First Bancorp Reports Second Quarter Results

Second Quarter 2025 Highlights

• Diluted earnings per share ("D-EPS") was $0.93 per share for the second quarter of 2025 compared to $0.88 for the linked quarter and $0.70 for the like quarter.
• Total loan yield expanded to 5.53%, up 1 basis point from the linked quarter and 3 basis points from the like quarter. Total cost of funds contracted 3 basis points to 1.48% for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 from 1.51% for the linked quarter and from 1.81% for the like quarter.
• The yield on securities increased 13 basis points to 2.41% for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 from 2.28% for the linked quarter. The Company purchased $127.0 million of CMOs yielding 5.16% during the second quarter.
• Average core deposits were $10.7 billion for the second quarter of 2025, an increase of $140.4 million from the linked quarter, with $147.0 million of growth in noninterest bearing deposits and $21.3 million of growth in average money market accounts, partially offset by a decline of $30.7 million in average time deposits. Total cost of deposits was 1.43%, a decrease of 3 basis points from 1.46% for the linked quarter and 29 basis points from the like quarter at 1.72%. The Company continues to maintain a low level of wholesale funding with average borrowings of $92.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.
• We continue to focus on expense management. Noninterest expenses of $59.0 million represented a $1.1 million increase from the linked quarter and $0.7 million from the like quarter. The linked quarter increase was driven by a $0.7 million increase in Other operating expenses and a $0.4 million increase in Total personnel expense.
•  Total loans were $8.2 billion at June 30, 2025, reflecting growth of $122.6 million, or 6.07% annualized, for the quarter and growth of $155.8 million, or 1.93%, from June 30, 2024.
• Noninterest-bearing demand deposits were $3.5 billion, representing 33% of total deposits at June 30, 2025. During the second quarter of 2025, customer deposits grew $85.6 million driven by increases of $65.8 million in noninterest bearing deposits and $60.0 million in money market accounts.
• The on-balance sheet liquidity ratio was 20.0% at June 30, 2025, an increase from 19.8% for the linked quarter. Available off-balance sheet sources totaled $2.3 billion at June 30, 2025, resulting in a total liquidity ratio of 36.1%.

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C., July 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- First Bancorp (the "Company") (NASDAQ - FBNC), the parent company of First Bank, reported unaudited second quarter earnings today.  The Company announced net income of $38.6 million, or $0.93 D-EPS, for the three months ended June 30, 2025 compared to $36.4 million, or $0.88 D-EPS, for the three months ended March 31, 2025 ("linked quarter") and $28.7 million, or $0.70 D-EPS, for the second quarter of 2024 ("like quarter").   For the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company recorded net income of $75.0 million, or $1.81 per diluted common share, compared to $54.0 million, or $1.31 per diluted common share, for the six months ended June 30, 2024.

The Company continued to enhance net interest income and net interest margin ("NIM"). The Company recorded net interest income of $96.7 million for the second quarter of 2025, compared to $92.9 million for the linked quarter and $81.1 million for the like quarter. NIM for the second quarter of 2025 expanded to 3.32% from 3.25% for the linked quarter and 2.84% for the like quarter. 

First Bancorp also continued to maintain expense control with noninterest expenses of $59.0 million for the second quarter of 2025, up slightly from $57.9 million for the linked quarter and $58.3 million for the like quarter.  For the six months ended June 30, 2025, the Company recorded noninterest expense of $116.9 million, down from  $117.5 million, for the six months ended June 30, 2024.

Richard H. Moore, Chairman and CEO of the Company, stated "First Bancorp continues to improve financial results in 2025 as second quarter net income was $38.6 million and diluted EPS was $0.93, both resulting from expanded net interest margin and disciplined expense management.  We improved our liquidity position and increased our capital levels, while credit quality remains strong with low levels of charge-offs and nonperforming assets. We grew loans 6% annualized in the quarter and benefited from our favorable cost of funds and increased yields on our earning assets.  Our Board also increased our quarterly dividend to $0.23 per share effective June 30, 2025.  We are very pleased with the Bank's performance halfway through this year."

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Net interest income for the second quarter of 2025 was $96.7 million, an increase of 4.1% from the linked quarter of $92.9 million and 19.2% from the like quarter of $81.1 million.  The increase in net interest income from the linked and like quarters was primarily driven by our focused efforts to manage deposit costs while increasing loan yields after the rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the second half of 2024 along with the increased securities yield resulting from the loss-earnback transaction executed in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The Company's NIM for the second quarter of 2025 was 3.32%, an increase of 7 basis points from the linked quarter and 48 basis points from the like quarter.  Within interest-earning assets, the purchase of $127.0 million of CMOs yielding 5.16% during the second quarter aided in the 13 basis point increase in the yield on securities as compared to the linked quarter. In addition, loan yields increased 1 basis point to 5.53%. During the quarter ended June 30, 2025, interest-bearing deposits remained consistent with the linked quarter and fell 0.40% from the like quarter, attributable to the three rate cuts by the Federal Reserve between September and December.  The like quarter expansion of NIM was driven by the same factors described above resulting in an increase of 69 basis points in securities yield,  an increase of 3 basis points in loan yields, and a decrease of 40 basis points in the rate on interest-bearing deposits.

