Brookline Bancorp Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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October 24, 2024

There are 8 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Brookline Bancorp, Inc. 3rd Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded.

Operator

I would now like to turn the conference over to Brookline Bancorp's fraternity, Laura Vaughn. Please proceed.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Sierra, and good afternoon, everyone. Yesterday, we issued our earnings release and presentation, which is available on the Investor Relations page of our website, furloughlandbankwork.com, and has been filed with the SEC. This afternoon's call will be hosted by Paul A. Fultz and Paul M. Paulson.

Speaker 1

This call may contain forward looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Brooklyn Bank work. Please refer to page 2 of our earnings presentation for a forward looking statement disclaimer. Also, please refer to our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements. Any references made during this presentation to non GAAP measures are only made to assist you in understanding Brookline Vapor's results and performance trends and should not be relied on as financial measures of actual results or future predictions. For comparison and reconciliation to GAAP earnings, please see our earnings release.

Speaker 1

I'm pleased to introduce Brookline Bank North's Chairman and CEO, Walt Goltz.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Laura, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for today's earnings call. Performance improved in the quarter with net income of $20,100,000 and earnings per share of $0.23 Loans grew by a modest $34,000,000 customer deposits increased $103,000,000 and our margin increased 7 basis points. As market rates gradually return to normal, we expect to see our net interest margin continue to improve right through 2025. I will now turn you over to Carl, who will review the company's 3rd quarter results.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Paul. During the quarter, total assets grew $42,000,000 driven by loan growth of $34,000,000 in C and I and Consumer, while the equipment finance and commercial real estate portfolios declined. In the 3rd quarter, we originated $459,000,000 in loans at a weighted average coupon of 7.35 basis points. The weighted average coupon on the core loan portfolio declined 2 basis points during the quarter to 603 basis points at September 30. On a linked quarter basis, the yield on the loan portfolio increased 15 basis points to 6 17 basis points.

Speaker 3

On the deposit side, customer deposits grew $103,000,000 while brokered deposits declined $107,000,000 Deposit growth continued to be focused in the time deposits. However, we also saw demand deposits grow $44,000,000 in the quarter. Total funding costs were 367 basis points, an increase of 2 basis points as the overall net interest margin improved 7 basis points to 307 basis points for the quarter. Total average interest earning assets grew modestly by $36,000,000 on a linked quarter basis, resulting in net interest income of $83,000,000 an increase of $3,000,000 from Q2. Non interest income was $6,300,000 which was flat with the prior quarter as lower deposit fees were offset by higher participation fees and other non interest income.

Speaker 3

Operating expenses were $57,900,000 for the quarter versus $59,200,000 in Q2. In the 2nd quarter, there was an $823,000 restructuring charge as we exited the specialty vehicle business. Excluding this charge, operating expenses declined $500,000 on a linked quarter basis due to lower marketing and other operating expenses, partially offset by higher compensation and professional fees. The provision for credit losses was $4,700,000 for the quarter, a decrease of $900,000 from the 2nd quarter. Net charge offs were $3,800,000 or 16 basis points on loans annualized.

Speaker 3

Non performing loans increased $10,500,000 in the quarter due to 1 Eastern funding relationship financing multiple grocery stores. NPAs to total assets increased to 62 basis points total loans. Our reserve coverage ratio increased to 131 basis points. Looking forward, as I mentioned last quarter, client behavior and industry responses continued to adapt to a fairly volatile interest rate environment. In mid September, the Federal Reserve cut short term rates 50 basis points, longer term rates initially declined significantly with the 10 year treasury closing below 3.75 and the 5 year rate around 3.50.

Speaker 3

Since early October, rates have more than retraced the decline and now the 10 year is around 4.2% and the 5 year is a little over 4. As the yield curve continues to normalize, we will see net interest margin improvements. The modest improvements in the environment suggest our net interest margin will increase 5 to 10 basis points in Q4 and continue to improve throughout 2025. Our net interest margin for the month of September was 313 basis points. We anticipate increases in loan portfolio to be measured for the remainder of 2024 and into 2025 as growth in commercial and consumer loans will be tempered by the runoff of specialty vehicle and continued lower commercial real estate activity.

