Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:EQBK) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 17, 2024 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Brian Katzfey - Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations
Brad Elliott - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Rick Sems - Bank President
Chris Navratil - Chief Financial Officer
Krzysztof Slupkowski - Chief Credit Officer
Conference Call Participants
Jeff Rulis - D.A. Davidson & Company
Andrew Liesch - Piper Sandler
Terry McEvoy - Stephens, Inc
Damon DelMonte - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
Brett Rabatin - Hovde Group, LLC
Operator
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Equity Bancshares' Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. My name is Ezra, and I'll be coordinating your call today. [Operator Instructions]
I will now hand over to your host, Brian Katzfey, Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations to begin. Brian, please go ahead.
Brian Katzfey
Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Equity Bancshares' second quarter earnings call. Before we begin, let me remind you that today's call is being recorded and is available via webcast at investor.equitybank.com along with our earnings release and presentation materials.
Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. Following the presentation, we will allow time for questions and further discussion. Thank you all for joining us.
With that, I'd like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Brad Elliott.
Brad Elliott
Good morning, and thank you for joining Equity Bancshares' earnings call. We're pleased to take you through our second quarter results, including a set a new record high watermarks, integration of the Bank of Kirksville merger and the announcement of our acquisition of KansasLand Bancshares.
Joining me today are Rick Sems, our Bank CEO, Chris Navratil, our CFO and Krzysztof Slupkowski, our Chief Credit Officer.
It was another exciting quarter of improving operating performance for our company. Excluding the impact of BOLI, repositioning costs and merger expenses, we outperformed market expectations. With the momentum of rebalancing our portfolio last year, and the Bank of Kirksville transaction in the first quarter, we realized expansion in both net interest income and net interest margin. We closed the quarter with a loan deposit ratio below 80%. Strong capital ratios and significant liquidity continue to drive earnings growth in 2024, both organically and via strategic M&A.
During the quarter, we completed the integration of systems from a legacy bank of Kirksville locations, and announced and received regulatory approval of our acquisition of KansasLand Bancshares. The KansasLand transaction officially closed on July 1, 2024, 71 days after announcement. We continue to emphasize shareholder return through our quarterly dividend, as well as active participation in our share repurchase program.