(Dollars in 000s, except per share data)
Q1-2026
Q4-2025
Q1-2025
Summary Income Statement
Total interest income
$ 142,390
$ 143,634
$ 132,624
Total interest expense
35,274
37,435
39,777
Net interest income
107,116
106,199
92,847
Provision for credit losses
3,083
4,732
1,116
Noninterest income
15,178
(22,479)
12,956
Noninterest expenses
60,218
62,043
57,911
Income tax expense
12,334
1,232
10,370
Net income
$ 46,659
$ 15,713
$ 36,406
Key Metrics
Diluted EPS
$ 1.13
$ 0.38
$ 0.88
Adjusted diluted EPS (1)
1.13
1.19
0.88
Book value per share
40.68
39.89
36.46
Tangible book value per share
29.01
28.23
24.69
ROA
1.48 %
0.49 %
1.21 %
Adjusted ROA (1)
1.48 %
1.54 %
1.21 %
ROCE
11.22 %
3.83 %
10.06 %
Adjusted ROCE (1)
11.22 %
12.01 %
10.06 %
ROTCE
16.05 %
5.80 %
15.54 %
Adjusted ROTCE (1)
16.05 %
17.45 %
15.54 %
NIM
3.67 %
3.58 %
3.25 %
NIM- T/E
3.69 %
3.60 %
3.27 %
Efficiency ratio
49.05 %
73.75 %
54.51 %
Quarterly NCO ratio
0.06 %
0.05 %
0.17 %
ACL ratio
1.42 %
1.42 %
1.49 %
Capital Ratios (2)
Tangible common equity to tangible assets
9.63 %
9.61 %
8.55 %
Common equity tier I capital ratio
14.11 %
14.10 %
14.52 %
Total risk-based capital ratio
16.10 %
16.12 %
16.80 %
(1) Q4-2025 adjusted to exclude impact of securities loss of $43.7 million (after tax $33.6 million). See Appendices D, E, F and G.
(2) March 31, 2026 ratios are preliminary.
First Quarter 2026 Highlights
D-EPS was $1.13 per share for the first quarter of 2026 compared to $0.38 for the linked quarter and $0.88 for the like quarter.
The net interest margin was 3.67% for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, an expansion of 0.09% from the linked quarter and 0.42% from the like quarter.
The efficiency ratio for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 was 49.05%, compared 73.75% for the linked quarter and 54.51% for the like quarter. See Appendix I.
Total loans were $8.8 billion at March 31, 2026, representing an increase of $71.4 million, or 3.3% annualized. Adjusting for the paydown of one larger seasonal loan, loan growth for the quarter was 5.9% annualized.
Total loan yield was 5.58%, down 1 basis point from the linked quarter and up 6 basis points from the like quarter.
The yield on securities increased 5 basis points to 2.74% for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 from 2.69% for the linked quarter.
Total cost of funds decreased 5 basis points to 1.31% for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 from 1.36% for the linked quarter and 1.51% for the like quarter.
Average core deposits were $10.8 billion for the first quarter of 2026, a decrease of $13.2 million from the linked quarter and an increase of $227.6 million for the like quarter. Total cost of deposits was 1.28%, a decrease of 4 basis points from 1.32% for the linked quarter and a decrease of 18 basis points from the like quarter at 1.46%.
Expense management continues to be a focus. Noninterest expenses of $60.2 million represented a $1.8 million decrease from the linked quarter and a $2.3 million increase from the like quarter. The linked quarter decrease was driven by a $1.3 million decrease in Other operating expenses and a $0.9 million decrease in Total personnel expense.
Noninterest-bearing demand deposits were $3.6 billion, representing 33% of total deposits at March 31, 2026. During the first quarter of 2026, period end customer deposits grew $264.0 million.
The loan-to-deposit ratio was 79.9% as of March 31, 2026.
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C., April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- First Bancorp (the "Company") (NASDAQ - FBNC), the parent company of First Bank, reported unaudited first quarter earnings today. The Company announced net income of $46.7 million, or $1.13 diluted earnings per share ("D-EPS"), for the three months ended March 31, 2026 compared to $15.7 million, or $0.38 D-EPS, for the three months ended December 31, 2025 ("linked quarter") and $36.4 million, or $0.88 D-EPS, for the first quarter of 2025 ("like quarter").
The Company continued to enhance net interest income and net interest margin ("NIM") during the first quarter of 2026. The Company recorded net interest income of $107.1 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to $106.2 million for the linked quarter and $92.8 million for the like quarter. NIM for the first quarter of 2026 expanded to 3.67% from 3.58% for the linked quarter and 3.25% for the like quarter.
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.
For the Three Months Ended
YIELD INFORMATION
March 31, 2026
December 31, 2025
March 31, 2025
Yield on loans
5.58 %
5.59 %
5.52 %
Yield on securities
2.74 %
2.69 %
2.28 %
Yield on other earning assets
4.36 %
4.31 %
4.42 %
Yield on total interest-earning assets
4.89 %
4.84 %
4.65 %
Cost of interest-bearing deposits
1.89 %
1.97 %
2.14 %
Cost of borrowings
6.68 %
7.04 %
7.31 %
Cost of total interest-bearing liabilities
1.94 %
2.02 %
2.21 %
Total cost of funds
1.31 %
1.36 %
1.51 %
Cost of total deposits
1.28 %
1.32 %
1.46 %
Net interest margin (1)
3.67 %
3.58 %
3.25 %
Net interest margin - tax-equivalent (2)
3.69 %
3.60 %
3.27 %
Average prime rate
6.75 %
7.02 %
7.50 %
(1) Calculated by dividing annualized net interest income by average earning assets for the period.
