Good morning and welcome to the Landmark Bancorp Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Scheopner, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for joining our call today to discuss Landmark's earnings and results of operations for the second quarter and year-to-date 2021. Joining the call with me to discuss various aspects of our second quarter performance is Mark Herpich, Chief Financial Officer of the company; and the company's Chief Credit Officer, Raymond McClanahan [ph]. Before we get started, I would like to remind our listeners that some of the information we will be providing today falls under the guidelines for forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of these guidelines, I must point out that any statements made during this presentation that discuss our hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements and our actual results could differ materially from those expressed. Additional information on these factors is included from time to time in our 10-K and 10-Q filings, which can be obtained by contacting the company or the SEC. We are pleased to report continued strong earnings during the second quarter of 2021, driven mainly by increased net interest income, lower credit costs, continued solid mortgage banking activities and good expense control. Second quarter 2021 net income amounted to $5 million. Year-to-date 2021 net income totaled $10.3 million and resulted in earnings per share on a fully diluted basis of $2.17. The return on average assets year-to-date 2021 was 1.68% and return on average equity was 16.22%. Excluding the SBA PPP loans, our gross loans grew by $10.6 million or 6.9% annualized during the second quarter due mainly to growth in commercial real estate and residential real estate loans. Total deposits increased $6.5 million this quarter and had increased 14.1% over the same period last year. Credit quality remained strong this quarter. There was no provision for loan losses this quarter. Loan modifications made last year to support our customers have mostly been returned to their original contractual terms. Our capital position remains strong with total equity to assets of 10.6%. We believe Landmark's risk management practices, liquidity and capital strength continue to position us well to meet the financial needs of families and businesses in our markets. I'm pleased to report that our Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.20 per share to be paid August 25, 2021, to shareholders of record as of August 11, 2021. This represents the 80th consecutive quarterly cash dividend since the company's formation in 2001. I will now turn the call over to Mark Herpich, our CFO, who will review the financial results with you.

Thanks, Michael, and good morning to everyone. Michael alluded to our continued strong net earnings for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021. And looking back a year, during our 2020 second quarter earnings call, we noted that last year's net earnings of $5.1 million was the highest quarterly earnings Landmark Bancorp had ever reported. This year, our 2021 second quarter earnings of $5.0 million is reflective of how well we have been able to sustain our earnings level over the past year. Now I'd like to make a few comments on various elements comprising these results. Starting with earnings highlights for the second quarter, net interest income was $10.0 million, an increase of $1.0 million or 10.7% in comparison to the prior year second quarter. While on a linked quarter basis, our net interest income was up by $389,000. The growth in net interest income from the second quarter last year was the result of an increase in loan interest of $1.1 million, coupled with a decline in interest expense of $244,000, but offset by lower interest earned on investment securities. Interest earned on SBA PPP loans totaled $2.2 million this quarter compared to $665,000 in the second quarter of 2020 and was a primary driver of this quarter's increase in loan interest income. Loan yields in general are repricing downward exclusive of SBA PPP loans. Average interest earning assets grew by $155.8 million or 15.6% over the same period last year and was funded by strong deposit growth of over $134 million over the same period. Average loans grew by $35.7 million or 5.3% this quarter over the same period last year despite a decrease of $5.3 million in average SBA PPP loans outstanding during the comparable quarters. Our average investment securities and interest-bearing cash balances increased by…

Thank you, Mark, and good morning to everyone. Gross loans outstanding as of June 30, 2021 totaled $685.2 million. This represents a decrease of $45.5 million or 6.2% from the previous quarter end gross loan total of $730.7 million. Throughout the first half of 2021, we've helped several business clients successfully navigate the SBA Paycheck Protection Program. And as you will recall, we originated $131.3 million in SBA PPP loans during 2020. And as of December 31, 2020, our outstanding SBA PPP loans totaled $100 million. In contrast, during the first half of 2021, we originated $55 million in SBA PPP loans. The difference in volume is largely due to changes made in the SBA Paycheck Protection Program. We're very proud of our efforts to support businesses in the communities that we serve during these uncertain times. In addition to assisting our clients during the 2021 round of PPP funding, we continue to assist our customers navigate the SBA PPP forgiveness process throughout the first half of the year. As of June 30, 2021, 88% of our 2020 SBA PPP loans and 18% of our 2021 SBA PPP loans have been paid in full. This success resulted in a $56.1 million decrease in our outstanding SBA PPP loans during the quarter and welcome peace of mind to many of our business customers. Due to changes made to the SBA PPP program in 2021, we saw strong participation among our agricultural customers during the second round of funding. Approximately $5.5 million of our 2021 SBA PPP loans were to agricultural borrowers. We believe this additional liquidity for our agricultural customers resulted in a $2.8 million decrease in our agricultural loans during the quarter. These quarterly decreases were partially offset by increases in our one-to-four family mortgage and our commercial real estate…

Thank you, Raymond and Mark, thanks for your earlier comments. Before we go to questions, I want to summarize by saying our second quarter of 2021 reflected a continued trend of very positive operating results for Landmark. I want to express my thanks and appreciation to all of the associates at Landmark National Bank. Their daily focus on executing our strategies, delivering extraordinary service to our clients and communities and carrying out our company vision that everyone starts as a customer and leaves as a friend is the key to our success. With that, I'll open the call up to questions that anyone might have.

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question today comes from John Rodis with FIG Partners.

Maybe, Michael, just a question for you on sort of your loan growth outlook, excluding PPP loans, you showed solid growth this quarter sort of mid-single-digits if you analyze the growth and over the past year, it looks like sort of core loans, excluding PPP, were up 9%. Do you sort of -- do you think going forward sort of the mid-single-digit growth rate, if not a little bit better, is still achievable based on what you're seeing?

Yeah, John, that's really our target from the standpoint of the model that we want to pursue is in that mid-single-digit growth. And we've been able to -- we've seen good activity really across the entire geography. I think the other thing that supports that as we've been able to continue to recruit additional commercial banking talent to join the company, particularly in the metro market in Kansas City, and we think that will -- the strategies that we've employed, we believe, will support that kind of budget forecast from a loan growth standpoint.

And can you maybe just give an update on sort of those new lender, new hires over the last couple of quarters?

Now, we've added expertise in treasury management and then some additional expertise in the commercial real estate sector from the standpoint of loan opportunities. And both of those have a focus or a history of commercial banking in the Kansas City metro area.

[Operator Instructions]. Seeing no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to Michael Scheopner for any closing remarks.

Thank you. And I do want to thank everyone for participating in today's earnings call. I truly do appreciate your continued support and the confidence that you have in the company. I look forward to sharing news related to our third quarter 2021 results at our next earnings call. Thank you.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.