First Bancorp Reports First Quarter Results

First Bancorp also continued to maintain expense control with noninterest expenses of $60.2 million for the first quarter of 2026, down from $62.0 million for the linked quarter, and up from $57.9 million for the like quarter.  The efficiency ratio for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 was 49.05%, compared to an adjusted efficiency ratio of 48.53% for the linked quarter and an efficiency ratio of 54.51% for the like quarter. See Appendix I for a reconciliation of the efficiency ratio and the adjusted efficiency ratio.

Richard H. Moore, Chairman and CEO of the Company, stated, "First Bancorp delivered a strong start to 2026 with financial performance that underscores the benefit of our balance sheet management activities, continued margin expansion, and prudent expense control.  Earnings continue to benefit from the repositioning of lower‑yielding assets into higher‑yielding opportunities, while our liquidity, capital and credit quality remain strong.  We are highly encouraged by our first quarter performance and remain confident in our ability to sustain momentum and drive continued success in 2026."

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Net interest income for the first quarter of 2026 was $107.1 million, an increase of 0.9% from the linked quarter of $106.2 million, despite two fewer calendar days, and an increase of 15.4% from the like quarter of $92.8 million.  The increase in net interest income from the linked and like quarters was primarily driven by our focused efforts to manage deposit costs after the rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in 2025, while increasing loan yields through originations as well as increased securities yields resulting from the securities loss-earnback transactions executed in the third and fourth quarters of 2025.

The Company's NIM for the first quarter of 2026 was 3.67%, an increase of 9 basis points from the linked quarter and 42 basis points from the like quarter. 

The linked quarter expansion of NIM was driven by a $246.3 million increase in average loans, partially offset by a 1 basis point decrease in loan yield to 5.58% while cost of interest bearing deposits decreased 8 basis points driven by the three rate cuts between September and December 2025.  While average interest-earning assets contracted $6.9 million in total during the quarter, the Company saw a shift in the mix of interest-earning assets, with loans increasing from 72.4% of average interest-earning assets to 74.5%, while average securities contracted by $125.0 million and average short-term investments contracted by $128.2 million.

Due to similar factors, the like quarter expansion of NIM was driven by growth of $674.3 million in average loans, coupled with a 6 basis point yield increase while the cost of interest bearing deposits decreased 25 basis points.  Loans grew to 74.5% of average interest-earning assets while securities contracted to 23.1% of average interest-bearing assets and short-term investments contracted to 2.3% of average interest-bearing assets, again reflecting the shift in the mix of interest-earning assets to higher yielding assets.

See Appendix J regarding loan purchase discount accretion and its impact on the Company's NIM.

Provision for Credit Losses and Credit Quality

For the three months ended March 31, 2026, December 31, 2025 and March 31, 2025, the Company recorded $3.1 million, $4.7 million and $1.1 million in provision for credit losses, respectively. The provision for the first quarter of 2026 was driven by net charge-offs of $1.4 million and reserves related to $71.4 million of net loan growth.  The Allowance for Credit Losses increased  $1.2 million to $124.7 million, or 1.42% of loans. Additionally, the $0.5 million provision for unfunded commitments during the quarter was the result of additional unfunded lending commitments.

The Company did not adjust the incremental reserve for potential exposure from Hurricane Helene, maintaining a $1.9 million reserve as of March 31, 2026.  The remaining incremental reserve contributes two basis points to the Allowance for Credit Losses at period end.  The impact of Hurricane Helene on net income and D-EPS for the first and fourth quarters of 2025 is presented in Appendix H.

Asset quality remained strong with annualized net loan charge-offs of 0.06% for the first quarter of 2026.  Total nonperforming assets ("NPAs") totaled $41.8 million at March 31, 2026, or 0.32% of total assets, up slightly from 0.30% at December 31, 2025 and 0.27% at March 31, 2025.  

The following table presents the summary of NPAs and asset quality ratios for each period.

Noninterest Income

Total noninterest income for the first quarter of 2026 was $15.2 million, a $37.7 million increase from the linked quarter, which included a $43.7 million loss on our securities loss-earnback transaction in the fourth quarter of 2025. Adjusting for the securities loss, total noninterest income decreased 28.6% from the $21.2 million adjusted noninterest income for the linked quarter. The linked quarter also included a pretax gain of $4.6 million realized upon the sale of an office building. The current quarter reflected a 17.2% increase from the $13.0 million recorded for the like quarter, primarily related to a $0.9 million increase in SBA loans sale gains and a $0.7 million increase in Other income, net.

Noninterest Expenses

Noninterest expenses amounted to $60.2 million for the first quarter of 2026 compared to $62.0 million for the linked quarter and $57.9 million for the like quarter.  The $1.8 million, or 2.9%, decrease in noninterest expense from the linked quarter was driven by a $1.3 million decrease in Other operating expenses as well as a $0.9 million decrease in Total personnel expenses. The $2.3 million increase from the like quarter was driven by a $1.7 million increase in Total personnel expenses and a $0.7 million increase in Other operating expenses. For the fourth quarter of 2025, Other operating expenses included several elevated expense categories arising from increased customer-driven and seasonal activity.

Income Taxes

Income tax expense totaled $12.3 million for the first quarter of 2026 compared to $1.2 million for the linked quarter and $10.4 million for the like quarter. These equated to effective tax rates of 20.9%, 7.3% and 22.2% for the respective periods.  The fourth quarter of 2025 included approximately $2.1 million of net discrete tax benefits, primarily arising from state taxes, including the continued NC graduated tax rate reductions.

