Veritex Holdings, Inc. Reports Third Quarter Operating Results

DALLAS, Oct. 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Veritex Holdings, Inc. (“Veritex”, the “Company”, “we” or “our”) (Nasdaq: VBTX), the holding company for Veritex Community Bank, today announced the results for the quarter ended September 30, 2023.

“Despite the challenging markets, Veritex continues to focus on strengthening our balance sheet and adding to capital”, said C. Malcolm Holland, III. “Our year long deposit centric strategy is gaining momentum shown by the positive trends in our balance sheet ratios.”

¹ Refer to the section titled “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for a reconciliation of these non-generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures.
² Annualized ratio.

Other Third Quarter Metrics and Company Highlights

• Total deposits increased by $962.6 million, or 41.68% annualized, to $10.2 billion as of September 30, 2023 compared to $9.2 billion as of June 30, 2023;
• Loan to deposit ratio decreased to 94.5% as of September 30, 2023 compared to 105.1% as of June 30, 2023;
• Allowance for credit losses (“ACL”) to total loans increased to 1.14% as of September 30, 2023, or an increase of 9 bps and 20 bps from June 30, 2023 and September 30, 2022, respectively;
• Annualized net charge-offs to average loans outstanding were 8 bps for the three months ended September 30, 2023 compared to 48 bps and 12 bps for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and September 30, 2022, respectively;
• Total Commercial Real Estate (“CRE”) / Risk Based Capital (“RBC”) decreased to 317.2% as of September 30, 2023 compared to 327.2% as of June 30, 2023;
• Total unfunded Acquisition, Development, and Construction (“ADC”) decreased to $1.15 billion, or approximately 16.3%, as of September 30, 2023 compared to $1.37 billion as of June 30, 2023;
• Common equity tier 1 capital increased 35 bps to 10.11% as of September 30, 2023 compared to 9.76% as of June 30, 2023 driven by earnings and a decrease in risk-weighted assets;
• Named one of the “Best Companies to Work For” by the 2023 Inaugural U.S. News & World Report which evaluates companies based on quality of pay, work/life balance, and opportunities for professional development and advancement; and
• Declared quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share of outstanding common stock payable on November 24, 2023.
  

Results of Operations for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2023

Net Interest Income

For the three months ended September 30, 2023, net interest income before provision for credit losses was $99.3 million and net interest margin was 3.46% compared to $100.8 million and 3.51%, respectively, for the three months ended June 30, 2023. The $1.5 million decrease, or 1.5%, in net interest income before provision for credit losses was primarily due to a $8.1 million increase in interest expense on certificates and other time deposits and a $7.0 million increase in interest expense on transaction and savings deposits driven by an increase in funding costs on deposits. The decrease in net interest income was partially offset by a $9.0 million decrease in interest expense on advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”), a $3.6 million increase in interest income on loans driven by an increase in loan yields and average balances, a $762 thousand increase in interest income on debt securities and a $573 thousand increase in equity securities and other investments during the three months ended September 30, 2023. Net interest margin decreased 5 bps compared to the three months ended June 30, 2023, primarily due to the increase in funding costs on deposits during three months ended September 30, 2023, partially offset by an increase in loan yields and debt securities.

Compared to the three months ended September 30, 2022, net interest income before provision for credit losses for the three months ended September 30, 2023 decreased by $1.7 million, or 1.7%. The decrease was primarily due to a $32.3 million increase in certificates and other time deposits, a $27.0 million increase in transaction and savings deposits and a $6.0 million increase in advances from the FHLB driven by an increase in funding costs. The decrease was partially offset by a $58.2 million increase in interest income on loans driven by an increase in loan yields and average balances and a $5.2 million increase in deposits in financial institutions and fed funds sold. Net interest margin decreased 31 bps from 3.77% for the three months ended September 30, 2022. The decrease was primarily due to the increase in funding costs on deposits during the three months ended September 30, 2023, partially offset by an increase in loan yields and debt securities.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income for the three months ended September 30, 2023 was $9.7 million, a decrease of $4.0 million, or 29.3%, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2023. The decrease was primarily due to a $2.4 million decrease in government guaranteed loan income primarily driven by a decrease in U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) loans sold. In addition, the decrease was due to a $759 thousand decrease in customer swap income and a $621 thousand decrease in equity method investment income. This decrease was partially offset by a $178 thousand increase in other income.

