Bankwell Financial Group Reports Operating Results for the First Quarter, Declares Second Quarter Dividend

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) reported GAAP net income of $6.9 million, or $0.87 per share for the first quarter of 2025, versus $3.0 million, or $0.37 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2024. The Company's Board of Directors declared a $0.20 per share cash dividend, payable May 20, 2025 to shareholders of record on May 9, 2025.

Pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue (PPNR) of $9.4 million, or $1.22 per share, increased 10.7% relative to the fourth quarter of 2024 of $8.5 million, or $1.11 per share.

Discussion of Outlook; Bankwell Financial Group Chief Executive Officer, Christopher R. Gruseke:

"We are happy to announce our first quarter financial results which are consistent with previously announced guidance. Net Interest Margin continues to expand and will continue to do so without further rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Our SBA business has begun to make a growing contribution with gain-on-sale income expected to build over the course of the year. Asset quality improved materially with the successful resolution of two non-performing credits, bringing our non-performing asset ratio down to 83 basis points.

In early April we welcomed two new deposit teams, enabling our expansion into the New York City metro market. We will selectively look to take advantage of market disruptions to add talented professionals to the team.

We are operating in a time of unseen macroeconomic volatility, however, at this time we are reaffirming our financial guidance provided alongside fourth quarter earnings."

Key Points for First Quarter and Bankwell's Outlook

NIM Expansion on Improved Deposit Costs

• Reported net interest margin was 2.81%, up 21 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2024. While 9 basis points improvement is attributable to non-recurring items, reduced deposit costs contributed meaningfully to linked-quarter expansion.
• First quarter cost of deposits of 3.60% down 12 basis points to linked quarter, with a March 2025 rate of 3.52%. The primary driver of the improvement was the repricing of time deposits, with additional benefit realized from modest reductions in non-maturity deposit rates.
• Brokered deposits declined $80.6 million in the first quarter of 2025, with core deposits up $43.4 million, including $27.7 million growth in non-interest bearing deposits.

Credit Improvement Given Nonperforming Assets Dispositions.

• During the first quarter of 2025, the Company sold a $27.1 million multifamily commercial real estate loan on nonperforming status at par value.
• During the first quarter of 2025, the Company sold a property that it had acquired during the fourth quarter of 2024 and held as an Other Real Estate Owned ("OREO") asset. The OREO asset had previously secured a non-performing construction loan. The Company received net proceeds from the sale of such OREO in the amount of $8.3 million.
• As of March 31, 2025, nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets improved to 0.83% compared to 1.88% as of December 31, 2024.

Showing Progress on Several Strategic Initiatives.

• Gains on sale of SBA loans were $442 thousand for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, which represented an average sale price of 110%. The SBA Lending division originated $10 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2025 and continues with positive origination momentum into the second quarter.
• In April, the Company expanded its deposit-gathering capabilities by hiring two deposit teams in the New York City metropolitan area, totaling 7 FTEs. We will balance expansion with continued attention to platform efficiency, and our talent pipeline remains robust.

First Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Pre-Tax, Pre-Provision Net Revenue⁽¹⁾ ("PPNR")

PPNR for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025 was $9.4 million, an increase of 10.7% from $8.5 million recognized for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024.

(1) Non-GAAP Financial Measure, refer to the "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section of this document for additional detail.

• Revenues (net interest income plus noninterest income) for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 were $23.6 million, versus $22.1 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. The increase in revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was mainly attributable to improved funding costs as well as past due interest collected from the disposition of the $27.1 million multifamily commercial real estate nonperforming loan. Additional favorability for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 attributed to growth in gains on sale of SBA loans, which yielded an approximate 10% premium, on average.
• The net interest margin (fully taxable equivalent basis) for the quarters ended March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024 was 2.81% and 2.60%, respectively. The increase in the net interest margin was mainly due to improved funding costs as well as past due interest collected from the disposition of the $27.1 million multifamily commercial real estate nonperforming loan.
• Total non-interest expense of $14.1 million increased 11.8% compared to the fourth quarter which was mainly driven by increase in salaries and employee benefits partially offset by reduced OREO expenses.

