South Plains Financial reports Q3 EPS 96c, consensus 86c

Reports Q3 tangible book value per share $28.14. Reports Q3 CET1 capital ratio 14.41%. Curtis Griffith, South Plains’ chairman and CEO, commented, “We delivered strong third quarter results highlighted by solid earnings growth as we continued to experience net interest income expansion supported by our low cost, community-based deposit franchise. The credit quality of our loan portfolio also continued to improve as did our return on average assets. Our results demonstrate the strong foundation that we have purposefully built. We have added exceptional talent across the Bank while also making the necessary investments in our technology platform that positions South Plains to efficiently scale our operations as we grow. I believe the Bank is firmly positioned to accelerate our asset growth through both organic expansion and accretive M&A opportunities. While we have been experiencing higher than normal paydowns which has proved a headwind to loan growth, we expect an acceleration in growth next year aided by the expansion of our lending platform where we expect to further increase our lending team by up to 20%. We continue to engage in discussions with potential target banks in our core markets although we are only interested in acquiring a bank that fits our conservative nature and overall culture, and meets our strict criteria for a deal. As a result, we will only do a deal that makes sense for the Bank and our shareholders.”