Laurentian Bank of Canada

Welcome to Laurentian Bank Financial Results Call. Please note that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Raphael Ambo, Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Raphael.

Bonjour à tous. Good morning and thank you for joining us. Today's opening remarks will be delivered by Eric Prevost, President and CEO, and the review of the first quarter financial results will be presented by Yvan Deschamps, Executive Vice President and CFO. after which we'll invite questions from the phone. Also joining us for the question period is Christian Debroux, Executive Vice President and CRO. All documents pertaining to the quarter can be found on our website in the Investor Relations section. I'd like to remind you that during this conference call, forward-looking statements may be made, and it is possible that actual results may differ materially from those projected in such statements. For the complete cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements, please refer to our press release or to slide 2 of the presentation. I would also like to remind listeners that the Bank assesses its performance on a reported and adjusted basis and considers both to be useful in assessing underlying business performance. Eric and Yvan will be referring to adjusted results in their remarks unless otherwise noted as reported. I will now turn the call over to Eric.

Merci Raphael. Bonjour à tous et bienvenue à notre conférence téléphonique pour le premier trimestre de 2026. Good morning and thank you for being with us today. For the first quarter of 2026, we're pleased with the progress we've made on our key priorities. Our core commercial businesses showed solid underlying momentum with a total long growth of 4% in the first quarter, which is right in line with our transformation plan. I want to take a moment to recognize our employees, their commitment and professionalism stand out. They continue to navigate this period of change with resilience, integrity and a strong focus on serving our customers. This quarter, we recorded after tax adjusting items of 54.7 million, reflecting charges related to the transactions announced in December. At the same time, the team has also established high momentum as it relates to the transaction. On that front, we reached an important milestone. As announced on February 5th, our shareholders voted 98.8% in favor of the resolution approving the acquisition transaction. This vote confirms strong support for a future in which the bank can accelerate its strategic growth plan. Another milestone came on February 17th when we completed the sale of our syndication portfolio to National Bank. The process went smoothly, and we will continue to monitor the transition to ensure everything remains seamless for the clients. While several steps remain to complete the transaction, including obtaining regulatory approvals, we are progressing steadily. We remained confident that we had the right team in place to successfully execute. Our mix of commercial loans continued to move in the right direction, increasing by 1% to reach 51% of total loan portfolio. As mentioned earlier, our commercial teams delivered a strong first quarter with notable momentum in key areas. Inventory financing grew 7% quarter over quarter, and utilization improved by five percentage points sequentially, reaching 45%. In commercial real estate, both the portfolio and the pipeline continued to show steady progress, each increasing by 5%. In essence, our commercial specialization demonstrated solid underlying growth consistent with our transformation plan. In terms of provision for credit losses, The ratio decreased to 18 BIPs, reflecting the strength of our specialized underwriting, consistent education practices, and disciplined portfolio management. We also saw an improvement in asset quality with growth-impaired loans decreasing by 19% to 96 BIPs. We remain confident that our current level of provisions is prudent and appropriate given the overall quality and performance of our portfolio. Finally, our solid capital and liquidity positions allows us to move forward with confidence. I would now like to turn the call over to Yvan to review our financial performance.