Compared to the three months ended September 30, 2022, noninterest income for the three months ended September 30, 2023 decreased by $3.3 million, or 25.7%. The decrease was primarily due to a $3.2 million decrease in customer swap income, a $1.2 million decrease in loan fees driven by a $1.2 million decrease in syndication fees and a $1.0 million decrease in other noninterest income. The decrease was partially offset by a $1.2 million increase in government guaranteed loan income, primarily driven by an increase in USDA loans sold through our wholly owned subsidiary North Avenue Capital, LLC, and a $922 thousand increase in equity method investment income.

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense was $59.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2023, compared to $57.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023, an increase of $2.2 million, or 3.9%. The increase was primarily due to a $2.3 million increase in salaries and employee benefits and a $415 thousand increase in professional and regulatory fees driven by FDIC assessment fees. The increase is partially offset by a decrease of $274 thousand in marketing expense and a $168 thousand decrease in data processing and software expense.

Compared to the three months ended September 30, 2022, noninterest expense for the three months ended September 30, 2023 increased by $8.4 million, or 16.5%. The increase was primarily driven by a $3.6 million increase in professional and regulatory fees driven by FDIC assessment fees that increased when the Company crossed $10 billion in total assets, a $2.3 million increase in other noninterest expenses, a $1.2 million increase in salaries and employee benefits, a $1.0 million increase in data processing and software expenses and a $508 thousand increase in marketing expenses.

Financial Condition

Total loans held for investment (“LHI”) was $9.64 billion at September 30, 2023, a decrease of $67.8 million, or 2.8% annualized, compared to June 30, 2023. The decrease was the result of the state of the economy and banking environment as a result of higher interest rates.

Total deposits were $10.20 billion at September 30, 2023, an increase of $962.6 million, or 41.7% annualized, compared to June 30, 2023. The increase was primarily the result of an increase of $474.5 million in certificates and other time deposits, an increase of $345.8 million in interest-bearing deposits, an increase of $129.2 million in non-interest bearing deposits and an increase of $13.1 million in correspondent money market account balances.

Credit Quality

Nonperforming assets (“NPAs”) totaled $79.9 million, or 0.65% of total assets, at September 30, 2023, compared to $68.3 million, or 0.55% of total assets, at June 30, 2023. The Company had net charge-offs of $1.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2023. Annualized net charge-offs were down to 8 bps for the three months ended September 30, 2023, compared to 48 bps and 12 bps for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and September 30, 2022, respectively.

ACL as a percentage of LHI was 1.14%, 1.05% and 0.94% at September 30, 2023, June 30, 2023 and September 30, 2022, respectively. The Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $8.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2023, a $15.0 million provision for credit losses for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and a $6.7 million provision for credit losses for the three months ended September 30, 2022. The recorded provision for credit losses for the three months ended September 30, 2023, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2023, was primarily attributable to an increase in general reserves as a result of changes in economic factors and individually analyzed loans receiving specific reserves. The Company recorded a benefit for unfunded commitments of $909 thousand for the three months ended September 30, 2023, a $1.1 million benefit for unfunded commitments for the three months ended June 30, 2023, and a $850 thousand provision for unfunded commitments for the three months ended September 30, 2022. The recorded benefit for unfunded commitments for the three months ended September 30, 2023, compared to the three months ended June 30, 2023, was attributable to a decrease in unfunded commitment balances partially offset by changes in economic factors.

