Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAN) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

David Bishop: Yes. Just a couple of follow-ups. Heath, you noted, obviously, the addition of Kyle this quarter to jump start the efforts in Northern Florida. I did see sort of the lagging pretax profitability on the Alabama OPL. Did that — could that potentially augment some of the efforts you’re doing, just given sort of the proximity on a geographic basis? And then remind us on the Marine/RV lending, was that — are those being generated for a portfolio? Or you tend to sort of group those every couple of quarters for bulk sale? Thanks.

Heath Fountain: Yes. So first on Florida, we did — our goal there was to start up that effort with a — in a cost-neutral manner. And so you do see areas continue to improve their profitability. We’ve had a reduction in some other areas that help offset the increased expense there. And so we don’t expect that to be a large net drag. Then remind me the — Marine/RV. So our goal, we have not sold any to date, but our goal is, as we build that portfolio up and season some of that, that we will have periodic sales of loans. And so we do think there’s an opportunity to generate revenue from that, that you haven’t seen in our operation yet. We have portfolio of everything thus far.

David Bishop: Got it. And then, Derek, I think if I heard you, obviously, you’ve been leaning on expenses here, but we should expect some sort of inflationary pressure into the first quarter and then to 2024 as FICA takes hold and annual compensation rates take effect. Did I hear you correct?

Derek Shelnutt: That’s right. And so kind of where we’ve landed on our forecast is around that $20 million quarter mark, which is going to be higher than this past quarter. And again, it just goes back to some of those increases that we know are coming in this first quarter, and so that will cause that to go up a little bit.

David Bishop: Great. Appreciate all the call this morning.

Derek Shelnutt: Thank you.

Operator: Presenters, there are no further questions at this time. Please proceed with your closing remarks.

Heath Fountain: All right. Well, we appreciate everybody being on the call today. Thanks, again, for your support of Colony Bancorp, and that concludes our call.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for joining, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.