Equity Bancshares, Inc.

Good morning, my name is Audra and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Equity Bank Shares, Inc. 2026 first quarter earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Brian Katze, Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining Equity Bank Share's first quarter earnings call. A quick note before we dive in. 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. After the presentation, we'll open the floor for questions and further discussion. With that, let me turn the call over to our chairman and CEO, Brad Elliott. Thank you for being here with us today.

We have a lot of exciting news to share today. Joining me are Rick Sims, our bank CEO, and Chris Navratel, our CFO. We hit the ground running in 2026. welcoming new customers and team members in Nebraska on January 1st. Entering the Nebraska market has been a strategic priority for us, and I could not be more excited about what we will accomplish for the communities we now have the privilege to serve. The Frontier acquisition drove a 20% increase in assets and contributed to record quarterly revenue. It will be a great organic driver setting us up for an exceptional 2026 and beyond. As we grow the teams in Nebraska, as we have been growing the teams throughout our entire footprint, this is going to be a great strategic platform for us to grow organically. In February, we completed the Frontier Core system conversion on time and on plan. The ability of our team to align vendors, allocate resources, and execute complex integrations is a genuine competitive advantage. Julie Huber, David Pass, and every team member who works with them and made this possible, I want to say thank you. As reflected in the year-over-year changes, we have accomplished a great deal over the past 12 months. Compared to March 2025, our asset base has grown by more than 40%. While driving that level of growth through strategic acquisitions, we've grown tangible book value per share by 5% and just posted a quarter with core EPS of $1.32, a core return on average tangible equity of 16.1%. exceeding the same period of 2025 by 32 and 46%, respectively. Core net income for the quarter grew faster than modeled expectations for the combined company. When you put this with less tangible book value dilution than we expected, the result is an exceptional start to 2026. Having added Oklahoma City, Omaha, Lincoln, Des Moines, and many other exceptional community markets to our legacy markets, we are positioned to continue to provide exceptional shareholder returns. Beyond merger-driven momentum, our bankers entered 2026 with purpose and energy, focused on our mission, creating opportunities for growth, rolling out new products and processes to better serve our communities. staying laser focused on delivering outstanding returns and driving a more efficient company. Serving our customers is the core of what we do, and we never lose sight of it. We're leveraging technology and continuously monitoring performance to ensure we're meeting the needs of every customer who relies on us. In the first quarter, we opened a record number of DDA accounts as a result of our retail teams being led by Jonathan Rupp, prioritizing customer needs and delivering differentiated exceptional service. We began 2026 with a larger, stronger balance sheet and earnings that beat even our own expectations. We're deploying capital with conviction, driving toward our mission of being a premier community bank in our market while delivering exceptional returns for our shareholders. The market is competitive, but our value proposition is intact, and our balance sheet gives us the runway to execute. Capital is strong, capital generation capacity is at an all-time high, and we remain confident in our $5 per share target for 2026. Our board leadership and team are aligned for continued growth. We're operating at a high level and see additional opportunities on the horizon. I'm very excited about what lies ahead. Now let me hand it over to Chris to walk you through the numbers.