Speaker 3

Our cash and securities portfolio will remain stable, representing 9% to 12% of total assets. On the deposit side, we anticipate growth of 4% to 5%. Given prevailing interest rates, the migration of lower cost deposits may persist, but is anticipated to slow. Our Q4 margin is projected to fall within a range of 312 to 320 basis points and continue to improve. However, this is dependent upon deposit flows and the timing and magnitude of future actions by the Federal Reserve.

Speaker 3

Non interest income is projected to be in the range of $6,000,000 to $7,000,000 per quarter, although components may vary significantly with growth of 5% to 10% in 2025. Currently, we are projecting overall operating costs to grow in the 3% to 3.5% range for 2025, and our effective tax rate is expected to be in the range of 24.25%. Yesterday, the Board approved maintaining our quarterly dividend at $0.135 per share to be paid on November 29 to stockholders of record on November 15. On an annualized basis, our dividend payout approximates a yield of 5.1%. This concludes my formal comments, and I'll turn it back to Paul.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Carl. And we will now open it up for questions.

Operator

Our first question today comes from Mark Fitzgibbon with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Hey guys. Good afternoon.

Speaker 2

Hi Mark.

Speaker 4

First question, Carl, could you just clarify your comments? I missed them on that one equipment finance loan. Could you give us share any color on that?

Speaker 3

I imagine you're talking about the one loan that went not accrual this quarter, right? So that was one large loan at Eastern Funding and it finances 2 grocery stores.

Speaker 4

Okay. And any thoughts on timing for resolution?

Speaker 3

I don't have any idea of exactly when that's going to get resolved. And we do have a sizable specific reserve set up for that loan, about $5,000,000 we set up this quarter.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. And then can you share with us what the margin was, spot margin in September?

Speaker 3

Spot margin was 3.13%.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. And also was curious about the loan pipelines and the complexion, what those look like today?

Speaker 2

We're actually seeing a lot more institutional type things. We've hired some personnel who are from this area specializing in that. And so we're seeing that in all the markets in Greater Boston, Rhode Island and in Westchester County. Things like private schools, some colleges, it's all very, very good business. Obviously, we're being very, very selective in real estate, specialty vehicles and one off modes, so we're not originating there.

Speaker 2

And I'd say that the equipment finance is beginning to pick up a little bit more in their traditional, in their laundromats. Some C and I, but it is not robust by any means at all, but it is moving forward pretty well. So I'll take a stab. I don't know. I don't think Karl gave a number, but I would be very happy with 4% or 5% gain in 2025 in the loan portfolio.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. And then I know you guys like to keep private sort of what's going on at Clarendon Private, but I wondered we're a couple of years in now, if you could share any metrics on how that's going, whether we're at profitability and what AUM or AU are currently?

Speaker 3

Sure. We're not at profitability yet. We're seeing the mix of those assets under management change. So in the early stages, we were basically doing a lot of treasury business, which we did not make any money on at all. But it was good introductory business to the clients and being able to help them out.

Speaker 3

We're seeing that transition over to more of a balanced portfolios, thank goodness, on both counts. I think they've done quite well in this market. And so we're still around that $350,000,000 in assets under management. So it's growing. We really like the growth that we've had in it, the customers that we're attracting into that business and able to take care of.

Speaker 3

Just would like to see it grow a little faster than I asked. Impatient. I'm a CFO, I'm impatient.

Speaker 4

Any idea what percentage of the customers are coming from the bank versus outside?

Speaker 3

Most. I'd say most. It probably is 70% or so. Okay.

Speaker 2

Yes. In some cases, it's a customer who's selling their business. They might have favored some other Wall Street firm for their money, but they come here now.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question today comes from Laurie Hunsicker with Seaport. Your line is now open. Yes.

Speaker 5

Hi. Good afternoon, Paul and Carl.

Speaker 6

Hi Laurie.

Speaker 5

Just wondered if we could circle back on credit here. So of your $37,200,000 of equipment non performing loans, how much of that was specialty vehicles?

Speaker 3

$4,600,000 is tow. Tow and related specialty vehicles, yes.

