...The meeting is called to order. Welcome to our virtual annual meeting of shareholders of Timberland Bancorp, Inc. I am Mike Stoney, chair of the board of the company, and I will act as the chair of this meeting. I would like to introduce Jonathan Fischer, secretary of the company, who will act as secretary of this meeting. I would also like to introduce to you the members of the board of directors who are also attending virtually. Dean Brydon, CEO, Parul Bhandari, Andrea Clinton, Robert Drugge, Kathy Leodler, Dave Smith, and Kelly Suter. Also attending virtually today are the representatives from our independent public accounting firm, Aprio LLP, formerly Delap LLP. Shareholders owning common stock in the company as of the close of business on December 2, 2025, are entitled to vote at the meeting. The secretary has prepared a list of those eligible shareholders.
Shareholders also may submit questions during this meeting using the online platform link. Note, non-shareholders attending as guests are not given the option to submit questions. The notice of this meeting and proxy statement were mailed with a proxy form on December seventeenth, 2025, to each shareholder of record. Proof of the mailing will be attached to the minutes of this meeting. There were 7,880,773 shares of common stock outstanding on December second, 2025, entitled to notice of and to vote at this annual meeting. The board of directors has appointed David Smith, Marci Basich, and Jonathan Fischer as inspectors of election to count and examine the votes at this meeting. The report of inspectors will also be attached to the minutes.
The secretary informs me that substantially more than a majority of the 7,880,773 shares of common stock entitled to vote at the meeting are present in person or by proxy. The inspectors are making an exact count and will submit a formal report of the number of shares present or represented during the course of the meeting. A quorum is declared present, subject to the confirmation of the fact by the inspectors in their report. We will waive the reading of the minutes of last year's annual meeting, but a copy of the minutes is available if any shareholder would like to review them. If you were a shareholder of record on December 2, 2025, you may use this online platform to submit your vote on any of the proposals.
If you have already voted your vote by proxy, by mail, telephone, or internet, you need not vote again at this meeting. Please note, if you vote again through the online platform, it will supersede your prior vote. There are three agenda items to come before the meeting today. The first item is the election of directors. In accordance with the bylaws of the company, three individuals have been nominated: Dean Brydon, Michael Stoney, and Kelly Suter, each for a three-year term. No other nominations have been made, and accordingly, pursuant to the bylaws, no nominations may be made at the meeting thereof. I declare the nominations to be closed. The vote is now requested. If you wish to vote using the online platform, please do so now. We will pause for a few moments to allow you time to submit your vote.
The next item on the agenda is the advisory vote on the approval of the compensation of our named executive officers. The compensation tables for the named officers and related materials are included in the proxy statement for this annual meeting. You may vote for, against, or abstain. The vote is now requested. If you wish to vote using the online platform, please do so now. We will pause for a few moments to allow you time to submit your vote. The final item on the ballot is the ratification of the appointment of Aprio LLP, formerly Delap LLP, as the company's independent auditors for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026. Vote for, against, or abstain. The vote is now requested. If you wish to vote using the online platform, please do so now.
We will pause for a few moments to allow you time to submit your vote. Thank you to everyone who voted. I now declare the voting closed on all proposals. While the inspectors are counting the votes, I will ask Dean Brydon to report to you about the affairs of the company. Dean?
Thank you, Mike. This is our regulatory disclaimer slide, letting you know that forward-looking statements may be made during this presentation, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. This next slide shows our 24 branch footprint, which spans six counties and captures some of Western Washington's strongest economic areas along the I-5 corridor. We have 116 years of experience at Timberland, listed here on this slide, and are very grateful for our leadership team shown here, and the many other leaders we have throughout the bank.... As we look at the upcoming financial performance slides, I think the context of the recent economic cycles is important to note. As most of you know, 2023 and 2024 were challenging years for the banking industry.
