Independent Bank Corp.

Good day and welcome to the Independent Bancorp first quarter 2025 earnings call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Before proceeding, please note that during this call, we will be making forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors, including those described in our earnings release and other SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any such statements. In addition, some of our discussion today may include references to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Information about these non-GAAP measures, including reconciliation to GAAP measures, may be found in our earnings release and other SEC filings. These SEC filings can be accessed via the Investor Relations section of our website. Finally, please also note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jeff Tangle, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good evening, and thanks for joining us today. I'm accompanied this evening by CFO and Head of Consumer Lending, Mark Ruggiero. On a core operating basis, results for the first quarter were reflective of solid pre-provisioned net revenue growth offset by higher credit costs. PPNR growth was driven by net interest margin improvement, solid fee revenue results, and well-controlled expenses. Operating leverage was positive on both a linked quarter and year-over-year basis. Our PPNR ROAA was 1.52% on an operating basis, and our tangible book value improved 1.8% from the fourth quarter to and 7.8% from the year-ago quarter. Nonwithstanding the operating results I just mentioned, credit costs for the first quarter were elevated as we continued to move through the resolution of several previously identified problem loans. We signaled last quarter that we expected our largest NPL to be resolved in the second quarter. It is still on track to do so. We had one other large NPL we thought would be resolved in the first quarter which has slipped into the second quarter. Finally, as we signaled during our year-end earnings call, we have one large problem loan that moved to non-performing status in the first quarter. Mark will go into more detail during his comments, but we have not seen any material increase in our problem loans and feel that we have identified the significant stress loans and have a detailed action plan for each one of them. From a business perspective, clearly the combined impact of tariffs and other potential federal government actions has increased economic uncertainty. While it is too early to tell what the impact of the tariffs will be, or what the tariffs are for that matter, most of the clients I've spoken to are taking a wait-and-see approach. The lack of certainty is causing them to pause any significant expansion or growth initiatives at the moment as they assess the economic landscape. Despite the noise, we made solid progress on several of our key strategic priorities in the first quarter. We continued to reduce our commercial real estate concentration. C&I and small business loans were up 2.1% and 2.6% respectively in the first quarter. Conversely, CRE and construction loan balances were down 1.2% due to normal amortization, the intentional reduction of transactional pre-business, and charge-offs. As we have said in the past, we will continue to reduce transactional Cree business and free up capacity to support our legacy commercial real estate relationships. Mark will provide more detail later on about our successful $300 million sub-debt raise, but that's going to lead to an expected pro forma Cree concentration slightly north of 300% inclusive of the impact of the enterprise acquisition. Continuing the shift towards CNI, over the past year, we've added seven CNI bankers, increasing its total to 31, reflecting the desirability of our platform and the award-winning culture of Rockland Trust. In addition, two recent hires include a highly respected and very experienced individual as our regional manager for middle market CNI and specialty banking, and an experienced international banker to lead our efforts in FX and trade finance. We expect both to make an immediate contribution. We continue to prepare for the closing of our pending acquisition of Enterprise. We expect the transaction will close in the third quarter of the year. The more time we spend with the Enterprise team, the more convinced we become about the strategic and financial merits of the deal. Importantly, a vast majority of customer-facing Enterprise employees have accepted offers to remain with Rockland Trust post-close, including 32 of Enterprise Bank's 33 commercial bankers who will remain post-close. Preparation for our core FIS processing platform upgrade, scheduled for May of 26, is ongoing. The move to a new platform within the FIS ecosystem will improve our technology infrastructure, enhance efficiency, and support the future growth of the bank. We prudently grew deposits in the first quarter, which has been a historical strength of ours. Non-time deposits were up 2.8% year-over-year and 3.2% from the fourth quarter. In the first quarter, the cost of deposits was 1.56%, highlighting the immense value of our deposit franchise. Mark will provide additional color on our deposits in a few minutes. Finally, our wealth management business continues to be a key value driver. We grew our AUA by nearly 1% in the first quarter to $7 billion. Organic growth for net positive flows totaled $41 million in the quarter. IMG had positive returns in the first quarter despite the fact that the S&P 500 was down over 4%. Total investment management revenues increased 4% from the fourth quarter and nearly 13% from the first quarter of 24. This business works seamlessly with our retail and commercial colleagues to deliver a holistic experience that resonates with our clients. The breadth of these services provides one-stop shopping for our clients that includes not only investment management, but financial planning, estate planning, tax prep, insurance, and business advisory services. This full suite of products is a differentiating factor for our wealth business. Enterprise Bank Corp will add approximately $1.5 billion in AUA to our platform and offer additional cross-sell opportunities with our broader product offerings. Underscoring every measure of success, There's a talented team of engaged, passionate, and highly talented colleagues focused on making a difference for the customers and communities we serve. That is why we are proud to be named a top place to work in Massachusetts by the Boston Globe for the 16th consecutive year. In addition, Rockland Trust was recently ranked number two in New England in the 2025 J.D. Power Retail Banking Satisfaction Study for the second straight year, underscoring our exceptional customer service. We were also named Best Bank in the Northeast by Greenwich for overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend. We remain confident about our abilities to navigate a volatile interest rate and economic environment. In times of uncertainty, we are fortunate to have an envious deposit franchise, a strong liquidity position, and a robust capital base. We will continue to focus on those actions we have control over and look to capitalize on our historical strengths which include a skilled and experienced management team, attractive markets, strong brand recognition, operating scale, a broad consumer, commercial, and wealth customer base, and an energized and engaged workforce. In short, I believe we're well positioned to realize the benefits of the enterprise acquisition and continue to take market share in the Northeast. On that note, I'll turn it over to Mark.

