Simmons First posts 6.6% earnings drop

Pine Bluff, Ark.-based Simmons First National Corp. (Nasdaq: SFNC) posted first-quarter income of $5.9 million, a 6.6 percent drop compared to $6.4 million in the same quarter a year ago.

The holding company, which operates a Simmons First National Bank in Springfield at 3333 E. Battlefield Road, recorded 36-cent earnings per diluted share, a 1-cent decrease from first-quarter 2012, according to a news release.

“Considering interest rates continue at historical lows and due to the seasonality that we experience in the first quarter each year, we were pleased with our overall earnings performance," Simmons Chairman and CEO J. Thomas May said in the release. "More so, we were pleased with the positive trends in our balance sheet, as reflected in our normalized organic loan growth of approximately 4 percent."

First-quarter financial notes:

• Total loans, including those acquired, increased by 10.7 percent to $1.8 billion by the end of the quarter compared to the same quarter of 2012.
• Provision for loan losses rose 19.2 percent to $919,000 from $771,000.
• Net interest income registered at $30.1 million, an 8.5 percent increase compared to $27.7 million a year before.

As of March 31, the company's assets were $3.5 billion and its deposits were $2.9 billion, the release said.

SFNC shares were trading at $24.57 as of 10:19 a.m., compared to a 52-week range of $22.36 to $26.25.