Hello and thank you for joining us. Today we will cover the company's financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025.

The team members joining me this morning include Ray Reitsma, President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as Chuck Christmas, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Our agenda will begin with prepared remarks by both Ray and Chuck and will include references to our presentation covering this quarter's results.

You can access a copy of the presentation as well as the press release sent earlier today by visiting mercbank.com. After our prepared remarks, we will then open the call to your questions.

Before we begin, it is my responsibility to inform you that this call may involve certain forward-looking statements such as projections of revenue, earnings, and capital structure, as well as statements on the plans and objectives of the company's business. The company's actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statements made today due to factors described in the company's latest Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during the call. Let's begin, Ray.

Thanks, Nichole. Our results for 2025 continue to build on the theme of commercial expertise generating a strong return profile.

The consummation of our purchase of Eastern Michigan Bank on December 31, 2025 represents execution of our strategic objectives around deposit and loan growth and margin stability, paired with strong asset quality and overall financial performance. We continue to demonstrate top quartile ROA performance relative to our peers, built upon the following traits: trait number one, a strong and durable net interest margin.

Over the last five quarters, the SOFR 90-day average rate has dropped 68 basis points, while our margin increased by two basis points to 3.43%. This illustrates effective execution of our strategic objective to maintain a steady margin by matching funding our assets and liabilities and refutes the notion that we have an asset-sensitive balance sheet, despite the relatively large portion of floating rate assets.

Trait number two, very strong asset quality. Past due loans remain at low levels, typical of our company at 11 basis points of total loans.

Non-performing loans to total loans over the last six years averaged 12 basis points. The allowance for credit losses stands at 1.21% of total loans as of December 31, 2025, providing very strong coverage relative to past due and non-performing loan levels.

These numbers demonstrate our long-standing commitment to excellence in underwriting and loan administration. Trait number three, improved on-balance sheet liquidity and loan-to-deposit ratio.

Our loans-to-deposit ratio stands at 91% compared to 98% on December 31, 2024 and 110% on December 31, 2023. Our deposit mix includes 25% non-interest bearing deposits and 24% lower cost deposits and increases from 20% in the prior quarter, which has contributed to the stability of our net interest margin.

Our acquisition of Eastern Michigan Bank contributed positively to these measures. Trait number four, strong deposit and loan compounded annual growth rates.

Our recent focus on deposit growth is not new to our bank. In fact, the last five-year end periods demonstrate a deposit compounded annual growth rate of 9.2%.

Over the same time period, total loans demonstrate a compounded annual growth rate of 8.6%. Loan growth will continue to be impacted by an elevated level of loan payoffs compared to historical norms in the first quarter of 2026.

However, December 31, 2025, commitments to make loans totaled $297 million and commitments to make commercial and residential construction loans totaled $271 million. Each of these represent historically high levels.

We expect that growth for 2026 will fall within the range of previously defined expectations of mid-single digits. Trait number five, continued strong growth in key fee income categories.

Growth in commercial deposit relationships has supported growth in treasury management services, resulting in a 19% increase in service charges on accounts during 2025. Our payroll service offerings continue to report very consistent growth, and the current year's growth of 14% is consistent with prior periods.

Our mortgage team continues to build market share and generate a high portion of saleable loans, contributing to a 6% growth in mortgage banking income compared to the respective 2024 period. Trait number six, stability in commercial loan portfolio mix.

We have maintained discipline in our approach to commercial loan growth, maintaining a 55-45 split between C&I and owner-occupied CRE loans combined with other commercial loan segments and prudent concentration in categories such as office, retail, assisted living, hotel, and automotive exposures. In sum, these traits have allowed us to report a year-over-year EPS growth rate of 11%, a 1.4% return on average assets, and a 14.1% return on average equity for 2025, and an 11% increase in tangible book value per share over the last four quarters.

Additionally, our tangible book value per share compounded annual growth rate of 9%, and five-year earnings per share compounded annual growth rate of 15.1% historically places us in the top of our peer group, our proxy group. We remain excited about our recently completed combination with Eastern Michigan Financial Corporation.

The integration of operations is underway, and the cultures have meshed very well in the early stages of the process. That concludes my remarks.

