Equity Bancshares Inc (EQBK) SEC Filing 10-Q Quarterly report for the period ending Saturday, September 30, 2017

Exhibit 99.1

Equity Bancshares, Inc.

PRESS RELEASE - 10/19/2017

Equity Bancshares, Inc. Completes Robust Third Quarter,

Two Oklahoma Mergers Approved By Shareholders and Regulators

WICHITA, Kansas, October 19, 2017  – Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQBK), (“Equity”, “we”, “us”, “our”), the Wichita-based holding company of Equity Bank, reported its results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017, including net income allocable to common stockholders of $5.2 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.41. Year-to-date 2017 net income allocable to common stockholders was $16.4 million and $1.33 per diluted share. Merger expenses accounted for $1.0 million ($748 thousand on an after-tax basis), or $0.06 per diluted share in the third quarter and $2.1 million ($1.4 million on an after-tax basis), or $0.11 per diluted share year-to-date.

Brad Elliott, Chairman and CEO of Equity, said, “Our focus continues to be organic growth and managing an active merger pipeline, while integrating strong community banks into our footprint within a compressed timeline. We do this not only to minimize disruption for customers, colleagues, and our new communities, but also to begin delivery of sophisticated products and services relatively soon after closing. During our third quarter, our operations and sales teams worked toward the goal of swiftly integrating the companies after merger. However, we also continue to concentrate on organic growth, and have enhanced our sales and leadership teams to manage our robust production pipeline while continuing to deliver products and services with capacity for continued growth among our markets.”

Equity announced mergers with Eastman National Bank of Newkirk, Oklahoma and Patriot Bank of Tulsa, Oklahoma on July 17, 2017, and on October 2, 2017 announced receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals to complete each merger. The respective shareholders of Eastman National Bancshares, Inc. (“Eastman”), parent company of Eastman National Bank, and Cache Holdings, Inc. (“Cache”), parent company of Patriot Bank also have approved the mergers. Equity expects each transaction to close on November 10, 2017.

After the mergers close, Equity will have completed 13 successful integrations in its first 15 years and five mergers since the Company’s initial public offering on November 11, 2015. The mergers with Eastman and Cache add Oklahoma to Equity’s Midwestern footprint, each with markets in close proximity to Equity’s corporate office in Wichita. Eastman’s corporate office in Ponca City is 55 miles from Wichita and Cache’s headquarters in Tulsa is 170 miles from Wichita. Following completion of the mergers, Equity will operate 42 Equity Bank offices across a four-state footprint of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Equity also bolstered its leadership team in the third-quarter, adding John Blakeney as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Equity Bank. Mr. Blakeney will oversee information technology, systems support, and project management throughout Equity’s footprint across Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. Jennifer Johnson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer will continue to manage deposit operations, systems conversions, customer care and electronic services. Equity also added sales leadership, hiring Michael Mange as Senior Vice President and Director of Treasury Management of Equity Bank.

Equity completed its merger with Prairie State Bancshares, Inc. (“Prairie”) of Hoxie, Kansas, on Friday, March 10, 2017, and completed its merger with Community First Bancshares, Inc. (“Community”) of Harrison, Arkansas, on November 10, 2016. Results of operations of Prairie are included in Equity’s 2017 results subsequent to its merger, and results of Equity’s Arkansas locations are fully included in 2017 results.

Financial Results for Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017

Net income allocable to common stockholders was $16.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017, as compared to $9.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, an increase of $7.4 million or 82.8%. Financial results reflect the merger of Community, beginning November 11, 2016, and the merger of Prairie beginning March 11, 2017. The merger of Community added five branch locations in northern Arkansas with total assets of $503.7 million and the merger of Prairie added three branch locations in western Kansas with total assets of

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