Thank you, Jeff. I will now take us through the earnings presentation deck that was included in our 8K filing and is available on our website in today's investor portal. Starting on slide three of the deck, 2025 first quarter gap net income was $44.4 million, and diluted earnings per share was $1.04, resulting in a 0.93% return on assets, a 5.94% return on average common equity, and an 8.85% return on average tangible common equity. Excluding 1.2 million of merger and acquisition expenses and their related tax benefit, the adjusted operating net income for the quarter was 45.3 million, or $1.06 diluted EPS, representing a 0.94% return on assets, a 6.05% return on average common equity, and a 9.01% return on average tangible common equity. The results are driven largely by strong core fundamentals, which were in line with expectations, with elevated provision for loan loss impacted by a few credits that I'll cover in detail shortly. In addition, as Jeff mentioned, tangible book value per share increased by 85 cents during the quarter, reflecting solid earnings retention and a 47 cent benefit from other comprehensive income. Turn to slide four, highlighting a key component of our core fundamentals. Deposit activity was very positive for the first quarter, which as a reminder, has historically been subject to some level of seasonality, which typically challenges growth in the first quarter. Despite that, average deposits increased modestly, while period end balances increased by $370 million, or 2.4% for the quarter. With non-maturity consumer... Pardon me, this is the operator.

We have reconnected the speakers and will continue. Please proceed.

