Univest Financial Corp (UVSP) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

(technical difficulty) For joining us for the Univest Financial Corporation second-quarter 2024 earnings call. My name is Corley, and I'll be the call coordinator for today. (Operator Instructions) I would like to hand over to our host, Jeff Schweitzer, CEO and President, to begin.

（技術難度）加入我們參加 Univest Financial Corporation 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我叫科利，我將擔任今天的通話協調員。 （操作員指示）我想請我們的東道主、執行長兼總裁 Jeff Schweitzer 開始發言。

Thank you, Corley, and good morning, and thank you to all of our listeners for joining us. Joining me on the call this morning is Mike Keim, our Chief Operating Officer and President of Univest Bank and Trust; and Brian Richardson, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，科利，早安，並感謝所有聽眾加入我們。今天早上和我一起參加電話會議的是 Mike Keim，我們的營運長兼 Univest 銀行和信託公司總裁；以及我們的財務長布萊恩理查森 (Brian Richardson)。

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone of the forward-looking statements disclaimer. Please be advised that during the course of this conference call, management may make forward-looking statements that express management's intentions, beliefs or expectations within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Univest's actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. I will refer you to the forward-looking cautionary statements in our earnings release and in our SEC filings. Hopefully, everyone had a chance to review our earnings release from yesterday. If not, it can be found on our website at univest.net under the Investor Relations tab.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家注意前瞻性聲明的免責聲明。請注意，在本次電話會議期間，管理階層可能會發表前瞻性聲明，表達聯邦證券法意義內管理階層的意圖、信念或期望。 Univest 的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述預期的結果有重大差異。我將向您推薦我們的收益報告和美國證券交易委員會文件中的前瞻性警示聲明。希望每個人都有機會回顧我們昨天發布的財報。如果沒有，可以在我們的網站 univest.net 的「投資者關係」標籤下找到。

We reported net income of $18.2 million during the second quarter or $0.62 per share. During the quarter, we continued to see stabilization in the shift in the mix of deposits along with the cost of deposits. The highlight of the quarter was growth in deposits of $90 million or 5.6% annualized during the quarter, which was net of our normal seasonal runoff of public funds deposits along with the decrease of broker deposits as we experienced solid core deposit growth. Additionally, loan growth picked up in the second quarter as we grew loans by approximately $106 million or 6.4% annualized. Our diversified business model continued to serve us well as our noninterest income was up $1.1 million or 5.8% compared to the prior year. And finally, we continue to be active with stock buybacks during the quarter as we repurchased 190,808 shares of stock while still growing our tangible book value.

我們報告第二季淨利潤為 1820 萬美元，即每股 0.62 美元。本季度，我們繼續看到存款結構的變化以及存款成本的穩定性。本季的亮點是本季存款成長 9,000 萬美元，年化成長率為 5.6%，這是扣除公共基金存款正常季節性流失以及經紀人存款減少（因為我們經歷了穩健的核心存款成長）的影響。此外，第二季貸款成長加快，貸款增加了約 1.06 億美元，年化成長率為 6.4%。我們的多元化業務模式繼續為我們提供良好服務，我們的非利息收入比前一年增加了 110 萬美元，即 5.8%。最後，我們在本季繼續積極進行股票回購，回購了 190,808 股股票，同時我們的有形帳面價值仍在成長。

Before I pass it over to Brian, I would like to thank the entire Univest family for the great work they do every day and for their continued efforts serving our customers, communities, and each other. I will now turn it over to Brian for further discussion on our results.

在將其交給 Brian 之前，我要感謝整個 Univest 家族每天所做的出色工作以及為我們的客戶、社區和彼此服務的持續努力。我現在將把它交給布萊恩進一步討論我們的結果。

Thank you, Jeff, and I would also like to thank everyone for joining us today. I would like to start by highlighting a few items from the earnings release.

謝謝傑夫，我還要感謝大家今天加入我們。我想先強調財報發布中的一些內容。

First, during the quarter, we continued to see signs of NIM stabilization, and we expect core NIM to expand in the second half of the year. Reported NIM of 2.84% decreased 4 basis points from 2.88% in the first quarter. Core NIM of 2.86%, which excludes the impact of excess liquidity declined 5 basis points compared to the first quarter.

首先，本季度，我們繼續看到淨利差穩定的跡象，我們預計核心淨利差將在下半年擴大。公佈的淨利差為 2.84%，較第一季的 2.88% 下降 4 個基點。核心淨利差為2.86%，剔除流動性過剩的影響，較一季下降5個基點。

During the quarter, loan yields decreased 5 basis points or increased 5 basis points to 5.73%. Interest-earning asset yields increased by 6 basis points and the cost of interest-bearing liabilities increased by 9 basis points. It is important to note the increase in our interest-earning asset yields approximates the increase in our loan yields as we are not seeing a benefit from shrinking the investment book that some of our peers are seeing. We have consistently maintained the investment portfolio at 6% to 8% of total assets and plan to continue doing so.

