Equity Bancshares, Inc.

Hello and welcome to the Equity Bank Shares Incorporated Q1 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Harry and I'll be coordinating your call today. If you'd like to ask a question during Q&A, you may do so by pressing style 1 on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand over to your host, Brian Katzby, Vice President, Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at Equity to begin. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Equity Bank Shares first quarter earnings call. Before we begin, let me remind you that today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at investor.equitybank.com, along with our earnings release and presentation materials. Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Following the presentation, we will allow time for questions and further discussion. Thank you all for joining us. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to our chairman and CEO, Brad Elliott.

Good morning, and thank you for joining Equity Bankshare's earnings call. We're excited today to take you through our first quarter's results, including record net interest income, strong overall earnings, and the completion of our merger with Rockhold Bancorp just 67 days after formal announcement. Joining me today is Rick Sims, our bank president, Chris Navratel, CFO, Christoph Slupkowski, our chief credit officer. We entered the year positioned to grow our balance sheet and revenue streams through both organic and acquisitive avenues. During the quarter, we executed on this positioning with the cash acquisition of Rockhold, as well as organic commercial loan growth. The Bank of Kirksville added more than $340 million in core deposits over eight locations in north central Missouri. Our new team members in the market are excited to be a part of the Equity Bank franchise and continue to provide excellent service to their communities. Our team remains focused on organic growth initiatives while completing the transaction. Rick has worked hard to enhance the sales culture throughout our organization, which will pay dividends through the remainder of the year. We have excellent leaders and operators throughout our organization that I expect to thrive under Rick's leadership. Growth in earnings driven by our growing balance sheet allowed us to emphasize shareholder return through continuation of quarterly dividends, as well as active participation in our share repurchase program. During the quarter, we repurchased 209,591 shares under the current authorization of up to 1 million shares. While uncertainty remains in the economic environment, our bank closes the quarter with a well-positioned balance sheet to continue to take advantage of opportunities to grow both organically and through strategic M&A. Our team members are engaged and have the tools to meet the needs of our community. I am proud of how we started the year and look forward to continuing our positive momentum. I will let Chris talk you through our financial results.