First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (FGBI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started. That's a good sign when you have to take some more chairs out. That's great. All right. So good afternoon, everyone. Just making sure that everyone on the line can hear us. So welcome to First Guaranty Bancshares' 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting. This year started with excitement as First Guaranty Bank was named The Best Small Bank in Louisiana and the United States by Newsweek Magazine. Our entire team is proud of this accomplishment and commits to continuous hard work and enthusiasm to live up to this honor. I'm Desiree Simmons, Chief Administrative Officer of First Guaranty Bank, and I have the honor of kicking off today's meeting. For the second year in a row, we are hosting a hybrid meeting. So some shareholders will join us virtually, and they'll be able to see this presentation and hear us, and then you are in person. So for those attending virtually, if you need help at any time during this meeting, please call (813) 308-9980 and enter access code 675813. And for those of you who are attending virtually, please make note of this number as we will not revisit it during this presentation. If you've already mailed in your proxies, there's no need to take any action. However, if you have not and you are attending this session virtually, I encourage you to send it in now. You may send your proxy ballots to First Guaranty via fax at (985) 748-8531 or e-mail a scanned copy to [email protected]. And for those here in person, you'll have the opportunity to submit your proxy later in the meeting if you haven't done so already. Our standard disclosures and forward-looking statements are on Slides 5, 6 and 7. At this time, I'd like to give the floor to Mr. Marshall Reynolds, Chairman of the Board.

Thank you, Desiree. Good afternoon. I have put my glasses on the rig, and I have to take them off to talk. So good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Marshall Reynolds, Chairman of the Board. On behalf of the directors, officers and staff of First Guaranty Bank, I would like to welcome everyone here this afternoon to the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. At this time, I'd like to introduce Mr. Tony Berner, one of our First Guaranty Bank Directors representing constitute, who will lead us in invocation to begin our meeting today. Would you please stand?

Before I pray today, I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the passing of our dear friend and fellow Board member, Mr. Chuck Brister. We were so blessed to be able to spend time with him, and we all hope he has a peace and knows how much, we hold up. Heavenly father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this opportunity to meet and share ideas and visions of what we, as a group, seek to accomplish. We would ask that you strengthen us, restore us and inspire us with your love, may the tasks that we undertake today be pleasing to you and may we, your servants, honor you by serving both you and our communities with grace and dignity for it is in your name that we pray. Amen.

