Simmons Bank Reports Net Income Up Significantly From A Year Ago

Simmons First National Corp. reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings before the opening bell on Thursday, propelled upward by the Pine Bluff banking concern’s continued shopping spree for strategic out-of-state assets and foreclosed FDIC properties.

For the period ended June 30, the Arkansas regional bank posted second quarter net income of 60 cents, or $9.9 million per share, up 53.8 percent from 39 cents a year ago. Analysts surveyed by MarketWatch had expected Simmons First to post second quarter earnings of 54 cents per share on revenue of $53.6 million.

“The second quarter was a landmark quarter for Simmons. We announced two acquisitions totaling approximately $3 billion in assets and reported record core earnings and record core earnings per share for the quarter,” said George A. Makris, Jr., Chairman and CEO.

Overall, Simmons posted record core earnings of $9.2 million for the second quarter of 2014, an increase of $2.7 million, or 42.8 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. Diluted core earnings per share were a record $0.56, an increase of $0.17, or 43.6%. Core earnings exclude $755,000 in net after-tax earnings.

During the second quarter, Simmons announced two out-of-state acquisitions that will add nearly $3 billion in assets to the Pine Bluff holding bank’s financial books. In late May, Simmons announced that it planned to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Springfield-based Liberty Bancshares Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at nearly $207 million.

Earlier in the same month, Simmons entered into a similar agreement to buyout Community First Bancshares of Union City, Tenn., in a stock-deal value at more than $243 million. Both deals are expected to close by end of the year.

Here are other highlights of Simmons quarterly earnings report:

• Total loans, including those acquired, of $2.4 billion, increased by $512 million, or 27.3 percent, compared to a year ago.
• Total deposits jumped nearly 30 percent to $3.6 billion, an increase of $829 million from a year ago. Total non-time deposits totaled $2.6 billion, up 72 percent.
• Net interest income of $40.4 million, an increase of $10.8 million, or 36.7%, from the same period of 2013. This increase was driven by growth in the legacy loan portfolio and assets acquired through Simmons’ $53.6 million takeover of Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock in late 2013, the bank said.