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WaFd Announces Quarterly Earnings Per Share of $0.65

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WaFd, Inc. (Nasdaq: WAFD):

"In the second quarter of fiscal 2025 our margin bounced back, expenses declined, and bottom-line results improved for shareholders. We are enthusiastic about the shift toward business banking we implemented last quarter and are pleased to see early successes including 382 new small business loans originated through our branches (compared to none in the prior quarter), merchant processing referrals increasing 125% on a linked quarter basis, and our insurance subsidiary delivering 53% year over year growth in profit. Additionally, we have been able to hire two former executives from the Small Business Administration to assist in establishing SBA lending at WaFd. We understand that our continued evolution toward higher margin business lines will be measured in years, not quarters, but we are off to a good start.

"This quarter we were recognized by JD Power as the 2nd best for customer service among all banks doing business in the Pacific Northwest. This is a well-deserved compliment to our team of bankers that focus first on our clients."

Brent Beardall
President and CEO of WaFd Bank

WaFd, Inc. (Nasdaq: WAFD) (the "Company"), parent company of Washington Federal Bank ("WaFd Bank" or the "Bank"), today announced quarterly earnings of $56,252,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, an increase of 19% from net earnings of $47,267,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 and an increase of 254% from net earnings of $15,888,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. After the effect of dividends on preferred stock, net income available for common shareholders was $0.65 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to $0.54 per diluted share for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, an $0.11 or 20% increase, and $0.17 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, a $0.48 or 282% increase in fully diluted earnings per common share. The March 31, 2024 results reflected significant acquisition-related expenses and certain non-operating adjustments of $51.1 million and the December 31, 2024 results reflected one-time restructuring charges of $5.4 million.

The following table provides the Company's financial scorecard for the last five quarters:

Balance Sheet Total assets decreased to $27.6 billion as of March 31, 2025, compared to $28.1 billion at September 30, 2024, primarily due to cash used to reduce borrowings and purchase investments during the period. Net loans were flat at $20.9 billion and cash decreased $1.1 billion, or 48.3%. Investment securities increased by $660 million, or 21.9% in the first half of FY 2025.

Customer deposits totaled $21.4 billion as of March 31, 2025, largely unchanged from September 30, 2024. Transaction accounts increased by $37 million or 0.3% during the period, while time deposits increased $17 million or 0.2%. As of March 31, 2025, 55.3% of the Company’s deposits were transaction accounts, similar to September 30, 2024. Core deposits, defined as all transaction accounts and time deposits less than $250,000, totaled 78.8% of deposits at March 31, 2025, up from 75.1% on September 30, 2024. Deposits that are uninsured or not collateralized were 25.6% as of March 31, 2025, an increase from 24.0% as of September 30, 2024.

Borrowings totaled $2.8 billion as of March 31, 2025, down from $3.3 billion at September 30, 2024. The effective weighted average interest rate of borrowings was 3.30% as of March 31, 2025, compared to 3.93% at September 30, 2024.

Loan originations totaled $1.0 billion for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, compared to $0.9 billion of originations in the prior quarter. Offsetting loan originations in each of these quarters were loan repayments of $1.3 billion and $1.0 billion, respectively. Commercial loans represented 73% of all loan originations during the second fiscal quarter of 2025 and consumer loans accounted for the remaining 27%. The period end interest yield on the loan portfolio was 5.42% as of March 31, 2025, a decrease from 5.62% as of September 30, 2024.

Tangible common equity per share is a key metric for our management team. For the March quarter, tangible book value per share grew from $27.73 as of September 30, 2024 to $28.31 at March 31, 2025. This metric is a non-GAAP Financial Measure. See page 10 for additional information on our use of non-GAAP Financial Measures. During the quarter, the Company repurchased 726,082 shares of common stock at a weighted average price of $29.39. Our share repurchase plan currently has an authorization of 10.8 million shares, which provides what we believe is a compelling investment alternative.

