Esquire Financial reports Q4 EPS $1.18, consensus $1.17

Reports Q4 NII $22.67M, consensus $22.27M. Q4 provision for credit losses was $1.5M, a $150K increase from the fourth quarter 2022 provision. Q4 book value per share was $23.96 from $22.63 at previous quarter end. “Coupling growth in our national platforms with strong balance sheet management, including credit quality, core relationship banking, liquidity and capital, has led us to consistently being named one of the top performing financial institutions in the country in 2023 as well as over the last several years,” stated Tony Coelho, Chairman of the Board. “We continually focus on building long-term stakeholder value rather than focusing on short-term quarterly earnings.” “Strong commercial loan growth from our national platform was not only comprised of new originations but significant draws on existing facilities during the current quarter,” stated Andrew Sagliocca, CEO. “We believe that these draws may temper first quarter loan growth while our current loan pipeline will allow us to grow loans in 2024 commensurate to prior years. We anticipate 2024 loan growth to be funded by core relationship deposits. Finally, we anticipate the recent investment in our fintech, Payzli, should directly benefit fee income in early 2025 as we currently focus on building out this technology for select direct merchant verticals.”