I will now turn the call over to Chuck.

Thanks, Ray. This morning we announced net income of $22.8 million, or $1.40 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with net income of $19.6 million, or $1.22 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2024.

Net income during all of 2025 totaled $88.8 million, or $5.47 per diluted share, compared to $79.6 million, or $4.93 per diluted share for all of 2024. Growth in net income during both timeframes largely reflected increased net interest income and non-interest income, lower provision expense, and reduced federal income tax expense, which more than offset increased overhead costs.

Interest income on loans declined during the fourth quarter and all of 2025 compared to the prior year periods, reflecting a lower yield on loans that was not fully mitigated by loan growth. Our yield on loans during the fourth quarter of 2025 was 26 basis points lower than the fourth quarter of 2024, largely reflecting the aggregate 75 basis point decrease in the federal funds rate during the last four months of 2025.

Average loans totaled $4.63 billion during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $4.57 billion during the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of $62 million. Interest income on securities increased during the fourth quarter and all of 2025 compared to the prior year periods, reflecting growth in the securities portfolio and the reinvestment of lower-yielding maturing investments.

Interest income on other earning assets, a large portion of which is comprised of funds on deposit with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, declined during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting a lower average yield that more than offset a higher average balance. Interest income on other earning assets increased during all of 2025 compared to all of 2024, reflecting a higher average balance that was partially offset by a lower yield.

In total, interest income was $0.2 million lower and $8.7 million higher during the fourth quarter and all of 2025 compared to the respective prior year periods. Interest expense on deposits decreased during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the prior year period, in large part due to a lower average cost of deposits, reflecting the aforementioned decline in the federal funds rate that more than offset growth in average deposits.

Average deposits totaled $4.83 billion during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to $4.52 billion during the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of $302 million. The cost of deposits was down 32 basis points during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.

Conversely, interest expense on deposits increased during all of 2025 compared to all of 2024. Although the cost of deposits declined 23 basis points, growth in average deposits between the two periods of $483 million resulted in a net increase in interest expense on deposits.

Interest expense on the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis advances declined during the fourth quarter and all of 2025 compared to the prior year periods, reflecting a lower average balance. Interest expense on other borrowed funds declined during the fourth quarter and all of 2025 compared to the prior year periods, largely reflecting lower rates on our trust-preferred securities due to the lower interest rate environment.

In total, interest expense was $2.9 million and $1.3 million lower during the fourth quarter of 2025 and all of 2025 compared to the respective prior year periods. Net interest income increased $2.7 million and $10.0 million during the fourth quarter and all of 2025 compared to the respective prior year time periods.

Impacting our net interest margin over the past couple of years has been our strategic initiative to lower the loan-to-deposit ratio, which generally entails deposit growth exceeding loan growth and using the additional monies to purchase securities. A large portion of deposit growth has been in higher-yielding money market and time deposit products, while the purchase securities provide a lower yield than loan products.

Despite that strategic initiative and the aforementioned decline in the federal funds rate, our quarterly net interest margin has been relatively stable over the past five quarters, ranging from a high of 3.49% to a low of 3.41%, averaging 3.46%. We remain committed to managing our balance sheet in a manner that minimizes the impact of changing interest rate environments on our net interest margin.

Basic funds management practices such as match funding, combined with scheduled maturities of lower-yielding fixed-rate commercial loans and securities and higher-rate time deposits, along with scheduled rate adjustments on our residential mortgage loans, should provide for a relatively stable net interest margin in future periods. Our net interest margin increased two basis points during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.

Our yield on earning assets declined 28 basis points during that time period, largely reflecting the aggregate 75 basis point decline in the federal funds rate during the last four months of 2025, while our cost of funds declined 30 basis points, primarily reflecting lower rates paid on money market and time deposits, which more than offset an increased mix of higher-costing money market and time deposits. While average loans increased $62 million during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, average deposits grew $302 million during the same time period, providing a net surplus of funds totaling $240 million.

We used that net surplus of funds to grow our average securities portfolio by $160 million and reduce our average Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis advances portfolio by $73 million. We recorded a negative provision expense of $0.7 million and a provision expense of $3.2 million during the fourth quarter and all of 2025, respectively, compared to provision expense of $1.5 million and $7.4 million during the respective 2024 periods.

