Good morning everyone, and welcome to the National Bank Holdings Corporation 2026 Q1 quarter earnings call. My name is Anna, and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I will now turn the call over to Emily Gooden, Chief Accounting Officer and Director of Investor Relations.
Thank you, Anna, and good morning. We will begin today's call with prepared remarks, followed by a question and answer session. I would like to remind you that this conference call will contain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements regarding the company's strategy, loans, deposits, capital, net interest income, non-interest income margins, allowance, taxes, and non-interest expense. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed today.
These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which are disclosed in more detail in the company's most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements speak only as of the date of this call, and National Bank Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements. In addition, the call today will reference certain non-GAAP measures, which National Bank Holdings Corporation believes provide useful information for investors.
Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the GAAP measures are provided in the news release posted on the investor relations section of www.nationalbankholdings.com. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over and introduce National Bank Holdings Corporation's chairman and CEO, Mr. Tim Laney.
Well, thank you, Emily, and good morning, and thank you for joining us as we discuss National Bank Holdings' Q1 quarter 2026 financial performance. I'm joined by our President, Aldis Birkans, our Chief Financial Officer, Nicole Van Denabeele, and John Steinmetz, our Executive Vice Chair and Executive Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives.
The NBH team delivered an outstanding Q1 quarter, and we believe we're well-positioned to have a very strong year. In fact, momentum across the organization reinforces our belief in our ability to grow our earnings this year and surpass $1 of earnings per share in the Q4. In the Q1 quarter, we delivered record loan fundings and our net interest margin expanded to 4.06%. We experienced positive trends with all credit metrics, and we believe the NBH team is well-positioned to deliver meaningful growth in earnings this year.
I want to thank our bankers for their focus on taking market share, as well as expanding relationships with existing clients. I also want to thank our teammates that work diligently behind the scenes to efficiently deliver a great experience for our clients. On that note, I'll turn the call over to Nicole for greater financial details on the quarter. Nicole?
Thank you, Tim, and good morning. This morning, I'll review our Q1 quarter financial results and provide guidance for the remainder of 2026. As a reminder, our guidance does not include any future interest rate policy changes by the Fed. For the Q1 quarter, on an adjusted basis, we reported net income of $32.6 million or $0.72 per diluted share, 43% higher than the prior quarter. The Q1 quarter's adjusted return on tangible assets was 1.2%, and the adjusted return on tangible equity was 11.8%.
During the Q1 quarter, we closed the Vista acquisition, generated record quarterly loan originations of $805 million, and delivered annualized loan growth of 12.4%. Fully taxable equivalent pre-provision net revenue increased $8.5 million or 21.7% compared to the prior quarter after adjusting for transaction-related expenses. Loan balances increased by $2.2 billion or 29% during the quarter.
Our teams generated $285 million of organic loan growth on top of $1.9 billion of loans acquired in the Vista acquisition. We entered the Q2rter with robust loan pipelines, and we expect to achieve our full year loan growth guidance of approximately 10%. Fully taxable equivalent net interest income for the quarter totaled $111 million, an increase of 25.7% compared to the prior quarter.
The linked quarter increase was primarily driven by $2.1 billion of higher average earning assets and the quarter's strong margin. Net interest margin expanded 17 basis points during the Q1 quarter to 4.06%, driven by a 24-basis point increase in earning asset yields. For the remainder of 2026, we expect net interest margin to remain near 4%. Deposit balances increased by $2.2 billion during the quarter on a spot basis, inclusive of Vista balances added at acquisition close.
Deposit costs remained low at 1.94%, and our loan-to-deposit ratio ended the quarter at 91.9%. Turning to asset quality. Credit quality remained strong. We recorded $4 million of provision expense, primarily to support the quarter's strong loan growth. Net charge-offs were eight basis points for the quarter, or 34 basis points on an annualized basis, and the allowance coverage ratio remained consistent at 1.18%.