Thank you, Tony. Well, guys, looking back on -- guys and gals, I'm sorry. Guys and gals, looking back on 2020, it really truly was quite a year. This is the first year ever we made $20 million. Obviously, that means we're either on the way or we peaked out, I'm not sure which. But I think it means we're on the way. We did something really more important than that in that we positioned our bank to be in a better position -- much better position in 2021 than we were in 2020. As an example, we made $3.8 million in the first quarter of 2020, and we made a little better than $5 million. So we're looking forward to the second quarter and the third quarter and the fourth quarter And gee, are we going to make $24 million this year or fall back to $14 million and I think we'll make the $24 million. That's a foregone conclusion. At this time, I'd like to introduce Mr. Alton Lewis, who is President and Chief Executive Officer of First Guaranty Bank and First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc., and he will conduct a meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. And good afternoon, and welcome to the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. I now declare the meeting officially convened, and we will proceed with the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. At this point, I have some distinguished people to introduce. I ask you to stand when you're introduced. First, from the accounting firm of Castaing, Hussey & Lolan, Mr. Sam Lolan. Sam is our external auditor and has been for a long time, does a great job. Secondly, over here, very important, Vanessa Drew, recording secretary of the Board. Then we'll have the members and nominees of First Guaranty Bancshares' Board of Directors. Please stand when you're introduced. Marshall T. Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds is Chairman of the Board of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. and First Guaranty Bank. He is also the Chairman of Champion Industries Inc. as well as the Chairman of various other institutions. There are quite a number of them. He has been a Board member since 1993. William K. Hood. Mr. Hood serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee, Directors Loan Committee, Compliance Review Committee and Marketing Committee of the bank. He is the President of Hood Automotive Group. He is the longest-serving director, having been on the bank's Board of Directors since 1977. And he's so young looking, you probably don't believe that, but it's true. Alton Lewis. I've been Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Holding Company and the bank since October 2009. In January 2013, I was elected President. I practiced law with the firm of Cashe, Lewis, Coudrain & Sandage and then I was elected the bank's Board in 2002. Jack Rossi. Where Jack goes? There he is. Jack has been a Holding Company Board member since February of 2018. He is our financial expert on the Holding Company Board, and he's been a bank board member since March of 2018. Mr. Rossi is a CPA with over 40 years of public accounting experience. He currently serves as the Vice President and Business Development Director of Summit County -- Summit Community Bank in West Virginia and in Virginia. And he's on the Board of Trustees of the West Virginia Investment Management Board. He's a member of the Charleston Area Alliance Board. And he was the Chairman and Treasurer of that Board, and he's on the Charleston Regional Chamber of Commerce Board and the West Virginia University Business Economics Visiting Committee, a real financial expert. Thank you, Mr. Rossi. Edgar R. Smith, III. Mr. Smith was appointed to the company's Board of Directors in October 2014, has been a member of the bank's Board since February of '07. He's the Chairman and CEO of Smitty's Supply and its affiliates, including CAM2 International, Big 4 Trucking, Big 4 Investments, Jackson Energy and X-rays Systems. Smitty' Supply is a global lubricants manufacturing company, a very strong part of Tangipahoa Parish. So thank you. During 2007, your shares of First Guaranty Bank stock were converted to First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. stock through a reorganization and First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. acquired 100% on of the outstanding common stock of the bank. The Board of Directors of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. intends to vote 100% of its shares to reelect the following members of the Board of Directors of First Guaranty Bank, which is now a wholly subsidiary of First Guaranty Bancshares. I'm going to introduce those directors and I ask them to stand as they're introduced. But before we do that, I want to join Mr. Berner and taking note of the loss and absence of Mr. Brister -- Chuck Brister. Chuck was an outstanding board member. He was an outstanding person and just a good man, and we miss him. So let's take just a moment in honor of Chuck. Thank you. The members of First Guaranty Bank's Board of Directors are Anthony Burner. Mr. Burner is a consultant with Gold Star Food Group. He's a former President of Pon Food Corporation of Ponchatoula. He joined the Board of Directors in May of 1997. Gloria M. Dykes. Gloria is the owner of Dykes Beef Farm and the part owner of Dykes Feed & Fertilizer in Montpelier and Bluff Creek's Properties. Ms. Dykes was elected to the Board of the bank in July of 2011. Phillip E. Fincher. Is Dr. Fincher here? He's not. Dr. Fincher is a retired economics financing professor at Louisiana Tech University. Very importantly, he's Dr. Fincher. He got that PhD at the University of Mississippi. I'll take note of it. Dr. Fincher is a Board member of Claiborne Electric Cooperative since 2004. And he's the owner of C&B ranch since 1969, and he was elected to the Board of the bank in March of 2008. He also serves on the North Louisiana Advisory Board. Robert H. Gabriel. Mr. Gabriel is the President of Gabriel Building Supply Company of Ponchatoula and Amite. He was elected to the Board in August of 2007 and is a former Director of Ponchatoula Homestead Bank. Andrew Gasaway, Jr. Andrew is the President of Gasaway, Gasaway Bankston Architects. He also serves as secretary of the Board of Directors of First Guaranty Bank. Mr. Gasaway is junior to Mr. Hood and age, I guess, because Mr. Gasaway joined the Board in 1978. So he's been with us a while. William K. Hood, who was previously introduced. Edwin L. Hoover, Jr. Ed has been a Board member since 1994. Mr. Hoover is President of Encore Development and various other real estate investment companies. I'm on the Board. Bruce McAnally. Mr. McAnally joined the bank's Board of Directors in June of 2017 with the acquisition of Premier Synergy Bank and is a registered pharmacist residing in Austin, Texas. He is a founder and Director of RxPreferred Benefits in Nashville, Tennessee. He's a Director of Best Value Pharmacies in Fort Worth, Texas and the founder of Paragon Healthcare in Dallas, Texas. Morgan S. Nalty. Morgan is an investment banking executive and a partner in the firm of Johnson Rice & Company, LLC. Mr. Nalty joined the Board of Directors in 2001. Jack M. Reynolds. Is Jack here? Jack has been a Board member since January of 2018. He is a native of Huntington, West Virginia, currently serves on the Boards of Energy Services of America, The Harrah and Reynolds Corporation and Citizens Deposit Bank. He also has interest in Trifecta Productions, Pritchard Electric and ADJ Corporation. Marshall Reynolds. Nancy C. Ribas. Ms. Ribas is the owner of Ribas Holdings, LLC. She was elected to the Board of Directors in the bank of July 2011, and she's a former director of the Bank of Greensburg. Jack Rossi has been previously introduced. Darrel Ryland. There he is. He made it in. Okay, thank you. Mr. Ryland joined the Board in 2019 with the acquisition of Union Bank and is the bank's Central Louisiana area President. He is the owner of Darrel D. Ryland, LLC, Lucent LLC, #1 and an attorney at Ryland Law firm. He served as the President of the Marksville Chamber of Commerce, President of Avoyelles Parish Bar Association and was a member of the of the Marksville Lion's Club, Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce. He also owns Red River Ranch, a cattle operation. Richard Sitman. Dickie was elected to the Board in July of 2011, and is the former director of the Bank of Greensburg. He serves on the Board of Directors of Dixie Electric Membership Corporation, is the Board President of Dixie Business Center and is on the Board of the Association of Louisiana Electric Co-ops. Ann Smith. Ann has been a bank board member since June of 2010. She is a member of the Southern University Board of Supervisors; the Southern University Chairwoman, Emeritus; a former member of the Louisiana Office of State Financial Assistance Advisory Board and the Tangipahoa Parish School Board. She is a retired educator who served as Principal, Assisted Principal, Coach and Teacher at Kentwood High School. And I have to stop and say this because Ann won State Championships in track and basketball. And my wife was a really good basketball player of Allstate. She should have won the State Championship, but she didn't because her team ran into Ann's team. She is currently a committee member of the Rhys Smith Memorial Fund. And Edgar R. Smith, III, previously introduced. We have our North Louisiana Advisory Board, which includes Dr. Phillip Fincher; Thomas Dale Crump, Jr.; Carrell G. “Gil” Dowies, III; Dr. John Davidson Gladney; and Britt Lamar Synco. So for today's meeting, we have individuals designated as proxies. They are, Marshall T. Reynolds and Eric Dosch, who's our Chief Financial Officer. The inspectors of the election for today's meeting are Kristin Williams, Chairperson; Diane Lanier; Landa Domangue; and Katherine Campbell. At the inspector's election table, we have the following materials for you to review, and I believe that's outside, right, just outside to the left. First, a list of shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 22, 2021. Second, an affidavit showing proof of Notice of Meeting and proxy statement and form of proxy, which have been given to every stockholder of record as of March 22, 2021. Third, the inspectors of election oath of office. And fourth, the quorum certificate of the inspectors of election. And the inspectors of election have informed me that a quorum is present either by proxy or in person, that certificate is available for you -- reviewed by you at the inspector's of election table. You have 4 proposals on the ballot. Number one is to elect those nominated by the Board of Directors of First Guaranty Bancshares as directors of the holding company for the 2021-2022 term. They are: William K. Hood, Alton B. Lewis, Marshall T. Reynolds, Jack Rossi and Edgar Smith, III. Second, to ratify the appointment of Castaing, Hussey & Lolan, LLC as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2021. Third, an advisory nonbinding vote to approve our executive compensation as described in the proxy statement. And fourth, an advisory nonbinding vote with respect to the frequency of voting on our executive compensation. So there have been no other nominations and in accordance with the holding company's bylaws, the nominations are closed. The polls are now open. Are there any votes to be cast by proxy or ballot? If so, inspector of election, would you please collect those ballots. Does anybody need any more time, okay? [Voting]

