate weighted average loan to value at less than 60% and debt service coverage ratios adequate for each portfolio segment. The loan quality and payment performance is good for all segments and the bank [Indiscernible] percentage is less than 1/2% or 1%.
On Page 14, we discuss the office portfolio. Our portfolio at quarter end consists of 123 loans totaling $179 million or less than 10% of total loans, of all properties for BNC was 94% located in Florida. The average loan amount is $1.5 million with an average loan-to-value of 56% and an average debt service cover to 1.79. The quality of the office portfolio is good with all loans [Indiscernible] and no [indiscernible] a classified loan. The first graph shows the owner-occupied office making up 32% of the office segment with 57% of these loans being occupied by professionals and medical businesses. The second graph is a non-owner occupied office loans comprised of 58% of the office portfolio with 85% of their usage being multi-tenant and medical. We are especially vigilant of the upcoming low repricing maturing schedule for all portfolio segments that monitor and model the loan repayment ability during annual reviews to respond proactively as needed. Overall, quality and performance of the loan portfolio remains good. Rob?
Okay. Thank you Bill. Outside of the net interest margin, our fee businesses were the other bright spot in the quarter. First, you'll notice the nice upward quarterly trend in service fees. We have been speaking for some time that we are gaining traction differentiating ourselves from our competitors and becoming our clients' go to bank for their operational wire needs. We are gaining new correspondent banks, doing more business with current clients and modifying our approach to wire fees with clients across the board. All of these strategies have yielded new business. Additionally, we have seen several clients prefer interest rate swaps at this point in the cycle and was one of the main drivers for the overall increase in fees this quarter. We have a nice pipeline of interest rate swaps with clients in -- for Q3 and Q4, but these can be lumpy quarter-to-quarter and interest rate dependent. We had a solid quarter for SBA loan sales and again, had a nice pipeline for Q3 and Q4. Other noninterest income increased due to the [Indiscernible] restructuring we did back in Q3 of 2023, and steady increases in treasury management fees. While the fee lines can be lumpy quarter-to-quarter, we do expect future quarters to be above the previous run rate. So with that, let's take a look at our expenses.
Our total expense base was $11.6 million and up from the prior quarter. Salaries and benefits were predominantly up due to additional dollars set aside for sales and management incentives. As mentioned previously, all incentive programs are based on company performance. So when the company does well, our team shares in that success. Other line items were fairly in line with prior quarter. So stepping back and looking at overall expense trend, we can point to the incentive accruals as the main driver for the increase. Last year, the accruals were low because of company performance in this quarter has moved up with improved performance. This meant adding additional dollars to the accrual in Q2 and catching up the accrual from Q1. Even with the increase in expenses, the efficiency ratio was 56.3%, which benchmarks well compared to peers. And if you prefer looking at noninterest expense to average assets, the ratio was 1.88% and in line with prior quarters and again, benchmarks well the peers. Looking forward, we would expect future quarters to be around this dollar amount level. So with that, let's go on to capital.
USCB capital levels remain comfortably well above capital or above well-capitalized guidelines. We paid $0.05 per share dividend in the quarter, and the company repurchased 25,000 shares of common stock at a weighted average cost per share of $12.04 during the quarter. Since putting the repurchase programs in place back in January of 2023, we have repurchased 702,020 shares with an average weighted cost of $11.34 per share. As of June 30, 2024, 547,980 shares remain authorized for repurchase under the company's share repurchase program. So with that, let me turn it back to Luis for some closing comments.
Thanks, Rob. The results of the second quarter are strong and on course with our budget expectations and strategic plan and sustainable as contrasted with the growth trajectory over the past 3 years. As we reported on our last earnings call, new production hires have been sourced, on boarded and are well contributing to our loan deposit and fee generation efforts. Our bankers promote a variety of non-CRE loan offerings, which have supported the continued diversification of a conservative quality, well-priced loan portfolio. Again, lenders have generated over $570 million in new loan production over the past 4 quarters with a weighted average coupon of 8% or higher. These loans have [floors], which will positively impact NIM expansion when rates adjust downward. Our planned management of concentration risk has led to a loan portfolio, which has increased by 97% to $1.9 billion since June 2020, and which is now 44% non-CRE. We anticipate further diversification as we continue flowing our loans. Organic deposit growth is key to franchise value and all production units are focused on this goal. Average deposits increased $35.3 million or 6.9% annualized compared to prior quarters and increased 11.3% compared to the second quarter of 2023. Average DDA balances comprised 29.3% of total office deposits for the second quarter of 2024.
