Heard on the Street

FUTURE BANK. Former Boatmen's Bank and Mark Twain Bank executives in St. Louis are starting a new bank, and in regulatory filings they said Springfield is in the cross hairs for future development. First Premier Financial Corporation will have an initial public offering of stock to fund its activity. The first order of business for the corporation is to buy Premier Bank, a $58 million bank with locations in Jefferson City and Columbia. Next, a bank in St. Louis. The plan then calls for branches in Kansas City and Springfield "as soon as practicable." Richard Jensen is listed as president and chief executive officer for First Premier Financial. "Competition among financial institutions in the state of Missouri and the markets in which Premier Bank currently operates and into which we may expand is intense," the filing said. "Many of these competitors have substantially greater resources and lending limits, larger branch networks and are able to offer a broader range of products and services than we will be able to offer." An executive with a local bank that fits that description said during lunch at Taylor's Drive In, "Come on down. The more the merrier."

DT INDUSTRIES. DT Industries Inc. announced May 6 second-quarter net income of $492,000, or 5 cents per diluted share. That's down from $7.7 million in net income, or 62 cents per diluted share, during the same period a year earlier. Year to date, the company had net income of $5.4 million for its first nine months, compared to $21.3 million at the same time in 1998. "We have been especially affected by order softness in the automotive, heavy equipment and agricultural equipment markets," said Stephen J. Gore, president and CEO for DTI. "With no real improvement in order trends in April, we expect fourth-quarter operating results to show only modest improvement over third-quarter results." Gore said the soft booking had resulted in staff reductions and high-level management changes at some locations "to accelerate our response to operational issues and provide faster penetration of new markets."

JACK HENRY. Jack Henry & Associates Inc. reported net income for its third quarter of $8.27 million, or 39 cents per share, up from $5.78 million, or 28 cents per share, net income in the quarter last year. For the nine months that ended March 31, Monett-based Jack Henry had net income of $24.16 million, or $1.14 per share with revenues of $139.56 million. Those figures compare to net income of $16.15 million, or 79 cents per share, on revenue of $96.17 million at the same time in 1998. The 1999 figures include the transaction costs of Henry's acquisition of Peerless Group Inc.

HAMMONS. John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc. reported May 10 a first-quarter net loss of $938,000, or 15 cents per share, on total revenue of $83.6 million, compared to a $969,000 loss, or 15 cents per share, on revenues of $78.9 million in the same quarter of 1998. Included in the first quarter loss were charges of $1.8 million related to preopening costs. The company's average room rate and revenue per available room were both up in the quarter, compared to the first quarter of 1998. During the quarter, Hammons Hotels purchased 113,900 shares of its own stock, as authorized by its board. The company has six new projects under construction, two of which have opened in recent weeks.

BRANSON UPDATE. The folks at Cooper Appraisal have taken a look at the Branson lodging market and see cause for optimism. Revenues per available room (the industry benchmark known as RevPAR) is heading up for Branson motels and hotels. RevPAR was up 1.3 percent and occupancy in 1998 was up 2.1 percentage points compared to 1997. It's been a slow go of it for Branson motel properties as the construction boom in the early 1990s resulted in a severely overbuilt market. The number of visitors to Branson has increased, but at a much slower pace than rooms were built to accommodate them. "This competitive market translated into record lows for the motel industry as a whole as more and more hotel/motel operators competed for the slowly increasing number of tourists," Cooper's report said. RevPAR highs in 1993 "are a historical anomaly and will probably never be attained again."

SLICE OF NICE. The James River Rescue, a project to benefit the James River cleanup effort, will be June 12. The float is sponsored by the James River Basin Partnership and the Ozark Mountain Paddlers and is from Shelvin Rock to Hootentown. Participants must raise a minimum of $75, or $150 for a tandem canoe, in order to participate. For more information, contact Jan Blase at 335-6694 or Pamela Anderson at 724-0499.

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