The fourth quarter negative provision expense was primarily comprised of improved economic forecasts and changes in loan mix and reflects relatively low net loan growth due to larger-than-typical commercial loan payoffs. The full-year 2025 provision expense primarily reflected a $1.9 million reserve increase related to changes in the economic forecast, a $1.8 million net increase in specific allocations, driven by a $5.5 million allocation for a commercial construction loan relationship that was placed on non-accrual during the second quarter of 2025, and a $1.5 million net increase in qualitative factors, which were partially offset by a $2.3 million and $1.3 million reduction related to a shorter average duration of the residential mortgage loan portfolio resulting from faster prepayment speeds and changes in our baseline loss rates, respectively.

The reserve balance decreased $0.9 million during the fourth quarter of 2025, reflecting the negative $0.7 million provision expense and net charge-offs, net loan charge-offs of $2.6 million, partially mitigated from a $2.4 million increase associated with the acquisition of Eastern. The reserve balance increased $3.7 million during all of 2025, reflecting provision expense of $3.2 million and a $2.4 million increase associated with the Eastern acquisition, which more than offset net loan charge-offs of $1.9 million.

The reserve balance equaled 1.21% of total loans as of year-end 2025 compared to 1.18% at year-end 2024. Non-interest expenses were $2.9 million and $10.2 million higher during the fourth quarter and all of 2025 compared to the respective prior year time periods.

The increases during both time periods largely reflect higher salary and benefit costs, including annual merit pay increases and market adjustments. Higher data processing costs also comprise a notable portion of the increased non-interest expense levels, primarily reflecting higher transaction volume and software support costs, along with the introduction of new cash management products and services.

Costs associated with the acquisition of Eastern totaled $1.2 million and $1.8 million during the fourth quarter and all of 2025, respectively. Allocations to the reserve for unfunded loan commitment, largely reflecting a sizable increase in the level of committed and accepted commercial loans, increased $1.1 million and $1.6 million during the fourth quarter and all of 2025, compared to the respective prior year time periods.

Despite the increased pre-tax income during the fourth quarter and all of 2025, compared to the respective prior year periods, we were able to reduce our federal income tax expense by $0.4 million and $4.0 million, respectively. The reductions largely reflect the acquisition of transferable energy tax credits during 2025, providing for reductions in federal income tax expense of $1.0 million and $3.5 million during the fourth quarter and all of 2025, respectively.

Our federal income tax expense was further reduced by net benefits associated with our low-income housing and historical tax credit activities, which equaled $0.8 million and $1.8 million during the fourth quarter and all of 2025, respectively. The recording of these tax benefits resulted in fourth quarter and full year 2025 effective tax rates of about 12% and 14%, respectively.

Additional acquisitions of transferable energy tax credits may be made from time to time, subject to our investment policy, tax credit availability, and tax credits derived from our low-income housing and historical tax credit activities. We remain in a strong and well-capitalized regulatory capital position.

Mercantile Bank's total risk-based capital ratio was 13.8% at year-end 2025, $213 million above the minimum threshold to be categorized as well capitalized. Eastern Michigan Bank's total risk-based capital ratio was 15.3% at year-end 2025, $20 million above the minimum threshold to be categorized as well capitalized.

We did not repurchase shares during 2025. We have $6.8 million available in our current repurchase plan.

Our tangible book value per common share continues to grow, up $3.64, or almost 11%, during 2025. On slide 26 of the presentation, we share our latest assumptions on the interest rate environment and key performance metrics for 2026, with the caveat that market conditions remain volatile, making forecasting difficult.

This forecast is predicated on no changes in the federal funds rate during 2026, although we believe our net interest margin will remain relatively stable in a changing interest rate environment, as it did during 2025. We are projecting loan growth in a range of 5% to 7% annualized during each quarter, which encompasses a strong commercial loan pipeline as well as expected meaningful payoffs over the next several months.

