Guaranty earnings fall 10% in second quarter

Earnings were $1.42 million, or 50 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended June 30. That’s down 10 percent from $1.58 million, or 54 cents per share, in second-quarter 2006. Meanwhile, year-to-date earnings were $1.12 per share, or $3.17 million, a 4 percent increase from $1.08 per share, or $3.15 million, in the same period last year.

Deposits for the quarter increased 12 percent, or $43 million, from the end of 2006. However, Guaranty assets dropped to $514.9 million, a $10 million decrease from assets reported Dec. 31.

Nonperforming assets saw substantial growth, totaling $8.7 million, compared to $2.9 million at the end of 2006. Officials say the increase is due to the reserving of interest income on one nonperforming loan – which also was the reason for the quarter’s lower earnings per share, according to a company news release.

“We have been able to succeed in three major initiatives that we have established over the past year: grow core deposits, increase mortgage loan volume and increase deposit fee income,” Guaranty President and CEO Shaun Burke said in the release.

As of June 30, the company had repurchased 184,950 shares of common stock at an average cost of $29.21; about 65,000 shares remain to be bought under the company’s repurchase plan announced last summer.

Guaranty Bank has eight branches in Greene and Christian counties and loan production offices in Wright, Webster and Howell counties. Company shares (Nasdaq: GFED) closed at $29.90 Tuesday, compared to a 52-week range of $27.45 to $30.85.