On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from LAKELAND FINANCIAL CORP — ticker symbol LKFN. Reading current and past LKFN letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.

 •  2/27/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 •  3/2/2023 LKFN Stockholder Letter
 •  2/29/2024 LKFN Stockholder Letter
 •  More "Banking & Savings" Category Stockholder Letters
 •  LKFN Benford's Law Stock Score = 99

LKFN Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

LAKELAND FINANCIAL CORPORATION
Annual Report

Letter to Shareholders
Achievement has created a lifetime of memories for her
and the youth that she has served. Jana   s story repeats
itself throughout our workforce every day and in every
market. We truly care about our communities and are very
proud of the impact Lake City Bank team members have
in all 15 Indiana Counties we serve.
The bank was founded in Kosciusko County in 1872 and
has been headquartered in Warsaw for our entire 153year history. Our roots run deep in our hometown, and
we are proud to be the largest employer in Downtown
Warsaw with over 271 team members working here every
day. Today, we have a 67% market share of all Kosciusko
County deposits. That   s exceptional and we are very
happy to take care of our hometown clients and friends.
During 2024, we purchased a nearly 60-year-old 36,000
square foot three-story building in Downtown Warsaw that
will be transformed into our Innovation and Technology
Center. It   s a physical commitment to ensuring that we
remain focused on delivering leading edge technologydriven financial services to our clients. It   s also part of the
foundational building blocks we strengthened in 2024. Our
primary competition are large regional and national banks
and we must constantly innovate to remain competitive
with them.
Lake City Bank Shareholders, Clients and
Community Partners:
2024 was a great year for the Lake City Bank team. Our
foundational building blocks were strengthened during the
year and we are excited to move the business forward in
2025. At our core, we are a true community bank dedicated
to the communities we serve. On pages 16 and 17 of this
annual report, you will learn about our extensive involvement
in two organizations that are important to our Indiana
communities, Habitat for Humanity and Junior Achievement.
Volunteerism is a way of life at Lake City Bank.
We encourage our team members to find an organization that
is important to them in their communities and get involved.
For some, such as Vice President Jana Miller, pictured on
page 17, it   s a passion that has led to more than two decades
of commitment. Over the last 23 years, Jana has dedicated
thousands of hours to Junior Achievement. She loves her
community, cares for it deeply and her service to Junior
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2024 ANNUAL REPORT
What else defines a true community bank? As a lender,
it means extending credit relationships to the diverse
industries and companies that drive the economies of
our Indiana communities. In the pages that follow, you   ll
read about our relationships with five of our clients, whose
relationships span the last 35 years. At Lake City Bank,
we are very proud of the fact that we don   t run hot and
cold as a lender. When the recreational vehicle industry
experienced challenges during the great recession, many
banks redlined the industry and kicked their RV clients
to the curb. Lake City Bank kept its balance sheet open
to our industry clients in the RV Capital of the World in
Elkhart, Indiana. We   ve never redlined any industry and
simply want to lend money to people and businesses
with strong character and a commitment to their banking
relationship with us. We   re a relationship driven bank
and are passionate about bringing our commitment to
community banking to our client relationships.
Every year, we develop a comprehensive list of Strategic
Initiatives that will further strengthen our foundational
building blocks for the future. We are an execution
focused organization and throughout the year, our Project
Management, Application Management and Technology
Services teams come together with partners from across
the bank to synergistically move these initiatives forward.
Several years ago, we recognized that we were not
consistently completing these initiatives on their original
timelines. While we had the people and skillsets to get them
done, our process architecture was flawed because we were
We love being
long-term financial
partners with our
clients and our
communities.
trying to do too much. What did we do? We came together
and rebuilt our process to clearly identify strategic priorities
and to smooth out the wrinkles to ensure that every
involved team member was rowing in the same direction
with the right cadence. In 2025, these initiatives will deliver
revenue growth and enhancement opportunities, establish
long-term planning objectives and identify administrational
and organizational initiatives to keep the innovation train
moving forward. Partners will come together, work together
and remain committed to these important building blocks
for our future.
operational and administrative costs of the business
is a critical part of our success, the real driver of
shareholder value creation is revenue growth. The
key driver of revenue growth starts with balance
sheet growth. Making loans and funding them with
core deposits in our Northern and Central Indiana
communities is the simple recipe that we have
followed for 153 years. Since 1990, we   ve experienced
consistent and exceptional growth in our business.
We have grown loans and deposits at 10% compound
annual growth rates. We   ve grown net income and
diluted earnings per share at 11% compound annual
growth rates over the same time period. Have we taken
care of shareholders? Since 2000, our shareholders
have experienced a total return of 2,974%.
This is an annual report to shareholders, but it   s much
more than that to the Lake City Bank team. It   s a
reaffirmation of our dedication to our long history of
community banking. While our strong capital structure
is considered the financial foundation of the bank,
that   s not what this annual report focuses on. This
annual report features the human capital of the Lake
City Bank team that has produced consistent, stable
and strong results over the last 153 years. We love
talking about our client relationships and the people
who manage them. We love being long-term financial
partners with our clients and our communities. And we
love community banking.
David M. Findlay
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Kristin L. Pruitt
President
We remain focused on creating long-term shareholder
value at Lake City Bank. While effectively managing the
3

