PACCAR Inc.

Welcome to the first of Long Island Corporation's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. On the call today are Chris Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Janet Vernell, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is being recorded. A copy of the earnings release is available on the corporation's website at fnbli.com and on the earnings call webpage at https colon forward slash forward slash www.cstproxy.com forward slash FNBLI forward slash earnings forward slash 2024 forward slash Q2. Before we begin, the company would like to remind everyone that this call may contain certain statements that constitute forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements, including the set forth in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors should also refer to our 2023 10-K filed on March 8, 2024, as supplemented by our 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, for a list of risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such statements. I would now like to turn the call over to Chris Becker.

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to the first of Long Island Corporation's earnings call for the second quarter of 2024. I'm pleased to report linked quarter improvements in many key financial ratios and financial statement line items, including increase in return on assets, increase in return on equity, improvement in efficiency ratio, growth in deposits, growth in loans, higher non-interest income, lower non-interest expense, higher net income, higher earnings per share, and most importantly, increase in net interest margin. After six consecutive quarters of net interest margin decline from 2.97% for the three months ended September 30th, 2022, to 1.79% for the three months ended March 31, 2024, our margin increased to 1.8% for the three and six months ended June 30th, 2024. While not a substantial move up, certainly a positive indicator for stabilization. Repeating what I stated last quarter, barring any significant changes in our funding mix or short-term rates moving higher, we believe our net interest margin should be at the bottom. The pace of interest-earning assets repricing was basically in line with the pace of interest-bearing liability repricing during the second quarter of this year, and that trend is expected to continue, if not improve, in the quarters ahead. Managing the mix of the balance sheet will augment margin improvement, and coupled with a more favorable yield curve, this improvement can accelerate. Talk of lower short-term rates is encouraging for continued earnings growth moving forward. The bank had stronger loan originations during the second quarter, closing $70 million with a weighted average rate of approximately 7%. Second quarter originations were driven by C&I and owner-occupied commercial mortgages, highlighting our focus on relationship-based business. Originations during the second quarter continued the progress made remixing our loan portfolio from consumer to commercial that began in 2020. During that period, relationship-based C&I and owner-occupied commercial mortgages increased 80%. and other commercial real estate increased 30 percent. In total, our commercial lending business has grown $582 million. That growth has been masked by letting our residential lending business amortize down by $514 million over the same period. Building our commercial relationship business has also resulted in an improved mix on the funding side as non-interest-bearing deposits represented 30 percent of our funding mix at June 30, 2024, compared to 25 percent on December 31, 2019. In the current environment, I believe it's important to note that our remix to commercial lending has not included any significant increase in multifamily loans outstanding. Our multifamily loans totaled $868 million at the end of the second quarter, of 2024, up minimally from $835 million at the end of 2019. The June 30, 2024 pipeline was $137 million with a projected average rate of approximately 6.75 percent. Please keep in mind that many loans in the pipeline are floating off an index plus a margin until the closing, so the weighted average rates move with the market. The pipeline has increased from the end of the first quarter when it was at 113 million. We have been closely monitoring rate resets and have provided detailed information in that regard in a form 8K filed on March 1st, 2024, supplemented by additional information in our annual shareholders meeting presentation on April 16th, 2024. During the second half of this year, based on rates as of June 30th, 2024, We have $65 million of multifamily and non-owner-occupied commercial mortgages repricing with a weighted average rate of 4.24 percent before the rate reset and a projected weighted average rate of 7 percent after the rate reset. Looking forward into 2025, based on rates as of June 30, 2024, We have $122 million of multifamily and non-owner-occupied commercial mortgages repricing with a weighted average rate of 3.53 percent before the rate reset and a projected weighted average rate of 7.02 percent after the rate reset. For loans with projected cash flow stress, we have started to reach out to borrowers to discuss options for their consideration. Our criticized, classified, past due, non-performing, and charge-off levels all remain low, and we currently assess our credit quality as strong. On June 28, 2024, we opened a branch on the North Fork of Long Island in South Hold. We believe this location will be a great complement to the rest of the East End of Long Island presence that we established over recent years, including Riverhead, Southampton, and Eastampton. We currently have 41 branches covering Nassau and Suffolk counties in the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Our branch count is down from a high of 52 branches at the end of 2019, but our total deposits have increased by approximately 220 million over that period, a much more efficient model. We continue to evaluate prospects for geographic expansion as well as efficiencies within our existing branch network. Our company has been around for nearly a century because we stay focused on the fundamentals of strong credit quality and meaningful customer relationships. We believe our fundamentals have built and will continue building a strong franchise. Growth and margins have been challenged over the past 18 months, but we remain optimistic about future opportunities to build shareholder value. Janet Vernell will now take you through financial highlights of the quarter and year to date. Janet?