Thank you. We apologize for that. We're not sure what happened there on the disconnection, but I believe we may have lost connection on slide four. So I apologize if I'll recover ground here that did maybe come through, but we'll start there. So on slide four, highlighting a key component of our core fundamentals, deposit activity was very positive for the first quarter, which as a reminder, has historically been subject to some level of seasonality, which typically challenges growth in the first quarter. Despite that, average deposits increased modestly. while period end balances increased by $370 million, or 2.4% for the quarter, with non-maturity consumer, business, and municipal all increasing in the quarter, while the CD portfolio contracted slightly. The overall mix of deposits remains very stable, with non-interest-bearing DDA comprising 28.1% of total deposits at quarter end. We continue to view our environment to grow core deposits favorably, as we have the depth and breadth of products to compete with the national players, combined with a high-touch community bank customer service experience. Moving to slide five, total loans stayed relatively flat for the quarter as expected. As Jeff alluded to earlier, recent hires and strategic emphasis on full-service C&I relationships led to a 2% or 8% annualized increase in C&I balances while total CRE and construction decreased by 1.2%. On the consumer side, total consumer real estate balances reflected modest growth, with mortgage activity split between saleable and portfolio volume, while home equity demand remains strong. Turning now to slide six, we point out that total commercial, criticized, and classified loans have decreased to 3.8% of total commercial loans, with paydowns and charge-offs driving the overall reduction. I'll now walk through some key first quarter updates regarding the largest non-performing loans noted on this slide. The $54 million office loan remains on track for resolution through a property sale, which is expected to close in late second quarter. As such, during the first quarter, we charged off $24.9 million, which represents the difference between the expected net proceeds versus the carrying value. The charge-off amount was slightly less than the previously established specific reserve. Second is another large loan that we discussed had reached maturity last quarter. This is a $30 million syndicated office loan in downtown Boston, which migrated to non-performing status during the first quarter. The bank group is in the process of working through a potential loan modification with the borrower. However, we felt it was appropriate at this time to charge off the balance down to its appraised value, resulting in an $8.1 million charge-off during the quarter. The next loan on this slide is an office loan that is also in the process of a note sale with an identified buyer. Based on the negotiated offer and expectations for a second quarter close, we charged off $7 million during the quarter, which was equal to the specific reserve that had already been set up in the prior quarters. The next loan is a C&I relationship that remains in a collateral liquidation process. During the first quarter, $6.9 million of paydowns were received, reducing the carrying amount to $4.8 million. And based on estimated net proceeds on remaining collateral sales, an additional $2.5 million of a specific reserve was established in the quarter. And lastly, the final loan on the slide is an office loan that is being marketed for sale with an updated appraisal liquidation value supporting an additional $1.6 million reserve in the first quarter. And as noted on slide seven, reflecting the impact of the large moving pieces I just described, provision for loan loss for the quarter was $15 million, as a significant portion of the Q1 charge-offs related to loans with previously established reserves. And as such, the allowance as a percentage of loans decreased to 99 basis points at quarter end. In addition to the allowance levels, the company increased its Tier 2 capital despite the market volatility experienced in the last month. We continue to believe our strong levels of total capital give us significant flexibility to be opportunistic in any major capital actions going forward, whether it be to support accelerated organic growth in the newer markets, additional M&A opportunities further down the road, or share repurchase activity. Slides 8 through 10 provide additional detail on our loan portfolio composition. With the notable developments for the quarter that I just discussed,

Pardon me, this is the conference operator. It appears we have lost connection to our speaker line. Please stand by while we reconnect. Thank you for your time. Pardon me, this is the operator. We have reconnected the speaker line and will continue. Please proceed.

Again, apologies for that. Not sure what the issue is here and quite candidly not sure where the cutout went. So I'm going to pick back up. Hopefully, you all heard the updates on the individual credits, but we can certainly cover that in Q&A if that got cut out. But why don't we start just adding some color during the quarter. We did increase Tier 2 capital with a $300 million subordinated debt raise, which closed in late March. With the upcoming enterprise acquisition expected to push our commercial real estate concentration a bit higher, We were pleased to be able to execute on this debt raise to shore up additional capital despite the market volatility experienced in the last month. We continue to believe our strong levels of total capital give us significant flexibility to be opportunistic in any major capital actions going forward, whether that be to support accelerated organic growth in newer markets, additional M&A opportunities further down the road, or share repurchase activity. Slides eight through 10 provide additional detail on the loan portfolio composition, but with the notable developments for the quarter that I just discussed, we're going to shift gears and move on to slide 11. As noted on this slide, the net interest margin on an FTE reported basis improved nine basis points in the first quarter to 3.42%, with the FTE core margin of 3.37%, up six basis points, which excludes outsized benefit from interest recoveries on payoffs and purchase accounting accretion. The first quarter margin improvement reflects two high-level drivers of our interest rate risk profile. First, we remain relatively neutral to Federal Reserve actions impacting the short end of the curve. And second, we remain asset sensitive to the middle and long end of the curve. With cash flow repricing dynamics and hedge maturities, expected to improve both securities and loan yields as evidenced in the first quarter. Moving to slide 12, non-interest income increased modestly in the first quarter despite fewer business days versus the prior quarter, with wealth management income results weathering the volatile market storm nicely, as well as increased loan level swap income as compared to the prior quarter. In addition, total expenses, when excluding merger and acquisition costs, stayed relatively flat with the prior quarter. Some key changes for the quarter include normal increases in payroll taxes in the first quarter, approximately $1 million of snow removal costs within occupancy and equipment, and within other non-interest expenses, we saw reduced consulting expenses and unrealized losses on equity securities for the prior quarter. And lastly, the tax rate for the quarter was approximately 22.3%, up from the prior quarter, which as a reminder, benefited from the statutory release of $1.2 million in uncertain tax positions. In closing out my comments, I'll turn to slides 16 and 17 for an update on our full year 2025 guidance. As Jeff mentioned, with an expectation for a third quarter Enterprise Bancorp closing, we reaffirm the high level results as presented at announcement, with the caveat being the uncertainty for fair value adjustment impact depending on the rate environment at closing. The rest of the guidance I'll provide now relates to independent Baincorp as a standalone entity. In terms of loan and deposit growth, we anticipate a low single digit percentage increase in loans for the full year, while reaffirming low to mid single digit growth for deposits for the year. Regarding asset quality, we anticipate resolution of the larger non-performing assets already discussed with the provision for loan loss driven by any loss emergence not already identified. Although we feel we have identified and fully reserved for the highest risk loans in our portfolio, we feel it is appropriate to pull specific provision for loan loss guidance given the increasing uncertainty over broader economic conditions. For non-interest income and non-interest expense, We reaffirm our mid single digit percentage increases for full year 2025 versus 2024. And as a reminder for non-interest expense guide, this does not include expected merger and acquisition expenses associated with the enterprise acquisition. Regarding the net interest margin, there's certainly a lot of moving pieces. And as such, I would point to slide 17 to provide some additional detail over those moving pieces. First, to link back to prior guidance, and as noted on the right side of this chart, we reaffirm the independent bank or standalone guidance of three to four basis points of margin expansion each quarter. However, that guidance is now impacted by the March subordinated debt raise, which we anticipate will reduce the standalone margin by about 11 basis points. But circling back to the three to four basis point expansion, excluding the sub debt, there are also a couple of caveats worth noting. First, on neutral position on the short end of the curve, incorporate some level of margin benefit from reduced time deposit pricing. So any future Fed rate cuts would likely create a quarter or two lag in achieving that full benefit. And second, the margin expansion expected from cash flow repricing assumes the middle and longer end of the curve does not materially contract, which would allow for the loan and securities asset repricing benefit that I just noted earlier. And then lastly, in closing out the guidance, the tax rate for the full year is expected to be in the 22% to 23% range. That does conclude our comments, and with that, we'll now open it up for questions.

