Brad Kessel
Analyst · Sandler O'Neill. Please go ahead
Thanks, Emily. Good morning. Thank you for joining Independent Bank Corporation's conference call and webcast to discuss the company's 2014 fourth quarter and full year results. I am Brad Kessel, President and CEO of Independent Bank and joining me is Rob Shuster, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin today's call, it is my responsibility to direct you to the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements. This is slide two in our presentation. If anyone does not already have a copy of the press release issued by Independent today, you can access it at the company's website www.independentbank.com. The agenda for today’s call will include prepared remarks followed by a question-and-answer session and then closing remarks. Beginning with the financial summary slide, Page four, we are reporting for the fourth quarter of 2014 net income of $3.9 million or $0.17 per diluted share. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2014, the Company is reporting net income applicable to common stock of $18 million, or $0.77 per diluted share, compared to $82.1 million, or $3.55 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Recall the full year 2013 results include an income tax benefit of $54.9 million associated with the reversal of substantially all of the company’s deferred tax assets valuation allowance in the second quarter of 2013. Turning to the 2014 fourth quarter financial highlight slide, Page five, we were particularly pleased with this quarter’s results as it relates to a number of areas. First, our growth and commercial loan balances which grew at 11.1% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2014. Secondly, we continued to see progress in improving asset quality with non-performing assets down 19.4% since September 30, 2014 and loan net charge-offs down by 66% compared to the fourth quarter of 2013. Third, we reduced non-interest expenses by $2.1 million or 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Finally, we also repurchased and retired $5 million of trust preferred securities issued by IBC Finance IV, which produced a $500,000 gain and will result in annual interest expense savings of approximately $100,000. Turning to the 2014 annual financial highlights slide page six, I am pleased with our $2.6 million or 11.5% increase in income before taxes. Much of the improvement in operating results for 2014 was the result of a $14.2 million or 13.6% decrease in total non-interest expenses, very significant to our future growth prospects in the fact in 2014 net loans grew by $35.4 million or 2.6%. This is the first year of annual net loan growth for the bank since 2007. Our company continued its success in improving asset quality with a $14.5 million or a 40.1% decrease in non-performing assets and $4.8 million or 59.8% decline in net charge offs. Our associates were also successful this past year continuing to focus on deposit gathering and these efforts yielded a $39.5 million or 2.1% increase in total deposits. Our 2014 results resulted in a 7.8% increase in tangible book value per share. Our footprint shown on the core banking market slide page seven includes significant market presence and opportunity to gain market share in attractive Michigan markets. For the fourth quarter of 2014, Michigan market conditions continue to improve as compared to the same period one year ago, evidenced by a reduced unemployment rate, net job growth and appreciation in real estate values. Commercial occupancy rates continued to improve for industrial, retail and office space. The table at the bottom of this slide provides a snapshot of our loan balances by market for the quarter ended December 31, 2014, in comparison to one year ago. As you can see our west region has shown a largest dollar growth, followed very closely by our Southeast region. On January 21, 2015 our Board of Directors approved a branch consolidation plan, whereby six offices will be closed and the customers will be reassigned to six other nearby locations. This decision was difficult and that we recognize it impacts our customers, our employees and the community as a whole. The branches being consolidated are shown on slide eight or our presentation. The consolidation generally creates a proforma resulting branch with $50 million in deposits or more. This increases the average brand size on a proforma basis for our entire network to just under $30 million per branch, which is up from $19.7 million per branch just three years earlier. We made this decision recognizing our company’s higher than peer efficiency ratio and lower than peer average deposits per branch. It is part of a larger ongoing effort to improve the overall earnings performance of Independent Bank. The decision to close particular branches was made in consideration of many factors, including the profitability and size of each branch, the customer usage patterns of each branch, the proximity to our other branch locations and the historical growth trends and potential growth of the branch and the market. We estimate the economic impact in aggregate to result in an annual reduction in non-interest expenses of $1.6 million. We have also estimated a potential annual loss of revenue due to customer attrition of $300,000 to $400,000 as well as onetime expenses of $300,000 relating to severance and other cost. Our team is working to complete the branch consolidations by April 30, 2015. Post execution of this consolidation plan, Independent Bank will have a branch network of 64 locations. At this time we do not have definitive plans to close any other locations. Each of our locations and its customer base is a valuable asset to our franchise and we continue to work on an ongoing basis to realize the optimal potential of each location. Moving to the deposit franchise slide, Page nine we have $1.92 billion in total deposits at December 31, 2014. As indicated on this slide, $1.53 billion or 79% of our total deposits are transaction accounts. For the fourth quarter of 2014, our cost of deposits declined 2 basis points from the prior quarter and 5 basis points for the full year. Our loan composition yield and lending high rates are shown on slide 10. Total loans grew for the third consecutive quarter to $1.43 billion as of December 31, 2014. Our commercial team continued to lead the way with net growth of $18.9 million for the quarter and $55.7 million or 8.8% for the year. The commercial team is targeting businesses with $1 million to $50 million in annual sales. This past year approximately 50% of our new commitments were in the C&I [ph] segment and 50% were in commercial real estate. Relative to our markets our east region had 46% of our new commitments followed by 33% from the west region and 21% from the central region. The new commitments continue to be very granular as is our whole portfolio. In 2014, 79 credits of $500,000 or more in size aggregated to $148 million or 70% of our total new commitments. Our consumer direct and indirect channels also reported net growth of $14.3 million or 7.5% for the year. In addition, we originated $265.5 million of residential mortgages and sold $223.5 million, generating $5.6 million in net gains. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Rob Shuster to share a few comments on our financials, credit quality and management's outlook. Rob?