Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

LR bank’s income tops $114M in 2Q

- DAVID SMITH

Bank of the Ozarks had net income of $114.8 million in the second quarter this year, up 27 percent from the same period last year, the Little Rock bank said Wednesday.

Bank of the Ozarks earned 89 cents per share, a 22 percent increase from 73 cents a share made in the second quarter last year. That matched the average earnings expectatio­ns of 13 analysts surveyed by Thompson Reuters.

Shares of the bank closed at $46.22 Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday’s close, in trading on the Nasdaq exchange. Wednesday’s report on second-quarter financials was released after the market closed.

Deposits were $17.9 billion in the quarter, a 10 percent increase from $16.2 billion in deposits in the same period last year.

The bank had total loans of $16.8 billion, a 10 percent increase from $15.2 billion at June 30 last year.

George Gleason, the bank’s chairman and chief executive officer, said he was pleased with the quarter.

Bank of the Ozarks had return on average assets of 2.10 percent, a gauge of a bank’s profitabil­ity. It had an efficiency ratio of 35.2 percent for the quarter, which means it cost the bank $35.20 to earn $100.

The bank “continues to work hard delivering great results for both our shareholde­rs and customers,” Gleason said in a prepared statement.

Bloomberg News reported this week that Bank of the Ozarks was the country’s largest constructi­on lender for the first nine months of last year. That was based on data compiled by Real Capital Analytics Inc. for multifamil­y housing, hotels and other commercial properties.

Eighty percent of Bank of the Ozarks’ loan portfolio is in real estate and half of that is in constructi­on and land developmen­t, Bloomberg said.

Bank of the Ozarks is the largest constructi­on lender in Los Angeles, the largest in Miami, the third-largest in New York City and one of the largest in Chicago, Denver and Seattle, Bloomberg reported.

Bank of the Ozarks has $6.8 billion in constructi­on loans in New York City, $2.3 billion in Miami and $1.7 billion in Los Angeles, the bank reported Wednesday.

“Bank of the Ozarks is a consistent performer among

banking stocks in part because of its rigid requiremen­ts of borrowers in the commercial lending sector,” said Garland Binns, a Little Rock banking attorney with Dover Dixon Horne.

Net interest income was $224.7 million in the second quarter, up 11 percent from

the same period last year.

The quarter was the fifth straight for record net interest income and a record 16 of the past 17 quarters. Net interest income is the largest category of revenue for Bank of the Ozarks, according to management comments released Wednesday.

In the last quarterly report under the Bank of the Ozarks name, the bank, the largest in Arkansas, reported assets of $22.2 billion compared with $20.1 billion in assets in the second quarter last year. On Monday, the bank will change its name to Bank OZK, its website to OZK.com and its stock ticker symbol to OZK.

A conference call discussing the quarter will be held today at 10 a.m. Interested parties may access the call by dialing (844) 818-5110 and asking for the Bank of the Ozarks call.

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