Again, a variety of deposit aggregating business verticals, including association banking, correspondent banking and our private client group are focused on developing local deposit-rich submarkets, which include legal and medical professionals. As we have seen our efforts to rationalize deposit costs in a highly competitive market has delivered meaningful results as NIM increased to 2.94%, up 32 basis points from Q1. Another bright spot in our overall production effort can be seen in the growth of noninterest income, which is $3.2 million for the 3 months ended June 30, 2024, an increase of $1.4 million or 74% compared to $1.8 million for the same period in 2023. The results posted this quarter are clearly strong and as I said before, they are anchored in the strength and resiliency of the Florida economy. The state's positive economic outlook is bolstered by a GDP and private sector job growth that is nearly double the national rate. Florida leads the nation with over $3 million in new businesses formed since 2019, with more than 266,000 already established in 2024. As a commercially focused bank, it is these small to medium enterprises that are our primary target market, which we work hard to cultivate, curve and grow with. With that said, I would like to open the floor for Q&A.
We will now begin the question-and-answer session.
[Operator instructions]. And our first question today will come from Wood Lay with KBW.
Wanted to start on noninterest-bearing trends. On an average basis is really encouraging. It looks like average levels were a little bit ahead of the end of period. Just any comment on the trends you saw during the quarter?
Yes. So we did a lot of the pricing action on our deposits at the end of the first quarter and into the first month of the second quarter. We did see some movement at the end of the quarter. But you typically can see some movement on the last 2 weeks of the quarter, whether it's companies doing window dressing. We feel strong about growing our deposit book. So there's a little bit up and down, but the average really drives the net interest income and the net interest margin. So I think we're going to be fine, we expect to fully continue to grow in the second quarter as well.
Yes. And the margin expansion in the second quarter, I mean, it was really great to see. Is there to more pull-through that we'll see in the third quarter or was the margin like relatively stable throughout the second quarter?
It was relatively stable throughout the second quarter. Like I said, we did a lot of deposit pricing actions at the end of the first quarter and the first month of the second quarter, so March and April. So we saw kind of a 2.94-ish margin for all 3 months basically. We expect that to be stable maybe near term to start grinding forward but certainly, it was nice to see and it was mainly on the deposit side that we were able to gain the traction.
And then last, maybe just shifting over to the C&I segment. I mean, you saw pretty strong growth within that segment. Can you just talk about sort of how you develop that -- how you have developed the C&I segment and full year expectations going forward?
Certainly. Overall a number of years, we've developed a number of verticals to diversify away from the CRE concentration that this bank historically had before the recapitalization. We've developed verticals on association lending, on [yacht] lending, SBA lending, which are probably the 3 main drivers, also, we continue on the residential side. So as we focus and South Florida, Miami specifically, it's not a big C&I sound, but we focused our people on those areas and they've done a very good job in developing them. Each one of these verticals has a senior product specialist, which we brought in. They over time, have not only helped create our marketing strategies, but also training our lenders. So we've been able to leverage the existing sales team and not necessarily have to hire additional teams to be able to do the job. They are very proficient at what they do, and I believe that they're going to continue doing exactly what you've seen over the last 3 years.
Congrats on the great quarter.
And our next question will come from Michael Rose with Raymond James.
What stuck out to me was the growth in swap fees, I think that's kind of contrary to what we've seen. And I think you mentioned, Luis, that the pipeline was solid as we think about it going forward. Can you just explain maybe why swap fees are strong, I mean maybe your customers are just a little bit later to actually kind of locking in, but it seems like the activity at other banks kind of slowed.
