Velocity Financial, Inc.

Good day, and welcome to the Velocity Financial first quarter of 2026 results conference call. Please note that today's event is being recorded, and all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need any assistance during the call, 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 and one on your telephone keypad. And to withdraw a question, please press star, then two. I would now like to turn the call over to the Treasurer, Chris Holtman. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Joe. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for the discussion of Velocity's first quarter 2026 results. Joining me today are Chris Farrar, Velocity's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Sapaniak, Velocity's Chief Financial Officer. Earlier this afternoon, we released a press release of our first quarter results, and you can find the press release and accompanying presentation that we will refer to during this call on our investor relations website at www.bellfinance.com. I'd like to remind everybody that today's call may include forward-looking statements, which are uncertain and outside of the company's control, and actual results may differ materially. For discussion of some of the risk and other factors that could affect results, please see the risk factors and other cautionary statements made in our communications with shareholders, including the risk factors disclosed in our findings of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please also note that the content of this conference call contains time sensitive information that is accurate only as of today, and we do not undertake any duty to update forward looking statements. We may also refer to certain non-GAAP measures on this call. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures, you should refer to the earnings materials on our investor relations website. And finally, today's call is being recorded and will be available on the company's website later today. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Chris Farrar.

Thank you, Chris, and good evening, everyone. We appreciate you taking the time to join us today. First off, I want to apologize to everyone. On our last call, we had technical difficulties, and We've been assured that by our vendor that won't happen again, so hopefully things go well here for us. I'll start off with a few words on the environment, then walk through our Q1 performance. Mark will take you then through the rest of the financials in detail before we open up for questions. The first quarter of 2026 was obviously volatile from a macro perspective, but quite steady in our corner of the world. Our end real estate markets are functioning well, our pipeline is growing, and our fixed income markets are well bid. In our view, making low LTV loans secured by real estate is a smart way to generate healthy, risk-adjusted returns, and our Q1 results speak to the durability of what we've built at Velocity. In the first quarter, we delivered results that were in line with our expectations and, importantly, consistent with the trajectory we laid out at the start of the year. portfolio growth was measured and deliberate, NPL recoveries remained strong, and we continued to generate reliable net interest income from a well-seasoned book. Our story is about consistently compounding our capital, and in this environment, I believe consistency is exactly what our investors, our borrowers, and our originator partners need to see from us. Credit is always a top priority, and this quarter reinforced that this Our non-performing loan resolutions were very consistent with positive gains and significant interest income recognition. Our dedicated special servicing team continues to resolve assets efficiently while maximizing recovery rates. We said before that we optimize for asset valuation, and that disciplined approach to valuation has served us well through several cycles now. And Q1 was no exception, as evidenced by the weighted average LTV on new loan originations of 64.9%. On the origination side, we were intentional. We did not chase volume for its own sake. We originated loans that met our return threshold in markets where we have depth of knowledge through originated relationships we trust. The result was a portfolio that grew nicely quarter over quarter with yields that remain attractive relative to our cost of funds. The most significant activity in the quarter was our first-ever issuance of $500 million of unsecured corporate debt rated by Moody's and Fitch. The investor demand was broad, and the deal was oversubscribed and comprised of high-quality, sophisticated investors that we are proud to call partners. This capital positions us well for future growth and strengthens our financial flexibility as we dramatically reduce our reliance on shorter-term warehouse debt. As we look to the rest of 2026, we feel well-positioned. Our balance sheet is clean, our funding is stable, and we see a pipeline of origination opportunity that should translate into meaningful volume growth in the second half of the year. We remain confident in our ability to deliver on the objectives that we set at the beginning of the year. With that, I'll turn to the earnings presentation materials starting on page three. As I mentioned in my remarks, a pretty stable, straightforward quarter, very simple. Coordinate income up 30% over the prior year's quarter. NIM was very healthy and on target at just over 3.5%. Mentioned that the portfolio grew nicely up 25% year over year. continue to see positive gains on the NPL resolutions, again, 102.3, and expanded our disclosures here to show the other recovered revenue on those NPLs of $4.6 million. In financing and capital, as I mentioned, the securitization markets are very healthy, and we've got another deal off the market that will price this week. Those markets are very supportive. In terms of capital and liquidity, we've never paid in a stronger position with, for us, a much larger amount of liquidity coming off that unsecured corporate debt issuance and really gives us, as I mentioned, the strength and the flexibility to navigate whatever market comes our way. So with that, I'll turn it over to Mark. Thanks, Chris, and good evening, everyone.