Allegiance Bancshares, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2020 September (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED September 30, 2020

OR

FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM              TO

COMMISSION FILE NUMBER: 001-37585

Allegiance Bancshares, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

8847 West Sam Houston Parkway, N., Suite 200

Houston, Texas 77040

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(281) 894-3200

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:  None

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒   No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No   ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).      Yes  ☐    No  ☒

As of November 3, 2020, the registrant had 20,447,510 shares common stock, $1.00 par value per share, outstanding.

ALLEGIANCE BANCSHARES, INC.

INDEX TO FORM 10-Q

September 30, 2020

2

Table of Contents

PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 1. INTERIM CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

ALLEGIANCE BANCSHARES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(Unaudited)

See condensed notes to interim consolidated financial statements.

3

Table of Contents

ALLEGIANCE BANCSHARES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(Unaudited)

See condensed notes to interim consolidated financial statements.

4

Table of Contents

ALLEGIANCE BANCSHARES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(Unaudited)

See condensed notes to interim consolidated financial statements.

5

Table of Contents

ALLEGIANCE BANCSHARES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(Unaudited)

See condensed notes to interim consolidated financial statements.

6

Table of Contents

ALLEGIANCE BANCSHARES, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Unaudited)

See condensed notes to interim consolidated financial statements.

7

Table of Contents

ALLEGIANCE BANCSHARES, INC.

CONDENSED NOTES TO INTERIM CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

September 30, 2020

(Unaudited)

1. NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING POLICIES

Nature of Operations-Allegiance Bancshares, Inc. (“Allegiance”) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Allegiance Bank, (the “Bank”, and together with Allegiance, collectively referred to as the “Company”) provide commercial and retail loans and commercial banking services. The Company derives substantially all of its revenues and income from the operation of the Bank. The Company is focused on delivering a wide variety of relationship-driven commercial banking products and community-oriented services tailored to meet the needs of small to medium-sized businesses, professionals and individual customers.  The Company operated 28 full-service bank offices in the Houston region, which it defines as the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan statistical areas, with 27 bank offices in the Houston metropolitan area and one bank office location in Beaumont, just outside of the Houston metropolitan area as of September 30, 2020. The Bank provides its customers with a variety of banking services including checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, and its primary lending products are commercial, personal, automobile, mortgage and home improvement loans. The Bank also offers safe deposit boxes, automated teller machines, drive-through services and 24-hour depository facilities.

Basis of Presentation-The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") for interim financial information and in accordance with guidance provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, the condensed consolidated financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Company on a consolidated basis, and all such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. Transactions between the Company and the Bank have been eliminated. The condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019. Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2020.

Impact of COVID-19

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted global supply chains and increased unemployment levels. The resulting temporary closure or limited service capacity of many businesses and the implementation of social distancing and sheltering-in-place policies has and may continue to impact many of the Company’s customers. While the full effects of the pandemic remain unknown, the Company is committed to supporting its customers, employees and communities during this difficult time. The Company has given hardship relief assistance to customers, including the consideration of various loan payment deferral and fee waiver options, and encourages customers to reach out for assistance to support their individual circumstances.

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed by the President of the United States. Certain provisions within the CARES Act encourage financial institutions to practice prudent efforts to work with borrowers impacted by COVID-19. Under these provisions, modifications deemed to be COVID-19-related would not be considered a troubled debt restructuring (“TDR”) if the loan was not more than 30 days past due as of December 31, 2019 and the deferral was executed between March 1, 2020 and the earlier of 60 days after the date of termination of the COVID-19 national emergency or December 31, 2020. The banking regulators issued similar guidance, which also clarified that a COVID-19-related modification should not be considered a TDR if the borrower was current on payments at the time the underlying loan modification program was implemented and if the modification is considered to be short-term.

For loans subject to the deferral program, each borrower is required to begin making their regularly scheduled loan payment at the end of the deferral period and the deferred amounts were generally moved to the end of the loan. Under these terms, during the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company granted 2,007 initial principal and interest deferrals on outstanding loan balances of $1.15 billion at September 30, 2020 with associated accrued interest of $16.1 million. Additionally, upon request and after meeting certain conditions, borrowers could be granted additional payment deferrals subsequent to the first deferral. Of the initial deferrals, 242 loans with outstanding loan balances of $219.6 million with associated accrued interest of $3.4 million, as of September

8

Table of Contents

30, 2020 had been granted additional deferrals. These deferrals were generally no more than 90 days in duration. As of September 30, 2020, 286 loans with outstanding loan balances of $237.0 million remained on deferral.

