United Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: UBSI) (“United”), today reported earnings for the fourth quarter and the year of 2021. Earnings for the fourth quarter of 2021 were $73.9 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, as compared to earnings of $92.4 million, or $0.71 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2020. Earnings for the year of 2021 were a record $367.7 million as compared to earnings of $289.0 million for the year of 2020. Earnings per diluted share for the year of 2021 were a record $2.83 as compared to earnings per diluted share of $2.40 for the year of 2020.

Fourth quarter 2021 results produced annualized returns on average assets, average equity and average tangible equity, a non-GAAP measure, of 1.04%, 6.44% and 10.87%, respectively, compared to annualized returns on average assets, average equity, and average tangible equity of 1.41%, 8.51% and 14.72%, respectively, for the fourth quarter of 2020. For the year of 2021, United’s returns on average assets, average equity and average tangible equity were 1.35%, 8.30% and 14.18%, respectively, compared to returns on average assets, average equity, and average tangible equity of 1.20%, 7.30% and 12.90%, respectively, for the year of 2020.

“2021 was one of the most successful years in our Company’s history,” stated Richard M. Adams, United’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. “We achieved record pre-tax earnings of $463 million, increased earnings per diluted share 18%, and outperformed peer profitability. We increased our dividend for the 48^th consecutive year and successfully completed the acquisition of Community Bankers Trust Corporation, the 33^rd acquisition of the current administration.”

On December 3, 2021, United completed its acquisition of Community Bankers Trust Corporation (“Community Bankers Trust”). The results of operations for Community Bankers Trust are included in the consolidated results of operations from the date of acquisition. As a result of the acquisition, the fourth quarter and year of 2021 were impacted by approximately one month of increased levels of average balances, income, and expense as compared to the fourth quarter and year of 2020 and as compared to the third quarter of 2021.

As a result of the acquisition of Carolina Financial Corporation (“Carolina Financial”) on May 1, 2020, the year of 2021 reflected higher average balances, income, and expense as compared to the year of 2020.

The fourth quarter and year of 2021 included merger-related expenses associated with the Community Bankers Trust acquisition of $20.4 million and $21.4 million, respectively, compared to $558 thousand and $54.2 million of merger-related expenses associated with the Carolina Financial acquisition for the fourth quarter and year of 2020.

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Net interest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $183.7 million, which was a decrease of $8.3 million, or 4%, from the fourth quarter of 2020. Tax-equivalent net interest income, a non-GAAP measure which adjusts for the tax-favored status of income from certain loans and investments, for the fourth quarter of 2021 also decreased $8.3 million, or 4%, from the fourth quarter of 2020 to $184.7 million. The decrease in net interest income and tax-equivalent net interest income was primarily due to lower accretion on acquired loans and lower fee income from Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans. A decrease in interest income due to lower acquired loan accretion income and PPP loan fee income as well as due to a change in the mix of interest earning assets was partially offset by lower interest expense on deposits and borrowings driven by rate repricing. The net interest spread for the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased 32 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2020 due to a 49 basis point decrease in the average yield on earning assets partially offset by a 17 basis point decrease in the average cost of funds. Loan accretion on acquired loans was $6.2 million and $10.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2021 and 2020, respectively, a decrease of $4.7 million. Net PPP loan fee income of $5.0 million was recognized in the fourth quarter of 2021 driven primarily by loan forgiveness, as compared to $7.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Average earning assets for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased $1.8 billion, or 8%, from the fourth quarter of 2020 due to a $1.8 billion increase in average short-term investments and a $833.6 million increase in average investment securities, partially offset by a $862.0 million decrease in average net loans and loans held for sale mainly driven by a decline in PPP loan balances. The net interest margin of 2.94% for the fourth quarter of 2021 was a decrease of 39 basis points from the net interest margin of 3.33% for the fourth quarter of 2020.

Net interest income for the year of 2021 was $742.7 million, which was an increase of $53.0 million, or 8%, from the year of 2020. Tax-equivalent net interest income for the year of 2021 was $747.0 million, an increase of $53.3 million, or 8%, from the year of 2020. The increase in net interest income and tax-equivalent net interest income was primarily due to lower interest expense on deposits and borrowings as well as due to an increase in average earning assets from the Carolina Financial acquisition and PPP loan fee income, partially offset by lower acquired loan accretion income. The net interest spread for the year of 2021 decreased 2 basis points from the year of 2020 due to a 45 basis point decrease in the average yield on earning assets partially offset by a 43 basis point decrease in the average cost of funds. Average earning assets for the year of 2021 increased $2.8 billion, or 13%, from the year of 2020 due to a $1.7 billion increase in average short-term investments, a $628.0 million increase in average investment securities and a $523.9 million increase in average net loans and loans held for sale. Net PPP loan fee income of $33.2 million was recognized in the year of 2021 driven primarily by loan forgiveness, as compared to $16.3 million for the year of 2020. Loan accretion on acquired loans was $33.9 million and $41.8 million for the year of 2021 and 2020, respectively, a decrease of $7.9 million. The net interest margin of 3.09% for the year of 2021 was a decrease of 15 basis points from the net interest margin of 3.24% for the year of 2020.

