National Bankshares, Inc. Releases First Quarter Earnings
BLACKSBURG, VA, APRIL 17, 2008: National Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ Capital Market: NKSH) today released its earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008. Bankshares had net income of $3.18 million, an increase of 2.09% over the $3.12 million earned in the same quarter of 2007. This translates to basic net income of $0.46 per share. At the end of the first quarter, National Bankshares, Inc. had net loans of $522.34 million, an increase of 4.86% over March 31, 2007. The Company reported total assets of $911.72 million, which is 3.38% above the $881.92 million reported in the same period last year.
James G. Rakes, National Bankshares’ Chairman, President & CEO, stated, “In these challenging times for financial markets, I am glad to report that National Bankshares’ conservative and traditional approach to community banking has served us well. We offer customers a full range of products and services from a solid platform of up-to-date technology. But it is a relationship-based business philosophy that keeps us on course.” Mr. Rakes continued, “I am particularly pleased to see that loan demand was up during the first quarter and that loan quality remains high when compared to peers and from an historical perspective. It is important to us as community bankers to put deposit dollars from our local markets to work in those same markets by making good loans.”
National Bankshares, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia. It is the parent company of National Bank, a 116 year-old community bank with 26 office locations in Southwest Virginia. The Company also has a non-bank financial services subsidiary which does business as National Bankshares Investment Services and National Bankshares Insurance Services. Its stock trades on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol “NKSH”. Additional information is available on the Company’s web site at www.nationalbankshares.com.