I now declare the polls closed. Inspectors of election, would you please count the votes, and we'll return with the election results. And the good news for you all is that I'm finished with all this boring stuff. So we can now have a presentation from Eric Dosch and Randy Vicknair about what has happened in First Guaranty Bank in the last year.

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Good afternoon. I'm going to start by covering our financial highlights at March 31. This year, our numbers are, of course, published in our Form 10-Q, the 10-K and our shareholder pamphlet. We also have more information on our Investor Relations website. So 2020, as Mr. Reynolds said, was a very strong year, and we've continued that performance into 2021. At the end of March, our total assets were $2.6 billion. Our total cash and securities were a little over $500 million. First Guaranty's total loans ended at $1.970 billion there. And I'll share with you that we passed $2 billion at the month of April. Our total deposits were $2.3 billion. Our total shareholders' equity was $176 million at March 31, 2021. Our earnings per share for the first quarter were $0.52. This was an improvement from $0.39 per share during the same quarter last year. Our total earnings were $5 million compared to $3.8 million a year ago. We paid $0.16 per share on our dividends. Our tangible book value was $16.20 per share, and our return on average assets was 0.8% for the quarter. The net interest margin was 3.25%. In the month of April, our strong performance continued with a successful preferred stock capital raise. First Guaranty Bancshares issued $34.5 million worth of noncumulative perpetual preferred stock. The dividend rate on these shares is 6.75%, and the preferred shares are traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol FGBIP. We used the proceeds to improve First Guaranty's capital by $20 million that's at the bank level to prepare for continued growth. We also paid off $13.2 million in debt owed by First Guaranty Bancshares. Our next slide is the historical book value of 1 share of stock purchase in 1993 when we recapitalized. So the slide shows the growth over time, adjusting for stock splits and dividends that occurred during this time period. As you can see, we have a very strong and consistent track record of growth. And speaking of our track record, our dividends are on our next slide there, we paid $111 million dividends since 1993. And last year, we paid $6.2 million of cash dividends. And then we've had this long history of paying dividends to our shareholders. Overall, since 1993, we paid $84.6 million in total dividend. It's a very long and consistent history that we're all very proud of to help create our shareholder value there. I think our last slide here is on our dividend reinvestment plan. Your common stock shares must be registered at First Guaranty Bank. A minimum of 100 shares must be enrolled in our plan. And First Guaranty covers the administrative cost of the plan. I'd now like to introduce Randy Vicknair, our Chief Lending Officer.