Our clients and our sales force on the lending side are very adept and trained to offer the top to client to explain it to them. And there's a lot of people that when you take the time to explain the benefits of it, they see the value and they want to move in that direction. So when we have a loan of this -- type of a special pipe and term and size, that conversation happens. So we take the time to educate our clients in it, and they were [Indiscernible] a good decision. So the decisions have been favorable, and we have capitalized on. We not only look at our future growth in our loan portfolio by what we have in it as far as size, we also identified the swap deals that the clients have requested and the levers of intent that have been issued and the commitment orders that have been accepted. So when we track that, we feel very comfortable that the swap activity is going to continue into Q3 and Q4.
And then maybe just as a follow-up to that, do you have a sense for kind of like what percentage of your customer base is actually using swaps? I mean you kind of seized the opportunity that is already on the balance sheet and then, obviously, as you grow, I assume there'll be more opportunities, but just would love to add some color there.
I think that the opportunity is very significant. It's not a huge percentage, we probably started getting active on the swap market maybe 3 years ago, so I can get back to you with the exact number. But again, it's a growing number based on the production and the pipeline we have and I think the key has been educating our folks, but I just was -- given the information here that it's about 3% of the portfolio right now.
Yes. I was going to say, Michael, I mean we got a handful of clients that may seek to swap. I mean if you think about why a client may want that right now, let's say, if you're doing a balance sheet rate, that might be, let's call it, $750 million. The swap rates plus a reasonable spread can be below that and if they want a longer tenor in let's say, 10 years, we may not want the fixed rate for the 10 years, and then we'll be getting a variable like [Indiscernible] plus a spread 200, 300 basis points and the client gets the fixed rate. So it's come to them a little bit lower, but we are seeing a little bit more activity from clients asking for that. We have a pipeline, but those can be lumpy from quarter-to-quarter. This quarter, it was $650 million last quarter was $285 million, but we are seeing the activity, and we do have a pipeline for Q3 and Q4 is what I've said.
Maybe just switching over to the balance sheet. Obviously, loan growth has been really strong and I know you have kind of a prior outlook of around 10%. You're tracking over that. It seems like maybe there's some maybe nearer-term medicines, but just macro-wise, but you guys are in really good economies, you have momentum. Any reason that, that number wouldn't end the year higher than that? And then just separately on deposits, certainly appreciate the reduction rates. You've kind of talked previously about also growing, I think deposits around 10%. Just wanted to get a sense for an update on both loans and deposits.
Yes, both loans and deposits, I think you're going to see a similar growth rate, I think, in the future quarters as you saw this quarter. Right now, we'd like to fund kind of the loan growth with existing deposit growth, relationship, low-cost -- cost deposits. So as I mentioned, we're going to have some cash flows off the securities portfolio. We'll have some opportunistic maybe to look at selling a few more securities here and there to run some stuff but overall, I would say it's going to be in the low double digits for both.
[Operator Instructions]. Our next question will come from Christopher Marinac with Janney.
I wanted to ask a little more about the cost of funds and the fact that you had a little bit of rollover this quarter. Do you see that continuing? And do you see any sort of new funding bases that can lower costs going forward?
Yes. Let me start. I would say from a cost standpoint, even looking at the month of June and the 3 months in the quarter, we're probably going to be a little steady on our deposit costs. We did lose a little bit of funding at the end of the quarter, and that was kind of rate sensitive. When we did drop the rates, they stuck around for a little bit, but some of it moved we anticipated that movement. I think for us, growing our DDA growth and keeping the DDAs in there will be key. But the expectation is that we hold at kind of the current level on our deposit cost because we did do a pretty sizable push on the end of the first quarter in April to really reprice some deposits and looking through that. Now we're doing more of that, we do that every day. But I would expect the future quarters to be right around the current level, not up or down materially without any rate movement from the Fed.
That's helpful. And then just a quick credit follow-up. What do you see out there in terms of special mention criticized, I just want to go a little bit deeper than what you had in the presentation, is there anything sort of pending on that front for either good or than on the inflows for credit?
No. We monitor the portfolio very closely and react very quickly to the problems as we see them and there is nothing out there specifically that is of a concern right now.
And this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to now turn the conference back over to Luis de la Aguilera for any closing remarks.
Well, thank you all very much. On behalf of the U.S. Century team, I would like to thank you all for your attendance and look forward to meet again in our next earnings call.
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.