Camden National Corporation (NASDAQ:CAC) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call October 25, 2022 3:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Greg Dufour - President and CEO

Mike Archer - EVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Damon DelMonte - KBW

Matthew Breese - Stephens Inc.

Operator

Good day, and welcome to Camden National Corporation’s Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Drew and I will be your operator for today’s call. [Operator Instructions]

Please note that this presentation contains forward-looking statements, which involve significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Additionally information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements are described in the company’s earnings press release, the company’s 2021 annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC. The company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the forward-looking statements are made. Any references in today’s presentation to non-GAAP financial measures are intended to provide meaningful insights and are reconciled with GAAP in your press release.

Today’s presenters are Greg Dufour, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mike Archer, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please note that this event is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Greg Dufour. Please go ahead.

Greg Dufour

Thank you, Drew, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Camden National’s Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Call.

Earlier today, we announced third quarter net income of $14.3 million and year-to-date earnings of 46.1 million. This resulted in diluted earnings per share of $0.97 for the quarter and $3.12 for the year-to-date period. Total revenues of nearly 142 million through the first nine months of 2022 were up 2% from the comparable period in ‘21 despite higher PPP loan income and record mortgage activity last year. We feel this demonstrates the flexibility and strong core operating capacity of Camden National underlying these results is our commitment to position and reposition the organization in light of the macroeconomic environment highlighted by rapidly rising interest rates, increased probability of recession and geopolitical risks.

I’d like to take a few moments to further explain some of the actions we’re taking. We’re repositioning lending activities as we see the impact of the last remnants of PPP and the slowdown in the residential mortgage markets. This repositioning has actually been going on for several quarters and includes several points. First, a build out of our small business lending efforts leveraging two major strategies. First, we’ve hired five dedicated small business lenders in our markets, and piloted a very successful training program to enhance our banking center managers capacity to generate small business loans. This effort has been driven by a complete overhaul of our small business lending process utilizing our FinTech partner Abrigo, as well as our own business process analysis group. We now have the capability to go from application to same day decision and close within one business day depending on collateral. While early, we are very, very happy with our initial results using the new process.