On a linked-quarter basis, net interest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased $2.1 million, or 1%, from the third quarter of 2021. Tax-equivalent net interest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 also increased $2.1 million, or 1%, from the third quarter of 2021. The increase in net interest income and tax-equivalent net interest income was primarily due to an increase in average earning assets due to organic growth and the Community Bankers Trust acquisition as well as lower interest expense on deposits and borrowings partially offset by lower acquired loan accretion and PPP loan fee income. Average earning assets increased approximately $573.2 million, or 2%, from the third quarter of 2021 due to increases in average net loans and loans held for sale of $456.0 million and average securities of $333.4 million partially offset by a decrease in average short-term investments of $216.2 million. The net interest spread for the fourth quarter of 2021 of 2.82% decreased 1 basis point from the third quarter of 2021 due to a 5 basis point decrease in the average yield on earning assets partially offset by a 4 basis point decrease in the average cost of funds. Net PPP loan fee income for the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased $2.8 million from the third quarter of 2021 to $5.0 million. Loan accretion on acquired loans decreased $1.9 million from the third quarter of 2021 to $6.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2021. The net interest margin of 2.94% for the fourth quarter of 2021 was a decrease of 4 basis points from the net interest margin of 2.98% for the third quarter of 2021.

Credit Quality

United’s asset quality continues to be sound. At December 31, 2021, nonperforming loans were $90.8 million, or 0.50% of loans & leases, net of unearned income, down from $132.2 million, or 0.75% of loans & leases, net of unearned income, at December 31, 2020. Total nonperforming assets of $105.6 million, including other real estate owned (“OREO”) of $14.8 million at December 31, 2021, represented 0.36% of total assets as compared to nonperforming assets of $154.8 million, including OREO of $22.6 million, or 0.59% of total assets at December 31, 2020.

The provision for credit losses was a net benefit of $7.4 million and $24.0 million for the fourth quarter and year of 2021, respectively, while the provision for credit losses was an expense of $16.8 million and $106.6 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter and year of 2020. The quarter and year of 2021 included a provision for loan losses of $12.3 million recorded on purchased non-credit deteriorated (“non-PCD”) loans from Community Bankers Trust. The year of 2020 included a provision for loan losses of $29.0 million recorded on non-PCD loans from Carolina Financial. The decrease in the provision in relation to the prior year quarter and year of 2020 was also driven by the impact of better performance trends within the loan portfolio and improvements in the reasonable and supportable forecasts of future macroeconomic conditions on the estimate of expected credit losses under CECL. On a linked-quarter basis, the provision for credit losses for the fourth quarter of 2021 was a net benefit of $7.4 million compared to a net benefit of $7.8 million for the third quarter of 2021.

As of December 31, 2021, the allowance for loan losses was $216.0 million, or 1.20% of loans & leases, net of unearned income, as compared to $235.8 million, or 1.34% of loans & leases, net of unearned income, at December 31, 2020. Net charge-offs were $125 thousand for the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to net charge-offs of $6.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Net charge-offs were $8.7 million for the year of 2021 compared to net charge-offs of $23.6 million for the year of 2020. Annualized net charge-offs as a percentage of average loans & leases, net of unearned income were 0.003% and 0.05% for the fourth quarter and year of 2021, respectively, compared to annualized net charge-offs of 0.16% and 0.14% for the fourth quarter and year of 2020. Net recoveries were $1.2 million for the third quarter of 2021.

Noninterest Income

Noninterest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $54.0 million, which was a decrease of $40.0 million, or 43%, from the fourth quarter of 2020 primarily driven by a $43.5 million decrease in income from mortgage banking activities due primarily to lower mortgage loan origination and sale volume and a lower margin on loans sold in the secondary market. Partially offsetting the decreases in noninterest income were increases in fees from deposit services of $1.0 million, fees from trust services of $742 thousand and fees from brokerage services of $574 thousand.

