Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff on Wednesday announced second-quarter net income of $22.9 million, up 14 from the same quarter last year, as the company continued to integrate recent acquisitions.
The publicly traded firm (Nasdaq: SFNC) reported earnings per share of 75 cents, up from 67 cents in the same quarter last year.
"We are pleased with the results from the second quarter as we continue to absorb the acquisitions from the previous two years," Chairman and CEO George A. Makris said in a news release. "Competitive pressures and artificially low interest rates continue to put pressure on our net interest income but we have done a good job of diversifying our revenue through other lines of business such as our trust operations, mortgage lending, credit card services and other wealth management offerings. We will continue to focus on improving our efficiency throughout the remainder of the year."
Included in second-quarter results were $2.2 million of after-tax expenses related to noncore items. Excluding those items, Simmons' "core" earnings were $25.1 million, up 11 percent from the same quarter last year. Diluted core earnings per share were 82 cents, up 9 percent from the same quarter last year.
Year-to-date net income was $46.4 million, up 61 percent from the same period of 2015. Year-to-date diluted earnings per share was $1.52, up 38 percent from the same quarter last year.
In May, Simmons announced that it would purchase Citizens National Bank of Athens, Tennessee, in a deal then valued at $77 million. Makris said the company will complete that merger later this year.
Arkansas Business will update this story.