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Bear State Financial 3Q Earnings Up 8 Percent

2 min read

Bear State Financial Inc. of Little Rock, which is selling Bear State Bank to Arvest Bank of Fayetteville, reported Thursday third-quarter earnings of $5.1 million, up 8 percent from the same quarter last year.

Third-quarter earnings per diluted common share were 14 cents, up from 13 percent in the same quarter last year.

“Core earnings” were $5.9 million, or 16 cents per diluted common share, compared to $4.3 million, or 11 cents, in the same quarter last year, the company said.

Bear State said total assets were $2.24 billion at Sept. 30, up 12 percent from $2.01 billion at Sept. 30, 2016. Total deposits were $1.59 billion, down 4 percent compared to $1.65 billion at Sept. 30, 2016.

Net interest income was $19.1 million compared to $16.8 million for the same period in 2016. Interest income was $22.1 million compared to $18.8 million for the same period in 2016. Total non-interest income fell to $4.2 million from $4.3 million for the same period in 2016.

Publicly traded Bear State Financial (Nasdaq: BSF) and privately owned Arvest Bank announced in August that Arvest would buy Bear State in a all-cash transaction valued at about $391 million. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017 or first quarter of 2018 and is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approval and approval by Bear State’s shareholders.

Bear State is the smallest of Arkansas’ four publicly traded banks. The acquisition will push Arvest’s assets — $17 billion at the end of March — closer to that of the state’s largest bank, $20 billion Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock (Nasdaq: OZRK).

Bear State Bank operates 42 branches, three personalized technology centers equipped with interactive teller machines and three loan production offices in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

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