Speaker 5

Okay. Dollars 4,600,000 Okay, great. And then I guess same question on the charge offs. You had $3,800,000 in charge offs. It was equipment finance.

Speaker 5

Is that all the spec vehicles that discontinued book or was that split somehow?

Speaker 3

About $2,100,000 was specialty vehicle of the $3,800,000 in charge offs.

Speaker 5

Okay. Great. Okay. And then what is your reserve on your equipment finance book or what is your reserve on your spec vehicles?

Speaker 2

He's looking it up. So I'll give you

Speaker 3

a little break here. I don't have any total. I have it based on our Eastern Funding core, which is about it's about 128 basis points on that. Specialty vehicle, we have a 2 24 basis points. And the macro lease portfolio, kind of look at that separately, we included in core, but we break it out, There's 132 basis points.

Speaker 3

And that excludes any specific reserves that we may have on a specific a particular credit. We take that out. So those are the general reserves on those portfolios.

Operator

Okay, great.

Speaker 3

I don't have the dollars in front of

Speaker 2

me, but

Speaker 5

Okay. And then with the discontinued spec vehicle, I know you had done a reduction in force. And I guess we're going to see the sort of the full results of that come through in the Q4. Is that right from the expense savings side? Or how should we be thinking about that?

Speaker 3

You're already seeing it in basically the second half of Q3. So you'll see it in full force in Q4. It's about $800,000

Speaker 7

a quarter

Speaker 3

in benefit.

Speaker 5

In benefit, right. Okay. And so then with respect, Karl, to your guide, your 3% to 3.5% expense growth guide, What base are you using for that? How should we think about that, especially relative to the $800,000 a quarter savings?

Speaker 3

I'd use our current quarter take off a couple of 100,000 for this quarter, that's about it for the Q4 and that would be the run rate or $240,000,000 I would say on an annualized basis and 3% to 3.5% off that.

Speaker 5

Perfect. Okay. Okay. That's great. Okay.

Speaker 5

And then office, can you help us think about maybe just and you guys have some great slides here, but office non accruals, how much was that? And then the criticized and classified that you present, super helpful that you present that off maturity, but what is that relative to your total book? So office non performers

Speaker 3

That's a tricky question now. Okay. So starting with the non accrual loans related to office, that hasn't changed. That's still basically one credit. It's about $10,800,000 that's in that book.

Speaker 3

I think that's also the number that's criticized in classified loans is the same amount. I don't think that has changed.

Speaker 5

Around about 9.2%, I think

Speaker 3

is a crisinib classified.

Speaker 5

Got you. Okay. And then just looking at your deck here, it looks like the way that you're presenting the office criticized and classified, this is just the maturity, the $137,000,000 right? So how do we think about it relative to your $700,000,000 book? Or is it just that $10,500,000 that's it?

Speaker 3

I lost where you're going with that. Laurie?

Speaker 5

No, I just yes, sorry. Well, so the office nonperformers, that $10,500,000 that's just on the book that's incurring in the next 2 years. I mean, I love this slide. Slide 18 is great, right, because the maturity wall is really what we care about. That's what's triggering the non performers.

Speaker 5

I'm just wondering more broadly what your overall non performers are on your $700,000,000 The total office book, not just the part that's maturing in 2 years. Sorry, I think I'm not asking this right. I'm just looking for what is The

Speaker 3

only non accrual loan. Yes, the total non accrual office is 10.8%. Yes.

Speaker 2

That's all the office non accrual, sorry.

Speaker 3

Yes.

Speaker 5

Perfect. Okay. And then

Speaker 6

I know

Speaker 3

the slides only show 2 years to focus on the 2 years, but overall, it's still the same. It's still the same.

Speaker 5

No, I love this quarterly breakdown. This is super helpful. I wish more people put this in. So that's great. The office reserves, how much is that on your $700,000,000 book?

Speaker 3

It's 2%, excluding any specific reserves.

Speaker 5

Okay. And then what specific reserves do you have presumably on that $10,800,000 or

Speaker 3

So we have an additional $2,000,000 in specific reserves.

Speaker 5

In that one month. Okay. And then I guess last question, Paul, more for you. Can you talk a little bit about buybacks below book value even just to offset your option dilution? How you're thinking about that?