As of March 31st, we continue to hold $24 million of marks against our acquired loan portfolio, which would provide an additional 25 basis points of loan loss coverage if applied across the entire loan book. Non-interest income increased 16.9% year-over-year and totaled $18 million for the quarter. For the remainder of 2026, we project to achieve our full year fee income guidance of $75 million-$80 million.
As a reminder, this outlook includes $2 million-$4 million of 2UniFi revenue, which we expect to be weighted toward the back half of the year. Net interest income totaled $96.8 million for the quarter and included $15.3 million of acquisition and restructuring costs. Excluding these one-time items, non-interest expense was $81.5 million. We have begun realizing cost efficiencies from the Vista acquisition.
We remain on track to achieve our targeted expense synergies, the majority of which are expected to be realized following the Q3 system integration. In addition, we continue to invest in future growth by adding new bankers across our footprint. We have recently added more than 10 new bankers, resulting in approximately half a million dollars of incremental expense during the Q1 quarter, and which will add approximately $4 million in annual run rate expense.
As previously guided, we project total non-interest expense for the full year 2026 to be in the range of $320 million-$330 million. Our capital levels remain well in excess of well-capitalized regulatory thresholds, even after deploying capital for our most recent acquisition and for share repurchases during the quarter. Common Equity Tier 1 ratio ended the quarter at 12.5%, and the total capital ratio was a strong 15.8%. Tangible book value per share was $26, and we expect to outperform our earn back expectations for the Vista acquisition. Importantly, we are on track to deliver earnings in excess of $1 per share in the Q4 of 2026. With that, I will turn the call over to Aldis Birkans.
All right. Well, thank you, Nicole, and good morning. Our Q1 quarter was highly productive, and I want to thank our team for getting us off to a great start in 2026. The Q1 quarter's performance is consistent with our internal expectations, and as Tim shared, we remain confident in our trajectory towards achieving $1 EPS by the Q4.
In terms of the Vista acquisition, the onboarding of new associates and clients has gone well, and our integration efforts remain on track. Turning to our financial performance, the strength of our balance sheet was on full display this quarter. We generated record quarterly new loan funding of $805 million, which drove an annualized 12% loan growth. I will note that this quarter's loan production was not just strong, but also well-diversified across asset classes and geographies, reflecting the breadth of our platform.
Furthermore, as we move into the Q2rter, we are encouraged by our robust pipelines, and as Nicole shared, we are on track to deliver our full year loan growth guidance. The portfolio credit trends are positive, and we are proud of our top quartile performance. We ended the quarter with the lowest levels of criticized loans in four years, while further reducing both NPAs and NPLs this quarter.
This quarter's new loan production came in at an average rate of 6.4%, which remains complementary to our overall loan portfolio yield and contributed to a strong net interest margin of 4.06%. Our ability to maintain margin at these high levels highlights the quality of our deposit franchise and our commitment to relationship-based banking. We offer the best-in-class treasury management capabilities that contribute meaningfully today and position us well to drive sustained deposit growth in the future.
I'm also pleased to report that our trust and wealth management business has grown to $1.4 billion in assets under management, more than doubling over the past three years since we entered the space. This momentum translates into double-digit fee growth in 2026, reinforcing our non-interest income outlook and highlighting the important role this business plays in our broader non-interest income diversification strategy.
Finally, reflecting our confidence in the durability and quality of our earnings, we took steps earlier this year to enhance our shareholder returns. We increased our quarterly dividend by 3% to $0.32 per share and took advantage of the market volatility to restock our stock buyback program with $16 million purchased in Q1. With that, I'll turn it over to John.
Thank you, Aldis, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you making the time to be on the call. It's hard to believe it has only been 105 days since we closed our transaction. In that short window, we've already seen real momentum, retaining key talent, attracting new talent, and driving meaningful growth across all our markets.
