EMPLOYEE BENEFITS (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

The Company sponsors a leveraged employee stock ownership plan ("ESOP") that covers all employees who meet minimum age and service requirements. The Company makes annual contributions to the ESOP in amounts as determined by the Board of Directors. These contributions are used to pay debt service and purchase additional shares. In past years, certain ESOP shares were pledged as collateral for debt. As the debt was repaid, shares were released from collateral and allocated to active employees, based on the proportion of debt service paid in the year. The most recent borrowing transaction occurred on February 5, 2009, when the ESOP borrowed $300,000 payable to MidSouth Bank, N.A. A total of 25,000 shares at $9.89 per share and 5,828 shares at $9.05 per share were purchased with the loan proceeds on February 6, 2009 and February 19, 2009, respectively. The balance of the note was paid in full on November 10, 2011. Because the source of the loan payments are contributions received by the ESOP from the Company, the related notes receivable is shown as a reduction of stockholders' equity. In accordance with GAAP, compensation costs relating to shares purchased are based on the fair value of shares committed to be released. The unreleased shares are not considered outstanding in the computation of earnings per common share. Dividends received on ESOP shares are allocated based on shares held for the benefit of each participant and used to purchase additional shares of stock for each participant. ESOP compensation expense consisting of cash contributions for 2012 was approximately $428,000. ESOP compensation expense consisting of both cash contributions and shares committed to be released for 2011, and 2010 was approximately $469,000, and $481,000, respectively. The cost basis of the shares released for 2011 and 2010 was $9.73 per share. ESOP shares as of December 31, 2012 and 2011 were as follows:

	2012		2011
Allocated shares		573,476		546,722
Shares released for allocation		-		10,757
Total ESOP shares		573,476		557,479

- Definition

Tabular disclosure of the description of the plan, the basis for determining contributions, including the employee groups covered, and the nature and effect of significant matters affecting comparability of information for all periods presented. For leveraged ESOPs and pension reversion ESOPs, the disclosure may include the basis for releasing shares and how dividends on allocated and unallocated shares are used. Disclosure may also include a description of the accounting policies followed for ESOP transactions, including the method of measuring compensation, the classification of dividends on ESOP shares, and the treatment of ESOP shares for EPS computations. If the employer has both old ESOP shares for which it does not adopt the latest guidance and new ESOP shares for which the new guidance is required, the accounting policies for both blocks of shares may be described. Disclosure may also include he amount of compensation cost recognized during the period, the number of allocated shares, committed-to-be-released shares, and suspense shares held by the ESOP at the balance-sheet date, the fair value of unearned ESOP shares at the balance-sheet date for shares accounted for under the latest guidance, the existence and nature of any repurchase obligation, including disclosure of the fair value of the shares allocated as of the balance sheet date, which are subject to a repurchase obligation.

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