HONOLULU, Jan. 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Hawaiian, Inc. (NASDAQ:FHB), (“First Hawaiian” or the “Company”) today reported financial results for its quarter ended December 31, 2021.

“We are pleased to report that we closed 2021 with a solid fourth quarter,” said Bob Harrison, Chairman, President and CEO. “We saw strong loan growth, continued to grow consumer and commercial deposits while reducing excess liquidity, and credit quality remained excellent.”

On January 19, 2022 the Company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.26 per share. The dividend will be payable on March 4, 2022 to stockholders of record at the close of business on February 18, 2022.

Additionally, the Company’s Board of Directors adopted a stock repurchase program for up to $75 million of its outstanding common stock during 2022.

Fourth Quarter 2021 Highlights:

• Net income of $57.0 million, or $0.44 per diluted share
• Total loans and leases increased $127.7 million versus prior quarter
• Total deposits decreased $303.9 million versus prior quarter, reduced public deposits by $978.4 million
• Incurred a $9.0 million charge in connection with the prepayment of $200.0 million of Federal Home Loan Bank advances at a weighted average rate of 2.73%
• No provision for credit losses was taken in the quarter
• Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share
• Repurchased $21.5 million of stock under share repurchase program
  

Balance Sheet

Total assets were $25.0 billion as of December 31, 2021, compared to $25.5 billion as of September 30, 2021.

Gross loans and leases were $13.0 billion as of December 31, 2021, an increase of $127.7 million, or 1.0%, from $12.8 billion as of September 30, 2021.

Total deposits were $21.8 billion as of December 31, 2021, a decrease of $303.9 million, or 1.4%, from $22.1 billion as of September 30, 2021.

Net Interest Income

Net interest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $137.3 million, an increase of $4.7 million, or 3.6%, compared to $132.6 million for the prior quarter.

The net interest margin (NIM) was 2.38% in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of 2 basis points compared to 2.36% in the third quarter of 2021.

Provision Expense

During the quarter ended December 31, 2021, we did not record a provision for credit losses. In the quarter ended September 30, 2021 we recorded a $4.0 million negative provision for credit losses.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income was $41.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, a decrease of $8.5 million compared to noninterest income of $50.1 million in the third quarter of 2021.

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense was $108.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of $7.7 million compared to noninterest expense of $101.0 million in the third quarter of 2021.

The efficiency ratio was 60.5% and 55.1% for the quarters ended December 31, 2021 and September 30, 2021, respectively.

Taxes

The effective tax rate was 18.7% for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 and 25.0% for the quarter ended September 30, 2021.

Asset Quality

The allowance for credit losses was $157.3 million, or 1.21% of total loans and leases, as of December 31, 2021, compared to $161.2 million, or 1.26% of total loans and leases, as of September 30, 2021. The reserve for unfunded commitments was $30.3 million as of December 31, 2021 compared to $32.5 million as of September 30, 2021. Net charge-offs were $6.2 million, or 0.19% of average loans and leases on an annualized basis, for the quarter ended December 31, 2021, compared to net charge-offs of $0.6 million, or 0.02% of average loans and leases on an annualized basis, for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. Total non-performing assets were $7.3 million, or 0.06% of total loans and leases and other real estate owned, at December 31, 2021, compared to total non-performing assets of $8.6 million, or 0.07% of total loans and leases and other real estate owned at September 30, 2021.

Capital

Total stockholders’ equity was $2.7 billion at both December 31, 2021 and September 30, 2021.

The tier 1 leverage, common equity tier 1 and total capital ratios were 7.24%, 12.24% and 13.49%, respectively, at December 31, 2021, compared with 7.39%, 12.63% and 13.88%, respectively, at September 30, 2021.

The Company repurchased 0.77 million shares of common stock at a total cost of $21.5 million under the stock repurchase program in the fourth quarter. The average cost was $27.92 per share repurchased. Total repurchases in 2021 were $75.0 million.

As to the stock repurchase program approved for 2022, repurchases of shares of the Company’s common stock may be conducted through open-market purchases, which may include purchases under a trading plan adopted pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b5-1, or through privately negotiated transactions. The timing and exact amount of share repurchases, if any, will be subject to management’s discretion and various factors, including the Company’s capital position and financial performance, as well as market conditions. The repurchase program may be suspended, terminated or modified at any time for any reason.

First Hawaiian, Inc. 

First Hawaiian, Inc. (NASDAQ:FHB) is a bank holding company headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Its principal subsidiary, First Hawaiian Bank, founded in 1858 under the name Bishop & Company, is Hawaii’s oldest and largest financial institution with branch locations throughout Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. The company offers a comprehensive suite of banking services to consumer and commercial customers including deposit products, loans, wealth management, insurance, trust, retirement planning, credit card and merchant processing services. Customers may also access their accounts through ATMs, online and mobile banking channels. For more information about First Hawaiian, Inc., visit the Company’s website, www.fhb.com.