See Appendix F regarding loan purchase discount accretion and its impact on the Company's NIM.

Provision for Credit Losses and Credit Quality

For the three months ended June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2024, the Company recorded $2.2 million, $1.1 million and $0.5 million in provision for credit losses, respectively. The provision for the second quarter of 2025 was driven by net charge-offs of $1.2 million, reserves related to loan growth of $122.6 million, and declining macro-economic projections, partially offset by the $3.5 million reduction in reserves for potential credit exposure from Hurricane Helene.  Additionally, the $1.1 million provision for unfunded commitments during the quarter was the result of increased reserve rates for specifc segments of the loan portfolio and an increase in the level of available unfunded lending commitments.  The June macro-economic forecasts are a key driver in the Company's CECL model and reflected declines from the prior quarter.

Within the portions of Western North and South Carolina that were significantly impacted by Hurricane Helene starting late in the third quarter of 2024, the Company identified borrowers that were potentially impacted by the storm and subsequent economic impacts which represented approximately $703 million of loans outstanding as of June 30, 2025.    Based upon its continuing evaluation of these potential impacts, the Company adjusted the incremental reserve for potential exposure from Hurricane Helene to $7.5 million as of June 30, 2025.  The remaining incremental reserve contributes 10 basis points to the Allowance for Credit Losses at period end.  The results for the second quarter of 2025 included a $3.5 million reduction to the potential impacts to the allowance for credit losses from Hurricane Helene ($2.7 million after-taxes or $0.06 per diluted share).  The reconciliations from net income and D-EPS to adjusted net income and adjusted D-EPS (both non-GAAP measures) for the first and second quarters of 2025 are presented in Appendix E.

Asset quality remained strong with annualized net loan charge-offs of 0.06% for the second quarter of 2025.  Total nonperforming assets ("NPAs") remained at a low level at $35.8 million at June 30, 2025, or 0.28% of total assets, up slightly from  0.27% at March 31, 2025 and consistent with June 30, 2024.  

The following table presents the summary of NPAs and asset quality ratios for each period.

Noninterest Income

Total noninterest income for the second quarter of 2025 was $14.3 million, an 11.2% increase from the $12.9 million recorded in the linked quarter and a 1.8% decrease from the $14.6 million recorded for the like quarter. As compared to the linked quarter, noninterest income was higher primarily due to higher Other service charges, commissions and fees and Other income, net of $0.7 million and $0.6 million, respectively.

Noninterest Expenses

Noninterest expenses amounted to $59.0 million for the second quarter of 2025 compared to $57.9 million for the linked quarter and $58.3 million for the like quarter.  The $1.1 million, or 1.9%, increase in noninterest expense from the linked quarter was driven by a $0.7 million increase in Other operating expenses and a $0.4 million increase in total personnel expenses arising from increased incentives expense.

The $0.7 million increase from the like quarter was driven by a $0.7 million increase in total personnel expenses and a $0.3 million increase in Occupancy and equipment related expenses, partially offset by declines in other expenses.

Income Taxes

Income tax expense totaled $11.3 million for the second quarter of 2025 compared to $10.4 million for the linked quarter and $8.2 million for the like quarter. These equated to effective tax rates of 22.6%, 22.2% and 22.2% for the respective periods. 

Balance Sheet

Total assets at June 30, 2025 amounted to $12.6 billion, an increase of $172.0 million, or 5.5% annualized, from the linked quarter and an increase of $547.5 million, or 4.5%, from a year earlier.  The increase from the linked quarter was primarily driven by loan growth and an increase in our available for sale securities portfolio as a result of $127.0 million of purchases and a decrease in the unrealized loss on those securities, partially offset by repayments.

Key period end balance sheet components are presented below.

Primarily the result of securities purchases and decreased unrealized losses on the available for sale securities portfolio during the second quarter of 2025, total investment securities increased to $2.7 billion at  June 30, 2025, reflecting a $78.5 million increase from the linked quarter.  Total unrealized losses on available for sale investment securities was $298.9 million at June 30, 2025, as compared to $321.2 million at March 31, 2025 and $410.1 million at June 30, 2024.  During the second quarter of 2025, the Company purchased $127.0 million of securities with a weighted average yield of 5.16%.

