FIRST BANCORP NC

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Shareholders and Board of Directors

Southern Pines, North Carolina

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of First Bancorp (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income (loss), shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) and our report dated February 26, 2025, expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Allowance for Credit Losses on Loans

As described in Note 4 to the Company’s consolidated financial statements, the Company reported an allowance for credit losses on loans (“ACL”) of approximately $122.6 million as of December 31, 2024. As described in Note 1 to the Company's consolidated financial statements, the ACL represents management’s estimate of credit losses for the remaining estimated life of the loan portfolio using a quantitative lifetime loss model, which uses assumptions and data elements, some of which are subjective in nature. There is also a qualitative component of the ACL that is derived by applying qualitative risk scoring to a range of maximum and minimum loss rates for each of the identified qualitative factors.

Management makes significant judgments regarding selecting reasonable and supportable economic forecast factors used in the quantitative model and qualitative risk scores used in the qualitative component of the ACL. We identified these economic forecast factors and qualitative risk scores as a critical audit matter because they involve especially subjective and complex judgement in auditing whether these were reasonable and supportable. These assumptions required a high degree of auditor judgment and increased extent of effort, specialized skills, and knowledge.

The primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter included:

•Testing the design and operating effectiveness of the Company’s controls over the selected economic forecast factors and qualitative risk scores.

•Assessing the reasonableness of management’s judgments in determining the selected economic forecast factors and qualitative risks scores, including assessing the consistency of management’s application of its underlying framework for determining these assumptions and assessing for potential bias and potential contradictory evidence.

•Utilizing personnel with specialized skill and knowledge to assist with assessing the relevance and reliability of the data used in determining the selected economic forecast factors, including comparing the data to third-party sources.

/s/BDO USA, P.C.

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2019.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

February 26, 2025

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Shareholders and Board of Directors

Southern Pines, North Carolina

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited First Bancorp’s (the “Company’s”) internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (the “COSO criteria”). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2024, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income (loss), shareholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2024, and the related notes and our report dated February 26, 2025 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Item 9A, Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit of internal control over financial reporting in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ BDO USA, P.C.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

February 26, 2025