本季貸款收益率下降5個基點或上升5個基點至5.73%。生息資產收益率上升6個基點，付息負債成本上升9個基點。值得注意的是，我們的生息資產收益率的成長近似於貸款收益率的成長，因為我們沒有看到一些同業所看到的收縮投資帳簿帶來的好處。我們一直將投資組合維持在總資產的6%至8%，並計劃繼續這樣做。

Second, as it relates to the loan and deposit activity, loans grew $105.8 million, and deposits grew $90 million during the second quarter despite decreases in brokered and public fund deposits of $37.5 million and $24.1 million, respectively. Third, during the quarter, we recorded a provision for credit losses of $707,000. Our coverage ratio was 1.28% at June 30 compared to 1.3% at March 31.

其次，就貸款和存款活動而言，第二季貸款增加了 1.058 億美元，存款增加了 9,000 萬美元，儘管經紀存款和公共基金存款分別減少了 3,750 萬美元和 2,410 萬美元。第三，本季我們記錄了 707,000 美元的信貸損失撥備。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的覆蓋率為 1.28%，而 3 月 31 日為 1.3%。

Our general loan reserve coverage ratio, which excludes individually analyzed loans was 1.28% at June 30 compared to 1.27% at March 31. Net charge-offs for the quarter totaled $809,000 or 5 basis points annualized. During the quarter, we saw a decrease in nonperforming assets and relative stability in loan delinquencies and criticized and classified assets.

截至6 月30 日，我們的一般貸款準備金覆蓋率（不包括單獨分析的貸款）為1.28%，而3 月31 日為1.27%。 5 個基點。本季度，我們看到不良資產減少，貸款拖欠以及批評和分類資產相對穩定。

Fourth, noninterest income increased $1.1 million or 5.8% compared to the second quarter of 2023. This increase was primarily driven by a $671,000 or 64.6% increase in net gain on mortgage banking activities and a $530,000 or 11.3% increase in investment advisory, commission, and fee income. We continue to be happy with and proud of the contributions from our fee income businesses and our diversified business model.

第四，與2023 年第二季度相比，非利息收入增加了110 萬美元，即5.8%。佣金、收入增加了53 萬美元，即11.3%。我們繼續對我們的收費收入業務和多元化業務模式的貢獻感到高興和自豪。

Fifth, noninterest expense decreased $1.1 million or 2.2% compared to the second quarter of 2023. When excluding the $1.3 million of restructuring charges in the second quarter of 2023, expenses were up $239,000 or 0.5% year over year. This reflects the benefit of the various expense reduction strategies we deployed during 2023 and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to prudent expense management.

第五，非利息支出較 2023 年第二季減少 110 萬美元，即 2.2%。這反映了我們在 2023 年部署的各種費用削減策略的好處，並表明了我們對審慎費用管理的持續承諾。

Lastly, during the second quarter, we repurchased approximately 191,000 shares of stock at an average all-in cost of $21.17 while growing tangible book value per share by $0.47 or 2.1%. During the first six months of 2024, we repurchased approximately 506,000 shares at an average all-in cost of $20.74. This represents 1.7% of the shares that were outstanding as of December 31, 2023.

最後，在第二季度，我們以平均總成本 21.17 美元回購了約 191,000 股股票，同時每股有形帳面價值成長了 0.47 美元或 2.1%。 2024 年前六個月，我們以平均總成本 20.74 美元回購了約 506,000 股股票。這佔截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日已發行股份的 1.7%。

As of June 30, there were approximately 696,000 shares available for repurchase under our share repurchase plan, and we plan to remain active with regards to buybacks. I believe the remainder of the earnings release was straightforward, and I would now like to provide an update to our 2024 guidance.

截至6月30日，根據我們的股票回購計劃，約有696,000股可供回購，我們計劃在回購方面保持積極態度。我相信收益發布的其餘部分很簡單，我現在想提供我們 2024 年指導的更新。

First, our previous loan growth guidance of 4% to 5% remains unchanged, and we expect net interest income to contract 3% to 5% for the full year of 2024 compared to 2023. This assumes that NIM has bottomed out in the second quarter and will expand during the second half of the year.

