MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE MKT:MSL) today reported net earnings available to common shareholders of $1.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to net earnings available to common shareholders of $.9 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2011 and $2.2 million in net earnings available to common shareholders for the third quarter of 2012. Diluted earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 were $0.12 per common share, compared to $0.09 per common share reported for the fourth quarter of 2011 and $0.21 per common share reported for the third quarter of 2012. The fourth quarter of 2012 included $0.06 per share of merger-related expenses, compared to $0.08 per share for the fourth quarter of 2011 and $0.02 per share for the third quarter of 2012. Excluding these non-operating expenses, operating earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2012 were $0.18, compared to $0.17 for the fourth quarter of 2011 and $0.23 for the third quarter of 2012.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2012, net income available to common shareholders totaled $8.1 million compared to $2.7 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011. Diluted earnings per share were $0.77 for 2012, compared to $0.27 for 2011. Merger-related expenses totaled $1.2 million for the year ended Dec.31, 2012 versus $2.4 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011. Repayment of the Series A Preferred Stock under the CPP resulted in accelerated accretion of discount on the preferred stock of approximately $444,000 in the third quarter of 2011, or approximately $0.05 per share.  Excluding these non-operating expenses, operating earnings per share for the year ended December 31, 2012 were $0.85 versus $0.46 for the year ended December 31, 2011.

On Dec.28, 2012, MidSouth completed the merger with PSB Financial Corporation. PSB is the holding company of Many, Louisiana-based The Peoples State Bank, which operates 14 branches in north Louisiana and one branch in Texarkana, Texas. MidSouth acquired approximately $471.4 million in assets from PSB and ended 2012 with $1.9 billion in consolidated assets. There were no material changes in the balance sheet or material operating results of PSB between Dec. 28, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2012.  Therefore, the fourth quarter of 2012 includes no operating results for PSB.

Mr. Cloutier, commenting on completing the merger with PSB Financial Corporation and 2012 results said, “We are extremely happy to welcome Peoples State Bank to the MidSouth Bank family and are excited about the opportunity to offer expanded services to our customers in Louisiana and Texas. In 2012, in addition to the Peoples State Bank merger, we continued to invest in our business with new branch locations and upgraded technology. We grew loans over 5% and enhanced our strong core deposit franchise. Nevertheless, the current low interest rate environment presents challenges to our business that we will continue to work through in 2013, especially focusing on improving efficiencies with leveraging our cost structure with continued loan growth and expense reductions to continue to build shareholder value.”