Primis Financial Corp. Reports Earnings per Share for the Third Quarter of 2024

Announces Sale of Life Premium Finance Division

Announces Expansion of Mortgage Warehouse Lending Team

Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.10 Per Share

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: FRST) ("Primis" or the "Company"), and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Primis Bank (the "Bank"), today reported net income available to common shareholders of $1.2 million or $0.05 per diluted share for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, compared to a net loss available to common shareholders of $6.0 million or $0.24 per diluted share for the quarter ended September 30, 2023.   For the year-to-date period in 2024, the Company reported earnings available to common and diluted earnings per share of $7.5 million and $0.30, respectively, compared to $0.3 million and $0.01, respectively, in the same period in 2023.  Earnings for the three month and year-to-date periods are highly affected by the Company's corrected accounting for a third-party originated consumer portfolio.

Earnings for the three month and year-to-date period in 2024 include $0.8 million and $2.2 million, respectively, or $0.03 and $0.09 per diluted share, respectively, of after-tax nonrecurring charges versus $11.3 million and $12.5 million, respectively, or $0.45 and $0.51 per diluted share, respectively in the comparable 2023 periods and inclusive of the goodwill impairment in the third quarter of 2023.  Adjusting for these items, operating net income available to common shareholders was $2.0 million⁽¹⁾ or $0.08 per diluted share⁽¹⁾ for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, compared to net operating income available to common shareholders of $5.3 million⁽¹⁾ or $0.21 per diluted share⁽¹⁾ for the quarter ended September 30, 2023. For the year-to-date period in 2024 when adjusting for these items, earnings available to common and diluted earnings per share was $9.6 million⁽¹⁾ and $0.39⁽¹⁾, respectively, compared to $12.8 million⁽¹⁾ and $0.52⁽¹⁾, respectively, in the same period in 2023. 

Sale of Life Premium Finance Division

On October 24, 2024, Primis Bank and EverBank, N.A. ("EverBank") entered into a purchase and assumption agreement whereby EverBank will acquire the Life Premium Finance Division from Primis Bank including all the associated loans, except for a subset of mostly fixed rate and rate-capped loans retained by the Bank, and the operations of the division, including its employees, for a premium of $6.0 million.  Primis Bank expects to record a pre-tax gain of $4.5 million net of advisory and legal fees in the fourth quarter of 2024.

On October 31, 2024, EverBank will acquire approximately $370 million of loans from the division with Primis Bank providing interim servicing until the transition of the business at the final closing which is expected on January 31, 2025.  Between the first and second closings, EverBank will purchase loans generated by the division in ordinary course at par.  After the second closing, EverBank will service the Bank's retained portfolio for the duration of the portfolio.

Dennis J. Zember, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Primis commented, "Three years ago we hired a set of professionals with a vision to build a tech-forward solution for life insurance premium finance.  This platform has been widely accepted and used by the industry's facilitators to such a degree that its opportunity is bigger than our balance sheet.  EverBank is known for investing in scalable businesses with attractive risk-adjusted returns which makes our life premium finance team a perfect fit."

Mortgage Warehouse Lending Team Expansion

In early October of 2024, Primis hired a seasoned team of mortgage warehouse lending professionals from a larger bank with a very successful track record in this space.  While Primis Bank has had mortgage warehouse lending capabilities for some time, production had been limited while the Bank searched for the right leadership.  Four key individuals have joined the Bank comprising sales, operations and portfolio management with another four to five support staff expected in the coming months.

Commented Mr. Zember, "Mortgage warehouse lending as an asset class has very attractive returns and limited losses.  With several very large banks exiting the space and mortgage volumes projected to increase substantially, we believe this is a perfect time to expand our capabilities.  Knowing the team we hired and having visited quite a few of their customers, I believe we can replace all of the life premium business we are selling with yields that are 125bps to 150bps higher.  I expect the credit results and operating expense burdens to be similar so we believe the bottom-line impact will be significant as we scale this operation."