From the beginning, we believed Vista and NBH were a strong cultural fit, and that conviction has only strengthened as our teams work side by side. Both organizations share the same foundational values, a disciplined credit culture, an unwavering commitment to client service, and a people-Q1 philosophy that drives everything we do. That said, I want to thank our legacy Vista teammates for their continued trust, hard work, and grit through the Q1 quarter. I would like to thank our new NBH colleagues for the way that you've welcomed us to the team.
Together, we are doing great things. We also have made meaningful progress on the operational side, integrating Vista into NBH's broader systems and platforms. Successful combinations are built on shared values. They are executed through discipline, hard work, and an unwavering commitment to win, and I could not be more proud of our team.
As I mentioned last quarter, joining NBH means the opportunity to pair a strong market presence and the client relationships with a broader platform, enhanced offerings, and a bigger balance sheet. The momentum from this combination is already visible, both internally and externally, across all existing markets and to our clients and teammates alike. Since closing, we've added over 10 exceptional bankers to the organization, four of whom were sitting presidents at their prior institutions, which is humbling to think.
I have always believed the best clients follow the best bankers, and the best bankers follow the best culture. We are seeing that play out in real time. Additionally, Texas remains one of the most attractive banking markets in the country. With its pro-business environment, diverse economy, continued population growth, and business migration, NBH is now perfectly positioned to take advantage of this growth, further emphasizing our goal of maximizing shareholder value.
I also remain particularly excited about what we are doing in our resort markets. These communities are creating meaningful opportunities for banks like ours, who pair local knowledge with highly personalized service. Texas and the resort markets drove meaningful high-quality asset growth in the Q1 quarter, and with new leadership and robust pipeline, these markets represent a significant long-term opportunity for our company.
To meet that demand, we are delivering a broad set of capabilities such as enhanced treasury management services, wealth and trust services, and an expanded mortgage offering. NBH was and is built to meet clients across the full life cycle of their needs, from day-to-day operations to generational wealth planning. We are energized by the opportunities in front of us. NBH has the right platform, the right markets, and most importantly, the right people. To our shareholders, thank you for your continued trust. We could not be more excited about the road ahead. With that, Tim, I'll turn it back over to you.
Well, thanks, John. Well, as you now know, we have a lot to feel good about with our Q1 quarter results. We also feel great about our momentum as we dive into the Q2rter. We've covered the company's core performance, and I want to also provide you with an update on our Camber and 2UniFi businesses.
With respect to 2UniFi, the platform has generated over 1,300 user applications year-to-date, with weekly application volume accelerating from about 40 per week to most recently, nearly 400. While top of the funnel growth and early engagement metrics are strong, we still have work to do to drive higher deposit account openings and loan fundings. Having said this, I believe the team is gaining traction and getting close to a meaningful breakthrough. More to come.
Now, in the three years that we've operated Camber, we've grown the program over $700 million to greater than $2 billion. Further, the team has continued to increase and to diversify its deposit distribution network, giving Camber far more pricing power and funds movement flexibility. Our small but mighty Camber team is making an incredibly positive impact.
Turning back to our core business, we continue to build market share in attractive U.S. markets, and our demonstrated ability to rapidly grow capital translates into a broad set of opportunities for NBH. Our focus remains on supporting our teammates, serving our clients, our communities, and of course, creating greater shareholder value, and we stand on our track record of doing just that. On that note, let's open up the call for questions.
Yes, sir. Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, that is star one if you would like to ask a question. We'll now take a question from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson.
Thanks. Good morning.
Hey, Jeff. Good morning.
wanted to check in on that $1+ expectation of earnings in the Q4. You kind of made that initial expectation margin was at 3.89, and you were coming off a net loan runoff year. Kind of fast-forward to 12%+ organic growth and a 4.06 margin. I guess any potential for you to breach that figure earlier in the Q3? It seems like, certainly your confidence, you doubled down in the release, but wanted to check on the possibility of what needs to take place potentially if that happens in the Q3.
Jeff, we have a track record of underpromising and over-delivering. I've got to tell you, having said that, we feel very, very good about our momentum. I feel like we're running on all cylinders at this point, which is quite remarkable when, just to remind everyone, we closed on the Vista acquisition in the Q1 week of January.
If you think about the time required to assemble, organize teams, get alignment, and then get focused on clients and markets, it's pretty remarkable what we were able to see our teams do, generating that 12.4% loan growth. We think it may very well be the tip of the iceberg. Beyond that, what we're seeing early on in terms of the opportunity to expand treasury management services, wealth management services, residential banking services in markets like Dallas get us very excited.
Thanks, Tim. Just maybe jumping to maybe Nicole or Aldis on the margin. Do you have a March average for where that was?
Yeah, March came in very much in line with the overall quarter's margin.
Okay. Nicole, I guess as you talk about the outlook for near 4% for the rest of the year, is that suggestive of maybe accretion was a bit higher in the Q1 quarter? It seems a little conservative. I know that Tim just said underpromise, overdeliver, but wanted to see if anything one-timey in the 4.06 margin, why that might lean back towards 4% for the balance.
Yeah. Well, Jeff, I'll start by saying that we are very proud of our 4+% margin. The Q1 quarter had about 5 basis points of loan accretion addition from the Vista acquisition. Even without that loan accretion impact, very strong net interest margin. From a loan yield cost of funding perspective, as Aldis mentioned, Q1 loan origination rate, 6.4%, very consistent with where our current loan book is. We expect to fund that loan growth with full relationship core deposits, so maintaining our strong cost of deposits under 2%, that gets you right at a 4% margin.
Okay. Great. I'll step back. Thanks.
Okay. Thanks, Jeff.
Thank you, Jeff.
We'll now take our next question from Kelly Motta with KBW.
Hey, good morning. Thanks for the question.
Yeah.
Maybe building on that underpromise, overdeliver concept. The 10% loan growth, notably, you came in stronger out of the gate with the noise of an acquisition with 12% organic loan growth. 10% seems to imply a slowdown in the remainder of the year. I guess, it does sound like your pipeline and expectations remain quite strong. How are you thinking about the cadence of growth and what would be the factors, I guess, that would get you to potentially come in over the top of that 10? Thanks.
Well, Kelly, as a reminder, we provided the guidance on 10% going into the year, and we don't typically make changes in year on guidance. Having said that, I think the 12.4% growth in the Q1 quarter, given everything that was going on, speaks to the kind of opportunity we're seeing in the markets. I think it's noteworthy that we saw very strong diversified growth across our markets. I can't compliment our banking teams enough for focusing on clients, taking market share, expanding relationships, and we feel very good about our growth prospects this year.
Got it. That's really helpful. Turning to expenses, I appreciate the color that you added new bankers over time that helps to drive growth and it's ahead, which is what we want to see. It does seem like there's some moving parts with the cadence of expenses with hires plus the conversion later in the year, and I'm wondering if there's any way to get kind of a Q4 exit expense run rate given the noise, or how much on a dollar basis you're expecting the cost saves to be post-conversion, just so we can manage the cadence appropriately coming out of the year as we think through next year.
Yeah, it's a great question, Kelly. Q1, we've really been delighted with the quality of bankers that have been coming to us as we've looked at opportunities to expand in certain targeted markets. A good example of that is what John has been doing in our resort markets. We think we're going to get very attractive returns on those investments.
I would tell you that we are also very diligent in tracking our expense reductions related to the synergies of the Vista acquisition. It's something we've got strong alignment with respect to our incentives and something our board is very focused on. I am convinced we will not only meet but beat the expense synergies that we modeled in the acquisition and shared with The Street. Now I'll throw it to Nicole maybe for a little more detail and answer to your question.
Yeah. Good morning, Kelly. You're right. As we all expected, 2026 is a noisy year on the expense front. I will reiterate that full year guide of $320 million-$330 million. Where possible, we're taking action to realize expense efficiencies ahead of the system conversion, but the bulk of those synergies will come after our systems conversion, which is at the end of July.
That coupled with, as I mentioned, we're continuing to invest in growth. Then a little bit of color as I think about Q2 on the expense run rate perspective. Q2 does have a couple of additional payroll days. Our merit increases come online. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an uptick in expense from Q1 to Q2, and then it will trend down throughout the year as those expense synergies come online.
Got it. That's helpful. Last one, if I can sneak it in, just because we are on the topic of expenses. The expenses related to 2UniFi, that's still about $22 million for the year here?
Yes. That is correct. We recognized about a fourth of that in the Q1 quarter and very much on track to keep at that $22 million, which just as a reminder, is flat compared to where we were last year. The $22 million does have, for this year, a full year of depreciation expense, which means that we've brought down the cash burn rate meaningfully year-over-year.
I mean, to expand on that, if you look at it in a pure cash burn basis, it's about $10 million this year. That's noteworthy.
Correct.
Great. Awesome. Thank you so much. I will step back and let others on. Thank you, and congrats on closing the deal.
Yeah. Thank you, Kelly.
Our next question will come from Andrew Terrell with Stephens.
Hey, good morning.
Good morning, Andrew.
Hey, I appreciate all the color. I wanted to ask on the $1 per share in the Q4, the guidance there. What kind of provision are you assuming in that $1 per share? I ask just because it seems somewhat tough if we just take out of the midpoint of the guides for fees and expenses and if the margin stays near kind of a 4% level. I guess it kind of feels tough to get to a $1 per share. I'm trying to figure out where specifically the guide could be conservative on those few points or if it's just a difference in provision.
This is Aldis. I'll try to answer that one. In terms of if you look at kind of breaking down by pieces. If we deliver on our loan growth and on a promise over-deliver type of basis, we should be sitting at $1 billion-ish, if not more of earning assets in Q4 than what we did in Q1. You look at the fee guidance that Nicole provided, that has some upside there. As we discussed, expenses, certainly a significant step down in expense run rate from Q1 to Q4, as Nicole indicated, due to synergies. While we don't provide specific provision expense, there is plenty of room to provide for new loan growth in Q4 as well in order to deliver $1 EPS.
Yeah. To be very specific on provision, look, our models will drive provisioning. We use those models as we forecast. It's part of what we rely on as we get to that $1+ of earnings in the Q4. There's no, I would say, Andrew, maybe to answer your question this way, there's nothing unusual. There's no assumption around a meaningful, in fact, any reduction in provision. That's not what this is about. This is on the strength of earning assets and fee income, as well as realizing the expense synergies in the Vista acquisition, and it's, in our mind, pretty straightforward.
Hey, Andrew, it's a good question. One thing to also keep in mind is we did invest in some really high-caliber bankers in this Q1 quarter, and I think you're going to see strong results leading into the H2 as they come over and execute on those expenses that we like to see as investments.
Yeah, great point. Okay. I appreciate it. On the just 34 basis points of annualized charge-offs this quarter, this is a couple quarters in a row of a little bit higher charge-offs. Just maybe could you speak to what drove the Q1 quarter charge-offs? I know some of the commentary in the prepared remarks just around criticized, classified NPAs coming down a little bit this quarter. It seems like it would suggest that you'd expect kind of a normalization lower in charge-offs. Maybe just want to unpack kind of the credit piece a bit.
Yeah. Look, you can't see it yet, but we've had a dramatic reduction in our criticized classified loan ratios this quarter. We are feeling very, very good about credit quality. As it relates to NPAs being flat, I would just tell you that we've had normal ins and outs. We do expect NPAs to trend down over the course of this year, but we're not apologizing for where we stand right now. Our goal is always to operate in that top quartile of performance. You couple that focus with the fact that we are very excited about what we're seeing in terms of the reductions in crits and classified, and we're left feeling good about the year.
Got it. Okay. Thank you for taking the questions.
You bet.
We'll take our next question from Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler.
Hey, good morning.
Hey, good morning.
Just to follow up on the margin, was there a special FHLB dividend this quarter, and if so, how much?
There was no special FHLB dividend this quarter.
Okay. Great. Do you happen to have the spot rate on deposit costs at the end of March 31st?
Yeah, that's right around where we did it for the quarter, low 190s.
Okay. Great. On the buyback, how many shares were repurchased or at what price? Either one.
I don't think we disclose the price at which we purchase. Again, as we see markets pull back, we are opportunistic and in the market, and I think that's how we operate it. We do have a specific price in mind, but if you see meaningful pullback in our stock, we jump in opportunistically.
Okay. I didn't see the price per share. I just saw the dollars. Sorry. Okay. Just double-checking the baseline you're using for the 10% growth guidance for loans is $9.3 billion?
Yes.
With Vista?
Yes.
Okay. On the organic deposit front, excluding Vista this quarter, it looked flattish to down modestly. Just any color there on whether some of that might have been deliberate or chalking it up to seasonality and what's the outlook there for deposit growth?
It's a great question, and it's actually a combination of all above. There's some seasonality. As we pulled the books together, there was some remixing of deposits, and that's why you're seeing kind of flat. I'll say, Vista was operating at 2.5% cost of deposits. Us keeping deposit cost all on a linked-quarter basis, almost flat, you can imagine there was a bit of a reshuffling around there.
Got it. Okay. Last one for me. Just any update on the progress you're making to execute a 2UniFi partnership and whether or not that we should expect something still this year?
Look, it remains a focus, and there's not much more we can say about it at this point.
Okay, fair enough. Thank you.
You got it. Thank you, Matthew.
We'll now take a follow-up from Jeff Rulis with D.A. Davidson.
Thanks. A little more of a housekeeping question. I guess I'm just trying to map the merger costs. I would imagine a lot in other, but were there others sprinkled in the salaries or occupancy or professional fees? Just trying to get to where we could remove those going forward.
Yeah. Jeff, I'll take that one. I can give you some color. For Q1, the majority of those acquisition one-times sit in salary and benefits. As you can expect, as we work through our expense synergies, a lot of those are people-related items.
Yeah, I guess not. I just want to make sure we're clear. The synergies. I'm looking at the one-time merger cost of $15 million and the restructuring of $1 million. By line item, you're saying a decent portion of the merger one-times are in salaries?
Yes.
Think of severance, think of other exit-related compensation.
Got it. Okay. Thank you.
We'll now take a question from Kelly Motta with KBW.
Hey, thanks for letting me jump in. One of my follow-ups was just taken. I guess the last one for me is on this fee outlook here. At least Q1 is annualizing below that range, and I believe there's some 2UniFi expectation in the H2 of the year. Mapping, is there anything else that was low that's expected to build in order to get you to that range? I'm just trying to think through kind of the moving parts and how much is 2UniFi versus other kind of core banking fee-related uplift off this level. Thank you.
Right. That's a great question. Yeah, you're right. The 2UniFi-related fee component really is going to start hitting in the H2 . That's an uplift relative to what we delivered in the Q1 quarter. You look at the interchange and service charges, those are expected to grow some. The piece that is always light in Q1 and Q4s of the year are mortgage-related gains on sale. As we enter in summer season, we do expect or at least plan for some pickup there as well.
Kelly, we very much like what we're seeing in terms of fee income opportunity for this year. We have no hesitation in standing behind our guidance on fee income for 2026.
Got it. Thank you so much for the color. If it's all for me, I'll step back.
All right. Thank you, Kelly.
Thank you. I am showing we have no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Laney for his closing remarks.
Well, thank you, Anna. Really, thank you everyone for your participation. I'll thank the analysts for their great questions today and wish everybody a great day and the rest of the week. Goodbye.
This concludes today's conference call. If you would like to listen to the telephone replay of this call, it will be available in approximately 24 hours, and the link will be on the company's website on the investor relations page. Thank you very much and have a great day. You may now disconnect.