We are forecasting our first quarter 2026 net interest margin to increase from the fourth quarter of 2025 net interest margin, in large part reflecting the Eastern acquisition, and further steady increases throughout the year as we benefit from maturing relatively low-yielding fixed-rate commercial real estate loans and investments, along with higher-yielding time deposits. We are projecting a federal tax rate of 17%, which encompasses continued growth in net benefits from our low-income housing and historical tax credit activities, along with additional, but lower levels of transferable energy tax credit investments.

Expected quarterly results for non-interest income and non-interest expense are also provided for your reference. Non-interest expense projections reflect personnel investments that were made in the latter part of 2025 and expected during 2026 to support expansion in Southeast Michigan, as well as support operational areas as we switch core and digital banking providers to enhance the durability, efficiency, and experience for customers and employees.

The non-interest cost projections also include quarterly core deposit intangible amortization of $0.9 million. In closing, we are very pleased with our operating results and financial condition during 2025 and believe we remain well-positioned to continue to successfully navigate through the myriad of challenges and uncertainties faced by all financial institutions.

That concludes my prepared remarks. I'll now turn the call back over to Ray.

Thank you, Chuck. That concludes the prepared remarks from management.

We will now move to the question and answer portion of the call.

Thank you. Good morning, Ray.

Good morning, Chuck.

Good morning, Daniel.

Maybe starting on the margin guidance, Chuck, just for clarification, I just want to make sure you do have the December rate cut in the guidance, and then curious if you could pull out the purchase accounting accretion that's baked into the increase in the first quarter. We talked a lot about stability, even though the forecast or the guidance is going up by about five basis points a quarter next year, ex the rate cuts, but just curious what that core margin forecast is looking like next quarter.

Confirming that we use the rates as of year-end 2025 to put the projections together. The purchase accounting in the loan portfolio is about $125,000 net per quarter.

I believe that's per quarter. There's also, I don't have the numbers, but there's also significant benefit, relatively speaking, from the securities portfolio, as there was a net unrealized loss in that portfolio at the time of consummation.

I would say when you look at Mercantile's legacy margin of low 3.4%, I would expect a relatively steady margin going into 2026. Kind of the difference between, say, the low, maybe touching the mid 3.4s, getting up to 3.55 to 3.65 in the first quarter, a lot of that's reflecting of the Eastern consummation.

Thanks. That's helpful.

Then, I guess in terms of the assumptions baked into the margin guidance after that, the five basis points a quarter expansion, again, ex rate cuts. Are you assuming any kind of change in non-interest-bearing concentration?

If we, I guess there's no cuts in that, but assuming we get a trend down in rates, you guys have been a little bit higher historically from a non-interest-bearing perspective. Are you assuming that in the guidance?

No. The assumption with non-interest balances is what we typically do is we tie any change in that balance to the growth in commercial loans, which is in that 5% to 7%.

I think that's reflective of probably a 6% growth in non-interest balances.

Got it. Okay.

Then lastly, just a clarification on the loan growth. You mentioned the 5% to 7% commercial.

There's, I guess with the offsets and potentially buybacks and any kind of run-offs in other portfolios, the total number, you think closer to 5 next year for loan growth, or is 5 to 7 still the right way to think about it?

No, I think 5 to 7 is the right way to show it. We're showing commercial growth, probably, it's probably in the 6 to 7%.

Then we're expecting residential mortgage portfolio to stay relatively steady.

Okay. All right, great.

All right, thanks for taking all my questions. Appreciate it.

You're very welcome, Denny.

Hey, good morning, folks, hope you're doing well.

Hey, man, I

just wanted to dig into the margin and balance sheet impacts of Eastern a little bit more, particularly around their securities portfolio. Just curious, how much liquidity deployment of Eastern Michigan are you baking into that margin outlook, and what does that imply for the overall balance of average earning assets as we move through the year?

I think we're not using all of the excess liquidity that we're gaining from the Eastern. We're definitely using part of that.

I think when you look at our overall numbers, we ended the year, including Eastern, at about a 91% loan-to-deposit ratio. We are expecting that to go up during the year, just based on our overall strategy and what we think is going to take place in the loan portfolio.