We'll now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your touchstone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. At this time, we will pause for just a moment to assemble our roster. And your first question today will come from Mark Fitzgibbon with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. First, a couple questions on credit. I was curious, of the top five NPLs you have, how many of those came from East Boston?

The largest one did, as did, double check here, two out of the five are East Boston. One is Blue Hills.

Okay, great. And then I apologize. I kind of missed with the cutout on loan B, the new one, the $30.5 million loan that came onto non-accruals this quarter. Could you just give us a quick recap of what the story was with that one and your thoughts on resolution?

Yes. So that had matured in the fourth quarter and reached its 90-day positive in the first quarter. So it migrated to non-performing status. That's a syndicated loan, if you recall, so the bank group is still working with the borrower to try and find resolution on a modification. But at this point, we do have an appraisal in hand, and we thought it was appropriate to actually charge down to that appraisal value, which is the $8.1 million loss we took in the quarter. So we're hopeful for a possible modification, but we are in a position where we thought it was prudent to take the charge off.

Okay. And then just sort of more of a macro question, you know, it sounds like you're suggesting that this quarter, you know, was really a cleanup. You put up some fairly large charges against these loans, and, you know, you're hopeful these things are going to resolve pretty quickly. I guess I'm curious, what gives you that much confidence, given that we are probably facing a more challenging sort of economic climate?

Well, in a couple of cases, including the largest loan, we're pretty far along in – is that the note sale? The resolution. Yeah, the resolution of that.

That was a property sale.

A property sale? So I guess it's the stage we're at with that one and the one other one that we talked about resolving in the second quarter where we feel like we're on the 10-yard line in terms of getting it resolved. We don't see anything, as we sit here today, that would – precluded, you know, like all sides have done their due diligence and are working through the closing process.

