Great Southern Bancorp announces third quarter earnings

Great Southern Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Great Southern Bank, Oct. 10 announced preliminary earnings of 85 cents per share, or $5,919,000, for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

The earnings represent a 21 percent increase over the same quarter in the previous year, when earnings were 70 cents per share, or $4,850,000.

The quarterly results included increases in core earnings as well as increases due to non-recurring items. According to Joe Turner, Great Southern president and CEO, the positive results are due to continued growth in net interest income while maintaining efficient operations.

"We have attracted a substantial amount of deposits, both transaction accounts and certificates of deposit, which we used to fund asset growth. We have achieved this growth with only modest increases in noninterest expense, maintaining our efficiency ratio at under 42 percent," he said.

For the first three quarters this year, preliminary earnings were $2.57 per share ($17,856,000), up 27 percent from the $2.03 the company earned during the same period in 2001. Stockholders' equity as of Sept. 30 was $100.4 million, or 7.3 percent of total assets, and equivalent to a book value of $14.63 per share.