Simmons First Q2 profits double from year ago

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by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) July 25, 2023 7:36 am 617 views 

Simmons First National Corp., parent company for Simmons Bank, saw its net income more than double from a year ago despite economic headwinds posed by rising interest rates.

The Pine Bluff-based financial institution reported Tuesday (July 25) second quarter net income of $58.31 million, or 46 cents diluted earnings per share, versus quarterly net income of $27.45 million, or 21 cents diluted earnings per share, in the previous year’s second quarter.

Total revenue was $208.2 million, down from $225.3 million one year ago.

“While we continue to navigate the challenging economic environment, like many in our industry we have experienced an increase in funding costs given the rapid rise in interest rates and resulting steps taken to defend our core customer deposit base,” said Bob Fehlman, Simmons’ Chief Executive Officer. “Given our strong liquidity and capital positions, our focus on maintaining prudent underwriting standards and our 120-year history, we believe we are in a position to continue to serve our customers and expand market share across our attractive footprint.”

Fehlman said that the bank’s initiative to optimize operations and an early retirement program have been successful.

“Extensive progress was also completed on other identified opportunities related to process improvements and streamlining or upgrading systems; and, as a result, we are on track to meet or exceed the estimated $15 million in annual cost savings we have identified to date by the end of 2023,” Fehlman said.

Other financial highlights for the quarter included:

  • Net interest income for the second quarter of 2023 totaled $163.2 million, compared to $177.8 million in the first quarter of 2023 and $185.1 million for the second quarter of 2022.
  • Non-interest income for the second quarter of 2023 was $45.0 million, compared to $45.8 million in the first quarter of 2023 and $40.2 million in the second quarter of 2022.
  • Total deposits as of June 30, 2023 were $22.489 billion.
  • Total loans were $16.834 billion at the end of the second quarter.

Simmons First stock (NASDAQ: SFNC) closed trading on Monday at $19.23 per share. The company’s stock has traded between a low of $14.68 per share and a high of $25.73 per share over the past 52 weeks.