Third Coast Bancshares, Inc. Common Stock 2026 Q3 Earnings Call

Natalie, please go ahead. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Third Coast Bancshares third quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

With me today are Bart Caraway, founder, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, John McWhorter, chief financial officer, and Audrey Spaulding, chief credit officer. First, a few housekeeping items. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available by webcast on the investors section of our website at ir.thirdcoast.bank. There will also be a call replay available until October 29th, and more information on how to access these replay features was included in yesterday's earnings release. Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, October 22nd, 2026, and therefore you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as the time of replay listening or transcript reading.

In addition, the comments made by management during this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management. However, various risks, uncertainties, and contingencies could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management. The listener or reader is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC to better understand those risks, uncertainties, and contingencies. Today's discussion will also include the proposed merger with Great Plains Bancshares. This call does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval.

Third Coast intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 that will include a joint proxy statement prospectus, and investors are encouraged to read it when it becomes available, as it will contain important information about the proposed transaction. The comments made today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures were included in yesterday's earnings release, which can be found on the Third Coast website. Now I would like to turn the call over to Third Coast founder, chairman, president, and CEO, Mr. Bart Caraway.

Bart? Thank you, Natalie, and good morning, everyone.

The third quarter was another healthy quarter for Third Coast, and importantly, one that demonstrates the underlying strength of our franchise. Reported earnings included $3.2 million in merger-related expenses, which affected non-interest expenses and net interest margin. John will walk through those items in more detail in just a moment. When you look through those items, I believe the underlying performance of the franchise remains solid. There are a few things I'd point to. First, I'm encouraged by the continued momentum we're seeing in treasury management. The team continues to add customer relationships and generate a steady source of deposits. Over the past 12 months, non-interest-bearing deposits increased 60.3%, compared with 35.5% growth in total deposits. For us, that's really about continuing to deepen customer relationships and build a stronger core funding base. Second, we're also seeing strong loan activity.

Gross loans ended the quarter at approximately $5.5 billion. During the quarter, we sold approximately $87 million of loans through our securitization program. Excluding that sale, loan growth exceeded $144 million. That underlying growth is consistent with the pipelines we discussed with you last quarter and gives us continued confidence in the strength of customer demand across our markets. Third, credit remains stable. We recorded net recoveries during the quarter. Audrey will provide some additional detail on the portfolio in a few minutes. Fourth, tangible book value per share reached $33.31, another new high for the company. We view the continued growth in tangible book value as an important measure of the long-term value we're building for our shareholders. When you put these things together, I believe they tell a pretty straightforward story about where we are today.

We're continuing to grow the company, strengthen our customer relationships, and build value while also positioning Third Coast for the next stage of growth. That brings me to Great Plains. Earlier this month, we announced our agreement to merge with Great Plains Bancshares, parent company of Great Plains National Bank. The combination will expand our presence in Dallas, establish our entry into Oklahoma, and is expected to create a franchise of approximately $9 billion in assets. We view Great Plains as an extension of the strategy we've been executing, where we remain focused on disciplined growth, strong customer relationships, thoughtful balance sheet management, sound credit fundamentals, and ultimately building a franchise capable of producing durable long-term earnings. We feel good about the progress we're making, both in performance of the core bank today and in what we're building for the future.

With that, I'll turn the call over to John to walk through the financial results and provide additional details on the quarter.

John? Thank you, Bart, and good morning, everyone.

As Bart mentioned, our third quarter results included a few items that are important to understand when looking at the quarter-over-quarter comparison. I'll spend some time on those items and provide additional detail on the underlying performance of the business. Net income for the third quarter was $19 million, compared to $22 million in the second quarter and $18.1 million in the third quarter of 2025. Diluted earnings per share was $0.93 compared to $1.08 last quarter and $1.03 in the same period last year. However, excluding the $3.2 million of merger-related expenses, adjusted net income was approximately $21.6 million or $1.06 per diluted share. Net interest income was $59.5 million, compared to $60.3 million in the second quarter and $50.8 million in the third quarter of last year.

Net interest margin was 3.7% and would have been 3.74% without the accelerated accretion compared with 3.83% last quarter. On loans, gross loans into the quarter at approximately $5.5 billion, an increase of $57 million from June. However, that reported number includes the impact of approximately $87 million of loans sold through our securitization program during the quarter. Excluding that sale, underlying loan growth exceeded $144 million. As we discussed last quarter, securitization has become a part of our broader balance sheet and capital management strategy, and we expect to close a new securitization in the fourth quarter as well. On the funding side, total deposits into the quarter at $5.9 billion, an increase of $69 million from June. Non-interest-bearing demand deposits increased approximately $78 million to $721 million and represented 12.2% of total deposits, compared with just 11% at June.

As Bart noted, the longer-term trend of non-interest-bearing demand deposits is also encouraging. Average cost of deposits for the quarter was 3.09%, up just four basis points from the second quarter, while remaining 47 basis points below the third quarter of last year. Our reported efficiency ratio was 63.1%, and as adjusted was 58.63%, compared with 56.5% last quarter. The sequential comparison reflects both the merger-related and other non-recurring items, as well as the approximately $3.5 million gain on the sale of the factoring business that benefited the second quarter non-interest income. We continue to build book value during the quarter. Book value per common share increased to $36.53, while tangible book value per common share reached a new high of $33.31, compared with $33.08 at June 30th and $30.91 a year ago. Finally, in case you missed it, we added a new table to our earnings release.