Janet Woodcock- Thank you, Chris. Good afternoon, everyone. Following up on some of Chris's comments, positive trends quarter over quarter included the following, an increase in return on assets from 0.42 to 0.45 percent, an increase on return on equity from 4.72 to 5.15 percent, increase in net interest margin from 1.79 to 1.8 percent, improvement in the efficiency ratio to 73.6 percent from 76.5. Although these are slight improvements, they can be forward-facing indicator of the trending stabilization of our net interest margin. Coupled with the recent heightened market anticipation of a Fed funds cut in September, we expect to maintain this trend. The company recognized net income of 4.8 million for the second quarter of 2024, 4.4 million for the linked quarter, and 6.9 million for the same quarter last year. Earnings per share were 21 cents for the quarter, equal to the per share dividend declared by our board of directors in June of 2024. EPS for the linked quarter and the same quarter last year were 20 cents and 31 cents, respectively. The increase from the linked quarter was largely attributed to the increase in net interest income by $270,000 and a decrease in salaries and employee benefits of $474,000, primarily due to decreases in employee incentive accruals. These were partially offset by a $570,000 provision for loan losses. The decline from the second quarter of 2023 is largely attributed to the decrease in the net interest income by $3.4 million, a $570,000 provision for loan losses partially offset by a decrease in the provision for income tax expense of $1 million attributable to lower earnings and a decrease in the effective tax rate. Non-interest income of $2.9 million exceeded non-interest income recorded in the linked quarter of $2.8 million and the same quarter last year of $2.7 million. Improved results from service charges on deposit accounts, merchant card services, and bank-owned life insurance were the main contributors to the increase. Management had guided in analyst calls to quarterly non-interest income totals of approximately 2.6 million. Based on deposit account service charge collection improvements after our system upgrade, management currently believes recent increases in monthly service charge revenue will remain stable. Although merchant card service income can fluctuate, we now expect for the last two quarters of 2024, these revenues will trend consistent to the first two quarters. Non-interest expense totaled $15.8 million for the current quarter, as compared to $16.2 million in the linked quarter and $16.5 in the same quarter last year. Earlier in the year, management had guided an analyst's calls to quarterly non-interest expenses. totals of approximately $16.25 million. We did have some open staffing positions during the second quarter, but we also lowered the incentive compensation accrual rates. We anticipate non-interest expenses for the last two quarters of 24 will be comparable to the first two quarters. During the second quarter, we used excess cash to pay down about $143 million of wholesale borrowings leading to a small deleveraging of the balance sheet of $46 million, even though we had deposit growth of $37 million and loan growth of $14 million. Loan growth was better than the net number reflects as C&I loans increased $27 million and commercial mortgages increased by $15 million. Commercial growth was offset by the residential mortgages decreasing $27 million as we continue to remix the loan portfolio toward commercial lending. The overall loan yield of 4.22 was up eight basis points quarter over quarter. The second quarter saw a notable increase in average non-maturity interest-bearing deposits of 85 million and certificates of deposit of 15 million. Average non-interest-bearing checking deposits increased by 11 million and represent 33% of total deposits. The weighted average cost of interest-bearing non-maturity deposits was 2.84%, and for CDs, it was 4.24%. As of the close of the second quarter, the repricing of wholesale funding, FHLB borrowings, and brokered CDs to current market rates remained largely behind us. Although at a slower pace, we continue to approve upward interest rate adjustments based on the overall customer relationship. The purchase of the fixed to floating swap in March of 23 continues to pay dividends, adding 1.2 million to the net interest income in the second quarter. Swap matures in March of 2026. Net interest income for the second quarter of 2024 increased 270,000 compared to the linked quarter and decreased 3.4 million from the same quarter last year. Our net interest margin of 1.8% for the second quarter of 2024 compares to 1.79% for the linked quarter and 2.17% for the same quarter last year. Yield on total interest earning assets was 4.16% for the second quarter, 4.8% for the linked quarter and 3.78% for the same quarter last year. Cost of total interest bearing liabilities was 3.56% for the second quarter of 2024, 3.47 for the linked quarter and 2.51% for the same quarter last year. The allowance for credit losses as of June 30, 2024, was $28.5 million. A provision was booked to the ACL of $570,000 during the quarter. The quarterly provision was largely due to $276,000 specific reserve on one non-performing loan and about 421,000 of net charge-offs. The reserve coverage ratio at June 30, 2024, remained flat at 0.88% compared to the linked quarter. The capital position remained strong with a leverage ratio of approximately 9.9% at June 30, 2024. Book value per share was 1671 at June 30th versus 1622 at June 30, 2023. The accumulated other comprehensive loss component of stockholders' equity is mainly comprised of a net unrealized loss in available-for-sale securities portfolio due to higher market interest rates. There were no share repurchases in the second quarter of 2024. The effective tax rate for the second quarter of 2024 decreased to 1.6% as compared to 6.2% for the linked quarter The annualized effective tax rate is now expected to be approximately 4%. The change was due to a reduction in 2024 projected income, with the rate staying higher for longer than anticipated, causing a greater impact of the tax-exempt items on the effective tax rate. With that, I turn it back to our operator for questions.