Allowance for Credit Losses - Loans ("ACL-Loans")

The ACL-Loans was $29.5 million as of March 31, 2025 compared to $29.0 million as of December 31, 2024. The ACL-Loans as a percentage of total loans was 1.11% as of March 31, 2025 compared to 1.07% as of December 31, 2024.

Provision for credit losses was $0.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2025. Total nonperforming loans decreased $26.9 million to $26.4 million as of March 31, 2025 when compared to the previous quarter. The decrease in nonperforming loans was mainly due to the sale of a $27.1 million multifamily commercial real estate loan in the first quarter of 2025. Nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets decreased to 0.83% at March 31, 2025 from 1.88% at December 31, 2024.

Financial Condition & Capital

Assets totaled $3.2 billion at March 31, 2025, a decrease of $84.6 million, or 2.6% compared to December 31, 2024. Gross loans totaled $2.6 billion at March 31, 2025, a decrease of $61.0 million, or 2.3% compared to December 31, 2024. Deposits totaled $2.8 billion at March 31, 2025, a decrease of $37.1 million, or 1.3% compared to December 31, 2024. Brokered deposits have decreased $80.6 million or 11.4%, when compared to December 31, 2024.

Shareholders' equity totaled $275.2 million as of March 31, 2025, an increase of $4.7 million compared to December 31, 2024, primarily a result of net income of $6.9 million for the year ended March 31, 2025. The increase was partially offset by dividends paid of $1.6 million and share repurchases of $0.9 million.

As of March 31, 2025, the Bank's regulatory capital ratios were all above 'well capitalized' values, with total risk-based capital, common-equity tier 1 capital and leverage ratios at 13.22%, 12.11%, and 10.13%, respectively. The Company repurchased 29,924 shares at a weighted average price of $30.46 per share during the quarter ended March 31, 2025.

We recommend reading this earnings release in conjunction with the First Quarter 2025 Investor Presentation, located at https://investor.mybankwell.com/events-and-presentations/ and included as an exhibit to our April 23, 2025 Current Report on Form 8-K.

Conference Call

Bankwell will host a conference call to discuss the Company's financial results and business outlook on April 24, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. E.T. The call will be accessible by telephone and webcast using https://investor.mybankwell.com/events-and-presentations/. A supplementary slide presentation will be posted to the website prior to the event, and a replay will be available for 12 months following the event.

About Bankwell Financial Group

Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. is the holding company for Bankwell Bank ("Bankwell"), a full-service commercial bank headquartered in New Canaan, CT. Bankwell offers its customers unmatched accessibility, expertise, and responsiveness through a range of commercial financing products including working capital lines of credit, SBA loans, acquisition loans, and commercial mortgages as well as treasury management and deposit services.

For more information about this press release, interested parties may contact Christopher R. Gruseke, Chief Executive Officer or Courtney E. Sacchetti, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bankwell Financial Group at (203) 652-0166 or at [email protected].

For more information, visit www.mybankwell.com.

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements about the Company. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding anticipated future events and can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," and "intend" or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," or "may." Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results include increased competitive pressures, changes in the interest rate environment, general economic conditions or conditions within the banking industry or securities markets, and legislative and regulatory changes that could adversely affect the business in which the Company and its subsidiaries are engaged.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to evaluating the Company's financial performance in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), management may evaluate certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as the efficiency ratio. A computation and reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures used for these purposes is contained in the accompanying Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures tables. We believe that providing certain non-GAAP financial measures provides investors with information useful in understanding our financial performance, our performance trends and financial position. For example, the Company believes that the efficiency ratio is useful in the assessment of financial performance, including noninterest expense control. The Company believes that tangible common equity, tangible assets, tangible common equity to tangible assets, tangible common shareholders' equity, fully diluted tangible book value per common share, operating revenue, efficiency ratio, noninterest expense to average assets, average tangible common equity, annualized return on average tangible common equity, return on average assets, return on average shareholders' equity, pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue, net interest margin, net loan charge-offs as a percentage of average loans, pre-tax, pre-provision net revenue on average assets, and the dividend payout ratio are useful to evaluate the relative strength of the Company's performance and capital position. We utilize these measures for internal planning and forecasting purposes. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for GAAP basis measures and results, and we strongly encourage investors to review our consolidated financial statements in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure.