Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock on Tuesday reported record third-quarter net income of $76.0 million, up 65 percent from the same quarter last year, as it completed two major bank acquisitions.
The publicly traded firm (Nasdaq: OZRK) said diluted earnings per common share were a record 66 cents, up 27 percent from the same quarter last year.
"We are very pleased to report our record third quarter results with our two recent acquisitions included," Chairman and CEO George Gleason said in a news release. "These transactions bring many strategic benefits to our company and significant value to our shareholders from the resulting accretion in book value, tangible book value and earnings per common share. We had an excellent quarter, and the value of these acquisitions, the strength of our organic growth and our pristine asset quality were all clearly on display."
More: Read the full earnings report here.
During the quarter, Bank of the Ozarks completed two previously announced acquisitions: Community & Southern Holdings Inc. of Atlanta and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Community & Southern Bank; and C1 Financial Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida, and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, C1 Bank.
Together, the two deals were worth about $1.2 billion when they were announced last fall. They put Bank of the Ozarks in new areas of Georgia and Florida, and made Bank of the Ozarks the biggest bank headquartered in Arkansas when ranked by assets, which total more $18 billion as of Sept. 30.
Also: Bank of the Ozarks spends more than $12 million on land for new headquarters.
Bank of the Ozarks said third-quarter net interest income was a record $175.1 million, up about 82 percent from the third quarter of 2015. Non-interest income was $29.2 million, up 32 percent from the third quarter of 2015.
The company's efficiency ratio was 38.1 percent compared to 37.6 percent in the third quarter of 2015.