Tupelo, Miss.-based BancorpSouth Inc. (NYSE: BXS), the holding company for six BancorpSouth branches in Springfield, finished its fourth-quarter with a net income of $15.8 million, up from its fourth-quarter 2009 net loss of $2.1 million.
The company's earnings per diluted share were 19 cents during the quarter, compared to a loss per share of 3 cents in fourth-quarter 2009, according to an earnings news release.
The net increase comes despite decreased revenue earnings of $110.3 million, compared to 4Q 2009 $112.3 million earnings.
Fourth-quarter highlights:
- Salaries and employee benefits decreased slightly at $66 million, compared to $67 million for the same quarter of FY 2009
- Total noninterest revenue for the quarter was $74 million, while total noninterest expense was $123.4 million
- Total loans were $9.3 million in the quarter, compared to $9.8 million in fourth-quarter 2009
"We are encouraged by the improvement in the company's performance during the fourth quarter," BancorpSouth Chairman and CEO Aubrey Patterson said in the release. "While we still have far to go to return to the level of financial performance we expect at BancorpSouth, we feel that we are moving in the right direction."
The company ended its fiscal year with a net income of $23 million, a 72.3 percent decrease from fiscal 2009 net income of $82.7 million.
Earnings per diluted share were 27 cents on the year, compared to earnings per share of 99 cents at the end of FY 2009.
Total nonperforming assets were $527.8 million for the year, compared to $245.7 million in 2009.
Loans and leases were $9.3 billion as of Dec. 31, a 4.5 percent decrease from $9.8 billion at the end of 2009, according to the release.
As of Dec. 31, total assets were $13.6 billion, compared to $13.2 billion at 2009 year-end.
"Our challenges for 2011 are clear," Patterson said in the release. "In this environment, we are highly focused on continuing to work through any remaining credit issues to sustain the positive trends evident in our fourth-quarter results."
BancorpSouth operates approximately 312 commercial banking, mortgage, insurance, trust and broker/dealer locations in Missouri and eight other states, according to the release.
BancorpSouth shares were trading at $15.70 as of 9:30 a.m. today, compared to a 52-week range of $12.27 to $23.25.[[In-content Ad]]
