Delaware | 001-15373 | 43-1706259 |
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) | (Commission File Number) | (IRS Employer Identification No.) |
150 N. Meramec, St. Louis, Missouri (Address of principal executive offices) | 63105 (Zip Code) |
Registrant's telephone number, including area code |
(314) 725-5500 |
Not applicable |
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report) |
Item 2.02. | Results of Operations and Financial Condition. |
ENTERPRISE FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP | ||||
Date: | April 26, 2013 | By: | /s/ Mark G. Ponder | |
Mark G. Ponder | ||||
Senior Vice President and Controller | ||||
Operator: | Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Enterprise Financial first quarter earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. |
Peter Benoist: | Thank you, (Lori), and thanks all of you for joining our first quarter earnings call. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which reflect management's analysis and expectations only as of the date of such statements. |
Steve Marsh: | OK, thank you, Peter. Enterprise Bank - as Peter mentioned - Enterprise Bank ended the first quarter with an organic portfolio of 2.1 billion, down one percent for the |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Thank you, Steve, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to supplement some of Peter's comments in various areas that should be of interest to you. I'd like to start with covered assets. The yield on covered loans was 31.4 percent in the first quarter, or 15.9 percent excluding the effects of accelerated cash flows due to prepayments. Increasing income related to accelerated cash flows was 7.2 million in the first quarter, but there is a partial offset in non-interest income. |
Operator: | At this time, I would like to remind everyone, if you would like to ask a question, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. Your first question comes from the line of Jeff Rulis, of DA Davidson. |
Jeff Rulis: | Thanks, good afternoon. |
Peter Benoist: | Good afternoon. |
Jeff Rulis: | Peter, you talked about - briefly - about managing loan growth in part to protect margins, I guess based on your mid-single digit loan growth expectation. How does that translate into your expectations on margin itself? |
Peter Benoist: | You know, I think as I indicated in my comments, we're seeing some pretty severe price competition in the marketplace. And we're cognizant of that, in terms of how we're trying to price relationships, both on an origination and a renewal basis. |
Steve Marsh: | Yes, the only thing I would add to that is, if we do a seven-year deal, it would be in conjunction with a swap so that we're getting a floating rate. We would rarely go seven years on fixed rates, and we do see the competition doing that seven-year, even 10-year fixed rates. And that would be a type of product that we're avoiding. |
Jeff Rulis: | OK, thanks. And then one other question on the - you mentioned in the press release, the sort of new management assignments. I guess, is there any tangible near-term impact either on expenses or revenue, or is that a longer-term positioning? |
Peter Benoist: | Yes, I wouldn't say significant near term, but I think just to take two seconds on it, our intent there was to make sure we're very focused on the front end of the business, from a sales perspective. It is a competitive market. So we elevated one of our fellows, Scott Goodman here in St. Louis, to the head of the bank here. Steve and I both agree - and Steve, for those of you that don't know - has played really three roles at the company. He's the chairman of the bank, he's the president of the bank, and he's the chief credit officer, and we felt it would be appropriate to split those roles, with Goodman taking the president role, and focusing on sales and client development, and Steve focusing - not certainly all of his time, but a good majority of his time - on credit origination from a risk and pricing perspective, and credit quality generally, just in terms of continuing to push the trends, so we've seen credit quality improvement over time. |
Jeff Rulis: | OK, makes sense. Appreciate the color. |
Peter Benoist: | You bet. |
Operator: | Your next question comes from the line of Chris McGratty of KBW. |
Chris McGratty: | Good afternoon, guys. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Hi, Chris. |
Chris McGratty: | Frank, on the securities book, if you look at end-of-period balances, they're down pretty substantially, about 150 million bucks. How should we think about, I guess, securities going forward? I think your comment, if I heard you correct, was earning assets should grow over the balance of the year. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Yes, we - Chris, we target the investment portfolio probably in the 15 to 20 percent of assets range, and so that's what I would - you know, that's what I would expect. And with that moving, you know, within that range, just based on liquidity. |
Chris McGratty: | OK, and on the - in the past, I think you've given a little bit of guidance on the - on the fee income. Obviously, it's pretty volatile. Can you help us out, Frank, at least on that big negative that's been jumping around the past couple quarters on the fees? |