We're operating two separate banks, and the way that we're getting, functionally, the way that we're getting that money is Eastern is depositing some of their excess liquidity into Mercantile Bank, certainly keeping more than sufficient funds at the Federal Reserve for their daily liquidity needs as well. We're definitely using part of it, but from a functionality standpoint, it's hard to use all of it until the banks do merge a little over a year from now.

Okay. That's helpful.

One more from me, just changing topics here to Southeast Michigan. I think you mentioned in your prep remarks that there were some team adds in that market late in the year, which impacted expenses.

Just could you offer some color on what you've added to date down there, and then additional appetite for team adds or lift-outs, just given the M&A dislocation we're seeing in Detroit?

This is Ray. We've added a lending team down there that has gotten off to a very nice start, added to our backlog, and we continue to be in the market for more lending talent.

Southeast Michigan is a vast area of opportunity, and adding one team does not come anywhere near covering it. We'd be willing to continue to add the right sorts of people to our team to accomplish our objectives there.

Fantastic. Thanks for taking my questions.

Thanks, Brendan.

Hey, guys, good morning. Thanks for taking the question.

Chuck, on the expense guide, when I look at what Eastern's running at relative to the 4Q level, it doesn't imply that there's cost saves coming through from Eastern relative to the target laid out in the deck from last year. Just curious, is some of those cost saves being reinvested into some of the hires that were just touched on, or can you just unpack if there's any other reinvestments going on?

I think the plan from any cost saves from the Eastern acquisition on the personnel front, we're really going to be kind of later in 2027. By keeping the banks separate, we really needed everybody that was part of Eastern at the time of consummation to stay, in very large regards.

Most of the cost saves, or the cost saves associated with Eastern, are more of a 2027 event. I think that kind of builds on what we see for 2026, kind of touching on, with the last question and Ray's response in regards to expanding our presence in Southeast Michigan.

The people that we hired in the latter part of last year, obviously continuing for a full year this year, our desire to hire additional folks there, that's a lot of investment, and we expect, solid loan growth in that market, but clearly that will come down the road. There'll be some investment impact there.

We'll definitely look at adding some additional facilities in that market as we grow out that market. I don't really expect any costs from really any significant costs in 2026 associated with that part of the expansion.

That'll be more of a 2027 impact. Then tying that into, which is also tied into the acquisition of Eastern, is our switch on our core processor, which will take place in February of 2027, and there'll be some pretty significant cost saves and just as importantly, some very, very nice efficiencies internally and a better and much higher durability than what we've had with our current setup and a better experience not only for our employees internally but also for our customers.

Everyone call this the year of investment, but clearly what's being reflected in our thoughts for 2026 are those expectations. I still expect a very solid year, but the investments will be there and are laid out in our numbers.

Understood. That's really helpful.

Then Chuck, can you just update us with Eastern in the fold now and some of that excess liquidity deployment that you alluded to earlier, what the sensitivity is around margin to any 25 cut that we would have on the short end?

We think that any changes in the interest rate environment, we think we're pretty well protected from those. As we say all the time, we want to be agnostic with changes in interest rates.

We here firmly don't believe in anything any part of our operation, but also interest rates is that hope is not a strategy. We want to be purposeful in what we do and make sure that we've got the fundamentals and the discipline to manage our balance sheet in a way that if rates go up, down, or don't change, any change in the margin will be, I won't call it nominal, but will be mitigated in large regard.

Clearly we want to work at strengthening the margin on an overall basis without getting away from the tenets of managing through interest rate risk. You see some of that with our projections for the margin for the rest of this year as we unwind some of the balance sheet from investments and loans that were made in a much lower interest rate environment.

On an overall basis, we think our margin is pretty well insulated from changes in interest rates.

Gotcha. On that last point, Chuck, and looking at slide 19, can you update us just in terms of the rate repricing of the two, in terms of how much of that reprices over the next four quarters or so?

Which part? I was looking for the page and I missed the question.

The 2 billion in asset repricing on the bottom of slide 19. How much of that reprices over the next four quarters?

I would say probably about a third of it over the next year. I think what's most important in that number is when you look at the existing yields on those assets this year and next year, there's a lot of repricing opportunities.

We had the same last year, and that carries forward this year and into next year as well. The assets that are fixed rate that will mature in 2028 and beyond are more likened to current rates.

