First BanCorp. New

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining the first Bancorp First Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Marie, and I will be coordinating your call today. During the presentation, you can register your question by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. And if you change your mind, please press star followed by two. I will now hand over to your host, Ramon Rodriguez, Investor Relations Officer, to begin. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Mary. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining First Bank Corp's conference call and webcast to discuss the company's financial results for the first quarter of 2025. Joining you today from First Bank Corp are Aurelio Alemán, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Orlando Vergés, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin today's call, 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 the forward-looking statements made due to the important factors described in the company's latest SEC filings. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during the call. If anyone does not already have a copy of the webcast presentation or press release, you can access them at our website at fbpinvestor.com. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to our CEO, Aurelio Arimano.

Thank you, Ramon, and actually, good afternoon to everyone, and thanks for joining our call today. Usually, I will start with a brief discussion on the financial performance, and then we'll move to some highlights on economic matters. Again, we delivered what I consider a very strong quarter for the franchise, driven by the margin expansion and the positive operating leverage, question on profitability, ROA and ROE. Return on asset was solid at 164, and pre-tax pre-provision income grew by 7%, reaching 125 million during the quarter. The project continues to perform quite well as we enter 2025 with strength, the strength of the balance sheet, the strength of capital, and obviously a proven track record to successfully navigate unforeseen conditions while supporting our clients. That's really the main goal. Turning to the balance sheet, total loans were slightly down on the late quarter basis. I think I mentioned last quarter that we were excited, you know, every payment that didn't happen and took place this quarter. On the other hand, you know, renations were healthy and reached $1.2 billion in line with usually the first quarter. On the other hand, you know, the pipeline is, we have a healthy pipeline in place and it actually continues to build. as we continue to work with our clients, supporting them in this current operating cycle. As we know, it's difficult to predict closing of chunky deals usually, but at this time, we continue to sustain our mid-single-digit growth for the year. That remains unchanged. Core deposit flows were stable. We saw, and I speak of, in non-interest bearing, which grew 70 million. And when you look at deposits in Puerto Rico, they have an end growth, what we consider core, excluding government, of $75 million. And actually, if we adjust, we actually lose two large, chunky deals on the deposit side, on the pricing side, of $175 million. So it's going to be much better, but I think we're very pleased that the granularity continues to improve. Credit performance. was stable, and we continue to see the normalization that we talk about in the consumer credit trends. Early delinquency is down when compared to private quarter. And finally, regarding capital, as we always say, we continue to be opportunistic in our approach how to deploy. We redeemed approximately $50 million in some of the ventures and declared $30 million in common stock dividends. we decided to resume our stock purchase program during the quarter, and we repurchased 22 million in the first quarter, in addition to the drops, and we expect to complete another 28 million during April, which will reach the goal for the second quarter of 50 million in common stock. Just as a reminder, we still have 100 million left of the prior year approval, which obviously, as we continue to be opportunistic, we're looking to deploy in the second half of this year. Please let's turn to slide five. Again, the financial resorts are a product of execution of the teams and a stable economic backdrop, which continues to show you know, positive metrics. Business activity continues healthy. Obviously, consumer confidence, you know, as of today, is about to be determined based on new policies, fiscal policies and tariffs, which are under evaluation. See everybody pending to see what the impact is going to be in that confidence. On the other hand, year-to-date fiscal government tax collection are up by 3%. Unemployment rate, again, another low register in the first quarter. And when we look at quarter to date, debit and credit card sales were 3% in the first quarter in 2024. Dispersion of federal disaster relief funds continue, and we continue to participate in affordable housing projects primarily. and looking at some infrastructure improvement too. On the digital front, we have continued to invest. This quarter, we achieved a very important step in converting to the centralized FIS cloud. Our core system now, all our core systems are in the cloud. And then our franchise investment continues in the digital environment, which digital adoption continues to progress in line with our objective. Again, capital utilization, first priority is really trying to grow the balance sheet and obviously improve our products, improve our infrastructure. We still believe it's early to assess the broader economic implications of the changes in human policy we'll have in Puerto Rico, but again, we'll keep you updated. I think all bankers are just in the same place looking at potential implications to our our economies and our core customers. So, as I mentioned, you know, full year guidance remains unchanged, and I guess we'll provide an update in the next call in July. So, despite this concern, you know, we remain committed to our disciplined approach of delivering consistent results and creating shareholder value. Now, with that, I'll pass it to Orlando to give you, you know, a little more detail on the financial results. Thanks for joining today.