Frank Sanfilippo: | I can't. As you know, you know, we're trying to report the pieces to you, so that hopefully you can track the trends on that. And then just from our commentary and trends, you know, you have to come up with what those are. Obviously, it changes. I mean, if we could predict, you know, the level of losses, you know, that - where it's going to head, you know, we could be more exact. But we'd rather not do that. |
Chris McGratty: | Great. And then the last one, on the acquisition that's going to close, Peter, in the second quarter, can you help us with potential revenue pickup, and also kind of the associated expenses that might come with it? Thanks. |
Peter Benoist: | Yes, I think just based on timing, the impacts in '13 are going to be relatively nominal. We're going to write-off any intangibles this year as well, as it relates to the acquisition, so the impact will really be in '14, by and large. You may have a different comment, Frank, but that's my take. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | I would agree. |
Chris McGratty: | And then in '14, I guess, what's the - how should we be thinking about how big this is going to be? |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Yes, I think that we probably should wait until later in the year, get the thing closed, and just in general, I think I shared with some of the group - or I think we shared it as part of the announcement. I mean, they're about triple the size of our - right now, they're about triple the size of us in terms of volume origination, and selling into the secondary market. So that's why we say, we think it'll be a significant increase, you know, for us. But obviously, the mortgage market, you know, can vary, and - over time. So we're probably not in a position at this point to forecast for '14 relative to that. |
Chris McGratty: | OK, thanks. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Yes. |
Operator: | Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Liesch of Sandler O'Neill. |
Andrew Liesch: | Hi, everyone. |
Peter Benoist: | Hi, Andrew. |
Peter Benoist: | Good afternoon. |
Andrew Liesch: | I'm curious, can you give - if you have the numbers in front of you - trends with classified loans in the quarter? |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Yes, they went down, yes. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Yes, they would be down slightly. |
Andrew Liesch: | OK. And then I guess … |
Frank Sanfilippo: | On a link quarter basis. |
Andrew Liesch: | Yes, I was just trying to get a handle on that, and how that might affect provisions going forward, with the reserve ratio falling. Then, I was also thinking that when - |
Frank Sanfilippo: | I just think in general, Andrew, that you know, what we've stated is that we believe the overall trends in asset quality will continue to improve, and I think we have given an indication of loan growth, and I think between those two things, I guess I would leave it to - you know, leave it to you to estimate where the provision levels would be. |
Andrew Liesch: | All right, thanks. And then, you know, just looking at the other expense line, I know there was some one-time - or like maybe year-end costs associated with them, in the fourth quarter. And if we were just backing out the clawback liability, it seemed like they came in this quarter, just a little under seven million, which had been lower than they had been the last couple of years. Is this a good run rate? I was actually expecting them to be a little bit higher. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Yes, I don't - the only thing I wanted - well, the only thing I did comment on, relative to expenses, was the million two related to really an acceleration that the FDIC had a change in policy on claiming expenses, and we were able to accelerate and reverse a million two of expenses - collection expenses - related to that book. |
Andrew Liesch: | Right, very good. Those are all my questions, thanks. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Thank you. |
Operator: | Your next question comes from the line of Brian Martin with FIG Partners. |
Brian Martin: | Hey, guys. |
Peter Benoist: | Hi, Brian. |
Steve Marsh: | Hi, Brian. |
Brian Martin: | Could you maybe just talk about, you know, it seemed like last year you guys were really getting some - pushing some credits through, and getting some charge-offs, and |
Steve Marsh: | So, we would continue, and I think we have shown a propensity to be aggressive in dealing with non-performers. You see it in the other real estate owned, you see it in the level of non-performers that have come down. I don't know if I can make any predictions about what the loss rates will be for the final three quarters, but we'll continue to be proactive in dealing and identifying problems and trying to get to them soon. |
Brian Martin: | OK, and is there anything else, you know, with regards to the margin, as far as protecting it, Peter, are there any other steps you guys could take to protect it? Is there anything you could pay off or reduce that would - that would serve to benefit it or protect it? Outside of pricing, things you already mentioned? |
Peter Benoist: | Not off the top of my head; not in terms of what - anything we haven't already alluded to. I mean, I think as we indicated, we continue to focus on funding costs. We think there's a little bit of room there. You know, the challenge for us, and I think Steve would agree, is to make sure that we're putting quality assets on the books at appropriate rates, and we're very focused on that. |
