Hancock Whitney Corporation

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Hancock Whitney Corporation's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call may be recorded, and I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Catherine Mistich, Investor Relations Manager. You may begin.

Thank you, and good afternoon. During today's call, we may make forward-looking statements. We would like to remind everyone to carefully review the Safe Harbor language that was published with the earnings release and presentation, and in the company's most recent 10-K and 10-Q, including the risks and uncertainties identified therein. You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statements made by Hancock Whitney speak only as of the date on which they were made. As everyone understands, the current economic environment is rapidly evolving and changing. Hancock-Whitney's ability to accurately project results or predict the effects of future plans or strategies or predict market or economic developments is inherently limited. We believe that the expectations reflected or implied by any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions but are not guarantees of performance or results, and our actual results and performance could differ materially from those set forth in our forward-looking statements. Hancock Whitney undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Some of the remarks contain non-GAAP financial measures. You can find reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures in our earnings release and financial tables. The presentation slides included in our 8K are also posted with the conference call webcast link on the investor relations website. We will reference some of these slides in today's call. Participating in today's call are John Harrison, President and CEO, Mike Ackery, CFO, Chris Saluca, Chief Credit Officer, and Shane Loper, Chief Operating Officer. I will now turn the call over to John Harrison.

Thank you, Catherine, and thanks to everyone for joining us this afternoon. We are pleased to report a solid start to 2026. Our adjusted ROA was 1.43%, ROTCE was 14.64%, and EPS was $1.52, all improved from prior quarter. Adjusted EPS, compared to the same quarter last year, increased over 10%. We are very excited to welcome 27 net new revenue producers to our strong banking team. and we expect to build on the momentum we have to generate meaningful balance sheet growth and profitability improvement over the rest of 2026. We achieved another quarter of solid earnings with NIM expansion and efficiency ratio of about 55%, consistent strong fee income, and well-managed expenses. That interest margin expanded seven basis points this quarter due to higher securities yields following our bond portfolio restructuring, and lower cost of funds that outpace the impacts of lower loan yields in this rate environment. Loans grew 33 million or 1% annualized. Loan production totaled 1.2 billion down from last quarter, but up 365 million compared to the same quarter last year. Historically, first quarter loan growth is seasonally softer, but average balances were up 250 million over fourth quarter. We anticipate average growth to improve as the year progresses with a strong pipeline and continued success in adding bankers. Our guidance of mid single digits for the year for loan growth is unchanged. Deposits were down 198 million or 3% annualized due to seasonal public funds outflows. Interest bearing public funds decreased 280 million and public fund DDAs decreased 75 million. Excluding the impact of public fund DDA outflows, DDAs would actually have been up 45 million. DDA mix ended the quarter at a very strong 36%. Interest-bearing transaction and savings accounts were up $261 million, with higher balances driven by competitive products and pricing. Retail time deposits were down $149 million due to maturities during the quarter. We continue to enjoy a healthy CD renewal rate of about 85%. We have not changed our guidance on deposits, as we still expect balances to be up low single digits from 2025 levels. This quarter, we continued to proactively return capital to shareholders through repurchasing 1.4 million shares of our common stock and increasing our quarterly cash dividend 11%, now standing at 50 cents per share. Additionally, we deployed capital through the previously announced bond restructuring effort, which was completed in January. We ended the quarter with a solid TCE of 9.93%, and a common equity tier one ratio of 13.3%. Despite market volatility and an emerging scenario of flat rates, we remain optimistic and confident for our growth prospects for the rest of 2026. We're closely monitoring macroeconomic trends and indicators, including both nationally and within our footprint. While the environment remains dynamic, our ample liquidity, solid allowance for credit losses of 1.43%, and very strong capital keep us well positioned to navigate challenges and support our clients in really any economic scenario. With that, I'll invite Mike to add additional comments.