Balance Sheet

Total assets at March 31, 2026 were $12.9 billion, an increase of $279.4 million, or 8.9% annualized, from the linked quarter and $511.5 million, or 4.1%, from a year earlier.

Key period end balance sheet components are presented below.

Driven by prepayments and maturities, total investment securities decreased to $2.5 billion at March 31, 2026, reflecting a $70.6 million decrease from the linked quarter.  Total unrealized losses on available for sale investment securities was $197.7 million at March 31, 2026, as compared to $194.1 million at December 31, 2025 and $321.2 million at March 31, 2025.

 Total loans amounted to $8.8 billion at March 31, 2026, an increase of $71.4 million, or 3.3% annualized, from December 31, 2025 and an increase of $690.8 million, or 8.5%, from March 31, 2025.  Adjusting for the paydown of one larger seasonal loan, loan growth for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 was 5.9% annualized.  Please see the below table for total loan portfolio mix.  As of March 31, 2026, there were no notable concentrations in geographies within North Carolina or South Carolina or within industries, including in office or hospitality categories, which are included in the "commercial real estate - non-owner occupied" category in the table below.  The Company's exposure to non-owner occupied office loans represented approximately 6.5% of the total portfolio at March 31, 2026, with the largest loan being $33.0 million and with an average loan outstanding balance of $1.4 million.  Non-owner occupied office loans are generally in non-metro markets and the ten largest loans in this category represent less than 2% of the total loan portfolio.

The following table presents the period end balance and portfolio percentage by loan category.

The Company has a diversified and granular deposit base which has remained a stable funding source with noninterest-bearing deposits comprising 33% of total deposits at March 31, 2026.  As presented in the table below, our deposit mix has remained relatively consistent.

As of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, estimated insured deposits totaled $6.5 billion, or 59.0%, and $6.5 billion, or 60.2%, of total deposits, respectively.  In addition, at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, there were collateralized deposits of $723.8 million and $730.4 million, respectively, such that approximately 65.6% and 67.0%, respectively, of our total deposits were insured or collateralized at those dates.

Capital

The Company maintains capital in excess of well-capitalized regulatory requirements, with an estimated total risk-based capital ratio at March 31, 2026 of 16.10%, down slightly from the linked quarter ratio of 16.12% and from the like quarter ratio of 16.80%. 

The Company has elected to exclude accumulated other comprehensive income ("AOCI") related primarily to available for sale securities from common equity tier 1 capital.  AOCI is included in the Company's tangible common equity ("TCE") to tangible assets ratio (a non-GAAP financial measure) which was 9.63% at March 31, 2026, an increase of 2 basis points from the linked quarter and 108 basis points from March 31, 2025.  The increase in TCE from the like quarter was driven by improvements in the level of unrealized losses on the available for sale securities portfolio, partially a result of the 2025 securities loss-earnback transactions along with market improvements. Please refer to Appendix A for a reconciliation of common equity to TCE (a non-GAAP measure) and Appendix C for a calculation of the TCE ratio (a non-GAAP measure).

Liquidity

Liquidity is evaluated as both on-balance sheet (primarily cash and cash-equivalents, unpledged securities and other marketable assets) and off-balance sheet (readily available lines of credit and other funding sources).  The Company continues to manage liquidity sources, including unused lines of credit, at levels believed to be adequate to meet its operating needs for the foreseeable future. 

The Company's on-balance sheet liquidity ratio (net liquid assets as a percent of net liabilities) at March 31, 2026 was 16.7%.  In addition, the Company had approximately $2.5 billion in available lines of credit at that date resulting in a total liquidity ratio of 34.0%. 

About First Bancorp

First Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina, with total assets of $12.9 billion. Its principal activity is the ownership and operation of First Bank, a state-chartered community bank that operates 113 branches in North Carolina and South Carolina.  Since 1935, First Bank has taken a tailored approach to banking, combining best-in-class financial solutions, helpful local expertise, and technology to manage a home or business.  First Bank also provides SBA loans to customers through its nationwide network of lenders. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.

Please visit our website at www.LocalFirstBank.com for more information.

First Bancorp's common stock is traded on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "FBNC."

Caution about Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties.  Forward-looking statements are statements that include projections, predictions, expectations or beliefs about future events or results or otherwise are not statements of historical fact.  Such statements are often characterized by the use of qualifying words (and their derivatives) such as "expect," "believe," "estimate," "plan," "project," "anticipate," or other words or phrases concerning opinions or judgments of the Company and its management about future events.  Factors that could influence the accuracy of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the financial success or changing strategies of the Company's customers, the Company's level of success in integrating acquisitions, actions of government regulators, the level of market interest rates, and general economic conditions.  For additional information about the factors that could affect the matters discussed in this paragraph, see the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K available at www.sec.gov.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements.  The Company is also not responsible for changes made to this press release by wire services, internet services or other media.

Non-GAAP Measures

In this Earnings Release, we present certain measures of our performance that are calculated by methods other than in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").  Company management uses these non-GAAP measures for purposes of evaluating our performance. Non-GAAP measures exclude or include amounts that are not normally excluded or included in the most directly comparable measure determined in accordance with GAAP. Company management believes an appropriate analysis of the Company's financial performance requires an understanding of the factors underlying such performance.  Non-GAAP financial measures should not be viewed as substitutes for the most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Please see the Appendices attached to this Earnings Release for reconciliations of return on tangible common equity, tangible common equity, tangible book value per share, the tangible common equity ratio, adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share.