Bear State Financial Inc. of Little Rock, the parent company of Bear State Bank, earned $3.3 million (9 cents per share) in the first quarter of 2016, up from $2.3 million the first quarter of 2015.
The earnings announced Friday morning were the first for the banking company since it consolidated its Springfield, Missouri, acquisition — formerly Metropolitan National Bank — into the Bear State Bank charter and technology platform in February.
Bringing the former Metropolitan into the fold has started contributing "significant operational and organizational improvements" that will be more apparent in the second quarter.
More efficiency will also come from previously announced closure of six of Bear State's 55 branches by the end this month, according to the news release.
In the release, CEO Mark McFatridge praised Bear State's "disciplined growth, operational efficiency and the ability to acquire and integrate," but complained about the competitive loan environment that has kept the bank from making loans it wants to make.
"While many of these opportunities are with creditworthy borrowers that we would love to bank, the competitive banking environment in which we operate is dictating terms that fall outside of our disciplined risk culture," McFatridge said. "We have, however, had significant success in our strategic initiative of diversifying our lending portfolio, as evidenced by the 5% growth in commercial and industrial loans during the quarter."
Total assets at March 31 were $1.9 billion, an increase of 30 percent compared to a year earlier, thanks primarily to the Metropolitan acquisition that also brought McFatridge to Bear State.
Total deposits increased 30 percent to $1.61 billion, and loans grew 40 percent to $1.46 billion.