In 2023, we saw 3 of the 4 largest bank failures in U.S. history occur, and the banking industry also experienced significant deposit outflows, margin compression from an inverted yield curve, and liquidity and funding challenges. In 2024, the industry experienced reduced profitability, continued margin compression, and some pockets of credit quality concerns. 2025, however, was considered a more encouraging year for the industry as the yield curve gained some much needed slope and margins and profitability improved. And now as we look at our numbers on the upcoming slides, we are pleased that we've been able to achieve very strong and consistent financial results throughout these various cycles and headwinds. This slide shows our net income over the past 5 years.
Net income was $29.2 million for fiscal 2025, an all-time record for Timberland, and $4.9 million higher than fiscal 2024. We also announced the results for the first quarter of our fiscal 2026 year yesterday, with very strong net income of $8.2 million for the quarter, a 20% increase from the comparable quarter one year ago. This slide shows our earnings per share results over the past five years. Our fiscal 2025 EPS was $3.67, also an all-time record for Timberland and 22% higher than our fiscal 2024 level. We also reported EPS of $1.04 for the first quarter of our fiscal 2026 year yesterday, a 21% increase from the comparable quarter a year ago.
This next slide shows a couple of key profitability ratios for the banking industry. For fiscal 2025, our return on assets was 1.5% and our return on equity was 11.56%. Both of these ratios compare very favorably to our peers. This next slide shows our growth over the past five years. Total assets grew by 5% in 2025, and we surpassed the $2 billion mark. This slide shows our total capital levels, which continue to grow nicely and support our higher asset size. Total capital was a little over $268 million at the end of the most recent quarter. This slide shows that our capital ratios continue to be very strong and exceed the regulatory levels needed to be classified as well capitalized.
This slide shows that our book value and tangible book value per share amounts continue to increase steadily. Since 2021, our tangible book value per share has grown by 41% to $32.11. This slide shows our strong cash dividend levels over the past five years. Yesterday, we announced we are increasing our quarterly cash dividend to $0.29 per share, which will be the 53rd consecutive quarter that we've paid a cash dividend. This next group of slides will cover the balance sheet in a little more detail, beginning with the funding side.
As was mentioned earlier, deposit preservation has been one of the biggest challenges for the banking industry over the past couple of years, and at Timberland, after seeing deposit levels decrease by approximately 4% in fiscal 2023, we saw total deposits increase by 6% in 2024 and increase by 5% in 2025. This pie chart shows the breakdown of our deposit base at the end of the most recent quarter. Our core deposits continue to be strong, with checking account balances making up nearly 45% of our deposit totals. Like most of the industry, we have seen some movement between categories over the past couple of years as more customers have been shifting funds out of transaction accounts into CDs with higher rates.
Another funding component for banks are borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank and the Federal Reserve. Over the past couple of years, many banks have borrowed heavily from these sources to replace deposit outflows. We are pleased that our borrowing totals at 12/31 were relatively minor at only $20 million. Note, we also have roughly $760 million in secured borrowing capacity still available from the Federal Home Loan Bank and the Federal Reserve, which puts us in a very strong off-balance sheet liquidity position. This slide shows that our loan portfolio has increased very nicely over the last couple of years. Since 2021, the portfolio has increased by 51%. Over the past couple of quarters, we've seen growth be a little flatter, though, as loan payoffs have increased. This chart shows our loan portfolio breakdown.
Our portfolio continues to be nicely diversified, with commercial real estate loans being the largest category at 39%, followed by single-family home loans and then multifamily loans. This slide shows that we are also well diversified by collateral type within the commercial real estate portfolio. The two largest collateral types are industrial warehouses and medical dental offices. Now, over the past couple of years, there has been concern nationally with larger office building loans, particularly in large cities. We do not have exposure to those types of larger office buildings, and as can be seen here, our average office building loan size is only $811,000. This chart shows our construction loan portfolio breakdown. Custom construction and owner builder loans continue to be the biggest category, comprising roughly half of our total construction loan portfolio.
These owner builder loans have been a very successful program for Timberland, and we've experienced minimal charge-offs on these loans during the past 40+ years that we've been offering this program. This next slide shows a breakdown of our overnight liquidity and investment levels, which make up approximately 22% of our total balance sheet. Our investment securities portfolio is comprised primarily of mortgage-backed securities and Treasury securities. This slide shows that our asset quality continues to perform well, with non-performing assets at only 23 basis points of total assets at the end of the most recent quarter. This slide shows that our loan charge-off levels also continue to be relatively low. For fiscal 2025, our net charge-offs were $240,000, and for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we had net recoveries of $18,000.
