Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC) Q2 2024 Results Conference Call July 30, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

John Buran - President and CEO
Susan Cullen - Senior EVP, CFO and Treasurer

Conference Call Participants

Steve Moss - Raymond James
Mark Fitzgibbon - Piper Sandler
Manuel Navas - D. A. Davidson
Chris O'Connell - KBW

Operator

Welcome to Flushing Financial Corporation's Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Hosting the call today are John Buran, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Susan Cullen, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer [Operator Instructions]. A copy of the earnings press release and slide presentation that the company will be referencing today are available on its Investor Relations Web site at flushingbank.com. Before we begin, the company would like to remind you that discussions during this call contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements, including as set forth in the company's filings with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission to which we refer you. During this call, references will be made to non-GAAP financial measures and supplemental measures to review and assess operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U. S. GAAP. For information about these non-GAAP measures and for a reconciliation to GAAP, please refer to the earnings release and/or the presentation. I would now like to introduce John Buran, President and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide an overview of the strategy and results. Please go ahead.

John Buran

Thank you, operator. Good morning. And thank you for joining us for our second quarter 2024 earnings call. The operating environment in the second quarter was highlighted by similar themes that have impacted the industry and our markets for the past couple of quarters. Changing expectations on Fed rate moves, weak but marginally improving loan demand and aggressive deposit pricing by one of our largest competitors that is dealing with business model and personnel changes. Against this backdrop, the company reported second quarter 2024 EPS of $0.18. It remains a challenging rate environment but I'll provide an update on the progress we've made on our four areas of focus. The first objective is to increase the NIM and reduce its volatility. Net interest income increased about 1% quarter-over-quarter despite NIM compressing 1 basis point. We’re implementing several strategies to help the NIM in future periods and I believe it is close to a bottom. Susan will provide further details but the NIM should begin to expand once funding costs stabilize. The second objective is to maintain our credit discipline. Flushing Bank has a long history of low risk credit profile due to our conservative underwriting and strong portfolio management. Overall credit metrics remain solid with 61 basis points of non-performing assets, 113 basis points of criticized and classified loans and 1 basis point of net recoveries during the quarter.