Bancorpsouth Inc (BXS) SEC Filing 10-K Annual report for the fiscal year ending Friday, December 31, 2010

Exhibit 99.1

News Release

Contact:
William L. Prater		Gary C. Bonds
Treasurer and Chief Financial		Senior Vice President and
Officer		Principal Accounting Officer
662/680-2000		662/680-2332

BancorpSouth Reports Fourth Quarter 2010 Earnings of $0.19 per Diluted Share

TUPELO, Miss., January 27, 2011/PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE: BXS) today announced financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. The Company had net income of $15.8 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, for the quarter compared with a net loss of $2.1 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Aubrey Patterson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BancorpSouth, commented, “We are encouraged by the improvement in the Company’s performance during the fourth quarter. While the credit market remains challenging, we experienced a 3.7% decline in non-performing loans, 30 — 89 day past due loans continued to decline, and we saw a decline in the provision for credit losses as required reserves for impaired loans declined and levels of adversely classified loans decreased. While we still have far to go to return to the level of financial performance we expect at BancorpSouth, we feel that we are moving in the right direction.

“The increase in earnings for the fourth quarter of 2010 compared with the net loss for the fourth quarter of 2009 primarily resulted from a $19.0 million, or 30.5 percent, decline in the provision for credit losses to $43.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2010 from $62.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. In addition, noninterest revenue increased $9.5 million, or 14.7 percent, for the fourth quarter of 2010 from the fourth quarter of 2009. Mortgage lending revenue, excluding the fair value adjustments to the Company’s mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), increased 32.7% for the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the same quarter of 2009, $9.2 million versus $7.0 million, respectively.

“Non-performing loans and leases (NPLs) declined to $394.4 million at December 31, 2010 from $409.4 million at September 30, 2010. This decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in non-accrual construction, acquisition and development (CAD) loans of $17.5 million. This loan category has been the segment most significantly affected by the economic downturn, particularly those loans related to housing. This category has also accounted for over 60% of net charge-offs in 2010. As in prior quarters, the Company’s NPLs remain concentrated in certain geographic areas. The Alabama, Nashville and Greater Memphis, Tennessee markets continue to be affected by the slow housing markets while several larger loans are reflected in our Missouri Region’s NPLs.”

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Box 789 • Tupelo, MS 38802-0789 • (662) 680-2000
BancorpSouth, Inc. is a financial holding company.