Brian Martin: | OK, and when do you think, you know, you'll kind of reach the bottom as far as the funding costs go? I mean, it sounds like you still have a bit more room to move things lower. I mean, how quickly does that run out? |
Frank Sanfilippo: | This is Frank, Brian. I would - I guess what I would tell you is just, you know, I've been tracking - or been, you know, trying to present these - the transaction deposit costs, and how they've been coming down. They came down three basis points recently. So, I mean, I said there's a little room to fall, so I'd just look at the trends. I |
Brian Martin: | OK. I guess the expectation is, you're still going to continue to feel some re-pricing on the asset side. That's not, I guess, alleviating all that much. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | It's a reality of the business. |
Brian Martin: | OK, all right, thanks very much, you guys. Nice quarter. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Thank you. |
Operator: | Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Cardenas of Raymond James. |
Daniel Cardenas: | Good afternoon, guys. |
Steve Marsh: | Hi, Dan. |
Daniel Cardenas: | Maybe if you could give us a little bit of color as to what you're seeing on the M&A side. Are discussions picking up? And is there any region in your footprint that's showing more promise than the other? |
Steve Marsh: | No, I think we've seen good activity in St. Louis and Kansas City, and less so in Phoenix. I think if you talk to the private equity companies, they would say activity is stronger today than it was a quarter ago. So, everybody was exhausted at the end of the fourth quarter. I think everybody's pipelines were emptied out at the end of that period, and I think you'll see, they're starting to build again. |
Daniel Cardenas: | And as you look at yourselves, do you see - do you see yourselves more focused, perhaps, on whole bank of non-bank type of transactions? |
Peter Benoist: | I think that's directed to me, this is Peter. |
Daniel Cardenas: | Yes. |
Peter Benoist: | You know, I'd say at the present time, no. We're not very focused on whole bank acquisitions. I think our intent right now, as we've indicated, is to really focus on core performance. You know, we do believe there will be activity from an M&A perspective, and clearly you all know that as well. We don't believe in acquisitions as a strategy. I think if tactically there are opportunities, which has always been our position, that makes sense for us, with a primary focus on core deposit base, that would be our interest. We would be opportunistic, but aside from that comment, no, we're not focused. |
Daniel Cardenas: | Great, thanks. |
Peter Benoist: | You bet. |
Operator: | At this time, I'm showing no further questions. Are there any closing remarks? |
Peter Benoist: | I think you do have one more question. |
Operator: | Your next question comes from the line of Greg Cole of Sidoti and Company. |
Greg Cole: | Good afternoon, thanks for having me. Just a broad question on the fee income generation, and getting into new households. Can you talk about where you want - which business lines you would like to see increasing revenue from, and how you plan on doing that, just from a - just getting into current accounts, or going into - you know, just where that's coming from. |
Peter Benoist: | Sure. You know, I alluded to the fact that our cross-sell penetration is not significant currently, and we see a lot of opportunities. A lot of that relates more to what I'll call the individual side, as opposed to the commercial side of our customer base. And it does relate to things like card penetration, wealth management is clearly an area. Credit in general, just from a more high end private bank credit perspective, we see a lot of opportunity there. And that's parlayed against the fact that our client satisfaction surveys are really quite good. |
Greg Cole: | OK, thank you. And then, how should we track this over time, other than just pure revenue? Is there anything that you plan on looking at, or showing us? |
Frank Sanfilippo: | This is Frank, Greg. Potentially - I guess potentially at some point, we could get to a cross-sell ratio, something that we would - that we would actually publish. Absent that, I think the fee income ratio, pulling out the change in FDIC receivable, could be one thing you would track. And once again, we could be more intentional about showing that separately. Those would be two things that come to mind. |
Greg Cole: | OK, thank you very much. |
Frank Sanfilippo: | Thank you. |
Operator: | Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. We show no further questions at this time. |
Peter Benoist: | Very good. I'd just comment, thanks to all of you for your interest in EFSC. I think we're off to a good start this year. I don't think we're unaware of the challenges that affect not just Enterprise, but the industry in general, but I think we're positioned well for them, and we're optimistic about '13, and as we continue down the path, we thank you for your support, and we look forward to talking to you next quarter. Thank you very much. |
Operator: | Thank you for participating in today's conference call. You may now disconnect. |