Alerus Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ALRS) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call July 28, 2022 12:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Katie Lorenson - President & Chief Executive Officer
Alan Villalon - Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Karin Taylor - Executive Vice President & Chief Risk Management Officer
Conference Call Participants
Ben Gerlinger - Hovde Group
Jeff Rulis - D.A. Davidson
Nathan Race - Piper Sandler
Operator
Good afternoon and welcome to the Alerus Financial Corporation Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.
This call may include forward-looking statements, and the company's actual results may differ materially from these indicated in any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are listed in the earnings release and company's SEC filings.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Alerus Financial Corporation President and CEO, Katie Lorenson. Please go ahead.
Katie Lorenson
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for dialing into our call today. Joining me today in Minneapolis is Karin Taylor, our Chief Risk Officer; and Al Villalon, our CFO. I am proud to announce that during the quarter, we added Jim Collins, a seasoned bank leader in the Twin Cities to our executive team as our Chief Banking and Revenue Officer.
Jim will lead and support the continued new client growth and existing client expansion, while building on our recent successes in adding talented bankers and advisers in the Twin Cities and throughout our footprint.
On July 1, we closed on the acquisition of Metro Phoenix Bank, the 25th acquisition in the company's history. We are pleased to have Metro Phoenix join the Alerus franchise. The Phoenix-Scottsdale-Mesa is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country over the past five years. Metro Phoenix Bank started by Steve Haggard, is a well-established, high-growth and highly efficient bank with a strong commercial presence.
With the approval and closing, Steve has now assumed leadership over the entire market as the Arizona President. Together, our combined organizations are one of the largest community banks and SBA lenders serving the market. This acquisition significantly increases our presence in Phoenix, Scottsdale and demonstrates our commitment to growth and client expansion in Arizona.
Looking back on the quarter, we reported EPS of $0.53, which included a $0.05 negative impact related to merger expenses. We continue to experience good loan growth as loans grew 17.3% on an annualized basis ex PPP. Growth was across products, but highlighted by additions to our commercial client base, a proven catalyst for growing our retirement business.