Credit Quality Credit quality continues to be monitored closely in light of the shifting economic and monetary environment. As of March 31, 2025, non-performing assets decreased to $71 million, or 0.26% of total assets, from $77 million, or 0.28%, at September 30, 2024. The change fiscal year to date is due primarily to non-accrual loans decreasing by $9.7 million, or 14%, since September 30, 2024. Delinquent loans were slightly increased at 0.27% of total loans at March 31, 2025, compared to 0.25% at September 30, 2024 but improved compared to 0.30% at December 31, 2024. The allowance for credit losses (including the reserve for unfunded commitments) totaled $223 million as of March 31, 2025, and was 1.01% of gross loans outstanding, as compared to $225 million, or 1.01% of gross loans outstanding, as of September 30, 2024. Net charge-offs were $5,063,000 for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, compared to $231,000 for the prior quarter.

Profitability Net interest income was $161 million for the second fiscal quarter of 2025, an increase of $5.5 million or 4% from the prior quarter. The increase in net interest income was primarily due to a 19 basis point decrease in the rate paid on interest bearing liabilities offset by a $170 million decrease in interest earning asset balances for which the yield was flat. Net interest margin was 2.55% in the second fiscal quarter of 2025 compared to 2.39% for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

Total non-interest income was $18.9 million for the second fiscal quarter of 2025 compared to $15.7 million the prior quarter. The increase compared to the prior quarter was primarily due to increased prepayment fees earned on loans and increased commission income from the Bank's insurance subsidiary, WaFd Insurance.

Total non-interest expense was $104.8 million in the second fiscal quarter of 2025, a decrease of $6.5 million, or 5.8%, from the prior quarter. The overall decrease is the result of the $5.4 million of restructuring costs incurred in the prior quarter. Decreased expenses combined with increased net interest income resulted in a decrease in the Company’s efficiency ratio in the second fiscal quarter of 2025 to 58.3%, compared to 65.0% in the prior quarter.

The Company recorded a $2.8 million provision for credit losses in the second fiscal quarter of 2025 compared to no provision the prior quarter. The provision for loan losses in the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was primarily the result of the stable loans receivable balance offset by $5.1 million of net charge-offs taken during the quarter.

Return on common shareholders' equity for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was 7.68% compared to 6.42% for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. Adjusted for certain non-operating items and restructuring charges, return on equity for the quarter is 7.66% compared to adjusted return on equity of 7.45% the prior quarter. Return on assets for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was 0.82% compared to 0.69% for the previous quarter. Adjusted for certain non-operating items and restructuring charges, return on assets for the quarter is 0.82% compared to adjusted return on assets of 0.79% the prior quarter. For a reconciliation of these adjusted ratios, see the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section below.

Income tax expense totaled $15.8 million the second fiscal quarter of 2025, as compared to $5.1 million for the prior year same quarter. The effective tax rate for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was 21.88% compared to 21.55% for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. The Company’s effective tax rate may vary from the statutory rate mainly due to state taxes, tax-exempt income and tax-credit investments.

WaFd Bank is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and has 209 branches in nine western states. To find out more about WaFd Bank, please visit our website . The Company uses its website to distribute financial and other material information about the Company.

WAFD, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
NON-GAAP MEASURES
(UNAUDITED)

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company has presented certain non-GAAP measures within this document to remove the effect of certain income and expenses to provide investors with information useful in understanding our financial performance. The Company considers these items to be non-operating in nature as they are items that management does not consider indicative of the Company's on-going financial performance. We believe that the tables presented reflect our on-going performance in the periods presented and, accordingly, are useful to consider in addition to our GAAP financial results. These measures should not be considered a substitution for GAAP basis disclosures.

Other companies may use similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures that are calculated differently from the way they are calculated herein. Because of this, our non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures used by others. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on such measures. See the following unaudited tables for reconciliations of our non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.