Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. Reports Preliminary First Quarter Earnings of $1.47 Per Diluted Common Share

Core Insights - Great Southern Bancorp reported preliminary earnings of $1.47 per diluted common share for Q1 2025, an increase from $1.13 in Q1 2024, resulting in a net income of $17.2 million compared to $13.4 million in the previous year [1][6] - The annualized return on average common equity was 11.30% and the annualized return on average assets was 1.15% for Q1 2025, both showing improvement from 9.36% and 0.93% respectively in Q1 2024 [2] Financial Performance - Net interest income increased by $4.5 million (10.1%) to $49.3 million in Q1 2025, driven by higher interest income on loans and lower interest expense on deposits [5][11] - Non-interest income decreased by $216,000 to $6.6 million in Q1 2025 compared to the same period in 2024 [13] - Non-interest expense rose by $400,000 to $34.8 million, with an efficiency ratio of 62.27%, improved from 66.68% in Q1 2024 [14] Asset Quality - Non-performing assets totaled $9.5 million at March 31, 2025, consistent with 0.16% of total assets, showing stability in asset quality [32] - The allowance for credit losses was 1.36% of total loans, indicating adequate coverage for potential losses [31] Capital and Liquidity - The capital position remained strong with a Tier 1 Leverage Ratio of 11.3% and a Total Capital Ratio of 15.6% as of March 31, 2025 [18] - The company had secured borrowing lines of $1.17 billion and $370.5 million from the FHLBank and Federal Reserve Bank respectively, along with unpledged securities valued at $337.4 million [25] Stock Repurchase and Dividends - The Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program for up to one million shares, succeeding the existing program [22] - The company repurchased approximately 175,000 shares at an average price of $58.38 during Q1 2025 and declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per share [23]