Dividend Information

After the close of the market on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, Veritex’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share on its outstanding shares of common stock. The dividend will be paid on or after November 24, 2023 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 10, 2023.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Veritex’s management uses certain non-GAAP (U.S. generally accepted accounting principles) financial measures to evaluate its operating performance and provide information that is important to investors. However, non-GAAP financial measures are supplemental and should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, Veritex’s reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Specifically, Veritex reviews and reports tangible book value per common share, operating earnings, tangible common equity to tangible assets, return on average tangible common equity, pre-tax, pre-provision operating earnings, pre-tax, pre-provision operating return on average assets, pre-tax, pre-provision operating return on average loans, pre-tax, pre-provision operating return on average loans, diluted operating earnings per share, operating return on average assets, operating return on average tangible common equity and operating efficiency ratio. Veritex has included in this earnings release information related to these non-GAAP financial measures for the applicable periods presented. Please refer to “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” after the financial highlights at the end of this earnings release for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures.

Conference Call

The Company will host an investor conference call and webcast to review the results on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. Central Time. Participants may pre-register for the call by visiting https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/nzdfo4ub/ and will receive a unique PIN, which can be used when dialing in for the call.

Participants may also register via teleconference: https://register.vevent.com/register/BI9b72154b2c424063aae6950d635afeec. Once registration is completed, participants will be provided with a dial-in number containing a personalized conference code to access the call. All participants are instructed to dial-in 15 minutes prior to the start time.

A replay will be available within approximately two hours after the completion of the call, and made accessible for one week thereafter. You may access the replay via webcast through the investor relations section of Veritex’s website.

About Veritex Holdings, Inc.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Veritex is a bank holding company that conducts banking activities through its wholly owned subsidiary, Veritex Community Bank, with locations throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and in the Houston metropolitan area. Veritex Community Bank is a Texas state chartered bank regulated by the Texas Department of Banking and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. For more information, visit www.veritexbank.com.

Media and Investor Relations:
investorrelations@veritexbank.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This earnings release includes “forward-looking statements”, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on various facts and derived utilizing assumptions, current expectations, estimates and projections and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which change over time and are beyond our control, that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to the expected payment of Veritex Holdings, Inc.’s (“Veritex”) quarterly cash dividend; the impact of certain changes in Veritex’s accounting policies, standards and interpretations; a continuation of recent turmoil in the banking industry, responsive measures to mitigate and manage it and related supervisory and regulatory actions and costs and Veritex’s future financial performance, business and growth strategy, projected plans and objectives, as well as other projections based on macroeconomic and industry trends, which are inherently unreliable due to the multiple factors that impact broader economic and industry trends, and any such variations may be material. Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “projects,” “estimates,” “seeks,” “targets,” “outlooks,” “plans” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may” and “could” are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts, although not all forward-looking statements include the foregoing words. We refer you to the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of Veritex’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and any updates to those risk factors set forth in Veritex’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. If one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if Veritex’s underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may differ materially from what Veritex anticipates. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Veritex does not undertake any obligation, and specifically declines any obligation, to supplement, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law. All forward-looking statements, expressed or implied, included in this earnings release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. This cautionary statement should also be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that Veritex or persons acting on Veritex’s behalf may issue.

¹Refer to the section titled “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” after the financial highlights for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures.
²Dividend amount represents dividend paid per common share subsequent to each respective quarter end.
³Nonaccrual PCD loans consist of PCD loans that transitioned upon adoption of ASC 326 Financial Instruments - Credit Losses and were accounted for on a pooled basis that have subsequently been placed on nonaccrual status.
⁴Annualized ratio for quarterly metrics.

¹ Includes provision for credit losses on available for sale (“AFS”) securities of $885 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and June 30, 2023.

VERITEX HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Financial Highlights
(Unaudited)

¹ Includes average outstanding balances of LHFS of $28,284, $23,374 and $14,023 for the quarters ended September 30, 2023, June 30, 2023, and September 30, 2022, respectively, and average balances of LHI, excluding MW.
² Net interest rate spread is the average yield on interest-earning assets minus the average rate on interest-bearing liabilities.
³ Net interest margin is equal to net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets.

¹ Includes average outstanding balances of loans held for sale of $23,810 and $12,973 for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and average balances of LHI, excluding MW.
² Net interest rate spread is the average yield on interest-earning assets minus the average rate on interest-bearing liabilities.
³ Net interest margin is equal to net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets.

