First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 23, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Ramon Rodriguez - IR Officer
Aurelio Aleman-Bermudez - President and CEO
Orlando Berges-Gonzalez - EVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Brett Rabatin - Hovde Group
Steve Moss - Raymond James
Timur Braziler - Wells Fargo
Kelly Motta - KBW

Operator

Good morning, everyone. My name is Kiki, and I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to the First BanCorp's Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results Call. [Operator Instructions].

I will now hand you over to Ramon Rodriguez Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations for First BanCorp to begin. Ramon please go ahead.

Ramon Rodriguez

Thank you, operator. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining First BanCorp's conference call and webcast to discuss the company's financial results for the second quarter of 2024.

Joining you today from First BanCorp are Aurelio Aleman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Orlando Berges, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin today's call, it is my responsibility to inform you that this call may involve certain forward-looking statements such as projections of revenue, earnings, and capital structure, as well as statements on the plans and objectives of the company's business.

The company's actual results could differ materially from the forward-looking statements made due to the important factors described in the company's latest SEC filings.

The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during the call. If anyone does not already have a copy of the webcast presentation or press release, you can access them at our website at fbpinvestor.com.

At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to our CEO, Aurelio Aleman.

Aurelio Aleman-Bermudez

Thank you, Ramon. Good morning to everyone and thanks for joining today. Let's turn to Page 4 to go over the highlights of the quarter. We posted another solid quarter for the franchise of strong profitability and positive operating leverage, earning $76 million in net income and delivering a strong return on assets of 1.61%. Adjusted pre-tax pre-provision income moved upward, reaching $113 million, up 2.4% versus the prior quarter, mostly driven by net interest income and lower expenses.

In terms of the balance sheet, total loans grew by 2.4% in quarter, annualized driven by growth actually across all business segments. We've seen a slight delay in some of the construction funding during the year, in the first half of the year and we do expect to close this gap during the back end of the year. Loan pipeline remain healthy and are mostly supported by the stable environment that we continue to experience in our operating regions and we do continue to sustain our mid-single digit loan growth guidance for the year, primarily due to a commercial construction on auto loan activity that we continue to experience.