Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. Announces Another Record Quarter

• Another record quarter with net income of $42 million for third quarter 2025, compared to net income of $36 million in prior quarter, and net income of $33 million for third quarter 2024
• Quarterly net interest margin of 3.86%, an increase of 14 bps over the prior quarter
• Exceptional quarter-over-quarter core deposit growth of $223 million (13% annualized)
• Repurchased 155,393 common shares for $21 million during third quarter 2025

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE:NIC) ("Nicolet") announced another record quarter with net income of $42 million for third quarter 2025 and earnings per diluted common share of $2.73, compared to net income of $36 million and earnings per diluted common share of $2.34 for second quarter 2025, and net income of $33 million and earnings per diluted common share of $2.10 for third quarter 2024.

"I must admit, I got a bit nostalgic thinking about what I would say in this press release," said Mike Daniels, Chairman, President, and CEO of Nicolet. "Nicolet's 25th anniversary is November 1st, and I still vividly remember sitting in my basement discussing what Nicolet should look like with my co-founder. When we were younger, we learned that banking should be about relationships and mattering to your customers and communities. I think the smartest thing we did was to make Nicolet a reflection of what we believed, and what we knew worked. In a way, Nicolet is a 25-year case study that shows that working hard to create shared success between customers, communities, and employees creates positive if not superior shareholder results. That philosophy ran counter to the industry 25 years ago and still does to a degree today. We didn't set out to be contrarian. We set out to be ourselves."

"We just produced some of the best quarterly financial metrics in our history, with a Return on Average Assets and Return on Average Tangible Common Equity that should easily put us in the top decile of banks in the country," Daniels continued. "The off-the-charts results we are reporting today are directly related to the hard work of our employees, customers, and communities, all striving to do the right thing for one another. I feel like we have significant momentum right now, which leads to my continued optimism for Nicolet as a top-tier community bank, as well as community banking in general."

Balance Sheet Review

At September 30, 2025, period end assets were $9.0 billion, an increase of $99 million from June 30, 2025, mostly from higher cash balances and loan growth. Total loans increased $36 million from June 30, 2025 (mostly in construction and agricultural loans), while total deposits of $7.6 billion at September 30, 2025, increased $70 million from June 30, 2025, including a $223 million increase in customer (core) deposits, partly offset by a $153 million decrease in brokered deposits. Total capital was $1.2 billion at September 30, 2025, an increase of $25 million over June 30, 2025, with record earnings and favorable movements in the securities portfolio market valuation partly offset by common stock repurchases and the quarterly common stock dividend.

Asset Quality

Nonperforming assets were $28 million and represented 0.31% of total assets at September 30, 2025, compared to 0.32% of total assets at June 30, 2025 and 0.31% of total assets at September 30, 2024. The allowance for credit losses-loans was $69 million and represented 1.00% of total loans at September 30, 2025, compared to $68 million (or 1.00% of total loans) at June 30, 2025, and $66 million (or 1.00% of total loans) at September 30, 2024. Asset quality trends remain solid and loan net charge-offs were negligible.

Income Statement Review - Quarter

Net income was $42 million for third quarter 2025, compared to net income of $36 million for second quarter 2025.

Net interest income was $79 million for third quarter 2025, $4 million higher than second quarter 2025, primarily due to one additional earning day in the quarter and a reduction in noncore funding. Interest income increased $3 million between the sequential quarters, while interest expense decreased $1 million. The net interest margin for third quarter 2025 was 3.86%, up 14 bps from 3.72% for second quarter 2025. The yield on interest-earning assets increased 3 bps (to 5.85%), while the cost of interest-bearing liabilities for third quarter 2025 decreased 10 bps (to 2.76%).

Noninterest income of $24 million for third quarter 2025 increased $3 million from second quarter 2025, mostly due to a $1.5 million favorable change in net asset gains from equity security market valuations. Excluding the net asset gains, noninterest income for third quarter increased $1.5 million over the prior quarter, primarily due to a $0.8 million increase in wealth income and $0.7 million higher net mortgage income.

Noninterest expense of $50 million for third quarter 2025 was up slightly from second quarter 2025, and included a $0.3 million increase in personnel expense partly offset by a $0.2 million decrease in non-personnel related expenses. The reduction in non-personnel expenses included seasonally higher business development and marketing expenses more than offset by declines in most remaining noninterest expense categories.

About Nicolet Bankshares, Inc.

Nicolet Bankshares, Inc. is the bank holding company of Nicolet National Bank, a growing, full-service, community bank providing services ranging from commercial, agricultural and consumer banking to wealth management and retirement plan services. Founded in Green Bay in 2000, Nicolet National Bank operates branches primarily in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. More information can be found at www.nicoletbank.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This communication contains non-GAAP financial measures, such as non-GAAP adjusted net income, non-GAAP adjusted earnings per diluted common share, tangible book value per common share, return on average tangible common equity, and tangible common equity to tangible assets. Management believes such measures to be helpful to management, investors and others in understanding Nicolet's results of operations and financial position. When non-GAAP financial measures are used, the comparable GAAP financial measures, as well as the reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to the GAAP financial measures, are provided. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited)" below. The non-GAAP net income measure and related reconciliation provide information useful to investors in understanding the operating performance and trends of Nicolet and also aid investors in comparing Nicolet's financial performance to the financial performance of peer banks. Management considers non-GAAP financial ratios to be critical metrics with which to analyze and evaluate financial condition and capital strengths. While non-GAAP financial measures are frequently used by stakeholders in the evaluation of a company, they have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analyses of results as reported under GAAP.