Happily, this is one of the best in a long history of beaten-raised quarters. That's largely attributable to our ability to recruit and retain proven revenue producers and consolidate their relationships. We expect balance sheet growth to continue based on the revenue producers that are currently on our payroll, but have not yet completed consolidating their books to us. We've continued hiring at a similar pace in 2025, which should help to continue to further produce balance sheet growth.
More on future balance sheet growth expectations and hiring in a minute. I don't think there could be a better descriptor of Pinnacle over time than accelerated and sustained growth. For us, that hedgehog strategy, that disciplined and consistent effort in the right direction, is our continuous recruitment and retention of market-leading revenue producers. I've developed in previous quarterly investor calls how that hiring translates into the kind of sustainable balance sheet growth you saw on the previous slide.
Hopefully, this illustrates our excitement about the ongoing matchup, our ability to continue rapid balance sheet growth, and ultimately to produce outsized revenue and EPS growth. franchise, the growth of revenue producers and therefore the growth in revenue should be extraordinary. As our fourth quarter pipelines and quarter-to-date results are in great shape, we will continue to lean on our new markets and new revenue producers to provide the punch for our loan growth. Given third quarter results and fourth quarter pipelines, we've adjusted our end-of-period loan outlook range to consider 9%-10% growth this year.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| End-of-period loan growth | FY2025 | 9%-10% |
| Total end-of-period deposit growth | FY2025 | 8%-10% (low end raised) |
| Net interest income growth | FY2025 | 13%-14% over 2024 |
| Net charge-offs | FY2025 | approximately 18-20 basis points |
| Provision to average loans | FY2025 | 26-27 basis points |
| Non-interest income growth | FY2025 | 20%-22% |
| BHG earnings growth | FY2025 | approximately 85%-90% over 2024 |
| BHG fee contribution | Q4 2025 | approximately $30 million |
| Total expenses | FY2025 | $1.15 billion-$1.155 billion |
| Associate incentive payout | FY2025 | 125% of target (as of September 30) |
| Effective tax rate | FY2025 | low 18% range |
| Pre-provision net revenue growth | FY2025 | 7%-8% year over year |
| Fed funds rate assumption | FY2025 | rate cuts in October and December |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | +31.5% linked-quarter annualized | Sustained balance sheet growth from recruiting and consolidation of relationships |
| Adjusted EPS | +54% linked-quarter annualized | Operating leverage on strong revenue growth and BHG contribution |
| Non-interest-bearing deposits | +14.5% linked-quarter annualized | Emphasis on operating accounts and small business, work by revenue producers, treasury professionals, and specialty deposit units |
| Core deposits | +10.6% linked-quarter annualized | New markets and new relationship managers |
| Loans | +8.9% linked-quarter annualized | New markets and new revenue producers; nearly 18% C&I growth offset by ~$560 million CRE early payoffs |
| BHG fee revenue | over $40 million in the quarter | Strong production run through credit aggregators, holdover inventory, high demand, and off-balance-sheet loan sale spreads in excess of 10% |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pending Synovus merger | Deal announced | Rapidly progressing toward an anticipated first quarter close, with special shareholder meeting November 6 and org chart completed by November 10; key leadership and system decisions largely made | — |
| Post-announcement momentum | Concerns about loss of momentum post-announcement | No loss of financial or hiring momentum in Q3; kill rate on job offers unchanged at 91.6% | — |
| Market-share takeaway strategy | Long-targeted share leaders in Southeastern markets | FDIC and Greenwich data show major competitor vulnerability and a combined near-80 Net Promoter Score positioning post-merger | — |
| BHG optionality | Interest in a liquidity event expressed in prior periods | Optionality as high as it has been in years given rapid growth increasing attractiveness to acquirers | — |
| CRE re-entry | Lowered concentration limits, hit targets | Weighted back into the market; CRE expected to become a meaningful loan-volume increment going forward | — |
| NDFI portfolio | — | Granular book averaging about $4 million per account; management comfortable and more diligent on non-lead positions | — |