National Bank (NYSE:NBHC) executives used the company’s fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter earnings call to outline what they described as a “noisy” quarter driven by acquisition-related items, balance-sheet actions, and credit clean-up efforts, while emphasizing improved capital levels, tangible book value growth, and forward guidance that incorporates the recently closed Vista Bank acquisition.
Management highlights and the Vista acquisition
Chairman and CEO Tim Laney said the company closed the Vista Bank acquisition earlier in the month and welcomed new team members. Laney characterized the fourth quarter as “noisy,” citing one-time acquisition costs, a strategic sale of securities, and actions taken to resolve remaining problem loans. He said the goal was to enter 2026 with a “clean slate” and renewed focus on profitable growth.
Fourth-quarter results: one-time items and credit actions
Chief Financial Officer Nicole Van Denabeele said fourth-quarter results reflected elevated provision expense and one-time items, including:
- $4.1 million in after-tax acquisition costs
- A $2.6 million after-tax loss on the strategic sale of investment securities
Van Denabeele said the securities sale was executed to remain below $10 billion in assets at year-end, which she said would preserve approximately $10 million in interchange income for one more year.
Excluding one-time items, Van Denabeele reported fourth-quarter net income of $22.7 million, or $0.60 in earnings per diluted share. She also said the company addressed a “specific set of problem loans” during the quarter, resulting in $9.1 million of provision expense related to charge-offs and specific reserves.
In the Q&A, Laney said the company decided to address problem credits aggressively rather than let them linger, even though doing so was “painful” in the fourth quarter. He did not provide additional detail on the specific loan categories, but referenced that the company had been working through a limited number of relationships that had not resolved as expected through the judicial process.
Full-year 2025 performance and balance-sheet positioning
On an adjusted basis, Van Denabeele said 2025 net income totaled $117.6 million, or $3.06 per diluted share, with return on tangible assets of 1.3% and return on tangible common equity of 12.2%. She said the company grew tangible book value by 10% and delivered a full-year net interest margin of 3.94%.
Van Denabeele said the company generated $1.6 billion of new loan originations during 2025, executed share buybacks, and ended the year with strong capital ratios, including:
- Tangible common equity (TCE) ratio: 11%
- Tier 1 leverage ratio: 11.6%
- Common equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio: 14.9%
On credit, she said the non-performing asset ratio improved 11 basis points during 2025 to end the year at 36 basis points of total loans, and the criticized loan ratio improved 73 basis points. Net charge-offs were 34 basis points of loans for the year, and the allowance to total loans ratio ended the year at 1.18%. She also noted $16.8 million of marks against the acquired loan portfolio as of Dec. 31, and said marks from Vista’s loans would be added during the first quarter.
2026 outlook: growth, margin, expenses, and earnings targets
Management’s 2026 guidance reflected the combined organization and excluded any future Federal Reserve rate decisions. Van Denabeele said the company begins the year with a combined loan portfolio of approximately $9.4 billion and is projecting approximately 10% loan growth in 2026. At closing, Vista added roughly $2.4 billion of earning assets, and the company projects earning asset growth of 7% to 10% for 2026 as it optimizes cash and investment portfolio mix.
Van Denabeele said the company’s goal is to hold about 15% of total assets in cash and investments and maintain a loan-to-deposit ratio of roughly 90%.
On margin, she said fourth-quarter fully taxable equivalent net interest margin was 3.89%, impacted by variable-rate loans repricing ahead of rate cuts and a lag effect in deposit costs. She said most of that lag has worked through the balance sheet and that December margin returned to 3.97%, adding that Vista’s December margin was 4%. Based on that, she projected a 2026 fully taxable equivalent margin “right around 4%,” excluding future rate moves. In the Q&A, Van Denabeele also said there were no interest reversals in the fourth quarter and that the loans worked through were already on nonaccrual.
For non-interest items, Van Denabeele said fourth-quarter non-interest income was $14.4 million and included $3.3 million in pre-tax securities losses. For 2026, she projected non-interest income of $75 million to $80 million.
Fourth-quarter non-interest expense was $72.4 million, including $5.4 million of acquisition costs, while full-year non-interest expense was $265 million, including $7.2 million in acquisition costs and $22 million related to 2UniFi. For 2026, she guided to non-interest expense of $320 million to $330 million, reflecting a full year of Vista expenses. She also said expenses are expected to be higher in the first half of the year ($165 million to $170 million) and lower in the back half due to cost savings and operational efficiencies after system integration.
Van Denabeele said the company expects to incur one-time expenses tied to acquisition and rebranding and noted it “may recognize CECL day one provision expense,” depending on final purchase accounting.
On taxes, she said the 2025 effective tax rate was 18% and is expected to be about 20% in 2026 due to the mix of taxable versus non-taxable income after Vista’s integration. She projected a 2026 share count of 45.8 million shares due to Vista-related share issuance.
Looking further out, Van Denabeele said the company believes it is positioned to deliver earnings in excess of $1 per share in the fourth quarter of 2026, “which sets the stage” for full-year earnings exceeding $4 per share in 2027. In the Q&A, she confirmed those targets alongside the 2026 loan-growth and margin outlook.
2UniFi progress, spending, and partnership discussions
Executives described 2026 as a transition year for 2UniFi, shifting from build-out to client activation and revenue growth. Van Denabeele guided to $2 million to $4 million of 2UniFi revenue contribution in 2026, included in fee income guidance. She said 2UniFi expense is expected to be flat year over year at $22 million, even with a full year of capitalized asset depreciation, which she said would represent about half of 2026’s 2UniFi expense—implying a “significantly lower” cash spend.
Chief Enterprise Technology Officer John Finn said the platform launched an SBA working capital loan integrated with its deposit account offering and described product features such as a “Digital Passport” intended to streamline onboarding. Finn also cited technology partners supporting the platform, including Finxact, Savana, Visa, and Marqeta, and referenced the use of Snowflake and Microsoft Azure for data architecture.
Laney said management is focused on establishing a partnership in 2026 that could “meaningfully reduce” NBH’s 2UniFi investment run rate. In response to analyst questions, Laney said partnership timing had taken longer than previously anticipated and added that removing some or all 2UniFi expenses from NBH’s income statement would be a meaningful upside, though he said it was too early to provide definitive 2027 targets for 2UniFi economics. Van Denabeele said potential partnership impacts were not included in 2026 guidance.
In the Q&A, management also said 2UniFi generated some revenue in the fourth quarter, but it was “not meaningful.”
Separately, Laney said the company announced a $100 million share repurchase authorization and described buybacks as a priority.
About National Bank (NYSE:NBHC)
National Bank Holdings Corporation (NYSE: NBHC) is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Through its network of community bank subsidiaries, the company provides deposit, lending and payment solutions to consumer, small business and commercial clients across multiple U.S. markets.
Since its founding in 1992, National Bank Holdings has pursued a growth strategy focused on acquiring and integrating locally branded community banks. Its footprint spans the Midwest and Southern United States, including Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Illinois and Tennessee.