Management Committee
Board of Directors
Left to right:
Left to right:
Eric H. Ottinger
Executive Vice President
Chief Commercial
Banking Officer
Lisa M. O   Neill
Executive Vice President
Chief Financial Officer
Donald J. Robinson-Gay
Senior Vice President
Chief Credit Officer
David M. Findlay
Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer
J. Rickard Donovan
Senior Vice President
General Counsel
Kristin L. Pruitt
President
Kyra E. Clark
Senior Vice President
Chief Human Resources
Officer
Stephanie R. Leniski Jonathan P. Steiner
Executive Vice President
Chief Retail Banking Officer
Senior Vice President
Chief Wealth Advisory
Officer
Our Management Committee averages 13 years of
experience at Lake City Bank and 30 years of total
experience. We come from different geographic
locations in our Indiana footprint every Monday
morning to start our week together in our Warsaw,
Indiana headquarters. We could do it virtually, but
that would be no fun. Every Monday morning, we
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2024 ANNUAL REPORT
Brian J. Smith
M. Scott Welch
Darrianne P. Christian
Robert E. Bartels, Jr.
Bradley J. Toothaker
A. Faraz Abassi
David M. Findlay
Blake W. Augsburger
Kristin L. Pruitt
Steven D. Ross
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Group, Inc.
Managing Partner
Centerfield Capital
discuss our respective weeks, compare notes
on ongoing projects and initiatives and business
conditions, and simply enjoy each other   s company
along with some friendly banter. We are an
organization with great pride in our culture. Building
and strengthening our relationships with each other
is a great way to start every week.
Chief Executive Officer
Welch Packaging Group
Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer
Lakeland Financial
Corporation and
Lake City Bank
Civic Leader
Founder and Chief Executive
Officer
LEA Professional
Partner, Incedo LLC
President
Lakeland Financial Corporation
and Lake City Bank
Executive Chairman
Bradley Company
Managing Partner
Great Lakes Capital Development
Emily E. Pichon
President, Olive B. Cole Foundation
Chairman, ETP Asset Holdings, Inc.
Officer and Director
M E Raker Foundation, Inc. and Howard P.
Arnold Foundation, Inc.
Former Owner
Ross and Associates
Our board represents the foundational building blocks of stable corporate governance, leadership and
engagement in our Indiana communities and provides balanced and thoughtful feedback to our leadership
team. They are an extension of the bank in all of our markets and are actively engaged in moving the bank
forward. Their diverse and varied business and personal backgrounds bring extensive expertise into the
boardroom and they are great partners to everyone at Lake City Bank.
5