Discussion of Results

The following table highlights selected financial data for the last five quarters:

As disclosed in our recent filings with the SEC, the Company has corrected its method for accounting for a third-party originated and serviced consumer loan portfolio (the "Consumer Program") and in which the separate agreements comprising the portfolio are treated as separate units of account (See "Critical Accounting Estimates and Policies" in the Company's 2023 Form 10-K).  A subset of the Consumer Program has promotional characteristics where interest is deferred during the promotional period and is waived if the customer pays off the loan prior to the period end.  In that event, the third-party reimburses the Bank for the waived interest.  Until the end of the promotional period, the Company is unable to accrue interest on the loan under GAAP but does record a derivative representing the fair value of expected interest reimbursements from the third-party.  Credit costs are also fully included in the Company's results, including estimated life of loan losses required by ASC 326 while potential credit enhancements from the Consumer Program are only reflected as received.  Total outstanding balances in the Consumer Program were $180 million as of September 30, 2024 versus $194 million at June 30, 2024.

Net Interest Income

Net interest income increased approximately $3.2 million, or 13%, to $28.0 million during the third quarter of 2024 compared to the second quarter of 2024 largely due to increased interest recognition on previously deferring loans. For the third quarter of 2024, the Company reported a net interest margin of 2.97% versus 2.72% for the second quarter of 2024. 

Interest income increased 9.4% to $57.1 million in the third quarter of 2024 compared to $52.2 million during the second quarter of 2024. At September 30, 2024, $60 million of loans were deferring interest due to a promotional feature.  The Company recognized $3.0 million of interest in the third quarter of 2024 from promotional loans that were deferring interest and then began amortizing.  In addition, in the third quarter of 2024, payoff of promotional loans triggered reimbursement of $2.5 million of deferred interest that was recognized in noninterest income.  Promotional loan balances of $17 million and $21 million will reach the end of their promotional periods in the fourth quarter of 2024 and first quarter of 2025, respectively, after which loans with a promotional feature will decline to a nominal amount of the Bank's portfolio by the end of 2025.  Yield on earning assets and loans held for investment were 6.06% and 6.31%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2024 versus 5.72% and 5.91%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2024. 

Interest expense increased $1.7 million to $29.1 million in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the second quarter of 2024 largely due to an increased reliance on FHLB funding during the third quarter.  Cost of deposits increased 6 basis points to 3.04% in the third quarter of 2024 from 2.98% in the second quarter of 2024.  Cost of funds was 3.25% in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 9 basis points linked-quarter.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income decreased during the third quarter of 2024 to $9.3 million compared to $11.2 million in the second quarter of 2024.  Included in the second quarter of 2024 is approximately $0.9 million of bank-owned life insurance income due to a death benefit payout.  Income from mortgage banking activity increased $0.4 million during the third quarter.  Offsetting the increase in mortgage banking income was a reduction of $0.4 million in service fees and $1.2 million reduction in income related to the Consumer Program. 

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense was $31.0 million for the third quarter of 2024, compared to $29.8 million for the second quarter of 2024. Noninterest expense also includes consolidated expenses from Panacea Financial Holdings ("PFH"). Management considers the core expense burden of the Bank that adjusts for certain items such as those that are volume dependent (e.g., mortgage banking related) or nonoperational (e.g., changes in the reserve for unfunded commitments).  The following table illustrates the degree to which the Company has managed its operating expense burden during 2024:

As noted above, the core expense burden decreased $0.3 million in the third quarter of 2024 from the second quarter of 2024.  Core expense burden was $19.8 million, in line with the average for the last five quarters.

Loan Portfolio and Asset Quality

Loans held for investment decreased to $2.97 billion at September 30, 2024, compared to $3.30 billion at June 30, 2024.  As noted above, the Bank has entered into an agreement to sell approximately $370 million of life premium finance loans and which have been reclassified to loans held for sale at September 30, 2024.  Including these balances, loans held for investment would have increased 1.1% unannualized in the third quarter of 2024.  The Panacea and Life Premium Finance divisions had loan growth of 4.4% and 11.1%, respectively, in the third quarter of 2024.

Nonperforming assets, excluding portions guaranteed by the SBA, were only 0.25% of total assets, or $10.2 million at September 30, 2024, compared to 0.25% or $9.9 million at June 30, 2024.  Loans rated substandard were $47.6 million in the third quarter of 2024 compared to $15.5 million in the second quarter of 2024.  The increase was largely driven by a single commercial credit that has experienced slower lease activity past its construction phase.  Management evaluated and valued the property using conservative cap rates and lengthy times to lease and included the shortfall in its specific reserve. The Bank had no other real estate owned at the end of the third quarter of 2024.     

