TUPELO, Miss., April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At their regular quarterly meeting on April 25, 2007, the Board of Directors of BancorpSouth, Inc. declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.21 per common share, an increase of 5% in the previous $0.20 per share quarterly amount paid on the Company's common stock. The dividend is payable July 2, 2007 to shareholders of record at the close of business of June 15, 2007.
Aubrey Patterson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BancorpSouth, commented, "We are very pleased to announce this increase in our quarterly dividend, continuing our 24-year record of consecutive annual dividend increases. This latest increase reflects BancorpSouth's strong earnings and coupled with our renewed stock repurchase program provides the Company with two active elements of capital management."
For the quarter ended March 31, 2007, BancorpSouth reported net income of $33.6 million, or $0.42 per diluted share. First quarter 2007 results were reflective of growth in loans, stable net interest margin, improved credit quality and the merger of City Bancorp, Inc. and its subsidiary, The Signature Bank, headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.
BancorpSouth, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi with approximately $13.0 billion in assets. BancorpSouth operates banking, insurance, and financial service offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.
