Simmons reports income of $23.5M

Per-share earnings less than forecast

Graphs showing Simmons First National first quarter information.
Graphs showing Simmons First National first quarter information.

Simmons First National Corp. on Thursday reported a net income of $23.5 million for the first quarter, more than double the $8.7 million it made in the same period last year.

Simmons earned 77 cents per share, less than the consensus expectation of 79 cents from five analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Shares of the Pine Bluff bank fell 77 cents Thursday to close at $46.59 in trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

Simmons did better than expected in several areas, according to a research brief by Matt Olney, a bank analyst in Little Rock for Stephens Inc. That included higher net interest margin and core expenses of $61.7 million, less than analysts had projected. The bank also had good expense management in the quarter, said Olney, who owns no Simmons stock. He has a buy rating for Simmons.

Simmons is still pursuing bank acquisitions, George Makris, Simmons' chairman and chief executive officer said Thursday during a conference call.

The last time Simmons announced a bank acquisition was in 2014.

But Simmons expects to be successful this year with acquisitions, said Makris, who doesn't expect an acquisition to close until next year.

The bank expects to move next year above the $10 billion mark in assets, the level where banks attract increased regulatory scrutiny and pay additional fees.

Simmons is considering markets where it already has offices -- Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee. In those markets, Simmons would consider banks with at least $500 million in assets, Makris said.

"We're really focused on expanding our presence in our four-state area," Makris said. "We have some key markets that we need a larger presence in order to provide all of our products and services."

St. Louis is one market where Simmons wants to expand, Makris said. Another is east Tennessee.

Simmons has no branches Texas or Oklahoma and would only consider buying banks there with at least $1 billion in assets, Makris said.

"Whole bank acquisitions are what's available now," said Makris, in contrast to bank divisions such as trust companies.

Simmons has about $160 million in loans that are nearing closing, said Barry Ledbetter, Simmons' chief banking officer.

About 35 percent of those loans are in Arkansas -- primarily in northeast, Northwest and central Arkansas, Ledbetter said. About 42 percent of the loans are in the Missouri-Kansas region and about 22 percent are in Tennessee, Ledbetter said.

Simmons had $7.5 billion in assets in the first quarter, compared with $7.8 billion in the first quarter last year.

Simmons will close 10 branches by the end of June -- three in Arkansas, four in the Missouri-Kansas region and three in Tennessee. Simmons expects to save $1.6 million from the closing of the branches.

Business on 04/22/2016

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