Speaker 5

Thanks.

Speaker 3

We get this question frequently, which you would expect when you're trading at or below tangible book value. I think we've been very careful to say signal that we would be doing anything in the near term considering the inverted yield curve, the margin and the questionable credit in office environment. I think things have materially changed. In that regard, I think we're starting to see the turn. We're seeing the curve start to steepen or at least flatten to steepen.

Speaker 3

Credit is improving. We're seeing the NIM turnaround. So I think that's going to be more of a conversation going forward with the Board about the opportunity to do stock buybacks. We've historically put something in place early in the year, but that's something we'll continue to talk about at the Board level.

Speaker 5

Okay. Okay, great. And sorry, just one more question actually. Paul, can you talk a little bit about M and A? You guys have been active in M and A and obviously the interest rate environment has not been very favorable, but that's coming back to just how you're thinking about M and A more broadly.

Speaker 5

And I don't know any tidbits, generally, you can share on that matter.

Speaker 2

Well, it's been fairly quiet for exactly the reasons that you cited. And I do think in much the same way that Carl just described the environment through the income statement and balance sheet, I think the same thing is beginning to come around in M and A. And as these rates come down, if they come down, it's easier to deal with the marks. But in the meantime, it's very difficult. It's very difficult and it's a relatively thin market.

Speaker 2

There's a deal here and there. But I think it will improve, but it's going to take a little time. Our

Operator

next question comes from Christopher O'Connell with KBW. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Hey, good afternoon.

Speaker 3

Hi, Chris. So just wanted

Speaker 7

to kind of going on the specialty vehicles in runoff mode. I think you said $2,000,000 in change of the net charge offs this quarter were related to that. As this portfolio runs off over the next few quarters, do you think that that's within shooting distance of kind of what you'd expect for future charge offs there?

Speaker 2

Possibly. Possibly. I think there was some catch up in the past couple of quarters that you've seen in those charge offs. So I'm hopeful that it will get better, but it is a portfolio that's still experiencing some level of trouble. You might recall these are small tow truck operators in a lot of cases and delivery vehicle route owners, if you will, who have been disenfranchised when stuff moved to Amazon.

Speaker 2

When the Amazon started doing their own deliveries, a lot of these guys were out of business. So that's kind of behind us. And now it's in a more normal, slightly riskier portfolio level mode. So I think I'm hopeful that it will improve. And the balances are coming down fast and hard.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. That's helpful. And then on the provision, the credit for unfunded commitments was pretty substantial the past couple of quarters, like around $4,500,000 seems kind of above average relative to the past. Is there anything specific that's driving that?

Speaker 3

Well, it did come down materially this quarter, and I think that's due to the revisiting some of the assumptions that went into particularly home equity lines of credit and the losses that you might experience on those unused lines. So they updated the models with some actual data, more current data, which brought that down as well as the slight change that we've done in the weightings of the economic scenarios. So we did move a little bit away from the recession scenario with the Fed cutting rates and the economic environment improving things of that nature. It really made sense to move away from the 60% rating that we had for recession, the recession scenario towards a more 50%, 50%, 45 and 5, I believe. Our long term, what we would consider a neutral environment would be a 30, 40, 30 mix.

Speaker 3

And so I think over time, we'll continue to see that if it warrants.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. So long term, the overall kind of reserve ratio in a combination of the specialty vehicle coming off and returning to a normal environment probably settles out a bit lower?

Speaker 3

Yes. So we're pretty I don't want to say aggressive, but we're very responsive to loans that go on to watch or anything that we're looking at that we see there might be some weakness and setting up specific reserves around that. So we have over about $25,000,000 of specific reserves in that allowance for loan losses today. And so when you take that out, that's 131 basis points on total loans, but you take that out, you say, okay, the general reserve is around 110 basis points. I would not be surprised if that goes down over time just as the market continues to improve.

Speaker 6

Okay, great.

Speaker 7

And then I noticed that just on Slide 15 with the CRE LTVs. 1 is just is the medical category there, is that office? And then just noticed that the like the $70,000,000 plus portion of that has kind of gone up over the past year or so. Any color around just what's driving that?