Noninterest income for the year of 2021 was $278.1 million, which was a decrease of $76.7 million, or 22%, from the year of 2020. The decrease was driven primarily by a $94.4 million decrease in income from mortgage banking activities due primarily to a lower loan pipeline valuation and a lower margin on loans sold in the secondary market. The year of 2021 included fees from deposit services of $38.7 million, an increase of $3.9 million from the year of 2020, fees from trust services of $16.6 million, an increase of $2.6 million from the year of 2020 and fees from brokerage services of $15.6 million, an increase of $3.8 million from the year of 2020. Mortgage loan servicing income was $9.6 million for the year of 2021 compared to $6.2 million for the year of 2020, an increase of $3.4 million due to the Carolina Financial acquisition. The year of 2020 also included a gain on the sale of a bank premises of $2.2 million.

On a linked-quarter basis, noninterest income for the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased $14.6 million, or 21%, from the third quarter of 2021 primarily due to a decrease of $14.7 million in income from mortgage banking activities due primarily to lower mortgage loan origination and sale volume and a lower loan pipeline valuation.

Noninterest Expense

Noninterest expense for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $151.8 million, a decrease of $4.3 million, or 3%, from the fourth quarter of 2020. Employee compensation decreased $5.5 million due to lower employee commissions, incentives and overtime related to mortgage banking production partially offset by $2.5 million of merger-related expenses from the Community Bankers Trust acquisition as well as additional employees from the acquisition. OREO expense decreased $2.1 million due to a decrease in net losses on the sale of OREO properties and fewer declines in the fair value of OREO properties. Partially offsetting the decreases in noninterest expense were increases in data processing expense of $3.6 million primarily due to $3.5 million of merger-related expenses associated with the Community Bankers Trust acquisition. Other expense increased $1.9 million driven by an increase in the reserve for unfunded loan commitments of $2.8 million, including $844 thousand related to loan commitments acquired from Community Bankers Trust.

Noninterest expense for the year of 2021 was $581.9 million, an increase of $3.7 million, or less than 1%, from the year of 2020. Employee compensation increased $5.3 million from the year of 2020 primarily due to the Carolina Financial and Community Bankers Trust acquisitions partially offset by lower employee compensation expense related to mortgage banking production. Additionally, noninterest expense increased slightly from the year of 2020 due to increases of $5.1 million in equipment expense, $5.0 million in employee benefits and $2.8 million in mortgage loan servicing expense and impairment. The increases in equipment expense, employee benefits and mortgage loan servicing expense and impairment were mainly from the Carolina Financial acquisition. Offsetting the increases in noninterest expense was a decrease in data processing expense of $4.0 million, due to a penalty of $9.7 million to terminate Carolina Financial’s data processing contract incurred in the second quarter of 2020, partially offset by $3.5 million of merger-related termination and conversion expenses associated with the Community Bankers Trust acquisition in the fourth quarter of 2021. The year of 2020 also included $10.4 million in prepayment penalties on the early payoff of FHLB advances compared to $15 thousand for the year of 2021.

On a linked-quarter basis, noninterest expense for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased $9.5 million, or 7%, from the third quarter of 2021 primarily due to an increase of $4.1 million in employee compensation, $4.2 million in data processing and $3.3 million in other expense. The increases in employee compensation and data processing expense were primarily due to the Community Bankers Trust acquisition. Within other expense, the largest driver of the increase was an increase in the reserve for unfunded loan commitments of $1.8 million, including $844 thousand related to loan commitments acquired from Community Bankers Trust. Partially offsetting the increases in noninterest expense were decreases in employee benefits of $2.3 million and mortgage loan servicing expense and impairment of $1.0 million.

Income Tax Expense

For the fourth quarter of 2021, income tax expense was $19.5 million as compared to $20.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2020 primarily due to lower earnings partially offset by a higher effective tax rate. For the year of 2021, income tax expense was $95.1 million as compared to $70.7 million for the year of 2020 primarily due to higher earnings and a slightly higher effective tax rate. On a linked-quarter basis, income tax expense decreased $4.1 million primarily due to lower earnings. United’s effective tax rate was 20.9% for the fourth quarter of 2021, 18.4% for the fourth quarter of 2020 and 20.4% for the third quarter of 2021. For the year of 2021 and 2020, United’s effective tax rate was 20.6% and 19.7%, respectively.