首先，我們先前 4% 至 5% 的貸款成長指引保持不變，我們預期 2024 年全年淨利息收入將比 2023 年收縮 3% 至 5%。並將在下半年進一步擴大。

Second, our provision for credit loss guidance for the year is being reduced from $11 million to $13 million to $8 million to $10 million. However, the provision will continue to be event-driven, including loan growth, changes in economic-related assumptions and credit performance of the portfolio, including specific credits.

其次，我們今年的信用損失指導準備金將從 1,100 萬美元至 1,300 萬美元減少到 800 萬美元至 1,000 萬美元。然而，準備金將繼續由事件驅動，包括貸款成長、經濟相關假設的變化以及投資組合的信貸表現（包括特定信貸）。

Third, our noninterest income growth guidance for the year is being increased from 4% to 6% to 7% to 9% when excluding the $3.4 million pretax gain on the sale of MSRs in the first quarter, including the gain on sale of MSRs, noninterest income growth guidance for the year is 11% to 13%. As a reminder, this is off the 2023 base of $76.8 million.

第三，如果不包括第一季出售MSR 帶來的340 萬美元稅前收益（包括出售MSR 的收益），我們今年的非利息收入成長指引將從4% 至6% 提高至7% 至9% ，今年非利息收入成長指導為11%至13%。需要提醒的是，這低於 2023 年 7,680 萬美元的基數。

Fourth, in 2023, our noninterest expenses totaled $195.8 million when excluding the $1.5 million of restructuring charges. For 2024, we expect growth of 2% to 4% off the base of $195.8 million. Lastly, as it relates to income taxes, we expect our effective tax rate to be approximately 20% to 20.5% based off of current statutory rates.

第四，2023 年，扣除 150 萬美元的重組費用後，我們的非利息支出總計 1.958 億美元。 2024 年，我們預計在 1.958 億美元的基礎上成長 2% 至 4%。最後，由於與所得稅相關，我們預計根據現行法定稅率，我們的有效稅率約為 20% 至 20.5%。

The aggregate impact of these guidance updates when compared to our most recent guidance is accretive to EPS and relatively neutral to PPNR. While the revenue side of the equation is inherently being pressured, we have and will continue to strive to mitigate the impact on our bottom line by way of prudent expense to management. That concludes my prepared remarks. We'll be happy to answer any questions. Corley, would you please begin the question-and-answer session?

與我們最新的指導意見相比，這些指導意見更新的整體影響對每股盈餘有所增加，而對 PPNR 的影響則相對中性。雖然收入方面本質上受到壓力，但我們已經並將繼續努力透過審慎的管理費用來減輕對我們利潤的影響。我準備好的發言就到此結束。我們很樂意回答任何問題。 Corley，請您開始問答環節好嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Frank [Schiraldi], ABC.

（操作員說明）Frank [Schiraldi]，ABC。

Good morning.

早安.

Good morning, Frank. (multiple speakers)

早安，弗蘭克。 （多個發言者）

Just in terms of the fee income guide, it seems to me, like it calls for total fees to kind of decline slightly from second quarter levels. So is that right? And kind of what is the driver of that?

就費用收入指南而言，在我看來，它要求總費用比第二季的水平略有下降。那麼這樣說對嗎？其驅動因素為何？

If you look at an average, it is relatively in line with the second quarter. The first quarter was elevated when you think about the insurance contingent income and things like that, that come through, but we look for it to be relatively stable in comparison to the second quarter as you look at the third and fourth quarter.

如果看平均值的話，與第二季比較一致。當你考慮到保險或有收入和類似的事情時，第一季會有所上升，但當你考慮第三和第四季度時，我們認為與第二季度相比，它相對穩定。

Okay. And then just wondering if you could help a little bit just your thoughts on -- I know there's some seasonality there and otherwise had strong growth in core deposits. What are your expectations for deposit growth in the back half of the year? And maybe if you could just talk about specifics driving that.

好的。然後我想知道您是否可以就您的想法提供一些幫助——我知道那裡有一些季節性，否則核心存款就會強勁增長。您對下半年存款成長有何預期？也許您可以談談推動這一目標的具體細節。

Sure. We do have the seasonal public funds bills, which occurs in the third quarter. As we said, we saw growth in core deposits in the second quarter. We would look for that to continue in addition to the public funds growth. In the third quarter, that will be a couple of hundred million dollars on the public fund side. And then you start to see that wind down in the fourth quarter. Really, what we're looking to do is continue to -- and we've done so far this year, matching loan growth or exceeding loan growth with deposits and that will continue to be our goal and over time, ratcheting down the loan-to-deposit ratio.