I would just add too, Mark, you know, in my opinion, this is what the CECL model essentially is doing is, you know, for us, we try to identify that loss early and we put essentially specific reserves up when we think we have that loss ring fenced. And really all you're seeing now for 30 out of the 40 million is charge off of those reserves that we had established in prior quarters. So I do think it's the ramp-up of provision as loss emerges, and then the charge-off numbers look a bit skewed when we get to the point of charging down. But for the most part, the vast majority of what you're seeing here in the first quarter is really the same loans we've been talking about over the last couple of quarters. I think that's the silver lining in a lot of the noise you're seeing. We're really not seeing any material changes and criticized and classified. In fact, those combined levels are down. The NPAs are down and delinquencies are down. So, you know, there's certainly a lot of uncertainty out there with the tariffs and macroeconomic environment being what it is. But in terms of what we have visibility into, we still feel pretty good.

The other thing I would add, Mark, just to be clear in terms of having these resolved, the $30 million loan that we just spoke about, Loan B, we're working with, you know, in the context of the bank group to get, you know, get a resolution to that. But that's unlikely to return to performing status in the near term, even if we're able to craft a resolution that, you know, that can allow the, you know, the bank group and the company to move forward.

Okay. And then changing gears a little bit, your guidance I think you provided when you announced the enterprise deal for the NIM for 2026 was sort of 370 to 375. I guess I'm curious, you know, given the changes, the sub debt and, you know, just the environment in general, do you still feel like that's a reasonable bogey for 2026? Yeah.

Yeah, we do. The fundamentals behind that guidance are still intact. I believe when we talked about it, there was a few key components to that assumption. The first was that our standalone margin would expand when you pull out the subdebt or excluding the subdebt, and we reaffirmed that's still going to happen. We believe the enterprise margin is on track to expand as well, and then that combined number if you recall, was getting us to somewhere around 355 to 360. And then the purchase accounting and the sub debt at that point was going to add about 20 basis points on a net basis. So really all that's changed now is we accelerated that sub debt. So you're going to see that in our standalone numbers. So what would have been a 360 assumption margin for our standalone in 2026, I would say is now 350. It's got the sub-debt in there. And then you're going to see a higher purchase accounting number post-merger to give us basically 28 basis points lift over those standalone numbers. If you're kind of following the 10 basis points of sub-debt to our standalone numbers.

Got it. That makes sense. And lastly, can you share with us how big the loan pipeline is and maybe what the mix looks like?

The loan pipeline is pretty robust, honestly, which is, you know, we're pleased about. I don't have specific numbers in front of me, but I would characterize it as very healthy, and it also reflects the shift that we've been talking about in that, you know, there's a lot more CNI business in the loan pipeline than there's been in the past due to the kind of the philosophical shift we're trying to to undertake as an organization, but it's pretty healthy.

Thank you. Your next question today will come from Steve Moss with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, guys. Hi, Steve.

Hi, Steve. Maybe just starting with, or just follow up there on the loan pipeline, I guess if the pipeline is robust, but you guys are taking down your loan growth expectations a little bit, Does that reflect just you're having deals extend out, or you're just kind of curious what the dynamic is with a good pipeline, but then the pullback on the guy for loans?

Yeah, so the way I would think about that, Steve, is we're going to continue to see commercial real estate runoff or a reduction in commercial real estate, which is going to mute some of the growth we'll see in CNI. And when you kind of mix all that together, that's how we wind up with a kind of low single-digit long-growth forecast.

I think part of it, too, we're still seeing, you know, there's a little bit of a mixed bag on line utilization in the CNI space. So while the pipeline is healthy and we think there's a good path for good commitments, you know, we're still not seeing necessarily, you know, a big change in line utilization at this point. So I think the natural shift from Cree, which is typically funded at close to CNI, is going to continue to challenge outstanding balances for the short term.

Which, by the way, is just another quick point. You know, in the current environment, we've not seen our customer base draw down their lines, you know, the way you may have heard some other banks have discussed. our line utilization has been pretty stable.

Got it. Okay, that's really helpful. And then in terms of just loan pricing, just kind of curious, you know, feels like credit spreads have generally tightened this quarter. What are you guys seeing for loan pricing these days?

Yeah, it definitely is competitive out there, Steve. You know, we're trying to hold the line pretty well on pricing. So, you know, for the first quarter, we saw – I think a blended weighted average coupon in the 60, 60, 70 range. Certainly the five and 70 a part of the curve has been on a little bit of a roller coaster. So, you know, we're still trying to keep, you know, some level of stability over on overall pricing. But I think where we are now, you're probably pricing deals more in the mid six, maybe even a little bit tighter than that. But, you know, given our, appetite to keep loan demand in check, I think we're going to stay as disciplined as we can on the pricing side.