Regulatory Capital

United continues to be well-capitalized based upon regulatory guidelines. United’s estimated risk-based capital ratio is 15.4% at December 31, 2021, while estimated Common Equity Tier 1 capital, Tier 1 capital and leverage ratios are 13.4%, 13.4% and 11.0%, respectively. The December 31, 2021 ratios reflect United’s election of a five-year transition provision, allowed by the Federal Reserve Board and other federal banking agencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to delay for two years the full impact of CECL on regulatory capital, followed by a three-year transition period. The regulatory requirements for a well-capitalized financial institution are a risk-based capital ratio of 10.0%, a Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 6.5%, a Tier 1 capital ratio of 8.0% and a leverage ratio of 5.0%.

About United Bankshares, Inc.

As of December 31, 2021, United had consolidated assets of approximately $29.3 billion. United is the parent company of United Bank which comprises nearly 250 offices in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. United’s stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the quotation symbol "UBSI".

Cautionary Statements

The Company is required under generally accepted accounting principles to evaluate subsequent events through the filing of its December 31, 2021 consolidated financial statements on Form 10-K. As a result, the Company will continue to evaluate the impact of any subsequent events on critical accounting assumptions and estimates made as of December 31, 2021 and will adjust amounts preliminarily reported, if necessary.

Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains certain financial measures that are not recognized under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Generally, United has presented these “non-GAAP” financial measures because it believes that these measures provide meaningful additional information to assist in the evaluation of United’s results of operations or financial position. Presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is consistent with how United’s management evaluates its performance internally and these non-GAAP financial measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in the banking industry.

Specifically, this press release contains certain references to financial measures identified as tax-equivalent (FTE) net interest income, tangible equity, return on tangible equity and tangible book value per share. Management believes these non-GAAP financial measures to be helpful in understanding United’s results of operations or financial position.

Net interest income is presented in this press release on a tax-equivalent basis. The tax-equivalent basis adjusts for the tax-favored status of income from certain loans and investments. Although this is a non-GAAP measure, United’s management believes this measure is more widely used within the financial services industry and provides better comparability of net interest income arising from taxable and tax-exempt sources. United uses this measure to monitor net interest income performance and to manage its balance sheet composition. The tax-equivalent adjustment combines amounts of interest income on federally nontaxable loans and investment securities using the statutory federal income tax rate of 21%.

Tangible equity is calculated as GAAP total shareholders’ equity minus total intangible assets. Tangible equity can thus be considered the most conservative valuation of the company. Tangible equity is also presented on a per common share basis and considering net income, a return on average tangible equity. Management provides these amounts to facilitate the understanding of as well as to assess the quality and composition of United’s capital structure. By removing the effect of intangible assets that result from merger and acquisition activity, the “permanent” items of equity are presented. These measures, along with others, are used by management to analyze capital adequacy and performance.

Where non-GAAP financial measures are used, the comparable GAAP financial measure, as well as reconciliation to that comparable GAAP financial measure can be found in the attached financial information tables to this press release. Investors should recognize that United’s presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures might not be comparable to similarly titled measures at other companies. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for GAAP basis measures and United strongly encourages a review of its condensed consolidated financial statements in their entirety.

Forward-Looking Statements

In this report, we have made various statements regarding current expectations or forecasts of future events, which speak only as of the date the statements are made. These statements are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are also made from time-to-time in press releases and in oral statements made by the officers of the Company. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of the words “expect,” “may,” “could,” “intend,” “project,” “estimate,” “believe,” “anticipate,” and other words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and estimates, which although believed to be reasonable, may turn out to be incorrect. Therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon these estimates and statements. United cannot assure that any of these statements, estimates, or beliefs will be realized and actual results may differ from those contemplated in these “forward-looking statements.” The following factors, among others, could cause the actual results of United’s operations to differ materially from its expectations: the uncertainty as to the extent of the duration, scope and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, on United, its colleagues, the communities United serves, and the domestic and global economy; uncertainty in U.S .fiscal and monetary policies, including the interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve Board; volatility and disruptions in global capital and credit markets, reform of LIBOR; the nature, extent, timing, and results of governmental actions, examinations, reviews, reforms, regulations, and interpretations, including those involving the OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, and CFPB; the effect of changes in the level of checking or savings account deposits on United’s funding costs and net interest margin; future provisions for credit losses on loans and debt securities; changes in nonperforming assets; risks relating to the merger with Community Bankers Trust, including the successful integration of operations of Community Bankers Trust, the expected growth opportunities and costs savings from the merger, and deposit attrition, operating costs, customer losses and business disruption following the merger; competition; and changes in legislation or regulatory requirements. For more information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from United’s expectations, refer to its reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the discussion under “Risk Factors” in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at www.sec.gov. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and United undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. You are advised to consult further disclosures United may make on related subjects in our filings with the SEC.