當然。我們確實有季節性公共基金帳單，發生在第三季。正如我們所說，我們看到第二季核心存款的成長。除了公共基金的成長之外，我們還希望這種情況能持續下去。第三季度，公共基金方面將達到數億美元。然後你開始看到這種情況在第四季逐漸結束。事實上，我們希望做的是繼續做——今年到目前為止我們已經做到了，使貸款增長與存款增長相匹配或超過貸款增長，這將繼續是我們的目標，隨著時間的推移，逐步減少貸款——與存款的比率。

Okay. And then just lastly, you mentioned buybacks. It sounds like you still have some appetite there. Obviously, bank stocks have moved a bit. So just wondering if you could provide any sort of guardrails around your thoughts for repurchase activity. Is the idea from here that you want to kind of hold capital level flattish and anything moving capital levels higher, you maybe could be used in capital return, just any thoughts around guardrails for how active you might be in the back half of the year?

好的。最後，您提到了回購。看來你還是有胃口的。顯然，銀行股有所波動。所以只是想知道你是否可以為你的回購活動的想法提供任何形式的護欄。這裡的想法是，你想要保持資本水平持平，並且任何使資本水平更高的東西，你也許可以用於資本回報，只是關於你在今年下半年可能有多活躍的護欄的任何想法？

Yeah, Frank, this is Jeff. Exactly what you said, we aren't looking to grow capital, given loan pipelines are still solid right now. So when we forecast out, we do believe that we'll still be the ability to generate some excess capital. We're not -- since we're not looking to grow capital levels, we would look to deploy that into the buyback area.

是的，弗蘭克，這是傑夫。正如您所說，鑑於貸款管道目前仍然穩固，我們不打算增加資本。因此，當我們預測時，我們確實相信我們仍然有能力產生一些過剩資本。我們不是——因為我們不希望增加資本水平，所以我們希望將其部署到回購領域。

Great. Okay. Thanks guys. Appreciate the color.

偉大的。好的。謝謝你們。欣賞顏色。

Thank you, Frank.

謝謝你，弗蘭克。

Thanks Frank.

謝謝弗蘭克。

[Emily], KBW.

[艾蜜莉]，KBW。

Hi, good morning, everyone.

嗨，大家早安。

Good morning. (multiple speakers)

早安. （多個發言者）

This is Emily. I'm stepping in for Tim Switzer today. To start off, I just wanted to ask about your loan growth pipeline and what it's looking like and how you expect to fund it? Also, what markets and loan categories are you seeing the most or least demand?

這是艾米麗。今天我將接替提姆‧史維策 (Tim Switzer)。首先，我只是想問一下您的貸款成長管道以及它的情況以及您希望如何為其提供資金？此外，您認為哪些市場和貸款類別的需求最多或最少？

Yeah. So first, our pipelines continue to -- they've expanded like they did from first quarter to second quarter. We would anticipate the third quarter to be somewhat similar in terms of net loan growth than what we saw in Q2. In terms of how we're going to fund it. As Brian just referenced, we will see a seasonal increase in our public funds. So we do expect our deposits to grow in the third and into the early part of the fourth quarter. And then in terms of types of loans, it's primarily C&I, a little CRE here or there, but our emphasis is on the C&I side, and that's where we see the most growth as we go forward.

是的。首先，我們的管道繼續擴大，就像從第一季到第二季一樣。我們預計第三季的淨貸款成長將與第二季相似。就我們將如何為其提供資金而言。正如布萊恩剛才提到的，我們將看到公共資金的季節性成長。因此，我們確實預計我們的存款將在第三季和第四季初成長。然後就貸款類型而言，主要是 C&I，還有一點 CRE，但我們的重點是 C&I 方面，這也是我們未來成長最快的領域。

Great. Thank you. And if I could ask one more, how is competition trending in your markets for loans and deposits? And are there any certain growth opportunities that have become available from others pulling back?

偉大的。謝謝。如果我可以再問一個問題，你們的貸款和存款市場的競爭趨勢如何？其他人的撤退是否帶來了某些特定的成長機會？

So competition is still there, especially for strong credits, which is what we're all searching for. I would tell you that some of our competitors earlier in the second quarter, anticipated where it would appear that they anticipated the Fed to move with rate decreases at a little bit faster pace because they were a little bit sharper with pencil with regard to pricing than we were, but that seems to have stabilized a little bit as well. Deposit price -- deposits in totality are just very competitive at this point in time. We're all trying to manage our balance sheet and make sure that we have ample liquidity. So I would say not that loans aren't competitive, they are, but deposits are more -- are even more competitive the loans at this point in time.

