Guaranty Federal Bancshares, Inc. Announces Revised Lower Earnings for Six Months Ended December 31, 2003


SPRINGFIELD, Mo., March 16, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Guaranty Federal Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq:GFED), the holding company for Guaranty Bank, today announced revised earnings for the three months and six months ended December 31, 2003 to reflect an increase in its provision for loan losses. Earnings for these periods were $0.15 per share ($423,000) and $0.54 ($1,500,000) respectively, down from $0.33 per share ($923,000) and $0.72 per share ($2,000,000), respectively, that was previously reported for those periods. The revised earnings represent a 52% decrease from the $0.31 per share ($868,000) the Company earned during the same quarter of the prior year and a 15% decrease from the $0.63 per share ($1,764,000) the Company earned during the six month period ending December 31, 2002.

Subsequent to the Company's earnings release on January 16, 2004 and as a result of a regular examination by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Guaranty Bank reclassified a group of approximately 150 loans totaling approximately $9.0 million. These loans had been made to borrowers that used the proceeds to finance the purchase of single family residences and the costs required to bring them into condition for resale. The loans are secured by the properties purchased, and have maturity dates ranging from one to six months.

Guaranty Bank reclassified the loans because there was not deemed to be sufficient information in its loan files relating to those loans to effectively evaluate the credits.

Guaranty Bank is closely monitoring each of these loans. To date all payments on these loans have been paid as agreed. Further a number of the borrowers pledged additional collateral to secure their respective repayment obligations in the form of certificates of deposit and certain borrowers have fully repaid their obligations. Management currently has no reason to believe that any of the loans will not be repaid in accordance with their terms.

The discussion set forth above may contain forward-looking comments. Such comments are based upon the information currently available to management of the Company and management's perception thereof as of the date of this release. When used in this release, words such as "anticipates," "estimates," "believes," "expects," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results of the Company's operations could materially differ from those forward-looking comments. The differences could be caused by a number of factors or combination of factors including, but not limited to: changes in demand for banking services; changes in portfolio composition; changes in management strategy; increased competition from both bank and non-bank companies; changes in the general level of interest rates; the effect of regulatory or government legislative changes; technology changes; fluctuation in inflation; and other factors set forth in reports and other documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time

Guaranty Federal Bancshares Inc. has a subsidiary corporation offering full banking services. The principal subsidiary, Guaranty Bank, is located in Springfield, Missouri, and has nine branches and 18 ATM locations located in Greene and Christian Counties. In addition Guaranty Bank is a member of the Privileged Status ATM network, which provides its customers surcharge free access to over 60 area ATM's and over 1,000 ATM's nationwide.


 Financial Highlights:
                                 Quarter ended     Six Months ended
 Operating Data:             31-Dec-03 31-Dec-02  31-Dec-03 31-Dec-02
                             --------- ---------  --------- ---------
                                  (Dollar amounts are in thousands,
                                         except per share data)

 Total interest income          $4,849     5,544     9,846    11,290
 Total interest expense          2,165     2,966     4,491     6,086
 Provision for loan losses         950       105     1,162       205
                                ------    ------    ------    ------
  Net interest income after
   provision for loan losses     1,734     2,473     4,193     4,999
 Noninterest income                858       889     2,089     1,752
 Noninterest expense             1,999     2,034     3,994     4,060
                                ------    ------    ------    ------

 Income before income tax          593     1,328     2,288     2,691
 Income tax expense                170       460       788       927
                                ------    ------    ------    ------

 Net income                     $  423       868     1,500     1,764
                                ======    ======    ======    ======
 Net income per share
 -basic                         $ 0.15    $ 0.31    $ 0.54    $ 0.63
                                ======    ======    ======    ======
 Net income per share
 -diluted                       $ 0.15    $ 0.30    $ 0.52    $ 0.62
                                ======    ======    ======    ======

 Annualized return on
  average assets                  0.45%     0.93%     0.79%     0.94%
 Annualized return on
  average equity                  4.42%     9.52%     7.92%     9.70%
 Net interest margin              3.02%     2.87%     2.99%     2.89%

                                        As of               As of
 Financial Condition Data:            31-Dec-03           30-Jun-03
                                      ---------           ---------
 Cash and cash equivalents             $ 22,657              19,015
 Investments                             16,731              15,522
 Loans, net of allowance
  for loan losses                       332,130             336,838
   12/31/2003 - $3,886;
    6/30/2003 - $2,775
 Other assets                            15,239              18,776
                                       --------            --------
    Total Assets                       $386,757             390,151
                                       ========            ========

 Deposits                              $237,131             235,677
 FHLB advances                          108,837             114,619
 Other liabilities                        2,811               3,313
                                       --------            --------
    Total liabilities                  $348,779             353,609
 Stockholder's equity                    37,978              36,542
                                       --------            --------
    Total liabilities and
     stockholder equity                $386,757             390,151
                                       ========            ========

 Book value per share                  $  13.62               13.14
                                       ========            ========

 Non performing assets                 $    749                 513
                                       ========            ========


            

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