Okay. Now that I'm at spot. Thank you, Eric. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Randy Vicknair, and I'm the Chief Lending Officer of First Guaranty Bank. Last year, we told you the story of our relief loan and Paycheck Protection Program, otherwise known as PPP efforts. And this year, we get to continue that story with the page from 2021. 2020 was quite a year. I think we can all agree on that. We originated over $20 million in relief loans for our customers. We closed over $111 million in PPP loans plus in 2021, we closed an additional $40 million in second round PPP loans so far. Also, we successfully obtained forgiveness on over $64 million or 58% of the first round PPP loans, which is great progress. As this program has come to an end, I'm appreciative of our entire team for their tireless efforts to serve our customers and provide much-needed funds for local businesses. Moving on to loan activity. We grew loans by $318 million in 2020, which equates to over 20% loan growth, most of which occurred in the second half of the year. The growth was achieved through a variety of products and regions with commercial real estate loans and commercial leases leading the way on the product side and our Texas, North Louisiana and Southeast Louisiana regions leading the way by geography. Additionally, loan interest income in 2020 increased by $11.9 million or 15% over 2019, which was primarily due to maintaining our loan yields. We observed a 1.5% drop in our major index, while our loan yields only reduced by 1% over that same time. This strong loan growth continues in 2021, with loans increasing by $196 million or 10.6% so far this year. And as Eric mentioned, we crossed the $2 billion threshold in the month of April. The best part about this growth is that we are benefiting from contributions by all regions of the bank, with the first quarter led by North Louisiana, Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Louisiana. While the second quarter has been primarily led by Central Louisiana, North Louisiana and Southeast Louisiana. Our pipeline remains healthy, and I anticipate continued loan growth throughout the remainder of this year with increased Texas activity down the stretch. As a complement to our loan success, there are several areas in which we are refocusing our efforts in 2021. For SBA, we assigned specific goals to generate more SBA loans for the bank, and this has resulted so far this year and more SBA loan pipeline -- SBA loans in our pipeline than we had the previous 2 years combined. For mortgage loans, we hired a new mortgage loan manager. And we've added mortgage loan originators in each of our regions to grow that -- our mortgage loan portfolio. We've hired several new financial relationship managers, which we refer to as FRMs for short, in multiple markets to fill open positions and assist with identifying more loan opportunities and, of course, close on them. And I'm very excited about our group of young new FRMs that have joined the bank over the past few months, and I expect great contributions from them due to the quality of training they will receive from our excellent lending enrichment and development team. As mentioned earlier, we were named the #1 small bank in America by Newsweek and LendingTree. It is an honor and illustrates the commitment and dedication of our team. 2020 was a great chapter in the history of First Guaranty Bank, and we look forward to writing an equally impressive chapter in 2021. Thank you.

Before I go any further, I thank our directors for the leadership that they have given us and the direction they have given us to make 2020 an outstanding year for First Guaranty Bank and continued the same thing in 2021. And I also thank all the members of the First Guaranty Bank team who have worked in spite of great adversity, great opposition to achieve everything that we could and make First Guaranty have an outstanding 2020 and 2021. And in case, you all didn't notice it, being named as the #1 small bank in the United States. So thank you, all. And thanks to our shareholders for the support and sticking with us. So now back to the excitement. May we have a report from the inspectors of election, Chairperson, Kristin Williams.

Good afternoon. All of the votes have been tallied. The proposals presented today for the election of Holding Company Board of Directors for the ensuing year, ratification of the appointment of external auditors and 2 new proposals on executive compensation have all been elected by a majority of the votes.

Thank you, Ms. Williams. Do I hear a motion to accept the report of the inspectors of election on the results of the election? Motioned by Mr. Nalty. Second by Mr. Gabriel. Now may I have a motion to approve and ratify all actions of the Board of Directors, officers and personnel since the last annual meeting. Do I hear such a motion? Mr. Ed Smith & Mr. Ed Hoover about that. If there's no other business, then Ms. Smith, I ask for a motion for adjournment.

I second.

So they're seconded. Thank you very much. That concludes the meeting. We really appreciate all of you all coming here today. Thank you.

Goodbye.