The Company recorded a provision for loan losses of $7.5 million for the third quarter of 2024 versus $3.1 million for the second quarter of 2024.  Of this provision, $4.0 million was due to Consumer Program activity.  The remaining provision was due to specific reserves established on individually evaluated credits, approximately $2.2 million of which was tied to the commercial credit described above.  As a percentage of loans, including life premium finance loans classified as held-for-sale at the end of the third quarter, the allowance for credit losses was 1.53% and 1.56% at the end of the third and second quarter of 2024, respectively.

Net charge-offs were $8.0 million for the third quarter of 2024, up from $5.0 million for the second quarter of 2024.  Consumer Program net charge-offs were $6.7 million in the third quarter versus $4.4 million in the second quarter of 2024.  Core net charge-offs, excluding those losses from the Consumer Program, were $1.3 million, or 0.15% of average loans, in the third quarter of 2024 compared to $0.6 million, or 0.07%, in the second quarter of 2024. 

Deposits and Funding

Total deposits at September 30, 2024 decreased slightly to $3.31 billion from $3.34 billion at June 30, 2024.  Importantly, noninterest bearing deposits were $421 million at September 30, 2024, up slightly from $420 million at June 30, 2024 and in the face of substantial remixing activity towards interest bearing accounts.

Deposit growth in the Bank continues to benefit from better technology and unique convenience factors.  V1BE, the Bank's proprietary invitation-only delivery tool, increased total users by 5% during the third quarter of 2024, and now has over 2,400 users on the platform as of September 30, 2024.

During the third quarter of 2024, the Bank opened approximately $32.5 million new deposit accounts on the digital platform with very modest marketing expenses.  At quarter end, the Bank had over 17,000 digital accounts with $911 million in total deposits and average balances of approximately $53 thousand.

As of September 30, 2024, the Bank has $75.0 million of brokered CDs that mature at the end of 2024 and $165.0 million of short-term FHLB advances.   

Lines of Business

The Panacea Financial Division continues to experience substantial growth alongside the development of the nationally-recognized Panacea Financial brand. The Panacea Financial Division finished the third quarter of 2024 with approximately $392 million in outstanding loans, an increase of $16.5 million from June 30, 2024.  Panacea-related deposits were $90 million at September 30, 2024 with a weighted average cost of 2.00%.  Panacea continues to roll out innovative technology capabilities that  is expected to continue increasing the amount with which it self-funds its balance sheet.

Primis Mortgage had pre-tax income of $1.0 million in the third quarter of 2024 up from $0.9 million in the previous quarter.  Locked loan volumes averaged $56.1 million per month in the third quarter of 2024, up from $52.0 million per month in the second quarter of 2024. Primis Mortgage continues to aggressively manage costs to preserve profitability in a lower volume environment while selectively adding talent to grow production.   

Shareholders' Equity

Book value per common share as of September 30, 2024 was $15.43, an increase of $0.20 from June 30, 2024.  Tangible book value per common share⁽¹⁾ at the end of the third quarter of 2024 was $11.61, an increase of $0.21 from June 30, 2024.  Common shareholders' equity was $381 million, or 9.48% of total assets, at September 30, 2024.  Tangible common equity⁽¹⁾ at September 30, 2024 was $287 million, or 7.30% of tangible assets⁽¹⁾.  After-tax unrealized losses on the Company's available-for-sale securities portfolio decreased by $6.0 million to $17.1 million due to decreases in market interest rates during the third quarter of 2024.  The Company has the intent and ability to hold these securities until maturity or recovery of the value and does not anticipate realizing any losses on the investments.

The Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.10 per share payable on November 22, 2024 to shareholders of record on November 8, 2024.  This is Primis' fifty-second consecutive quarterly dividend. 

About Primis Financial Corp.

As of September 30, 2024, Primis had $4.0 billion in total assets, $2.9 billion in total loans held for investment and $3.3 billion in total deposits. Primis Bank provides a range of financial services to individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses through twenty-four full-service branches in Virginia and Maryland and provides services to customers through certain online and mobile applications.

Conference Call

The Company's management will host a conference call to discuss its third quarter results on Friday, October 25, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. (ET). A live Webcast of the conference call is available at the following website: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/853860984.  Participants may also call 1-888-330-3573 and ask for the Primis Financial Corp. call.  A replay of the teleconference will be available for 7 days by calling 1-800-770-2030 and providing Replay Access Code 4440924.