Turtle Top
N EW PA R I S | CL I E NT SI NCE 1 990
From left to right: Erica Menzie, Human Resources Manager;
Thomas Craig, CFO; Shane Tom, Sales Manager; Rob Cripe,
President & CEO; Evan Cripe, Operations Coordinator; Phil Tom,
President & COO; Matt Sausaman, General Manager.
From left to right: Katie Schmidt, Assistant Vice President, Corporate & Institutional Services Sales Officer; Chad Stoltzfus,
Senior Vice President, Commercial Central Regional Manager; Erica Menzie, Human Resources Manager; Thomas Craig,
CFO; Shane Tom, Sales Manager; Rob Cripe, President & CEO; Evan Cripe, Operations Coordinator; Phil Tom, President &
COO; Matt Sausaman, General Manager; Gavin Miller, First Vice President, Commercial Banking Officer; Tabitha Williamson,
First Vice President, Corporate & Institutional Services Manager.
The bank
feels like
part of the
family.
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2024 ANNUAL REPORT
Turtle Top is a family business, first and foremost,
and in many ways that extends to its employees
and partners. Founded in the mid-1920s in Goshen
as the Cripe Lightning Rod Company, Independent
Protection Company remains a leading manufacturer
of lightning protection for industrial, residential and
historical buildings and trees. In 1962, the company   s
Turtle Top division in New Paris introduced its first
cargo van conversion. The company recognized
the potential for passenger vans in the travel and
recreational market. Today, Turtle Top manufactures
small to mid-sized buses built on Chevrolet, Ford
and Freightliner chassis. It continues to develop
new models, with quality and service remaining
paramount.
   We try to treat everybody like we would want to be
treated,    Rob Cripe, President & CEO said.    Are we
interested in selling buses? Absolutely. But if you buy one
of our buses and you   re not happy with it we   re going to
stand behind it in the field. Our competitive advantage is
our commitment to quality and relationships.   
As a fifth-generation family business, Turtle Top
recognizes that building relationships contributes to its
success. The company has loan and deposit products
with Lake City Bank and leverages the bank   s technologydriven treasury management products. Most importantly,
their family orientation extends to the team of bankers
they work with.
   It   s been very easy to do business with Lake City Bank,   
Cripe said.    The bank has always been there for anything
we   ve needed. We talk to Gavin (Miller) about what we   re
wanting to do, and he comes back with two or three
options. They feel like part of the family.   
7

Freeland Group Restaurants
FO RT WAY N E | CL I E N T SI N CE 2022
From left to right: Todd Hollman, CEO & COO; Tyler
Freeland, Managing Partner; Reena McKee, Controller.
From left to right: Shelly Meyer, Vice President, Private Banking Manager; Reneta Thurairatnam, First Vice President, Senior Wealth
Advisor; Dan Beechy, Vice President, Corporate & Institutional Services Sales Officer; Todd Hollman, CEO & COO; Tyler Freeland,
Managing Partner; Reena McKee, Controller; Marshall Weadick, First Vice President, Regional Credit Officer; Cammy Treadway,
Senior Vice President, Commercial East Regional Manager; Nathan Burnell, Vice President, Commercial Banking Officer.
The bankers
we deal with
are just all
top-notch
people.
What started as a part-time job for Dick Freeland, founder
of Freeland Group Restaurants, grew into a restaurant
group encompassing nearly 90 restaurants and counting
in four states. The company has grown significantly since
opening its first Pizza Hut franchise in Fort Wayne in 1972,
recently purchasing 35 Pizza Hut restaurants in Wisconsin
and Illinois while embarking on a new venture with Dave   s
Hot Chicken. With all that growth, the company remains
committed to its culture of supporting communities
and love of the restaurant business. While Dick
Freeland passed away in 2013, his vision of community
engagement continues today.
   Dick felt it was really important not only for him and the
company leaders to be involved with the community but
also for our teams,    said Todd Hollman, CEO & COO.    We
all are involved with different nonprofits and encourage
our teams to spend time with nonprofits, to serve those
around them.   
Culture has made Freeland Group Restaurants   
relationship with Lake City Bank a natural fit. The
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2024 ANNUAL REPORT
company uses loan and deposit products, technology-driven
treasury management solutions, and personal accounts
with the bank   s Wealth Advisory Group and Private Banking
services.
   The bankers we deal with are just all top-notch people,   
Hollman said.    If we have questions, they answer them. They
helped us figure out how to organize our depository accounts
into our main accounts and did a phenomenal job helping
our accounting team redo our internal banking infrastructure,
adding a lot of automation. It   s a lot smoother.   
While relatively new, the partnership between the bank and
Freeland Group Restaurants is built on a strong foundation
and shared values.
   There   s something about the Lake City Bank culture where
everyone you engage with is easy to talk to,    said Tyler
Freeland, Managing Partner.    They have a way of articulating
complex topics well for people on our team, who we
bring into meetings so that they can learn. We   ve always
appreciated that.   
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 2/27/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)