United Community Banks, Inc. Reports Second Quarter Results.

GREENVILLE, S.C: United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCBI) ("United") today announced net income for the second quarter of $63.3 million and pre-tax, pre-provision income of $104.3 million. Diluted earnings per share of $0.53 for the quarter represented an increase of $0.01 or 2% from the first quarter of 2023 and a decrease of $0.08 or 13%, from the second quarter of 2022. Industry-wide deposit price competition drove increased deposit costs, leading to an $11.2 million decrease in net interest revenue for the quarter. This was offset by a decline in quarterly noninterest expenses and an increase in noninterest income. On an operating basis, diluted earnings per share of $0.55 decreased $0.03 or 5% compared to last quarter mainly due to net interest margin compression despite lower noninterest expenses and noninterest income growth. Deposits grew by 4.5% annualized and loans grew at a 6.3% annualized rate during the quarter. Credit continues to perform well, with net charge offs of 20 basis points, up slightly from 17 basis points in the previous quarter.

For the quarter, United's return on assets was 0.95%, or 1.00% on an operating basis. Return on common equity was 7.5% and return on tangible common equity was 11.4%. On a pre-tax, pre-provision basis, operating return on assets was 1.65% for the quarter. At quarter-end, tangible common equity to tangible assets was 8.21%, up four basis points from the first quarter of 2023.

Chairman and CEO Lynn Harton stated, "We are pleased to continue to perform well despite a challenging interest rate environment. In the face of increased deposit pricing competition, we grew customer deposits and funded solid loan growth. This reflects the strength of our franchise and the loyalty of our customer base. Our loan growth was within our stated target range of mid to high single digits. Higher deposit costs due to mix and rate changes resulted in a lower net interest margin from the previous quarter, however, we still delivered strong returns and continued to strengthen our balance sheet." Harton continued, "We also completed some important steps with our recent strategic expansions. We completed the operational conversion of Progress, which means they now officially operate under the United Community brand across their outstanding Alabama and Florida Panhandle markets. Just a few weeks ago, on July 1, we completed our merger with First Miami Bancorp and its bank subsidiary, First National Bank of South...