Equity Bancshares, Inc.

Hello everyone and welcome to Equity Bank Share's third quarter 2024 earnings call. My name is Lydia and I'll be your operator today. If you'd like to ask a question during the Q&A, you can do so by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. I'll now hand you over to Brian Catesby to begin. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Equity Bank Share's third quarter earnings call. Before we begin, let me remind you that today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at equitybank.com, along with our earnings release and presentation material. 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 Bank Shares Earnings Call. Joining me today are Rick Sims, our bank CEO, Chris Navratel, our CFO, and Krzysztof Slukowski, our chief credit officer. We are pleased to take you through our third quarter results, including record results in many areas. As rates have started to decline, our AOCI is recovering well from the bond restructuring done in late 2023. Our margin is holding steady, and we are optimistic about our opportunity to expand net interest income in the next several quarters, as Chris will discuss. Rick's efforts to lead a sales-driven organization are starting to pay off, as you can see in our balance sheet growth in loans and our strong pipeline. We also received a noteworthy final payment from a franchise or borrower that defaulted in 2019. Brett Reber and Greg Kosterberg did excellent work to structure a workout that allowed the borrower to reorganize and assure a significant repayment of the debt. The resolution resulted in a current period gross income of $8.5 million. This result underscores our commitment to and expertise in recovering on problem credits if they arise. During the quarter, we also continued to execute on our mission to meet the needs of our customers while building shareholder value. Period-end loan balances increased by $147 million. While non-municipal customer balances and overall deposits were materially flat, Our sales and operational teams, under the leadership of Rick Sims and Julie Huber, are aligned and motivated to continue to drive the bank forward. In addition to excellent operating results, we realized further expansion of capital while also increasing our dividend by 25% during the quarter. Closing with TCE ratios of 8.21%, intangible book value per share growth of 10.4%. During the quarter, we also closed and converted our second bank merger of 2024, welcoming Kansas Land and its bankers to the equity franchise. The transaction closed 71 days after announcement, with systems conversions taking place later in the third quarter. As we look to the fourth quarter and into 2025, I am enthusiastic about our team, our markets, and the opportunities that lay ahead. Our balance sheet remains strong and our organization is aligned in its goal to be the premier community bank in our footprint for our customers and potential partners. I'll let Chris talk you through our financial results.