United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCBI) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Lynn Harton: So, yes, Michael, this is Lynn. So, I would say we’re continuing to be actively engaged in terms of talking to people, building relationships. I feel like we are in the selection set of those people considering selling. So, from that perspective, we’re active in terms of actual transactions. My expectation is not much happens over the next several quarters, really, for the reasons you mentioned. The math is difficult, marks, prices are not what some sellers are expecting. So, I don’t know. I do hear chatter about deals getting announced, but I would personally think that we don’t see that pick up until maybe the middle part of next year or something like that.

Michael Rose: Okay. So, maybe an M&A fill just like a hiring fill has post–.

Lynn Harton: Yes, that’s right. I’m telling our technology team this is the opportunity to drive some of those projects a little quicker than we’ve been doing, which we’re kind of excited about. We’ve got a lot of great things on the path for that.

Michael Rose: Perfect. Maybe just finally for me. I know it’s hard to predict, but the Navitas SBA gains were up a little bit. Just can you kind of describe the environment and what we might be able to expect in terms of loan sales here in the next couple of quarters? Thanks.

Lynn Harton: So, I’ll pass to Rich on the SBA gains and we’ll talk about that. I’ll follow-up on the Navitas ones.

Rich Bradshaw: Sure. The SBA, it’s timely because we sold SBA loans yesterday. And I would say the market was a little bit up. So, I feel good about that. It’s kind of a countercyclical product. And one of the things I wanted to mention in this call today is looking at that first of all, order fully staffed in that which is rare because there’s always a lot of demand for that product and people. But we are anticipating that that product will be up for us about 25% this year. So, it’s been really good for us and we’re excited about that.

Lynn Harton: And I’ll add in that third quarter is usually a little bit seasonally stronger than second for SBA gains. So, I don’t know, flat to higher maybe on the SBA side. No, I think it would be up because our inventory will be up too with regards to the 25% greater production and the market for Navitas loan seem stable. So, I would expect that to be relatively flat. So, the category together I would expect to be slightly higher in third and fourth quarter, just following seasonality and the volumes that we’re seeing.

Michael Rose: Thanks for taking my questions guys.

Lynn Harton: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Kevin Fitzsimmons of D.A. Davidson.

Lynn Harton: Hi, Kevin.

Kevin Fitzsimmons: Hey, good morning, everyone. Maybe just start out on your comments about manufactured housing, I’m just curious whether that — just the line of thinking, is it something that you see out there in the environment or in terms of the economy or if the economy was perfect right now, would just not be a fit or is it a combination of — thanks.

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