UMB earnings grow 6.1% in 2006

Earnings for the year were $59.8 million, or $1.40 per share, compared to 2005 earnings of $56.3 million, or $1.31 per share.

Company officials attribute the increase to a 15.4 percent jump in net interest income – to $217 million – and a 1.2 percent increase in noninterest income. Those increases were slightly offset by a 6.5 percent rise in noninterest expense.

Activity during the year included the company’s third-quarter acquisition of Denver-based Mountain States Bancorporation Inc., which had $284.1 million in consolidated assets.

Earnings for the fourth quarter were $15.8 million, or 37 cents per share, up 5.7 percent from $15 million a year before.

Shares (Nasdaq: UMBF) closed Jan. 25 at $35.50, compared to a 52-week range of $31.80 to $38.04.