¹Includes average outstanding balances of loans held for sale of $28,284, $23,374, $19,679, $15,296 and $14,023 for the three months ended September 30, 2023, June 30, 2023, March 31, 2023, December 31, 2022 and September 30, 2022, respectively, and average balances of LHI, excluding MW.

² Net interest rate spread is the average yield on interest-earning assets minus the average rate on interest-bearing liabilities.
³ Net interest margin is equal to net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets.

Supplemental Yield Trend

¹ Total LHI does not include deferred fees of $10.1 million, $12.7 million, $15.5 million, $19.0 million and $17.5 million at September 30, 2023, June 30, 2023, March 31, 2023, December 31, 2022 and September 30, 2022, respectively.

¹ Nonaccrual PCD loans consist of PCD loans that transitioned upon adoption of ASC 326 Financial Instruments - Credit Losses and were accounted for on a pooled basis that have subsequently been placed on nonaccrual status.
² Accruing loans greater than 90 days past due exclude purchase credit deteriorated loans greater than 90 days past due that are accounted for on a pooled basis.
³Annualized ratio for quarterly metrics.

VERITEX HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
(Unaudited)

We identify certain financial measures discussed in this earnings release as being “non-GAAP financial measures.” In accordance with SEC rules, we classify a financial measure as being a non-GAAP financial measure if that financial measure excludes or includes amounts, or is subject to adjustments that have the effect of excluding or including amounts, that are included or excluded, as the case may be, in the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles as in effect from time to time in the United States (“GAAP”), in our statements of income, balance sheets or statements of cash flows. Non-GAAP financial measures do not include operating and other statistical measures or ratios calculated using exclusively either one or both of (i) financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP and (ii) operating measures or other measures that are not non-GAAP financial measures.

The non-GAAP financial measures that we present in this earnings release should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable or other financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Moreover, the manner in which we calculate the non-GAAP financial measures that we present in this earnings release may differ from that of other companies reporting measures with similar names. You should understand how such other financial institutions calculate their financial measures that appear to be similar or have similar names to the non-GAAP financial measures we have discussed in this earnings release when comparing such non-GAAP financial measures.

Tangible Book Value Per Common Share. Tangible book value is a non-GAAP measure generally used by financial analysts and investment bankers to evaluate financial institutions. We calculate: (a) tangible common equity as total stockholders’ equity less goodwill and core deposit intangibles, net of accumulated amortization; and (b) tangible book value per common share as tangible common equity (as described in clause (a)) divided by number of common shares outstanding. For tangible book value per common share, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP is book value per common share.

We believe that this measure is important to many investors in the marketplace who are interested in changes from period to period in book value per common share exclusive of changes in core deposit intangibles. Goodwill and other intangible assets have the effect of increasing total book value while not increasing our tangible book value.

The following table reconciles, as of the dates set forth below, total stockholders’ equity to tangible common equity and presents our tangible book value per common share compared with our book value per common share:

VERITEX HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
(Unaudited)

Tangible Common Equity to Tangible Assets. Tangible common equity to tangible assets is a non-GAAP measure generally used by financial analysts and investment bankers to evaluate financial institutions. We calculate: (a) tangible common equity as total stockholders’ equity, less goodwill and core deposit intangibles, net of accumulated amortization; (b) tangible assets as total assets less goodwill and core deposit intangibles, net of accumulated amortization; and (c) tangible common equity to tangible assets as tangible common equity (as described in clause (a)) divided by tangible assets (as described in clause (b)). For tangible common equity to tangible assets, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP is total stockholders’ equity to total assets.

We believe that this measure is important to many investors in the marketplace who are interested in the relative changes from period to period in common equity and total assets, in each case, exclusive of changes in core deposit intangibles. Goodwill and other intangible assets have the effect of increasing both total stockholders’ equity and assets while not increasing our tangible common equity or tangible assets.

The following table reconciles, as of the dates set forth below, total stockholders’ equity to tangible common equity and total assets to tangible assets and presents our tangible common equity to tangible assets: