BUSINESS MEMO: MERCANTILE EARNINGS

Mercantile Bancorporation's net income for the final quarter of 1996, and for the year, are up from 1995 levels.

Net income for the last three months was $66.6 million, an increase of 17.7 percent from 1995 fourth-quarter totals. Net income for the year was $248.5 million, a 6.8 percent increase from 1995, excluding acquisition charges and a one-time SAIF assessment. Included in these charges, net income for 1966 was $191,947,000, or $3.10 a share.

All financial data have been restated to reflect the Jan. 2, 1996, merger with Hawkeye Bancorporation. Including the fourth quarter acquisition of Today's Bancorp Inc., and five other mergers during the year, after tax acquisition-related, charges totaled $48.5 million for the year, or 78 cents per share.

Thomas H. Jacobsen, Mercantile's chairman and chief executive officer, said 1996 was a very successful year for Mercantile.

"We have positioned the company to dramatically improve our market share throughout the five-state area while maintaining a high level of financial performance," said Jacobsen. "Proposed mergers with Mark Twain and Roosevelt, announced during the fourth quarter, will create the largest, locally managed and independently owned financial services organization headquartered in the lower Midwest."

Excluding one-time charges, Mercantile's return on assets for the year was 1.37 percent, up from 1.33 percent a year ago and a return on equity was 15.4 percent, compared with 15.1 percent last year . Total assets were $19 billion at the end of 1996 and deposits in the corporation's banks totaled $14.8 billion.

Mercantile operates banks in Missouri (including Cape Girardeau), Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Arkansas. The company has mergers pending with the $3.1 billion assets Mark Twain Banschares Inc., Roosevelt Financial Group, a $9 billion thrift holding company, and Regional Bancshares Inc., a $174 million holding company.