Southern Bank starts fiscal year with $6.8M in profits

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Poplar Bluff-based Southern Missouri Bancorp. Inc. (Nasdaq: SMBC) started its fiscal year with first-quarter earnings of $6.8 million, a 40 percent increase from $4.9 million a year earlier, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The parent company of three Southern Bank branches in Springfield boosted its diluted share earnings to 76 cents from 56 cents in the first quarter of fiscal 2018.

For the increased net income in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, company officials cited:
    •    a 13.7 percent increase in net interest income to $17.2 million;
    •    decreases in provision for income taxes, which was down 11.8 percent to $1.7 million, and provision for loan losses, which fell to $682,000 from $868,000; and
    •    noninterest income of $3.4 million, a 4.9 percent increase.

Earlier this month, a Southern Bank official confirmed the company purchased the 4803 S. National Ave. home to its regional corporate office from Springfield-based Gardner Capital Inc. for undisclosed terms.

In the Springfield metropolitan statistical area, Southern Bank held $319.3 million in deposits as of June 30, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. Its deposits made up 3.2 percent of the market.

As of Sept. 30, Southern Bank had $1.9 billion in assets and deposits of $1.6 billion systemwide, according to the release. The company operates more than 40 branches in Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois, according to its website.

SMBC shares were trading at $36.62 as of 9:03 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $33.71 to $41.49.