Great. I appreciate the color.

Thanks, guys.

You're very welcome.

Hey, good morning, guys. Hope you're doing well and thanks for taking my questions.

First question just on the loan growth outlook. Fourth quarter was, on an organic basis, pretty modest.

Just talk a little bit about what's giving you the optimism to kind of have that 5 to 7 percent for an annualized number in 2026. Is it more a function of the pay down slowing, or is it more that the appetite from customers is moving higher?

Damon, this is Ray. The level of funding that we've had over that period of time that you referenced has been pretty solid, and as you referenced, the payoffs were high in the fourth quarter, and we expect that to continue to be true in the first quarter, but the backlog is at almost a historically high level.

If we don't hit exactly in the first quarter what we project, we'll make that up in quarters after that. We feel really comfortable with our ability to be able to originate loans.

The payoffs have been high for the last five quarters, actually, and we expect that to settle down later in the year and so overall feel pretty comfortable that we'll be able to hit that number.

Got it. That's helpful.

Thank you. Then just update us with your thoughts on capital management.

I know there's a small amount of buybacks left, I think it's 6.8 million, but just curious as to your thoughts with, now that the deal's closed, your capital levels remain very strong, I was wondering what you're thinking about the buyback and any appetite as we go into 2026.

Damon, this is Chuck. I would say our appetite is, I would determine as stronger appetite than we've had over, say, the last 12 to 18 months.

Obviously a lot going on with our company specifically. Everybody sees the markets are in, I'll call it turmoil almost every morning, it seems.

We've been pretty cautious in how we manage capital. I think as we put the Eastern, get that consummated, we see where we're at, we see the comfort with our projections on the earnings side and the continued, which is very important, the continued expectation for strong asset quality.

We look at perhaps getting more into the buyback arena. Clearly the stock price itself and multiples and that will come into play.

I'm not making any promises, but I would say we have a bigger appetite going forward with buybacks than we've had more recently.

Got it. Then just lastly, just to clarify on the Eastern Securities portfolio, did you actually liquidate that and you're reinvesting that, or did you just mark it at the time of close and you carry it at a higher yield now?

It was the latter. It was marked to current market and it's carried at a higher yield.

That duration on that portfolio was relatively short. Provides us for some nice improvement on the margin, especially this year and into next year.

Got it. Great.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome, Damon.

Hey, good morning. Just back to expenses, Chuck, just to be clear.

Your guidance on page 26, minimal cost saves for this year, and then I think you said, but that does include the CDI amortization of roughly $900,000 a quarter. Is that correct?

That is correct. Yep.

Okay. Then I guess as we look to next year, to 2027, I know it's a long way away, but how should, this big picture, how should we think of expenses?

Is it low to mid single-digit growth and then add in some cost saves? Can you just talk about how much you would expect in cost saves next year, either on a percent or dollar basis?

I think the difficulty there is what we do with personnel investments, not only in Southeast Michigan, which Ray mentioned, obviously it's a very big market for us, but other markets as well. There are some cost saves coming from Eastern.

They're not massive relative to the size and the needs that we have over there. We are expecting some meaningful reductions in the data processing area, especially with the new contract with our new provider.

I would say we would like to save some money, but that might be a very nice avenue for us to continue to pay for, if you will, any expansion with personnel and/or facilities, with being able to keep overhead relatively stable, but certainly show some solid growth on the balance sheet side, which would, of course, have the net result a very positive impact on net income. You're right.

It's pretty far out there, but we know there's cost saves coming in 2027. We'll just see how that has to play out.

Clearly, we've always believed that this company has a lot of opportunity to grow for lots of different reasons through its life, and going forward the environment will continue to change. We want to make sure that we're taking advantage of the opportunities that we have, and it maybe gets a little bit lumpy from time to time as we make those investments and as we get those benefits in future periods.

There's a lot of opportunity. We're in solid markets.

We have some great opportunities in the southeast of Michigan and certainly feel very positive about what the future holds.

Okay. Thanks for your thoughts, Chuck.

I appreciate it.

You're welcome.

Thank you for your participation in today's call and for your interest in Mercantile Bank. That concludes today's call.