And we've never been a bank that's led with price. We typically are looking to get paid for using the balance sheet.

Okay, great. That's helpful. And then in terms of just Loan B in particular, with regard to that loan, if I recall correctly, that was one where you had some leasing activity on the property. just kind of curious where the status is of that leasing activity and, you know, is the borrower cooperating with the bank group or is this turning into a more hostile negotiation?

Yeah, maybe Mark and I can ham and egg this one, but I wouldn't characterize it as hostile. Anytime you have, you know, a lot of banks in a situation like this, oftentimes it's difficult to get consensus. And so I think some of the delays in getting a, You know, an amendment done has been just that. You know, you have a lot of banks with a lot of different perspectives, and, you know, being able to get them all to agree at times is a bit difficult. And then, you know, I think they have been signing new leases. I don't know what the current status is of their leases.

Yeah, I believe it's up to around 80% occupancy now, which is what we, I believe, talked about on prior quarters with the entrance of some new tenants.

But they still have free rent periods that are burning off. And I know as they think about bringing new tenants in, you have, you know, TI that needs to get negotiated between the borrower and the bank group.

Yeah, I think that's been the biggest two characteristics of what's challenging sort of the NOI and the cash flow on the deal. It's been exactly that. It's the free rent and the TI build out on, you know, some of the activity that they are seeing for new tenants.

Ah, yeah. Okay. And then in terms of just tying out the enterprise deal here, you know, judging by the accruing number on the deck and everything else and the margin guidance you just gave, the sub-debt was that you guys issued was also included in those original numbers, just to tie, I guess, some confusion.

It was, yeah. I think I gave a 20 basis point lift in terms of the post-merger impact. That was essentially 28 basis points of purchase accounting negated by or offset by eight basis points from the sub-debt. That eight basis points is on the combined bigger balance sheet. So it's the same level of sub-debt. It's just you're seeing it create an 11 basis point drag on our margin as a standalone entity, but that will essentially convert, for lack of a better word, to an eight basis point drag on the combined entity if you're following that.

Yes, they do. Great. Well, I appreciate all the color and I'll step back here. Thanks, Steve. Thank you.

Your next question today will come from Laurie Hunsaker with Seaport Research. Please go ahead.

Great. Hi. Thanks. Good evening. Speaking with credit on slide six, and by the way, your slide six disclosure is super helpful. With that $30.5 million stick, It was running at, you know, 80% or so occupancy, I think, with Morgan Stanley as the lead. How did you guys come up with that $8 million charge-off? You said that was the new appraisal, or is that where Morgan Stanley is carrying it, or did the FDIC come back in there? How do we think about that?

Yeah, there is an appraisal in-house that supports that charge-off.

Gotcha. Okay, so that was then done by the lead bank, is that right, or –

No, no, no, ordered by the lead bank.

Ordered by the, right. Sorry, I meant to say ordered. Okay. And then has the FDIC come back in and looked at that again or?

I think the FDIC is deferring to our judgment because it's a shared national credit. So we're between, you know, having, you know, results from that exam and really the appraisal, I think they're deferring to our judgment given those two facts.

Just to be clear, we do get reports of the SNCC review, and that was also further support for taking the charge off, in our opinion.

Gotcha. Okay. And then how big is that total loan? I mean, obviously, we know your portion.

500 or 550, something like that? A little over 500.

500 million. Okay. Great. And then... Just looking here at Loan C, the one that you took the $7 million charge, and obviously you've been really clear about what's happening there, that was supposed to be a short sale in the first quarter. You said now sliding to the second quarter. Is it still with the same? In other words, it's just split on timing, or are you short selling to somebody different?

No, there is – It just slid. I believe there was meant to be a property sale at one point, and then based on, I think there might have been, I forget exactly what the issue was.

I think there were a number of investors. They were having trouble getting signatures from all the different investors, so that's why it flipped to a short sale.

But the closing, I mean, there is an agreed upon closing with a buyer, and that No, we actually have a closing date in April, but we're expecting that will slip a bit into mid-quarter.

Okay. Okay, that's great. And then loan A, that $54 million, you said that was all still on track for the second quarter. I mean, you still feel as good as last quarter when you guys gave us that second quarter resolution? That's right. Has that gotten fuzzier? You still feel good on that?

