BUSINESS MEMO: MERCANTILE EARNINGS

Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. has reported first-quarter net income at $103,892,000 or 77 cents a share, an increase of 20.3 percent from first-quarter results of a year ago.

First quarter results included the merger with Roosevelt Financial Group Inc., which was completed in July.

During the quarter, Mercantile completed the acquisitions of the $537 million Horizon Bancorp. Inc., headquartered in Arkadelphia, Ark., and the $335 million HomeCorp Inc., headquartered in Rockford, Ill. Mercantile has also announced mergers with CBT Corp., a $1 billion multi-bank holding company, headquartered in Paducah, Ky, and Firstbank of Illinois Co., a $2.2 billion multi-bank holding company, headquartered in Springfield, Ill.

Total assets at the end of the first quarter were $31.8 billion. Mercantile Bancorporation, headquartered at St. Louis, operates offices at more than 500 sites throughout Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois and Arkansas, incuding Cape Girardeau.