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Commenting on the Company’s results, Palmer Proctor, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our fourth quarter performance reflects a strong finish to another successful year for Ameris. By prioritizing tangible book value growth, discipline in balance sheet management and operational efficiency, we have consistently delivered top-tier financial results and created meaningful shareholder value. Our robust balance sheet, focus on revenue growth, healthy net interest margin and commitment to efficiency, paired with the growth potential in our expanding Southeast markets, position us for continued success in the years ahead."

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Net interest income on a tax-equivalent basis (TE) was $222.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of $7.7 million, or 3.6%, from last quarter and $15.7 million, or 7.6%, compared with the fourth quarter of 2023. The Company's net interest margin expanded to 3.64% for the fourth quarter of 2024, a 13 basis point increase from 3.51% reported for the third quarter of 2024 and a 10 basis point improvement from the 3.54% reported for the fourth quarter of 2023. The increase in net interest margin is primarily attributable to decreased deposit costs.

Net interest income on a tax-equivalent basis for the full year 2024 increased $14.2 million to $853.0 million, compared with $838.8 million for 2023. The increase in net interest income is primarily attributable to increased yields on a growing loan base compared with the prior year. Interest income on a tax-equivalent basis increased $97.9 million, while funding costs increased only $83.7 million. The Company's net interest margin was 3.56% for 2024, compared with 3.61% for 2023.

Yields on earning assets decreased 14 basis points during the quarter to 5.67%, compared with 5.81% in the third quarter of 2024. This decrease is primarily related to a decrease in yields on loans from 6.01% for the third quarter of 2024 to 5.87% during the fourth quarter of 2024. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, loan yields increased four basis points from 5.83%. Yields on earning assets were near flat compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, decreasing two basis points from 5.69%.

The Company’s total cost of funds was 2.22% in the fourth quarter of 2024, a decrease of 28 and 10 basis points compared with the third quarter of 2024 and fourth quarter of 2023, respectively. Deposit costs decreased 27 basis points during the fourth quarter of 2024 to 2.12%, compared with 2.39% in the third quarter of 2024. Costs of interest-bearing deposits decreased during the quarter from 3.44% in the third quarter of 2024 to 3.06% in the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting a decrease in brokered deposit account balances and costs, as well as money market account costs.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income decreased only slightly, by $750,000, or 1.08%, in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $69.0 million, compared with $69.7 million for the third quarter of 2024, primarily as a result of a cyclical decrease in the warehouse lending division. Mortgage banking activity decreased by $1.2 million, or 3.3%, to $36.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with $37.9 million for the third quarter of 2024. Total production in the retail mortgage division increased $78.2 million, or 6.8%, to $1.24 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with $1.16 billion for the third quarter of 2024. The retail mortgage open pipeline was $638.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with $813.7 million for the third quarter of 2024. Gain on sale spreads increased to 2.40% in the fourth quarter of 2024 from 2.17% for the third quarter of 2024.

Other noninterest income was roughly flat in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared with the third quarter. Included in other noninterest income in the fourth quarter of 2024 was a gain on sale of mortgage servicing rights of $536,000, compared with $5.2 million for the third quarter of 2024. This decrease was partially offset by increases in gain on sale of SBA loans and equipment finance fee income of $3.7 million and $549,000, respectively, over the same period.

For the full year 2024, noninterest income increased $50.4 million, or 20.8%, to $293.3 million, compared with $242.8 million for 2023. Mortgage banking activity increased by $20.6 million, or 14.7%, to $160.5 million in 2024, compared with $139.9 million in 2023. Production in the retail mortgage division increased to $4.6 billion in 2024, compared with $4.3 billion in 2023, while gain on sale spreads increased to 2.37% in 2024 from 2.07% in 2023. During 2024, the Company recorded a gain on conversion of Visa Class B stock of $12.6 million and a gain on sale of MSR of $10.5 million, with no such gains recorded in 2023. Additionally, during 2024, income on bank owned life insurance increased $3.5 million due to the restructuring of those policies and the gain on sale of SBA loans increased by $2.6 million.

Noninterest Expense

The Company has remained disciplined on expense control, such that noninterest expense was essentially flat, with $151.9 million in expenses during the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with $151.8 million for the third quarter of 2024. During the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company recorded natural disaster expenses of $400,000, a reduction in FDIC special assessment expense of $559,000, and a loss on bank premises of $1.2 million. During the third quarter of 2024, the Company recorded natural disaster expenses of $150,000. Excluding these items, adjusted expenses⁽¹⁾ decreased approximately $722,000, or 0.5%, to $150.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 from $151.6 million in the third quarter of 2024. Management continues to focus on operating efficiency, and the adjusted efficiency ratio⁽¹⁾ improved to 51.82% in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with 54.25% in the third quarter of 2024.

For the full year 2024, noninterest expense increased $29.5 million, or 5.1%, to $607.8 million, compared with $578.3 million in 2023. Excluding adjustment items of $3.2 million in 2024 and $9.7 million in 2023, adjusted expenses increased $36.0 million, or 6.3% to $604.6 million in 2024, from $568.6 million in 2023. This increase is primarily attributable to reductions in deferred loan origination costs and OREO gains, and increases in health insurance and data processing expenses. Also contributing to the increase in adjusted expenses was an increase in variable expenses related to mortgage production.

