Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff said Thursday that first-quarter net income rose 25 percent to $6.4 million or 37 cents per share.
"Obviously, we are pleased with our first quarter earnings performance," J. Thomas May, chairman and CEO, said in a news release.
"We benefited significantly from continued pristine asset quality which has resulted in a reduction in our provision for loan losses, and our on-going efficiency initiatives that resulted in a decrease in our non-interest expense," he said.
The company (Nasdaq: %%SFNC%%), which held its annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, said total assets reached $3.3 billion at March 31, up 1.6 percent from March 31, 2011. Total deposits reached $2.7 billion, up 2 percent.
"While we continue our efforts to manage our high levels of liquidity, which is a challenge for the entire banking industry in this low rate environment, we remain focused on creating core deposit growth," May said. "We are very pleased with our ratio of non-time deposits as a percent of total deposits, which is a very favorable 68 percent."
The company also said net interest income increased by 3.3 percent to $27.7 million.
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