The following is a summary of the First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript:
Financial Performance:
First Financial Bancorp. reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.59.
Return on assets was 1.3%, and return on tangible common equity was 19.1%.
Net interest margin was 4.1%.
Loan growth was strong, with balances increasing by 10% on an annualized basis.
Average deposit growth was 2.3%, inclusive of a seasonal outflow of about $100 million in business deposits.
Noninterest income increased across most fee revenue areas.
Asset quality was stable with net charge-offs declining to 38 basis points.
The company incurred a loss on the sale of investment securities due to portfolio repositioning.
Business Progress:
First Financial Bancorp. has undertaken several actions during the quarter, including the repositioning of a part of the investment portfolio, a workforce efficiency initiative, and the acquisition of Agile Premium Finance.
Expecting an increase in income in the second half of the year due to the restructuring of a portion of its bank-owned life insurance portfolio.
An additional $10 million to $12 million in annualized expense reductions is expected by the end of 2024.
The company expects the net interest margin to be between 3.95% and 4.05%, with net charge-offs expected to be about 30 basis points for the year. The company aims to maintain dividends at the current level.
The bank expects the Agile business to hit a little shy of $200 million by year-end, seeing around a half a billion dollar range in 3 to 4 years.
Looking forward to diversifying its loan book with good granularity and high-quality loans.
More details: First Financial Bancorp IR
Tips: This article is generated by AI. The accuracy of the content can not be fully guaranteed. For more comprehensive details, please refer to the IR website. The article is only for investors' reference without any guidance or recommendation suggestions.