No, it's not gotten fuzzier. Yeah, it's gotten clearer. Of course, you know, don't want to spike the ball on the five-yard line, but we feel pretty comfortable it's going to close at this point based on what we know.

Okay. Okay, that's great. And then Loan E, the $7 million loan that you took a specific reserve this quarter, the $1.69 million specific reserve, that was due to a new appraisal. Is that because that loan is also... going to close? Or how do we think about that?

Yeah, if you recall, that was actually a loan we had under agreement. And we took a charge off on that back in the third quarter of, I'm sorry, the fourth quarter of 2023. And then that deal had fallen through in early 2024. It's currently being marketed again. There is not an agreement in place, but we now believe it's appropriate to look at a liquidate. We have an appraisal with a liquidation value that is now supporting an additional $1.6 million there.

Gotcha. Okay. And is that a class A or class B or what is that?

So, again, that's a deal where we're not the lead bank on that. That's, I believe.

I would say class B. Yeah.

It's in the suburbs here. A little bit of a unique property, I think, but probably tilts towards a class B. Gotcha.

Gotcha. Okay. And then switching to margin, do you – Mark, do you have a spot margin, and then do you have a spot margin subset adjusted?

Spot margin for March – I'd have to look at what the core was. I know it was influenced by a little bit of – purchase accounting accretion, but I believe it was right around 339 or 340. And the sub debt had very little impact in that spot market because it was only there for seven days. So I think that's a good case for that.

Okay. Got it. Okay. And then EBTC, any chance for an early close? We are seeing Deals close a lot quicker. There was one instance just down in the Mid-Atlantic, pretty big deal, and the Fed approval came in before the state approval. I mean, anything there?

Yeah, so I think there's always a possibility for an early close. At this point, we've not really – we've obviously submitted the application back at the end of January, and we've had, you know, I would say kind of normal back and forth with the FDIC and a little bit with the Fed, And just, you know, them submitting some questions, I would characterize the questions as, again, pretty normal, pretty benign. So we haven't seen anything based on the questions we've gotten from the regulators that would give us pause. And so now we're just kind of in a wait-and-see mode. We're not in the middle of responding to anything at the moment. So I do think there's a possibility it could close earlier than maybe what we thought a couple months ago.

Okay. Okay. And was that why you did the subset a little earlier than we thought? I think we were thinking that would happen sort of in the summer. Yeah. Or did you just decide with the market chaos we're going now? I mean, how did you think about that?

To be honest, a little bit of both. I mean, I think some of the early tea leaves suggested, you know, there was a path here where we could close, you know, earlier than maybe we originally anticipated. And, you know, that sort of shifted the mindset here to let's get in the market when we think we can get the right execution. So we worked with our partners pretty aggressively. And, you know, as we all know, there was a, there's been a lot of, you know, destabilization and the capital and debt markets, but we found a window there that we thought was advantageous. So we were able to get that, that done. So it was a little bit of both of, you know, anticipating maybe an earlier closing, but also, you know, we always said we would want to get the deal done when we felt we could and the pricing was right.

Yeah, no, great job getting that done now. Okay, so Jeff, I have to ask you a direct question. Were you all company A on the $15 Brookline bid, the letter of intent?

Am I allowed to comment on that? I don't think we can comment on that, but we have our hands full with enterprise.

Yeah, I'll just say we're very, very busy with enterprise. How about if we say that?

Okay, okay. Well, let me ask it maybe just sort of a general and slightly different way. In the past, Independent has done more than one bank at a time in an acquisition. How do you guys think about that? I mean, you've got a very, very strong balance sheet now, albeit your currency has slipped, but so has everybody's. I mean, if the right deal came along and EDTC wasn't closed, would you potentially look to be involved?

I mean, honestly, I would never say never to questions like that, but it would have to be really compelling for us to consider that. I obviously wasn't here during all of the previous acquisitions, but I'm not aware of us doing, you know, multiple deals at the same time. You know, could we do that? You know, I suppose. Recall, we have an awful lot going on, including not only the enterprise market, acquisition and integration, but we're doing a core conversion in May of 26. So I would say those are our two biggest priorities. If there was something that we found just like overwhelmingly compelling and we didn't think it would jeopardize either one of those two things, then maybe. But honestly, I don't really see any. I don't see anything out there that I would characterize as overly compelling.

