First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 25, 2024 11:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Mark Hardwick – Chief Executive Officer
Michael Stewart – President
Michele Kawiecki – Chief Financial Officer
John Martin - Chief Credit Officer
Conference Call Participants
Daniel Tamayo - Raymond James
Damon DelMonte – KBW
Terry McEvoy – Stephens Inc.
Nathan Race - Piper Sandler
Brian Martin - Janney Montgomery Scott
Operator
Thank you for standing by, and welcome to First Merchants Corporation's Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference call. Before we begin, management would like to remind you that today's call contains forward-looking statements with respect to the future performance and financial condition of First Merchants Corporation's that involve risk and uncertainties. Further information is contained within the press release, which we encourage you to review.
Additionally, management may refer to non-GAAP measures, which are intended to supplement but not substitute for the most direct comparable GAAP measures. The press release available on the website contains financial or other quantitative information to be discussed today, as well as a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Mark Hardwick, Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Hardwick, you may begin.
Mark Hardwick
Good morning, and welcome to the First Merchants second quarter 2024 conference call. Thanks for the introduction and for covering the forward-looking statement on Page 2. We released our earnings today at approximately 8 AM Eastern time. You can access today's slides by following the link on the third page of our earnings release.
On Page 3 of our slides, you will see today's presenters and our bios to include President, Mike Stewart, Chief Credit Officer, John Martin, and Chief Financial Officer, Michele Kawiecki.
On Page 4, we have a few financial highlights for the quarter to include total assets of $18.3 billion, $12.7 billion of total loans, $14.6 billion of total deposits and $9.3 billion of assets under advisement.
On Slide 5, net interest margin and net interest income increased during the quarter. Net interest margin increased by six basis points and net interest income increased by $1.5 million We also had meaningful improvements to non-interest income and non-interest expense that when coupled with net interest margin improvements helped push our efficiency ratio below our key performance indicator of 55%, totaling 53.84% during the quarter.
Loan growth totaled 6.1% for the quarter and we have now substantially completed all four of our major technology initiatives for the year. On a less positive note, our provision expense totaled $24.5 million for the quarter. We previously financed the sale of a business from one long-time owner and two his second in command based on a substantial and consistent EBITDA. Due to competition and the renegotiation of material contracts, the business has experienced significant deterioration in its performance, which ultimately resulted in our 10-Q subsequent event footnote on May 1st and this quarter's charge off.