Great Southern Bancorp, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jeff Trika, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Daniel. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Great Southern Bancorp's second quarter 2025 earnings call. Today, we will be discussing the company's results for the quarter ended June 30th, 2025. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that during this call, forward-looking statements may be made regarding the company's future events and financial performance. These statements are subject to various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. For a list of these factors, please refer to the forward-looking statements disclosure in the second quarter earnings release and other public filings. Joining me today are President and CEO Joe Turner and Chief Financial Officer Rex Copeland. I'll now turn the call over to Joe.

Okay. Thanks, Jeff, and good afternoon. I want to thank everyone for joining us today. Our second quarter results reflect the continued strength of our core banking fundamentals and solid earnings despite a dynamic operating environment. Credit and operating metrics remain sound, supported by our disciplined expense management and relationship-based approach to lending. We reported net income of $19.8 million for the quarter, or $1.72 per common share, up from $17 million and $1.45 per share in the same quarter a year ago. The improvement in net income this quarter compared to the year ago quarter was primarily driven by higher net interest income, supported by consistent loan and investment yields alongside lower funding costs. In addition to the net interest income growth, we also benefited from unusually large tax credit partnership income in the quarter. We recorded a negative provision for losses on unfunded commitments of $110,000 in the quarter compared to a negative provision of $607,000 in the year-ago quarter. These results reflect the quality of our loan portfolio. Our disciplined expense management and stable, diversified deposit base have further strengthened our financial position, underscoring the resilience of our business model and supporting long-term shareholder value. We remain focused on prudent risk management. Net interest income totaled $51 million, an improvement of about 8.9% compared to the $46.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Our annualized net interest margin improved to 3.68%. which is 25 basis points above the level from a year ago and 11 basis points higher than the first quarter of 2025. This improvement in net interest margin was underpinned by healthy loan yield and prudent funding cost management. Our loan portfolio continues to reflect our conservative credit posture and commitment to relationship-based banking. In terms of lending, gross loans totaled $4.6 billion, a decline of $157 million, or 3.3% from the $4.76 billion at the end of the year. Given our emphasis on balancing loan growth with appropriate pricing and loan structure, we saw a net loan reduction in the quarter. Large loan payoffs tend to fluctuate, but we did experience a higher level of such payoffs in the second quarter of 2025, including a $30 million payoff on the last day of the quarter. Within our portfolio, the largest loan categories continue to be multifamily and commercial real estate lending, which were 1.58 and 1.49, respectively. We have also remained focused on construction lending with a total outstanding balance of $367 million at June 30, 2025, and an unfunded portion of construction loans of $644 million. On the funding side, total deposits decreased 73.9 million or 1.6% from the end of the first quarter of 2025 to 4.68 billion. The decrease was mainly attributable to a $62.1 million reduction in broker deposits. Compared to December 31, 2024, total deposits increased 78.6 million with increases in broker deposits and checking deposits. We continue to manage total deposit costs while maintaining focus on customer retention. Our broker deposit levels continue to vary based on funding needs and our approach to managing the overall funding mix in light of relative pricing and targeted duration. At June 30, 2025, non-performing assets were $8.1 million, representing 0.14% of total assets and a $1.5 million decrease from March 31, 2025. We experienced net recoveries on loans of $111,000 in the second quarter of 2025. We did not record a provision for credit losses on outstanding loans in the second quarter of 2025. These results highlight the strength of our portfolio and our prudent risk management practices. Expense management remains a top priority for us as well. Non-interest expenses for the second quarter of 2025 were $35 million. down $1.4 million from the $36.4 million in the year-ago quarter, despite continued investments in infrastructure and personnel. This non-interest expense decline was led by a $935,000 reduction in legal and professional expenses, which were at an elevated level last year related to training and implementation costs for the intended core systems conversion. Expenses on other real estate owned also decreased $453,000 partially offset by modest increases in technology investment. In the second quarter of 2025, we had a favorable efficiency ratio of just over 59%, reflecting our disciplined focus on cost. As we enter the second half of 2025, we remain focused on maintaining strong credit quality and pursuing consistent relationship-driven loan growth that supports longer-term stability. Even amidst ongoing market uncertainty, We are committed to maintaining strong capital levels and delivering consistent value for our shareholders. Let me now turn the call over to Rex Copeland for a detailed discussion of the financials.