Q3 2024 Business First Bancshares Inc Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Business First Bancshares Inc (BFST) achieved an improvement in operating leverage through the expansion of net interest margin and expense control.
- The company reported a 12 basis point increase in core margin to 3.46%, driven by stable loan pricing and controlled deposit costs.
- BFST successfully diversified its revenue streams with investments in non-interest income sources, including asset management and SBA loan services.
- The company demonstrated disciplined balance sheet management, growing deposits faster than loans and increasing capital levels.
- BFST successfully closed the Oakwood transaction, enhancing its asset exposure in the Dallas and Houston markets.
- Non-interest bearing deposits decreased, isolated to a few clients, impacting the overall deposit mix.
- The provision for credit losses was lower than expected, but there was an increase in special mention loans and non-performing loans.
- Loan growth was slower compared to previous quarters, although still above peer levels.
- The company anticipates some volatility in non-interest income due to the nature of its swap business.
- Cost savings from the Oakwood merger are not expected to be realized until late 2025, impacting short-term expense management.
Good day, everyone and welcome to the Business First Bancshares. Q3 2024 earnings call. Just a reminder that today's call is being recorded at this time.
I would like to hand things over to Mr. Matt Sealy, Senior Vice President, Director of Corporate Strategy and FP&A. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon and thank you for all for joining earlier. Today we issued our third quarter 2024 earnings press release, a copy of which is available on our website along with the slide presentation that we'll refer to during today's call.
Please refer to Slide 3, of our presentation which includes our Safe Harbor statements regarding forward-looking statements and these non-GAAP financial measures. For those of you joining by phone please note the slide presentation is available on our website at www.b1bank.com. Please also note our safe harbor statements are available on page
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