(2) Calculated by dividing annualized tax-equivalent net interest income by average earning assets for the period. The tax-equivalent amount reflects the tax benefit that the Company receives related to its tax-exempt loans and securities, which carry interest rates lower than similar taxable investments due to their tax-exempt status. This amount has been computed using the expected tax rate and is reduced by the related nondeductible portion of interest expense.
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 $41.8 million at March 31, 2026, or 0.32% of total assets, up slightly from 0.30% at December 31, 2025 and 0.27% at March 31, 2025.
The following table presents the summary of NPAs and asset quality ratios for each period.
ASSET QUALITY DATA
($ in thousands)
March 31, 2026
December 31, 2025
March 31, 2025
Nonperforming assets
Nonaccrual loans
$ 41,032
$ 36,315
$ 29,081
Accruing loans > 90 days past due
—
—
—
Total nonperforming loans
41,032
36,315
29,081
Foreclosed real estate
740
1,425
4,769
Total nonperforming assets
$ 41,772
$ 37,740
$ 33,850
Asset Quality Ratios
Quarterly net charge-offs to average loans - annualized
0.06 %
0.05 %
0.17 %
Nonperforming loans to total loans
0.47 %
0.42 %
0.36 %
Nonperforming assets to total assets
0.32 %
0.30 %
0.27 %
Allowance for credit losses to total loans
1.42 %
1.42 %
1.49 %
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 $511.5 million, or 4.1%, from a year earlier.
Key period end balance sheet components are presented below.
BALANCES
($ in thousands)
March 31, 2026
December 31, 2025
March 31, 2025
Change 1Q26 vs 4Q25
Change 1Q26 vs 1Q25
Total assets
$ 12,947,734
$ 12,668,339
$ 12,436,245
2.2 %
4.1 %
Loans
8,793,814
8,722,419
8,103,033
0.8 %
8.5 %
Investment securities
2,491,035
2,561,655
2,582,781
(2.8) %
(3.6) %
Total cash and cash equivalents
597,991
309,595
772,441
93.2 %
(22.6) %
Noninterest-bearing deposits
3,596,629
3,486,985
3,476,786
3.1 %
3.4 %
Interest-bearing deposits
7,415,854
7,261,436
7,267,873
2.1 %
2.0 %
Borrowings
74,643
74,569
92,055
0.1 %
(18.9) %
Shareholders' equity
1,682,950
1,654,168
1,508,176
1.7 %
11.6 %
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 $1.4 million. Non-owner occupied office loans are generally in non-metro markets and the ten largest loans in this category represent less than 2% of the total loan portfolio.
The following table presents the period end balance and portfolio percentage by loan category.
LOAN PORTFOLIO
March 31, 2026
December 31, 2025
March 31, 2025
($ in thousands)
Amount
Percentage
Amount
Percentage
Amount
Percentage
Commercial and industrial
$ 1,000,037
11 %
$ 1,046,438
12 %
$ 890,071
11 %
Construction, development & other land loans
821,826
9 %
753,199
9 %
644,439
8 %
Commercial real estate - owner occupied
1,352,473
16 %
1,353,912
15 %
1,233,732
15 %
Commercial real estate - non-owner occupied
2,921,210
33 %
2,843,555
33 %
2,701,746
34 %
Multi-family real estate
545,586
6 %
537,015
6 %
512,958
6 %
Residential 1-4 family real estate
1,717,550
20 %
1,736,453
20 %
1,709,593
21 %
Home equity loans/lines of credit
369,062
4 %
383,652
4 %
341,240
4 %
Consumer loans
66,430
1 %
67,458
1 %
68,115
1 %
Loans, gross
8,794,174
100 %
8,721,682
100 %
8,101,894
100 %
Unamortized net deferred loan fees/(costs)
(360)
737
1,139
Total loans
$ 8,793,814
$ 8,722,419
$ 8,103,033
Total deposits were $11.0 billion at March 31, 2026, an increase of $264.1 million, or 10.0% annualized, from December 31, 2025 and $267.8 million, or 2.5%, from March 31, 2025.
The Company has a diversified and granular deposit base which has remained a stable funding source with noninterest-bearing deposits comprising 33% of total deposits at March 31, 2026. As presented in the table below, our deposit mix has remained relatively consistent.
DEPOSIT PORTFOLIO
March 31, 2026
December 31, 2025
March 31, 2025
($ in thousands)
Amount
Percentage
Amount
Percentage
Amount
Percentage
Noninterest-bearing checking accounts
$ 3,596,629
33 %
$ 3,486,985
32 %
$ 3,476,786
32 %
Interest-bearing checking accounts
1,462,606
13 %
1,420,795
13 %
1,448,377
14 %
Money market accounts
4,631,619
42 %
4,510,356
42 %
4,386,469
41 %
Savings accounts
519,266
5 %
526,643
5 %
539,632
5 %
Other time deposits
489,257
4 %
493,282
5 %
533,723
5 %
Time deposits >$250,000
308,177
3 %
305,473
3 %
349,990
3 %
Total customer deposits
11,007,554
100 %
10,743,534
100 %
10,734,977
100 %
Brokered deposits
4,929
— %
4,887
— %
9,682
— %
Total deposits
$ 11,012,483
100 %
$ 10,748,421
100 %
$ 10,744,659
100 %
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).
CAPITAL RATIOS
March 31, 2026 (estimated)
December 31, 2025
March 31, 2025
Tangible common equity to tangible assets (non-GAAP)
9.63 %
9.61 %
