Arkansas Business

Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock said Thursday that second-quarter net income was $19.1 million, a 62 percent decrease from $50.2 million it reported during the year-ago quarter, which saw big gains related to two FDIC-assisted bank acquisitions.

Diluted earnings per common share were 55 cents, a 62.3 percent decrease from $1.46 for the second quarter of 2011.

During that 2011 quarter, the company posted gains of about $36.4 million, or $1.06 per share, related to two bank acquisitions assisted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

In its most recent second quarter, Bank of the Ozarks had no gains related to FDIC-assisted acquisitions or any acquisition or conversion costs related to anh of its seven previous FDIC-assisted deals.

Shares of the company (Nasdaq: OZRK) were trading up more than 5 percent on Friday.

"We are very pleased to report our excellent results for the quarter just ended," George Gleason, the company's chairman and CEO, said in a news release. " As we had expected, growth in non-covered loans and leases was robust. Asset quality, which has been one of our traditional strengths, got even better as evidenced by improvement in our asset quality ratios to the best levels in four years.

"Our net interest margin continued to be among the best in the industry. We had excellent results in almost every category of non-interest income, and our non-interest expense declined for the fourth consecutive quarter. Even more important, we believe we are well positioned for future growth and profitability," he said. 

In a news release, the company said the $19.1 million quarterly net income was its third-highest ever. The company also pointed out that, excluding covered loans, its ratio of nonperforming loans and leases to total loans and leases was 0.5 percent -- its best since the fourth quarter of 2007.