Okay. Okay. And then actually, last question I had on the core systems upgrade. And I have this in my notes, but it doesn't look like it was in the numbers, that you might take a million and a half dollar expense charge in the first quarter and the second quarter relating to that core systems upgrade, or possibly my notes are wrong. Can you just help us think about was that expense in there or when will we see that expense? And I thought it was $3 million. Is that still the right number?

I think we talked about a range of three to five and probably why your notes are indicating three. So part of that is our relationship with the core provider. The expense is actually a lot higher than that, but some of that gets absorbed with credits we have with the provider. So right now we've been able to – we haven't really incurred any expense associated with that conversion at this point, but I still think there's – we still believe there will be some – expense that will not be absorbed by the credits here in 2025. And I would still would suggest us in that, you know, probably $3 to $4 million range. But, you know, if we have some of that in the upcoming quarters, we'll highlight that with each quarter's results. But none of that was in the first quarter. We're very modest.

And then just one last question. So with the systems conversion upgrade coming, I think, May of 2025, You said then we'll expect it.

May of 26 would be the conversion.

May of 26. Gotcha. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. Great. Thanks. I'll leave it there.

Your next question today will come from Chris O'Connell with KBW. Please go ahead.

Hey, good evening. Good evening, Chris. I just wanted to start off on the margin and make sure I had everything right. So the 11 basis points, you know, off of the core in Q1 of 337 is the immediate hit into 2Q. And then is 2Q also inclusive of the, you know, the three to four basis point increase per quarter? So kind of, you know, net out, you know, down seven or eight?

You got it. Yep. Those would be sort of the two major drivers that I would suggest will happen in the second quarter.

And just, you know, can I ask, you know, what's the plan, I guess, or the assumptions around, you know, the deployment of the elevated cash balances coming out of this quarter with the sub-debt raise and then, I guess, you know, that 4%, you know, estimated proceeds yield?

Yeah. So, certainly, if you could sort of assume that that's somewhat of a conservative estimate you know, all that cash stays in at Fed funds, and we picked a 4% number for purposes of modeling that out. So, you know, I'd say priority would be to support loan growth to the extent, you know, we're able to increase versus our guidance. I think our securities portfolio is in a pretty good spot, but, you know, we may put a little bit to work in the securities, but I wouldn't suggest we'll elevate their too much. I also think we want to keep some of that to just, you know, some of it will need to be used for the cash component of the acquisition, which is not a very large amount, but that's 20 to 25 million. And then 50 million of that will be used to pay down the enterprise sub debt that we'll be absorbing when we combine. And then there is some wholesale barns at enterprise that we could certainly use our excess liquidity and just sort of delever the balance sheet a bit, take some of the excess cash, and pay down their wholesale borrowings. So, long way of saying, I don't think we're going to rush to necessarily force putting that cash to work in the next quarter or two. I think there will be certainly more opportunities on a combined basis to kind of, like I said, either support loan growth or pay down wholesale borrowings.

Great. So, I mean, safe to say, you know, you think there is, you know, you know, erring on the conservative side with that 4% yield and probably have, you know, potential for upside there?

Yeah, I think that's fair.

Great. And then just thinking about, you know, your guys' capital levels and, you know, even with the deal, you know, will remain kind of robust afterwards. You know, if the deal closed tomorrow, You know, what would you say given, you know, the overall environment and what you guys are seeing on the loan growth demand, you know, balance, you know, with buyback and, you know, M&A conversations, you know, how would you guys or what would you guys' priorities be? I guess, you know, is the buyback the most attractive? Have you guys had other M&A conversations, you know, that have been going along?

Yeah, I mean, I think from a practical standpoint, I think we absolutely should be thinking about buyback. I mean, I would say our prioritization would be to support organic growth. But, you know, I think the practical side of it is in this environment, and as you see in our guidance, we're not predicting to significantly increase the balance sheet footings in the near term. So when you look at our valuation, I think there is an opportunity here where a buyback makes sense.

Great. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks, Bob. Yep.

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jeff Tengel for any closing remarks.

Thanks, everybody. Appreciate your interest in INDB. Apologize for some of the technical difficulties and hope you have a nice holiday weekend.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.