Conference Call Information

First Hawaiian will host a conference call to discuss the Company’s results today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 8:00 a.m. Hawaii Time. To access the call, participants should dial (844) 452-2942 (US/Canada), or (574) 990-9846 (International) ten minutes prior to the start of the call and enter the conference ID: 8790379. A live webcast of the conference call, including a slide presentation, will be available at the following link: www.fhb.com/earnings. The archive of the webcast will be available at the same location. A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available two hours after the conclusion of the call until 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) on January 28, 2022. Access the replay by dialing (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406 and entering the conference ID: 8790379.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, future events and our financial performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “may”, “might”, “should”, “could”, “predict”, “potential”, “believe”, “expect”, “continue”, “will”, “anticipate”, “seek”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “projection”, “would”, “annualized” and “outlook”, or the negative version of those words or other comparable words or phrases of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Accordingly, we caution you that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Further, statements about the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our businesses and financial results and conditions may constitute forward-looking statements and are subject to the risk that the actual effects may differ, possibly materially, from what is reflected in those forward-looking statements due to factors and future developments that are uncertain, unpredictable and in many cases beyond our control, including the scope and duration of the pandemic, actions taken by governmental authorities in response to the pandemic, and the direct and indirect impact of the pandemic on our customers, third parties and us. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, there can be no assurance that actual results will not prove to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. A number of important factors could cause actual results or performance to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including (without limitation) the risks and uncertainties associated with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, the domestic and global economic environment and capital market conditions and other risk factors. For a discussion of some of these risks and important factors that could affect our future results and financial condition, see our U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, including, but not limited to, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2021, June 30, 2021, and September 30, 2021.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We present net interest income, noninterest income, noninterest expense, net income, earnings per share (basic and diluted) and the related ratios described below, on an adjusted, or “core,” basis, each a non-GAAP financial measure. These core measures exclude from the corresponding GAAP measure the impact of certain items that we do not believe are representative of our financial results. We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures helps identify underlying trends in our business from period to period that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of certain expenses, gains and other items included in our operating results. We believe that these core measures provide useful information about our operating results and enhance the overall understanding of our past performance and future performance. Investors should consider our performance and financial condition as reported under GAAP and all other relevant information when assessing our performance or financial condition.

Core net interest margin, core efficiency ratio, core return on average total assets and core return on average total stockholders’ equity are non-GAAP financial measures. We compute our core net interest margin as the ratio of core net interest income to average earning assets. We compute our core efficiency ratio as the ratio of core noninterest expense to the sum of core net interest income and core noninterest income. We compute our core return on average total assets as the ratio of core net income to average total assets. We compute our core return on average total stockholders’ equity as the ratio of core net income to average total stockholders’ equity.

Return on average tangible stockholders’ equity, core return on average tangible stockholders’ equity, return on average tangible assets, core return on average tangible assets and tangible stockholders’ equity to tangible assets are non-GAAP financial measures. We compute our return on average tangible stockholders’ equity as the ratio of net income to average tangible stockholders’ equity, which is calculated by subtracting (and thereby effectively excluding) amounts related to the effect of goodwill from our average total stockholders’ equity. We compute our core return on average tangible stockholders’ equity as the ratio of core net income to average tangible stockholders’ equity, which is calculated by subtracting (and thereby effectively excluding) amounts related to the effect of goodwill from our average total stockholders’ equity. We compute our return on average tangible assets as the ratio of net income to average tangible assets, which is calculated by subtracting (and thereby effectively excluding) amounts related to the effect of goodwill from our average total assets. We compute our core return on average tangible assets as the ratio of core net income to average tangible assets. We compute our tangible stockholders’ equity to tangible assets as the ratio of tangible stockholders’ equity to tangible assets, each of which we calculate by subtracting (and thereby effectively excluding) the value of our goodwill. We believe that these measurements are useful for investors, regulators, management and others to evaluate financial performance and capital adequacy relative to other financial institutions. Although these non-GAAP financial measures are frequently used by stakeholders in the evaluation of a company, they have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results or financial condition as reported under GAAP.

Tables 14 and 15 at the end of this document provide a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures with their most directly comparable GAAP measures.

⁽¹⁾   Except for the efficiency ratio and the core efficiency ratio, amounts are annualized for the three months ended December 31, 2021, September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020.

⁽²⁾   Core return on average tangible assets is a non-GAAP financial measure. We compute our core return on average tangible assets as the ratio of core net income to average tangible assets, which is calculated by subtracting (and thereby effectively excluding) amounts related to the effect of goodwill from our average total assets. For a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure for core net income, see Table 14, GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliation.

⁽³⁾   Core return on average tangible stockholders’ equity is a non-GAAP financial measure. We compute our core return on average tangible stockholders’ equity as the ratio of core net income to average tangible stockholders’ equity, which is calculated by subtracting (and thereby effectively excluding) amounts related to the effect of goodwill from our average total stockholders’ equity. For a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure for core net income, see Table 14, GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliation.

⁽⁴⁾   Tangible book value is a non-GAAP financial measure. We compute our tangible book value as the ratio of tangible stockholders’ equity to shares outstanding. Tangible stockholders’ equity is calculated by subtracting (and thereby effectively excluding) amounts related to the effect of goodwill from our total stockholders’ equity. For a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure for core net income, see Table 14, GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliation.

⁽¹⁾   Non-performing loans and leases are included in the respective average loan and lease balances. Income, if any, on such loans and leases is recognized on a cash basis.

⁽²⁾   Interest income includes taxable-equivalent basis adjustments of $0.9 million, $0.8 million and $0.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2021, September 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

⁽¹⁾   Non-performing loans and leases are included in the respective average loan and lease balances. Income, if any, on such loans and leases is recognized on a cash basis.

⁽²⁾   Interest income includes taxable-equivalent basis adjustments of $2.8 million and $0.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.