Total loans amounted to $8.2 billion at June 30, 2025, an increase of $122.6 million, or 6.1% annualized, from  March 31, 2025 and an increase of $155.8 million, or 1.9%, from June 30, 2024.  Please see below table for total loan portfolio mix.  As of June 30, 2025, there were no notable concentrations in geographies within North Carolina and South Carolina or industries, including in office or hospitality categories, which are included in the "commercial real estate - non-owner occupied" category in the table below.  The Company's exposure to non-owner occupied office loans represented approximately 6.5% of the total portfolio at June 30, 2025, with the largest loan being $30.0 million and with an average loan outstanding balance of $1.4 million.  Non-owner occupied office loans are generally in non-metro markets and the ten largest loans in this category represent less than 2% of the total loan portfolio.

The following table presents the period end balance and portfolio percentage by loan category.

Total deposits were $10.8 billion at June 30, 2025, an increase of $85.7 million, or 3.2% annualized, from  March 31, 2025 and an increase of $342.6 million, or 3.3%, from June 30, 2024.

The Company has a diversified and granular deposit base which has remained a stable funding source with noninterest-bearing deposits comprising 33% of total deposits at June 30, 2025.  As presented in the table below, our deposit mix has remained relatively consistent.

As of June 30, 2025 and March 31, 2025, estimated insured deposits totaled $6.5 billion, or 59.7%, and $6.5 billion, or 60.2%, respectively, of total deposits.  In addition, at June 30, 2025 and March 31, 2025, there were collateralized deposits of $707.0 million and $725.9 million, respectively, such that approximately 66.3% and 66.9%, respectively, of our total deposits were insured or collateralized at those dates.

Capital

The Company maintains capital in excess of well-capitalized regulatory requirements, with an estimated total risk-based capital ratio at June 30, 2025 of 16.87%, up from  the linked quarter ratio of 16.80% and the like quarter ratio of 16.24%.   The increase during the second quarter of 2025 in risk-based capital ratios was driven by earnings in excess of dividends, partially offset by an increase in risk weighted assets.

The Company has elected to exclude accumulated other comprehensive income ("AOCI") related primarily to available for sale securities from common equity tier 1 capital.  AOCI is included in the Company's tangible common equity ("TCE") to tangible assets ratio (a non-GAAP financial measure) which was 8.83% at June 30, 2025, an increase of 28 basis points from the linked quarter and 93 basis points from June 30, 2024.  The second quarter increase in TCE was driven by earnings in excess of dividends and improvements in the level of unrealized losses on the available for sale securities portfolio during the quarter. Refer to Appendix B for a reconciliation of common equity to TCE (a non-GAAP measure) and Appendix D for a calculation of the TCE ratio (a non-GAAP measure).

Liquidity

Liquidity is evaluated as both on-balance sheet (primarily cash and cash-equivalents, unpledged securities and other marketable assets) and off-balance sheet (readily available lines of credit and other funding sources).  The Company continues to manage liquidity sources, including unused lines of credit, at levels believed to be adequate to meet its operating needs for the foreseeable future. 

The Company's on-balance sheet liquidity ratio (net liquid assets as a percent of net liabilities) at June 30, 2025 was 20.0%.  In addition, the Company had approximately $2.3 billion in available lines of credit at that date resulting in a total liquidity ratio of 36.1%. 

About First Bancorp

First Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina, with total assets of $12.6 billion. Its principal activity is the ownership and operation of First Bank, a state-chartered community bank that operates 113 branches in North Carolina and South Carolina.  Since 1935, First Bank has taken a tailored approach to banking, combining best-in-class financial solutions, helpful local expertise, and technology to manage a home or business.  First Bank also provides SBA loans to customers through its nationwide network of lenders. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.

Please visit our website at www.LocalFirstBank.com for more information.

First Bancorp's common stock is traded on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "FBNC."

Caution about Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties.  Forward-looking statements are statements that include projections, predictions, expectations or beliefs about future events or results or otherwise are not statements of historical fact.  Such statements are often characterized by the use of qualifying words (and their derivatives) such as "expect," "believe," "estimate," "plan," "project," "anticipate," or other words or phrases concerning opinions or judgments of the Company and its management about future events.  Factors that could influence the accuracy of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the financial success or changing strategies of the Company's customers, the Company's level of success in integrating acquisitions, actions of government regulators, the level of market interest rates, and general economic conditions.  For additional information about the factors that could affect the matters discussed in this paragraph, see the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K available at www.sec.gov.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements.  The Company is also not responsible for changes made to this press release by wire services, internet services or other media.

Non-GAAP Measures

In this Earnings Release, we present certain measures of our performance that are calculated by methods other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").  Company management uses these non-GAAP measures for purposes of evaluating our performance. Non-GAAP measures exclude or include amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure determined in accordance with GAAP. Company management believes an appropriate analysis of the Company's financial performance requires an understanding of the factors underlying such performance.  Non-GAAP financial measures should not be viewed as substitutes for the most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Please see the Appendices attached to this Earnings Release for reconciliations of return on tangible common equity, tangible common equity, tangible book value per share, the tangible common equity ratio, adjusted net income and adjusted D-EPS.