Non-GAAP Measures

Statements included in this press release include non-GAAP financial measures and should be read along with the accompanying tables. Primis uses non-GAAP financial measures to analyze its performance. The measures entitled net income adjusted for nonrecurring income and expenses; pre-tax pre-provision operating earnings; operating return on average assets; pre-tax pre-provision operating return on average assets; operating return on average equity; operating return on average tangible equity; operating efficiency ratio; operating earnings per share – basic; operating earnings per share – diluted; tangible book value per share; tangible common equity; tangible common equity to tangible assets; and core net interest margin are not measures recognized under GAAP and therefore are considered non-GAAP financial measures. We use the term "operating" to describe a financial measure that excludes income or expense considered to be non-recurring in nature.  Items identified as non-operating are those that, when excluded from a reported financial measure, provide management or the reader with a measure that may be more indicative of forward-looking trends in our business.  A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures is provided in the Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Items table.

Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide additional useful information about Primis that allows management and investors to evaluate the ongoing operating results, financial strength and performance of Primis and provide meaningful comparison to its peers. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to any measure of performance or financial condition as promulgated under GAAP, and investors should consider Primis' performance and financial condition as reported under GAAP and all other relevant information when assessing the performance or financial condition of Primis.  Non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized and, therefore, it may not be possible to compare these measures with other companies that present measures having the same or similar names.

Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and investors should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the results or financial condition as reported under GAAP.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and certain of our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission contain statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of, and subject to the protections of, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Such statements can generally be identified by such words as "may," "plan," "contemplate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "continue," "expect," "project," "predict," "estimate," "could," "should," "would," "will," and other similar words or expressions of the future or otherwise regarding the outlook for the Company's future business and financial performance and/or the performance of the banking industry and economy in general. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our expectations regarding our future operating and financial performance, including the preliminary estimated financial and operating information presented herein, which is subject to adjustment; our outlook and long-term goals for future growth and new offerings and services; our expectations regarding net interest margin; expectations on our growth strategy, expense management, capital management and future profitability; expectations on credit quality and performance; and the assumptions underlying our expectations.

Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the information known to, and current beliefs and expectations of, the Company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the result of the "pre-clearance" process with the Office of the Chief Accountant of the SEC and the impact on the Company's financial statements; the possibility that the Company is unable to regain compliance with, or thereafter continue to comply with, applicable Nasdaq Listing Rules, or experience violations of additional Nasdaq Listing Rules; the possibility that Nasdaq may deny the Company's appeal and delist the Company's securities; the Company's ability to implement its various strategic and growth initiatives, including the sale of the Life Premium Finance Division and the impact on the Company's operating results and its recently established Panacea Financial Division, digital banking platform, V1BE fulfillment service and Primis Mortgage Company; competitive pressures among financial institutions increasing significantly; changes in applicable laws, rules, or regulations, including changes to statutes, regulations or regulatory policies or practices; changes in management's plans for the future; credit risk associated with our lending activities; the impact of current and future economic and market conditions generally (including seasonality) and in the financial services industry, nationally and within our primary market areas; changes in interest rates, inflation, loan demand, real estate values, or competition, as well as labor shortages and supply chain disruptions; changes in accounting principles, policies, or guidelines; adverse results from current or future litigation, regulatory examinations or other legal and/or regulatory actions; potential impacts of adverse developments in the banking industry highlighted by high-profile bank failures, including impacts on customer confidence, deposit outflows, liquidity and the regulatory response thereto; potential increases in the provision for credit losses; our ability to identify and address increased cybersecurity risks, including those impacting vendors and other third parties; fraud or misconduct by internal or external actors, which we may not be able to prevent, detect or mitigate; acts of God or of war or other conflicts, including the current Ukraine/Russia conflict and Israel/Hamas conflict, acts of terrorism, pandemics or other catastrophic events that may affect general economic conditions; and other general competitive, economic, political, and market factors, including those affecting our business, operations, pricing, products, or services.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are made. These forward-looking statements are based upon information presently known to the Company's management and are inherently subjective, uncertain and subject to change due to any number of risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks and other factors set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, under the captions "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors," and in the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.