Additionally, the Bank is a lender for the Small Business Administration's (“SBA”) Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP"), a program under the CARES Act, and other SBA, Federal Reserve or United States Treasury programs that have been created in response to the pandemic and may be a lender for programs created in the future. These programs are new and their effects on the Company’s business are uncertain. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had funded 6,334 PPP loans totaling $710.2 million under the allocation approved by Congress.

The Company identified several loan portfolio categories that it considered to be most “at-risk” from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as, oil and gas, hotel, and restaurants and bars with outstanding loan balances, excluding PPP loans, of $74.0 million, $133.8 million and $117.1 million at September 30, 2020, respectively.  The Company’s exposure to the oil and gas industry was less than 2.0% of total loans at September 30, 2020 and it does not participate in exploration and production or reserve-based lending; however, the industry is vital to the Houston region and the indirect effects could be significant. The Company considers these “at-risk” portfolios to be the most vulnerable to financial difficulties and risks from business disruptions caused by the pandemic spread mitigation efforts. Due to the uncertainty in the economy and potential impacts from unemployment as a result of COVID-19 and the volatility of crude oil prices, the impact could extend to the Company’s securities portfolio, income taxes, other real estate owned and goodwill and intangibles among other items, although the impact is dependent on future events which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company initiated an enhanced customer outreach effort to re-evaluate its loan grades assigned to its commercial loan portfolio during the third quarter of 2020, the results of which are reflected in the financial statement disclosures for this quarter. Effects as a result of the pandemic may continue, potentially resulting in further downgrades and additional loans being identified.

In a period of economic contraction, additional loan losses and lost interest income may occur, either in the industries previously noted or others to which the Company has exposure.  The Company continues to accrue interest on loans modified under the new accounting standards. To the extent those borrowers are unable to resume normal contractual payments, the Company could experience additional losses of principal and interest.

Significant Accounting and Reporting Policies

The Company’s significant accounting and reporting policies can be found in Note 1 of the Company’s annual financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

Derivative Instruments — In accordance with ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging”, derivative instruments are recorded on the accompanying consolidated balance sheet at their respective fair values. The accounting for changes in fair value (i.e., gains or losses) of a derivative instrument depends on whether it has been designated and qualifies as part of a hedging relationship. If the derivative instrument is not designated as a hedge, changes in the fair value of the derivative instrument are recognized in earnings in the period of change. The derivative is carried on the balance sheet in other liabilities. The Company’s derivative contract has been designated as a hedge and, as such, changes in the fair value of the derivative instrument are recorded in other comprehensive income. The Company prepared written hedge documentation for the derivative that is designated as a hedge. The written hedge documentation includes identification of, among other items, the risk management objective, hedging instrument, hedged item and methodologies for assessing and measuring hedge effectiveness and ineffectiveness, along with support for management's assertion that the hedge will be effective.

For the designated hedging relationship, the Company performs retrospective and prospective effectiveness testing using quantitative methods where required by accounting standards. For the hedging relationship, effectiveness is tested through the matching of critical terms. Assessments of hedge effectiveness and measurements of hedge ineffectiveness are performed at least quarterly. The portion of the changes in the fair value of a derivative that is effective and that has been designated and qualifies as a cash flow hedge is initially recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income and will be reclassified to earnings in the same period that the hedged item impacts earnings; any ineffective portion is recorded in current period earnings. The derivative is carried at fair value based on the Company’s pricing model that utilizes observable market inputs and is reflected within Level 2 of the valuation hierarchy.

9

Table of Contents

New Accounting Standards

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

ASC 310-40, “Receivables – Troubled Debt Restructurings by Creditors,” (“ASC 310-40”), a restructuring of debt constitutes a troubled debt restructuring (“TDR”) if the creditor, for economic or legal reasons related to the debtor’s financial difficulties, grants a concession to the debtor that it would not otherwise consider. In response to COVID-19, new GAAP guidance was issued whereby, subject to certain restrictions, loan modifications may not be subject to classification as TDRs. Upon request and after meeting certain conditions, borrowers could be granted additional payment deferrals subsequent to the first deferral. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company granted 2,007 initial principal and interest deferrals on outstanding loan balances of $1.15 billion, as of September 30, 2020. Of the initial deferrals, 242 loans with outstanding loan balances of $219.6 million had been granted additional deferrals upon request and after meeting certain conditions, as of September 30, 2020. As of September 30, 2020, 286 loans with outstanding loan balances of $237.0 million remained on deferral.

ASU 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820). – Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement.” ASU 2018-13 modifies the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820. The amendments in ASU 2018-13 remove disclosures that no longer are considered cost beneficial, modify/clarify the specific requirements of certain disclosures and add disclosure requirements identified as relevant. ASU 2018-13 became effective for the Company on January 1, 2020 and did not have a significant impact on the Company’s financial statements.