Speaker 3

I don't have any color on that.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. And then appreciate all the maturity schedules that you guys give on the CRE for the next couple of years. For the CRE that is set to maturity price, what are generally kind of the yields that those are coming off at?

Speaker 3

One

Speaker 2

second.

Speaker 3

About 6%, a little north of 6%.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. And I know you guys gave the blended originations this quarter. I guess, just breaking it down a little further, do you have some of the origination yields just for the C and I versus the equipment finance in the CRE?

Speaker 3

Sure. So I mentioned earlier, we originate about $459,000,000 of loans. The coupon on that was about 735. Just trying to break that down. Total commercial real estate loans, about $170,000,000 of that at $722,000,000 Total commercial loans, which includes equipment financing, about $195,000,000 at about 771,000,000 dollars And then we've got some residential mortgages, home equities and things of that nature, consumer loans at around 684.

Speaker 7

Awesome. Perfect. Appreciate it. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 2

Okay, Chris.

Operator

Our next question comes from Steve Moss with Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Hi, good afternoon, guys.

Speaker 2

Hi, Steve. I just

Speaker 7

want to just

Speaker 6

go on the NII and the margin here thought process. Just kind of curious maybe starting with what have you seen in terms of deposit rates coming in here? I hear you guys in terms of margin expansion, just kind of curious where funding costs are shaking out because I see like in your ALCO disclosure, lower rates hurt NII, but obviously, you guys are signaling margin expansion here.

Speaker 3

Yes, that's a great question. And we debate what we should put in this presentation quite frankly. But our asset liability models, we've been holding true to that 40% deposit betas overall for the pricing in the model. We also provide the betas throughout the cycle that we've actually experienced. And so you kind of look at this thing at when rates change, how do the rates change on our individual products and those kind of drive the beta discussions.

Speaker 3

But then you have the actual activity of folks moving balances between deposit products, which actually increases your beta on a total funding basis and driving that. So what are we seeing going forward? So when you look at this model, it's more of a flat balance sheet type of environment saying we'll move if the pricing on overall is 40 basis basis. Betas are much, much higher. So we did see the Fed cut rates 50 basis points in September 18.

Speaker 3

And we basically immediately cut our rates on our CD products and the highest tiers of our savings and money market accounts by 50 basis points. So you'd say, okay, that's 100% beta that you experienced on those particular products. Now some of the lower tiers, we didn't move the rates, right, because they were already fairly attractive rates. And it's good money at those rates. You don't really want to move that.

Speaker 3

So we're being very proactive in moving those rates. We also have a lot of CDs that mature. So we've got CDs at $413,000,000 or so of CDs maturing in Q4, coming off at a $4.48 basic coupon. And so that's repricing into the 4s, the low 4s. Brokered CDs, dollars 140,000,000 of brokered CDs at 5.40 dollars Those are coming down into the low 4s or mid 4s.

Speaker 3

So and we got borrowing. It's got $470,000,000 of borrowing set of in a little over $5,000,000 that's coming down into the mid 4s. So we're seeing a lot of the movement on the liability side and then the ability to reprice the savings now in money market accounts and continue to be active in that space. I don't think we're seeing any pushback in the market. I think a lot of the competition is doing the same.

Speaker 3

So it doesn't feel like we're losing out in that regard. And so we feel pretty optimistic that we're able to meet the decline in market interest rates that we're seeing on our loan portfolio because we have $2,200,000,000 of loans that reprice within 3 months, being able to reprice the liability side to meet that or exceed that.

Speaker 6

Okay, great. And then just kind of so I hear you on the higher deposit beta and obviously a positive step on the margin with trends for the upcoming quarter. As you think about 2025 and what we get 100 basis points or a little bit more than that, just kind of curious where do you think that margin kind of shakes out by the Q4 of 'twenty five?

Speaker 3

Right now, our models suggest it will be in the 340s. Okay.

Speaker 6

Great. That's all my questions.

Speaker 7

I appreciate all the color here.

Speaker 2

Okay, Steve. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you all for your questions. This concludes our Q and A session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Perrault for any closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Sierra, and thank you all for joining us today, and we look forward to talking to you again next quarter.

Operator

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

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