Trustmark reports earnings fell during second quarter

JACKSON — Trustmark Corp. says profit in 2012′s second quarter fell 2.7 percent from the same three months of 2011, as expenses rose and noninterest income fell at the regional bank.

The bank said yesterday it posted quarterly profit of $29.3 million, or 45 cents per share, down from $31.6 million, or 49 cents per share, in 2011′s second quarter.

Analysts polled by FactSet had estimated 44 cents per share, on average.

Trustmark said some of the increased expense could be traced to its March acquisition of the failed Bay Bank & Trust of Panama City, Fla. Trustmark has also agreed to acquire BancTrust Financial Group, based in Mobile, Ala., later this year.

Though profit levels fell, the bank posted a return on assets of 1.2 percent higher than the national average of 1.02 percent in the first quarter for that common measure of profitability. Trustmark’s return on equity in the first quarter was 1.25 percent.

“Trustmark continued to achieve solid financial performance in the second quarter,” president and CEO Gerard Host said in a statement. “Total revenue for the quarter exceeded $130 million due in part to solid performance in our banking, mortgage banking, wealth management and insurance businesses. Credit quality continued to improve as evidenced by significantly lower nonaccrual loans and provisioning levels.”

Revenue from insurance sales, wealth management and mortgage issuance increased.

The amount of money set aside to cover future loan losses fell to $2.3 million. Most of the bad loans were in Mississippi, as the company showed signs of stanching what had been larger bad-loan losses in Florida.

Trustmark set aside an additional $4 million in case it’s forced to buy back more mortgages that it originated and then sold to others.