Earnings Labs

Community Bank System, Inc. (CBU)

Q1 2012 Earnings Call· Wed, Apr 25, 2012

$62.19

-1.56%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

+0.68%

1 Week

-0.36%

1 Month

-4.73%

vs S&P

+0.36%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Community Bank System’s First Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that this presentation contains forward-looking statements within the provisions of the Private Security [sic] (Securities)Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry, markets and economic environment in which the company operates. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in these statements. These risks are detailed in the company’s annual report and Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Today’s call presenters are Mark Tryniski, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Scott Kingsley, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Gentlemen, you may begin.

Mark Tryniski

President

Thank you, Anna. Good morning. And thank you all for joining our first quarter conference call. It was a busy and productive quarter for us starting with an operating performance I would characterize as satisfactory. Reported EPS was flat with last year’s first quarter but was up $0.02 or 4%, excluding the impact of the January capital raise in support of the pending branch acquisition. Operating leverage improved with revenues up 17% and operating expenses up 14%, both mostly attributable to the Wilber acquisition closed in the second quarter of 2011. Asset quality remained solid and stable, our wealth management and benefits businesses had a very strong quarter, but the net interest margin contracted 12 basis points over the past four quarters, which Scott will discuss in further detail. Credit demand was down overall and consistent with the seasonality of our historical Q1 experience, with the exception of mortgage lending, which continues to be very strong in this rate environment. We did have a definitive uptick in business lending demand in March and that has continued into April. Our business lending pipeline right now is at a multi-year high, which we hope portends a strong performance there over the next two quarters. We’re also seeing strong and improving demand in our auto lending business. In January, we announced the acquisition of 19 branches across our existing upstate New York footprint from First Niagara Bank and HSBC Bank. We will be assuming approximately $950 million of deposits and $200 million of loans at a blended deposit premium of 3.22%. Also as previously announced in January, we issued and sold approximately 2.1 million shares of common stock for net proceeds of $55 million to provide capital support for the branch acquisition. In modeling this transaction, we used an asset yield of 2.1% on the cash proceeds, which was above the 10-year treasury rate at that time. When the tenure spiked in mid-March during a risk out moment in the market, we purchased approximately $600 million of mostly 10-year treasuries at a blended coupon of 2.32% funded with existing liquidity and $200 million of short-term borrowings that we expect to repay when the transaction closes. We view that as a very good head start on delivering the 4% to 5% EPS accretion we expect on this transaction. Conversion efforts are well underway with an expected closing date in the third quarter. Looking forward, we expect the strength of our first quarter performance to continue. The pending branch acquisition will be additive to earnings, our capital levels are strong, asset quality is sound and we have significant liquidity. We are well-prepared and well-positioned to continue pursuing organic and acquire growth opportunities for the benefit of our shareholders. Scott?

Scott Kingsley

Management

Thank you, Mark, and good morning, everyone. As Mark mentioned, our first quarter earnings of $0.48 per share were negatively impacted by $0.02 a share from our decision to complete the capital rate necessary to support our pending branch acquisition. We felt strongly that it was important to eliminate any potential market uncertainty relative to our ability to timely capitalize the deal. We believe the successful execution of the common stock offering in January validated that decision, despite the $0.01 per month EPS dilution that it would entail. I’ll first discus some balance sheet items. Average earning assets of $5.89 billion for the quarter were up $114 million from the fourth quarter of 2011 with all of the increase in investment securities. Ending loans were down $10.3 million from the end of the fourth quarter, comprised of $9.1 million of net organic loan growth offset by $19.4 million of contractual and other principle reductions in the acquired Wilber portfolio. Solid results in consumer mortgages offset soft but improving demand in business lending and seasonal declines in installment products. The decline in our business lending portfolio in the first quarter was related to the previously mentioned contractual and other principle reductions in the acquired Wilber portfolio, as well as the continuation of modest demand conditions for most business lending products. Asset quality results in this portfolio continue to be stable and favorable to peers with net charge-offs of under 30 basis points over the last 12 quarters. Our total consumer real estate portfolios of $1.56 billion, comprised of $1.25 billion of consumer mortgages and $318 million of home equity instruments were up $17 million from December. Consistent with the fourth quarter of 2011, we continued to retain in portfolio most of our mortgage production in the first quarter and we’re able…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Sir, I have Damon DelMonte. Damon DelMonte, your line is now open. 53466603

Damon Del Monte

Analyst

Scott, I think, I may have missed little bit what you said about the timing of the securities investments this quarter. You said it was mid-March?

Scott Kingsley

Management

It was, Damon.

Damon Del Monte

Analyst

Okay. And then, about half of the 10 basis points impact to the margin was as a result of that.

Scott Kingsley

Management

That’s correct.

Damon Del Monte

Analyst

What did you say the full quarter impact we can expect for the second quarter was?

Scott Kingsley

Management

I think what we said is that we would expect incremental investment income from the $600 million strategy to be another $2.0 million of net interest income. But that will effectively push the margin down another 15 to 20 basis points on a blended basis.

Damon Del Monte

Analyst

Okay. Okay. That’s helpful. And then have you guys quantified what the impact is to your expenses with the addition of the new branches?

Mark Tryniski

President

Damon, we are not 100%, I think what we said is that, when we -- we are adding 19 branches that we would add, the proportional cost attached to an additional 19 branches as it exists within our system. So if the average costs of our existing 170 branches correlates into x, 19 more on top of that. So, that works out to roughly a 10% to 12% expansion of that base number.

Damon Del Monte

Analyst

Okay. All right. That’s helpful. And then, I guess lastly, you talked little bit about indirect auto lending, recently there was announcement First Niagara is going to make that a priority of theirs. What are you guys seeing the way of competition on pricing, we have heard from some others that things appear to be heating up pretty good and just kind of wondering what your experiences have been?

Mark Tryniski

President

I would agree with that Damon, I think that there -- there are more banks being more aggressive in the indirect lending and that’s a business that we’ve been in for a long, long time and I think, we have a very good foundation across the dealer relationships in our market. We’ve seen over different cycles many competitors kind of come and go. We’ve been very consistent in our execution, in our presence, in our expectations out of these markets right now. You are seeing an influx of competitors, you are seeing downward pricing pressure, you start to see some of the capitals and other large banks reengage after their absence because of the credit crises. So, it’s clearly becoming more competitive in terms of the rate expectation. On the other side the volume is improving, as you follow just the general trends in auto sales that’s improved -- it’s improving significantly. So, I think it will be an offset there, the volumes likely to improve and the yields are likely to decline.

Damon Del Monte

Analyst

Okay. What is new production coming on that for rate right now?

Mark Tryniski

President

Damon pretty good question I don’t think I actually have that in front of us. My guess would be in the mid-4% range.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] I have David Darst. David Darst your line is now open.

Rahul Agarwal

Analyst

Good morning. This is Rahul Agarwal for David. I just had a quick question on the blended yield of 2.3% for the $600 million in securities. What was the blended duration on that?

Mark Tryniski

President

Pretty close to 10 years.

Rahul Agarwal

Analyst

10 years. Okay. Great. That’s all I had. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I have no questions in queue, sir.

Mark Tryniski

President

Thank you all for joining on the call. We’ll talk to you again in the next quarter. Thank you.

Scott Kingsley

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

That concludes today’s conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.