First Guaranty Bancshares Inc

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Griffith, DeLaney, Hillman & Lett, CPAs, PSC

To the Shareholders and Board of Directors

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. and Subsidiary (First Guaranty) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes collectively referred to as the financial statements. We also have audited First Guaranty’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of First Guaranty as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also, in our opinion, First Guaranty maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.

Basis for Opinion

First Guaranty’s management is responsible for these financial statements, 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 Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on First Guaranty’s financial statements and an opinion on First Guaranty’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to First Guaranty 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 audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the 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 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 financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting 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 audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

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.

Critical Audit Matters

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

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Allowance for Credit Losses

As described in Notes 1, 5 and 6 to the financial statements, at December 31, 2023, First Guaranty’s total loans were $2.7 billion and the associated allowance for credit losses balance was $30.9 million. The allowance for credit losses is management’s evaluation of expected credit losses over the life of the loans in the portfolio in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification ASC 326: Financial Instruments – Credit Losses. The Company uses the discounted cash flow method to estimate expected losses for all of the Company’s loan segments that exhibit similar risk characteristics and loans that do not share risk characteristics are evaluated on an individual basis. For each loan segment, the Company generates cash flow projections at the instrument level adjusting payment expectations for estimated prepayment speed, curtailments, time to recovery, probability of default and loss given default. Additional qualitative adjustments are applied for risk factors that are not considered within the modeling process but are relevant in assessing the expected credit losses within the loan segments. Consideration is given to the following factors: changes in lending policies, procedures and strategies; changes in nature and volume of the portfolio; staff experience; changes in volume and trends in classified loans, delinquencies and nonaccruals; concentration risk; trends in underlying collateral values; external factors such as competition, legal and regulatory environment; changes in the quality of the loan review system; and economic conditions.

Auditing management’s estimate of the allowances for loan credit losses, and more specifically the qualitative factor adjustments applied in the ACL, is a critical audit matter. The principal consideration for our determination of the critical audit matter is a high degree of subjectivity of the assumptions utilized in calculating the qualitative reserve component within the model. Furthermore, certain inputs and assumptions lack observable data and, therefore, applying audit procedures required a higher degree of auditor judgement and subjectivity due to the nature and extent of audit evidence and effort required to address this matter.

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

•Obtained an understanding, evaluated the design and tested the operating effectiveness of controls over the reliability and accuracy of data used to calculate and estimate the various components of the ACL including:

◦Loan data completeness and accuracy,

◦Grouping of loans by segment,

◦Model inputs utilized,

◦Approval of model assumptions selected, and

◦Qualitative factors have been appropriately identified, are adequately supported, and accurately applied.

•Evaluated and tested the data and inputs utilized within the ACL calculation for completeness and accuracy including mathematical accuracy of the calculation.

•Evaluated the qualitative factors for appropriate identification and application including reasonableness of the basis for adjustment.

•Analyzed the total qualitative factor adjustment applied to each loan segment, in comparison to changes in the Company’s quantitatively driven expected credit losses and loan segments and evaluated the appropriateness of the total qualitative factor adjustments applied in the overall allowance.

We have served as First Guaranty's auditor since 2022.

Ashland, Kentucky

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See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

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See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

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See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

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