Income Tax Expense

The Company's effective tax rate for 2024 was unchanged at 24.6%, compared with 2023. The Company's effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2024 was 25.1%, compared with 21.2% for the third quarter of 2024. The increased rate for the fourth quarter of 2024 resulted primarily from a return to provision adjustment made when the Company filed its 2023 income tax returns in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Balance Sheet Trends

Total assets at December 31, 2024 were $26.26 billion, compared with $25.20 billion at December 31, 2023. Debt securities available-for-sale increased to $1.67 billion, compared with $1.40 billion at December 31, 2023. Loans, net of unearned income, increased $470.6 million, or 2.3%, to $20.74 billion at December 31, 2024, compared with $20.27 billion at December 31, 2023. Loans held for sale increased to $528.6 million at December 31, 2024 from $281.3 million at December 31, 2023.

At December 31, 2024, total deposits amounted to $21.72 billion, compared with $20.71 billion at December 31, 2023. During the fourth quarter of 2024, deposits declined $156.8 million, with noninterest bearing accounts decreasing $172.0 million, retail CDs decreasing $86.5 million and brokered CDs decreasing $832.0 million, with such decreases offset in part by money market accounts increasing $660.0 million, a $270.2 million increase in interest bearing demand accounts and a $3.5 million increase in savings accounts. Noninterest bearing accounts as a percentage of total deposits decreased slightly, such that at December 31, 2024, noninterest bearing deposit accounts represented $6.50 billion, or 29.9% of total deposits, compared with $6.67 billion, or 30.5% of total deposits, at September 30, 2024.

Shareholders’ equity at December 31, 2024 totaled $3.75 billion, an increase of $324.8 million, or 9.5%, from December 31, 2023. The increase in shareholders’ equity was primarily the result of earnings of $358.7 million during the full year of 2024, partially offset by dividends declared, share repurchases and an improvement in other comprehensive loss of $5.8 million resulting from changes in interest rates on the Company's investment portfolio. Tangible book value per share⁽¹⁾ increased $4.95 per share, or 14.7%, during the full year of 2024 to $38.59 at December 31, 2024. Tangible common equity as a percentage of tangible assets was 10.59% at December 31, 2024, compared with 9.64% at the end of 2023. The Company had no repurchases of its shares in the quarter ending December 31, 2024.

Credit Quality

During the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $12.8 million, increasing the allowance for credit losses to 1.63% of loans, compared with a provision of $6.1 million in the third quarter of 2024. Nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets were relatively flat, increasing three basis points to 0.47% during the quarter. Approximately $12.0 million, or 9.8%, of the nonperforming assets at December 31, 2024 were GNMA-guaranteed mortgage loans, which have minimal loss exposure. Excluding these government-guaranteed loans, nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets was also relatively flat, having increased one basis point to 0.42% at December 31, 2024, compared with 0.41% at the end of the third quarter of 2024. The net charge-off ratio was 17 basis points for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with 15 basis points in the third quarter of 2024.

Conference Call

The Company will host a teleconference at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, January 31, 2025, to discuss the Company's results and answer appropriate questions. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-844-481-2939. The conference call ID is Ameris Bancorp. A replay of the call will be available beginning one hour after the end of the conference call until February 7, 2025. To listen to the replay, dial 1-877-344-7529. The conference replay access code is 2270789. The financial information discussed will be available on the Investor Relations page of the Ameris Bank website at ir.amerisbank.com. Participants also may listen to a live webcast of the presentation by visiting the link on the Investor Relations page of the Ameris Bank website.

About Ameris Bancorp

Ameris Bancorp is the parent of Ameris Bank, a state-chartered bank headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Ameris operates 164 financial centers across the Southeast and also serves consumer and business customers nationwide through select lending channels. Ameris manages $26.3 billion in assets as of December 31, 2024, and provides a full range of traditional banking and lending products, treasury and cash management, insurance premium financing, and mortgage and refinancing services. Learn more about Ameris at www.amerisbank.com.

⁽¹⁾ Considered non-GAAP financial measure - See reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures in tables 9A - 9D.

This news release contains certain performance measures determined by methods other than in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). The Company’s management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in its analysis of the Company’s performance. These measures are useful when evaluating the underlying performance and efficiency of the Company’s operations and balance sheet. The Company’s management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide a greater understanding of ongoing operations, enhance comparability of results with prior periods and demonstrate the effects of significant gains and charges in the current period. The Company’s management believes that investors may use these non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate the Company’s financial performance without the impact of unusual items that may obscure trends in the Company’s underlying performance. These disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP financial measures that may be presented by other companies.

This news release contains forward-looking statements, as defined by federal securities laws, including, among other forward-looking statements, certain plans, expectations and goals. Words such as "may," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "will," "should," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "continue" and "potential" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, as well as similar expressions, are meant to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are based on current expectations and are provided to assist in the understanding of potential future performance. Such forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any such statements, including, without limitation, the following: general competitive, economic, unemployment, political and market conditions and fluctuations, including real estate market conditions, and the effects of such conditions and fluctuations on the creditworthiness of borrowers, collateral values, asset recovery values and the value of investment securities; movements in interest rates and their impacts on net interest margin, investment security valuations and other performance measures; expectations on credit quality and performance; legislative and regulatory changes; changes in U.S. government monetary and fiscal policy; competitive pressures on product pricing and services; the success and timing of other business strategies; our outlook and long-term goals for future growth; and natural disasters, geopolitical events, acts of war or terrorism or other hostilities, public health crises and other catastrophic events beyond our control. For a discussion of some of the other risks and other factors that may cause such forward-looking statements to differ materially from actual results, please refer to the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the Company's subsequently filed periodic reports and other filings. 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.

Category: Earnings