因此，競爭仍然存在，特別是對於強大的信用，這正是我們都在尋找的。我想告訴你，我們的一些競爭對手在第二季度早些時候就預計美聯儲會以更快的速度降息，因為他們在定價方面比鉛筆更敏銳。 。存款價格－目前存款總量非常有競爭力。我們都在努力管理我們的資產負債表並確保我們擁有充足的流動性。所以我想說的不是貸款沒有競爭力，而是有競爭力，但存款比貸款在此時更有競爭力。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

You're welcome. (multiple speakers)

不客氣。 （多個發言者）

(Operator Instructions) David Mirochnick, Stephens.

（操作員說明）David Mirochnick，Stephens。

Good morning guys. This is David Mirochnick on for Matt Breese.

早安，夥計們。我是大衛·米羅奇尼克 (David Mirochnick) 替補馬特·布里斯 (Matt Breese)。

Good morning, David. (multiple speakers)

早安，大衛。 （多個發言者）

I was hoping if we could just stick on deposits. You guys kind of mentioned that the mix shift was starting to look a little more stable, and you talked about it still being competitive in the market. Just curious if you could touch on kind of what your outlook is for the cost of deposits going forward, a bit more of an increase in the last quarter in the cost. And with that competition still there, do you think it's maybe going to tick up a couple of modest points here and there? Or has it still got room to go?

我希望我們能堅持存款。你們提到混合轉變開始看起來更加穩定，並且你們談到它在市場上仍然具有競爭力。只是好奇您是否可以談談您對未來存款成本的展望，即上個季度的成本增加。由於競爭仍然存在，你認為它可能會在這裡或那裡增加一些適度的分數嗎？或者說還有空間嗎？

This is Brian. I'll take that one. As it relates to cost fund, you'd expect that, especially with the public loan build occurring in the third quarter, you'd expect that to pick up in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter, but at similar rates to what we've seen to slightly slower is what we'd expect.

這是布萊恩.我會接受那個。由於它與成本基金相關，您預計，特別是在第三季度發生公共貸款建設的情況下，您預計第三季度和第四季度會有所回升，但速度與我們的速度相似已經看到稍微慢一點是我們所期望的。

Great. And do you think you have that cost kind of picking up by year-end and hopefully, the rate cuts coming down after that?

偉大的。您是否認為到年底成本會有所上升，並且希望在那之後降息會下降？

Correct.

正確的。

Got it. Great. And switching to the loan side. I was just curious if you can give us an update for what percent of your loan book is purely floating rate that then will be priced sub three month?

知道了。偉大的。並轉向貸款方。我只是好奇您能否向我們提供最新信息，說明您的貸款賬簿中純粹浮動利率的百分比是多少，然後將在三個月內定價？

That's -- purely floating is right in the 32% range when you take the $250 million hedge that we have on the books that comes down effectively to 28% of the book is purely floating.

也就是說，當你採用我們帳面上的 2.5 億美元對沖時，純浮動利率恰好在 32% 的範圍內，實際上帳面的 28% 是純浮動利率。

Great. And then do you -- is it safe to assume that probably yield on that is around -- spread on is around 200 basis points, 250 basis points attached to SOFR prime?

偉大的。那麼，您是否可以安全地假設，該債券的收益率可能約為 200 個基點，SOFR Prime 的利差約為 250 個基點？

Yeah, just a little bit north of there.

是的，就在北邊一點點的地方。

Great. And sticking there, do you by chance have the yield on the fixed rate book then? I assume it's at least somewhere in the high 4s or the low 5s.

偉大的。那麼，你是否碰巧獲得了固定利率帳簿上的收益率？我認為它至少在高 4 級或低 5 級的某個位置。

Yeah. It's right in that $485 million to $490 million range.

是的。正好在 4.85 億美元到 4.9 億美元之間。

Great. The rest of my questions have been asked. Thanks for your time.

偉大的。我的其餘問題已被問到。感謝您抽出時間。

Great. Thank You.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thank you very much. We currently have no further questions. So I would like to hand back to Jeff Schweitzer for any closing remarks.

非常感謝。目前我們沒有進一步的問題。因此，我想請傑夫‧施韋策 (Jeff Schweitzer) 發表結束語。

Thank you, Corley, and thank you, everyone, for participating today. We appreciate your interest in Univest and taking your time out with us today. And we look forward to talking to everybody at the end of the third quarter and enjoy the rest of your summer.

謝謝你，科利，也謝謝大家今天的參與。感謝您對 Univest 的關注並抽出寶貴的時間與我們在一起。我們期待在第三季末與大家交談，並享受您剩下的夏天。

This concludes today's call. Thank you to everyone for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。現在您可以斷開線路。