Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. announces quarterly dividend of $0.40 per common share and approval of stock repurchase program

SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Dec. 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC), the holding company for Great Southern Bank, declared a $0.40 per common share dividend for the fourth quarter of the calendar year ending December 31, 2022.

The dividend will be payable on January 18, 2023, to shareholders of record on January 3, 2023. This dividend represents the 132^nd consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the Company to common shareholders.

The Company’s Board of Directors recently approved a new stock repurchase program, which will succeed the existing repurchase program (authorized in January 2022) following the repurchase of the existing program’s approximately 177,000 remaining available shares. The new stock repurchase program authorizes the purchase, from time to time, of up to one million additional shares of the Company’s common stock.

With total assets of $5.7 billion, Great Southern offers a broad range of banking services to commercial and consumer customers. Headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, the Company operates 92 retail banking centers in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Arkansas and Nebraska, and commercial loan production offices in Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Omaha, Nebraska; Phoenix and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Great Southern Bancorp is a public company and its common stock (ticker: GSBC) is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

www.GreatSouthernBank.com

Forward-looking Statements

When used in this press release and in documents filed or furnished by Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), in the Company’s other press releases or other public or stockholder communications, and in oral statements made with the approval of an authorized executive officer, the words or phrases “may,” “might,” “could,” “should,” “will likely result,” “are expected to,” “will continue,” “is anticipated,” “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “intends” or similar expressions are intended to identify “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements also include, but are not limited to, statements regarding plans, objectives, expectations or consequences of announced transactions, known trends and statements about future performance, operations, products and services of the Company. The Company’s ability to predict results or the actual effects of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain, and the Company’s actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The novel coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, pandemic has adversely affected the Company, its customers, counterparties, employees, and third-party service providers, and the ultimate extent of the impacts on the Company’s business, financial position, results of operations, liquidity, and prospects is uncertain. While general business and economic conditions have improved, increases in unemployment rates, labor shortages, or turbulence in domestic or global financial markets could adversely affect the Company’s revenues and the values of its assets and liabilities, reduce the availability of funding, lead to a tightening of credit, and further increase stock price volatility. In addition, changes to statutes, regulations, or regulatory policies or practices as a result of, or in response to, COVID-19, could affect the Company in substantial and unpredictable ways.

Other factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) expected revenues, cost savings, earnings accretion, synergies and other benefits from the Company’s merger and acquisition activities might not be realized within the anticipated time frames or at all, and costs or difficulties relating to integration matters, including but not limited to customer and employee retention, and labor shortages might be greater than expected; (ii) changes in economic conditions, either nationally or in the Company’s market areas; (iii) fluctuations in interest rates and the effects of inflation, a potential recession or slower economic growth caused by changes in energy prices or supply chain disruptions; (iv) the risks of lending and investing activities, including changes in the level and direction of loan delinquencies and write-offs and changes in estimates of the adequacy of the allowance for credit losses; (v) the possibility of realized or unrealized losses on securities held in the Company’s investment portfolio; (vi) the Company’s ability to access cost-effective funding; (vii) fluctuations in real estate values and both residential and commercial real estate market conditions; (viii) the ability to adapt successfully to technological changes to meet customers’ needs and developments in the marketplace; (ix) the possibility that security measures implemented might not be sufficient to mitigate the risk of a cyber-attack or cyber theft, and that such security measures might not protect against systems failures or interruptions; (x) legislative or regulatory changes that adversely affect the Company’s business; (xi) changes in accounting policies and practices or accounting standards; (xii) results of examinations of the Company and Great Southern Bank by their regulators, including the possibility that the regulators may, among other things, require the Company to limit its business activities, change its business mix, increase its allowance for credit losses, write-down assets or increase its capital levels, or affect its ability to borrow funds or maintain or increase deposits, which could adversely affect its liquidity and earnings; (xiv) costs and effects of litigation, including settlements and judgments; (xv) competition; (xvi) uncertainty regarding the future of LIBOR and potential replacement indexes; and (xvii) natural disasters, war, terrorist activities or civil unrest and their effects on economic and business environments in which the Company operates. The Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above and other risks described from time to time in documents filed or furnished by the Company with the SEC could affect the Company’s financial performance and could cause the Company’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements.

The Company does not undertake-and specifically declines any obligation- to publicly release the result of any revisions which may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

Reporters May Contact:
Kelly Polonus, Great Southern Bank, (417) 895-5242
kpolonus@greatsouthernbank.com