ASU No. 2017-04, “Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment,” ASU 2017-04 eliminates Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test which required entities to compute the implied fair value of goodwill. Under ASU 2017-04, an entity should perform its annual, or interim, goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. An entity should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value; however, the loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. The amendments in this update are effective for the Company’s annual goodwill impairment tests beginning in 2020.  The amendments are applied on a prospective basis and the impact from the accounting guidance is highly dependent on changes in financial markets and future events.  The Company will monitor indicators of goodwill impairment on a quarterly basis and will record impairment if it is determined to have occurred.

ASU 2017-08, “Receivables - Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20) - Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities.” ASU 2017-08 shortens the amortization period for certain callable debt securities held at a premium to require such premiums to be amortized to the earliest call date unless applicable guidance related to certain pools of securities is applied to consider estimated prepayments. Under prior guidance, entities were generally required to amortize premiums on individual, non-pooled callable debt securities as a yield adjustment over the contractual life of the security. ASU 2017-08 does not change the accounting for callable debt securities held at a discount. ASU 2017-08 became effective for the Company on January 1, 2019.  Upon adoption, the Company recognized a cumulative effect reduction in retained earnings totaling $1.7 million.

Newly Issued But Not Yet Effective Accounting Standards

ASU 2020-04, “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting.”  In March 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2020-04, which provides temporary optional guidance to ease the potential burden in accounting for reference rate reform. ASU 2020-04 provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to contract modifications and hedging relationships, subject to meeting certain criteria, that reference LIBOR or another reference rate expected to be discontinued. It is intended to help stakeholders during the global market-wide reference rate transition period. The guidance is effective for all entities as of March 12, 2020 through December 31, 2022. The Company is implementing a transition plan to identify and modify its loans and other financial instruments, including certain indebtedness, with attributes that are either directly or indirectly influenced by LIBOR. The Company is assessing ASU 2020-04 and its impact on the transition away from LIBOR for its loan and other financial instruments.

10

Table of Contents

ASU 2016-13, “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments.” Among other things, ASU 2016-13 (“CECL”) requires the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions and reasonable and supportable forecasts. Financial institutions and other organizations will now use forward-looking information to better form their credit loss estimates. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. In addition, CECL amends the accounting for credit losses on available for sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. CECL became effective for the Company on January 1, 2020 using the modified retrospective approach; however, the CARES Act includes an option for entities to delay the implementation of ASU 2016-13 until the earlier of the termination date of the national emergency declaration by the President or December 31, 2020. The Company expects to adopt CECL as of January 1, 2020 after the deferral period ends. Due to the uncertainty of the impact of COVID-19 and the volatility of crude oil prices, which can be impactful to the Houston market, the Company has delayed its implementation of CECL and has calculated and recorded its provision for loan losses under the incurred loss model that existed prior to ASU 2016-13. The Company will continue to perform and enhance CECL model operations parallel with the incurred loss model throughout 2020, or until adoption.

ASU 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes” to simplify various aspects of the current guidance to promote consistent application of the standard among reporting entities by moving certain exceptions to the general principles. The amendment is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. ASU 2019-12 will be become effective for the Company on January 1, 2021 and is not expected to have a significant impact on the Company’s financial statements.

2. ACQUISITIONS

Acquisitions are accounted for using the acquisition method of accounting. Accordingly, the assets and liabilities of an acquired entity are recorded at their fair value at the acquisition date. The excess of the purchase price over the estimated fair value of the net assets is recorded as goodwill. The results of operations for an acquisition have been included in the Company’s consolidated financial results beginning on the respective acquisition date.

The measurement period for the Company to determine the fair values of acquired identifiable assets and assumed liabilities will end at the earlier of (1) twelve months from the date of the acquisition or (2) as soon as the Company receives the information it was seeking about facts and circumstances that existed as of the acquisition date or learns that more information is not obtainable. The following acquisitions were completed on the dates indicated below:

2018 Acquisition

Acquisition of Post Oak Bancshares, Inc.—On October 1, 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of Post Oak Bancshares, Inc. (“Post Oak”) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Post Oak Bank, N.A. headquartered in Houston, Texas. Post Oak operated thirteen bank offices, twelve located throughout the greater Houston metropolitan area and one in Beaumont, just outside of the Houston metropolitan area. The Company acquired Post Oak to further expand its Houston, Texas area market. Goodwill resulted from a combination of expected operational synergies and an enhanced branching network. Goodwill is not expected to be deductible for tax purposes.