This next slide shows the progression of our net interest income and margins over the past five years. During this period, we've seen some historic interest rate swings, and margins for the industry have bounced around quite a bit. However, since mid-2024, margins have generally been improving for the industry. At Timberland, we've experienced similar results. Our margins compressed through mid-2024, but then we've seen a nice recovery, which can be seen on the next slide. This slide shows the quarterly progression of our net interest margin over the past two years. You can see that our margin bottomed out during the March 2024 quarter and has now increased in each of the last seven quarters, coming in at 3.85% for the most recent quarter. This slide shows our non-interest income levels over the past five years.
Historically, the largest components of our non-interest income have been gain on sale of loans from mortgage banking activity, debit card interchange fees, and service charges on deposits. And as you can see here, that in 2021, our numbers were elevated from record gains on sale of loans during the largest refinance cycle in U.S. history. This slide shows our non-interest expense levels over the past five years. Over the years, we have diligently managed expenses. However, like the rest of the industry, we've seen expenses increase over the past couple of years, primarily due to inflationary pressures. This next slide shows our efficiency ratio, which measures how much an expense it takes to generate revenue. Timberland's ratio continues to measure up very favorably compared to peer groups, and we believe this is really a reflection of the stewardship and hard work of Timberland staff.
This slide shows how TSBK stock has performed over the past five years relative to other bank stocks. Timberland stock performance is the blue line here and shows that we have outperformed the Nasdaq Bank Index and the KBW Regional Bank Index over this period. A year ago today, our stock price was at $29.52, and today we closed at $37.42. I'll now turn it over to Jonathan to provide updates on some of our other initiatives.
Thank you, Dean. About a little over three years ago, we refreshed our logo for our bank, and while keeping the rich history with the log logo, we kind of refreshed to make it look a little bit more like a log and maintain that. But over the last three years, we've also been updating the branch color palette and updating the logos at the branches. So you can see, you can see in this picture here, we've got the Chehalis branch with the new logo sign on the front. It looks great. Downtown Olympia up on the top, and then on the bottom right is the Tacoma branch. But now you can see at night, the signs are illuminated, so you can see our logo a lot better than we could in previous years.
We're really happy with the logo change and the branch look and just so everybody can see us. We're really excited to announce that earlier this month, we opened our newest branch at University Place, Washington, which is in between our Tacoma branch, which is on I-5, and our Gig Harbor branch, kind of in the middle. And we've had several large customers that are in this area. We've had customers ask us to go in this area. We've looked for a while. We found a great location that used to be a Chase Bank, and we just decided to open this branch collectively, and our staff is really excited about the new location. And these are some of the pictures.
I've got the new ATM with the new logo on there and then the signage, and we opened to new customers on July 12, this month, and we're very excited to be there. It's a great location. There's a lot of business in the University Place area. That's where the Tacoma Rainiers play. But over the years, our Tacoma branch has been a great hub for our commercial lending team, and then at Gig Harbor has been a great spot for our residential lending team, and we've generated a lot of business out of both locations. So this is just a natural fit inside or in between both of those branches. And we still believe in branching. It's a great way to connect with our customers and, you know, we connect through technology, we connect through our people, we connect through locations.
It's just something we need to continue to focus on any way that our customers want to meet with us or we meet with them. It's a great opportunity for us to expand and grow. So we're all excited about the University Place branch. One of the other ways we connect with in our communities we serve, we live in our communities, we love our communities, is we have been for decades now, we've been giving to the local food banks and local nonprofits, and we just love to give and bless those that are helping the less fortunate in our areas.
And the food banks in our in some of our areas have been really taxed the last couple of years, and it's been a lot of increased usage with our community, so it's been nice that we've been able to to help them keep the food flowing to the people's homes. So really proud of that and proud of the work that we do in our our community service. I I mentioned technology earlier. It's just one of the key ways we need to keep expanding our technology resources, and our Chief Technology, Breanne Antich, has done a fantastic job moving us forward over the years. And there's several things that we kind of have in the works. I I put on here the engaging customers and optimizing operations. We're gonna continue to expand online banking or online banking with partnering with fintechs.
