Amsouth sees its 1993 earnings on record pace.

NEW YORK - Amsouth Bancorp.'s 1993 earnings are likely to beat its record 1992 earnings of $2.55 a share, and 1994 should be another good year as well, according to chief executive officer John Woods.

Mr. Woods said he is comfortable with analysts' estimates that Amsouth will earn about $3.20 a share in 1993.

The $3.20 includes restating earnings for the first three quarters of 1993 for several acquisitions, a spokeswoman said.

Points to Loan Growth

Mr. Woods declined comment on analysts' 1994 profit estimates, which range from $3.30 to $3.55 a share for the year.

He said that the stronger 1993 earnings were driven not so much by wide net interest margins as by loan growth.

"We are beginning to see loan growth. We have been seeing pretty good consumer loan growth, but we are now beginning to see it on the corporate side," he said.

Loan growth should also help 1994 earnings, along with lower costs and the earnings contribution of pending acquisitions, Woods said.

Mr. Woods referred to Amsouth's previously announced plan to cut about 14% of its work force as helping profits. He wants to cut its efficiency ratio to around 55% from 60% in two to three years.

He said that credit problems are "as low as you can get," so earnings will not get much help from further credit quality improvement.

Boost from Mergers

Alabama-based Amsouth also said that it should get an earnings boost from its pending acquisitions.

"We have a lot of pending acquisitions, so the dollar amount of our earnings will be up. We are not taking dilution, so we can assume earnings will be up," Mr. Woods said.

Amsouth is in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida. When pending purchases are completed, it will have more than $16 billion of assets.

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