Mercantile Bank Corporation

Good morning, and welcome to the Mercantile Bank Corporation third quarter 2022 conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode today. Should you need any 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 your telephone keypad. To withdraw a question, please press star, then two. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Julia Ward, Lambert Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Mercantile Bank Corporation's conference call and webcast to discuss the company's financial results for the third quarter of 2022. Joining me today are members of Mercantile's management team, including Bob Kaminsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chuck Christmas, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Ray Reitzma, Chief Operating Officer and President of the Bank. We will begin the call with management's prepared remarks and presentation to review the quarter's results, then open the call to questions. Before turning the call over to management, it is my responsibility to inform you that this call may involve certain forward-looking statements such as projections of revenue, earnings, and capital structure, as well as statements on the plans and objectives of the company's business. The company's actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statements made today due to factors described in the company's latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company assumed no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during the call. If anyone does not already have a copy of the third quarter 2022 press release and presentation deck issued by Mercantile today, you can access it at the company's website, www.mercbank.com. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mercantile's president and chief executive officer, Bob Kaminski.

Thank you, Julia. And thanks to all of you for joining us on the conference call today. Today our company released its September 30 financial results, and we are pleased to report another very successful quarter with noteworthy results and several important performance metrics and strategic initiatives. Strong profitability, driven by an increase in net interest margin, trending to more normal levels from the lows of the past few years. Continued growth in many of our fee income categories. Continuation of steady loan growth in both commercial and the retail portfolios with consistent strength in our loan pipelines, strong asset quality, and diligent expense control. For the third quarter, Mercantile posted earnings of $1.01 per share on revenues of $49.6 million.