Breanne and myself and others have spent a significant amount of time over the last decade meeting with, you know, hundreds of fintechs and learning what they can do and how it can help our customers. We ask our customers what they want, and we add several technologies. We've added credit scoring, we've added the ability for customers to give to local nonprofits, roundup features. Hopefully, we'll add a kid account opportunities through our app in the near future. So we're doing a lot of things on the technology front to make it easier to connect with us. We're also enhancing our residential lending solutions.
As other community banks in our area are shuttering their mortgage banking, we're continuing to focus on it and think there's a lot of resources that we can add to help our team grow and allow local lending and have the opportunities for customers to bank with a local bank. It's just something that we feel is very, very important for our communities. We're also wanna make sure we ensure we have effective fraud controls.
Fraud has just been on the rise the last several years with the technology resources that the hackers have and things, and so we've put tools in place over the last couple of years that has reduced fraud, which is we're really proud of that, but we have to keep on top of that to make sure that the fraud tools are current and we have the right tools that for our staff. We're improving our customer statements this year. Seems kind of different from technology, but we still have well over 10,000 customers that rely on paper statements on a monthly basis. So it's important that we have clear statements and they're understandable, and so we've got an initiative this year to update and refresh that. And so I think the customers will be pleased with that change.
We're also adding digital debit cards, so we can get those cards in the customer's hands immediately once they request one, and then we're gonna be adding instant issue debit card machines at several branches this year as well. On the optimized operations, we're continuing to work on our construction draw management system we implemented a year ago, named Built, and we're gonna continue to enhance that. Our team has done a great job of implementing that, and it's gonna help our many construction customers and the builders that help them build their house, and so we're really pleased with the progress on that. And then we're gonna continue to leverage automated technology to improve processes behind the scenes. So, we really believe that good technology with great people makes a great community bank.
So we're really proud of the team and what they've, they've put together. So I'm really proud of that technology and, and what, Breanne and her team has done.
Yeah.
Thanks, Jonathan. As we conclude the slides, we wanna thank all of our staff for the part they play in producing these very successful results. We wanna thank our directors for their leadership and guidance. We also wanna thank our shareholders for investing in Timberland. Now, we'll take time to answer any questions that have been submitted. Jonathan, are there any questions?
No, there aren't any questions, Dean.
Okay. Well, with that, Mike, we'll turn it back to you.
Thanks, Dean and Jonathan. The inspectors have completed their count, and the secretary will now read the report. Jonathan?
Sure. Of the 7,880,773 shares entitled to vote at this meeting, we received votes for 6,456,617 shares, which represents 81.93% of the total, which is a great result. The first item on the ballot was the election of directors. Directors Brydon, Stoney, and Suter were each re-elected for a three-year term, with each receiving a significant majority of the votes cast, each receiving over 95% of the vote. The next item on the ballot was the advisory vote for executive compensation. This passed with a vote of 89.8% in favor.
The final item on the ballot was a ratification of Aprio LLP, formerly Delap LLP, as Timberland's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending September 30, 2026. This item passed with a vote of over 97%.
Thanks, Jonathan.
You're welcome.
The report of inspectors confirms that a quorum is and has been in attendance at the meeting for all purposes. It also shows that Dean Brydon, Michael Stoney, and Kelly Suter have each been elected to serve for a 3-year term. The report of inspectors also indicates that more than a majority of the shares present at the meeting have been voted in favor of the approval of the advisory vote on the compensation of the company's executive officers, and in favor of the ratification of the appointment of Aprio LLP, formerly Delap LLP, as the company's independent auditor for the fiscal year, September 30th, 2026. The report of inspectors has been accepted and approved and will be attached to the minutes of the meeting. We'd like to thank you for attending this year's annual meeting.
There being no further business to come before the meeting, this meeting is now adjourned. Thank you for attending.