Pursuant to the merger agreement, the Company issued 8,402,010 shares of Company common stock for all outstanding shares of Post Oak common stock and paid $21 thousand in cash for any fractional shares held by Post Oak shareholders. Additionally, all outstanding Post Oak options were assumed by Allegiance and converted using the 0.7017 exchange ratio to 299,352 options at a weighted average exercise price of $12.83 per option. Based on the $41.70 per share closing price of Allegiance common stock on September 28, 2018, the total transaction value was approximately $359.0 million.  The acquisition was accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations. The Company recognized goodwill of $183.7 million which is calculated as the excess of both the consideration exchanged and liabilities assumed as compared to the fair value of identifiable assets acquired, none of which is expected to be deductible for tax purposes. The intangible assets recognized in the transaction are amortized utilizing an accelerated method over their ten year estimated useful lives.

11

Table of Contents

As of September 30, 2019, the Company finalized its valuation of all assets and liabilities acquired.  A summary of the purchase price allocation is as follows (in thousands):

The fair value of net assets acquired includes fair value adjustments to certain acquired loans that were not considered impaired as of the acquisition date. The fair value adjustments were determined using discounted contractual cash flows. The following presents details of all loans acquired as of October 1, 2018:

In connection with the Post Oak acquisition, the Company acquired loans both with and without evidence of credit quality deterioration since origination. The acquired loans were initially recorded at fair value with no carryover of any allowance for loan losses. Acquired loans were segregated between those considered to be purchased credit impaired (“PCI”) loans and those without credit impairment at acquisition.

The Company incurred approximately $1.7 million and $1.3 million of pre-tax acquisition and merger-related expenses reflected on the Company’s income statement during the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, related to the Post Oak acquisition.

12

Table of Contents

2019 Acquisition

Acquisition of LoweryBank Branch—On February 1, 2019, the Bank completed the acquisition of LoweryBank, the Sugar Land location of Huntington State Bank. The Bank paid $32.9 million in cash to acquire certain assets which included approximately $45.0 million in loans and assumed approximately $16.0 million in customer deposits. The Bank consolidated its existing Sugar Land bank office into this new bank office location, which was less than one mile away. The acquisition of LoweryBank was accounted for under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with ASC Topic 805, Business Combinations.  The Company recognized goodwill of $578 thousand which is calculated as the excess of both the consideration exchanged and liabilities assumed as compared to the fair value of identifiable assets acquired, which is expected to be deductible for tax purposes. Income and expense generated from acquired assets and liabilities assumed would not have a material impact; therefore, proforma numbers are not presented.

3. GOODWILL AND CORE DEPOSIT INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Changes in the carrying amount of the Company’s goodwill and core deposit intangible assets were as follows:

Goodwill is recorded on the acquisition date of an entity. During the measurement period, the Company may record subsequent adjustments to goodwill for provisional amounts recorded at the acquisition date. There was a $61 thousand measurement period adjustment recorded during the first quarter 2019 related to the Post Oak Bank acquisition.

The Company performs its annual evaluation of goodwill impairment of Allegiance Bancshares, Inc., the sole reporting unit, in the fourth quarter of each year and on an interim basis if events or changes in circumstances between annual tests suggest additional testing may be warranted to determine if goodwill might be impaired. The Company has one reporting unit. Due to the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have on the economy and the movement of the Company’s stock price, the Company performed a quantitative goodwill impairment analysis and determined that goodwill was not impaired as of September 30, 2020. If adverse economic conditions or declines in the Company’s stock price are sustained, further quantitative and qualitative analysis could result in an impairment charge being recorded for that period. In the event that the Company concludes that all or a portion of its goodwill is impaired, a non-cash charge for the amount of such impairment would be recorded to earnings. However, such a charge would not have an impact on the Company’s liquidity, operations or regulatory capital.

The estimated aggregate future amortization expense for core deposit intangible assets remaining as of September 30, 2020 is as follows (dollars in thousands):

13

Table of Contents

4. SECURITIES

The amortized cost and fair value of investment securities were as follows:

As of September 30, 2020, the Company’s management did not expect to sell any securities classified as available for sale with material unrealized losses, and the Company believes it is more likely than not it will not be required to sell any of these securities before their anticipated recovery, at which time the Company will receive full value for the securities. The fair value is expected to recover as the securities approach their maturity date or repricing date or if market yields for such investments decline. Management does not believe any of the securities are impaired due to reasons of credit quality. Accordingly, as of September 30, 2020, management believed the unrealized losses in the previous table are temporary and no other than temporary impairment loss has been realized in the Company’s consolidated statements of income.

The amortized cost and fair value of investment securities at September 30, 2020, by contractual maturity, are shown below. Expected maturities may differ from contractual maturities if borrowers have the right to call or prepay obligations at any time with or without call or prepayment penalties.

14

Table of Contents

Securities with unrealized losses segregated by length of time such securities have been in a continuous loss position are as follows: