Cadence Bank

Good day, and welcome to the Cadence Bank first quarter 2025 webcast and conference 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. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Will for Zachary, Executive Vice President and Director of Corporate Finance. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining the Cadence Bank first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. We have members from our executive management team here with us this morning, Dan Rollins, Chris Bagley, Valerie Tolson, and Billy Braddock. Our speakers will be referring to prepared slides during the discussion. You can find the slides by going to our investor relations page at ir.cadencebank.com. where you'll find them on the link to our webcast, or you can view them to the exhibit to the 8K that we filed yesterday afternoon. These slides are also in the presentation section of our investor relations website. I would remind you that the presentation, along with our earnings release, contain our customary disclosures around forward-looking statements and any non-GAAP metrics that may be discussed. The disclosures regarding forward-looking statements contained in those documents apply to our presentation today. And now I'll turn to Dan for his opening comments.

Good morning. Thank you all for joining us to discuss our first quarter results. After I cover a few highlights and Valerie provides additional detail on our financials, our executive management team will be available for questions. First, during the quarter we received all regulatory approvals to complete our acquisition of First Chatham Bank and we plan to close May 1. As a reminder, we announced this transaction the last time we had an earnings call. So to be able to get approval and close in under 100 days is fantastic. We're looking forward to working with Ken Farrell and his team at First Chatham and expanding our presence in Georgia. Regarding the first quarter results, our financials continued to exhibit strength in a number of areas. Gap net income increased to $130.9 million, or $0.70 per share. Adjusted net income from continuing operations increased to $131.4 million, or 71 cents per share, and ROA was higher at 1.15%. Our balance sheet management last fall drove an increase in net interest margin of 8 basis points this quarter, and our adjusted efficiency ratio improved by over 100 basis points as managed expenses offset the impact of fewer days in the quarter on revenue. Our teams remain focused on supporting our customers. which resulted in first quarter loan growth of nearly 4% on an annualized basis, with the strongest growth coming out of Georgia, Florida, and Texas as those states continue to do well against the national backdrop. Loan pipelines remain solid across most of our regional markets. Merchant commercial real estate activity is as robust as it's been in years. Competition for the best transactions has driven yields down somewhat in recent months, but activity remains high. Deposit balances grew nicely on average, but given typical first quarter volatility, we ended the quarter flat with core customer deposits maintaining stability both in balances and in the mix of non-interest-bearing deposits. Importantly, credit results have been stable overall and were in line with our expectations for the quarter with net charge-offs of 27 basis points annualized. There has certainly been some disruption added to the economy as of late. And while we are alert to the possibility of issues with borrowers, we have not seen any impact yet. Our tangible book value continued to expand, increasing to $22.30 per share, and regulatory capital levels remained very strong, with CET1 growing to 12.4%, allowing us the capital flexibility to be opportunistic as we look ahead. I'll turn the call over to Valerie for her highlights on the financials and a few more details. Valerie?