Home BancShares net income up 2.7% in 2024, sets new record
Conway-based Home BancShares ended 2024 with net income of $402.241 million, up 2.7% compared with 2023, and a record for the bank holding company. Fourth quarter per share earnings of 51 cents were just below the consensus estimate of 52 cents.
The bank, which is the parent company of Centennial Bank, on Wednesday (Jan. 15) posted fourth quarter revenue of $258.364 million, better than the $245.618 million in the same period of 2023, and better than the consensus estimate of $256.67 million. Net income in the quarter was $100.6 million, up 16.7% compared with $86.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The bank also used the fourth quarter to conduct an “asset quality cleanup project” which resulted in a charge-off line item of $53.394 million. Of that, 89.1% was in the bank’s Texas market, and 3.6% was in Arkansas.
“The fourth quarter was a strong finish to 2024, pushing us across the finish line to our first $400 million year in earnings,” Bank Chair and CEO John Allison noted in the report. “I’m always proud of the strength of our company, but I’m especially proud of a quarter where margin is up, legacy loans are up, deposits are up, revenue is up, earnings are up, and we managed to swallow an asset quality cleanup that began with legacy loans from Happy Bank and led to a company-wide cleanup.”
For the year, the bank posted revenue of $1.017 billion, above the $996.879 million in 2023, but just below the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion.
During the fourth quarter the company also added another $16.7 million credit loss expense to boost its reserve for losses related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The fourth quarter addition matches a third quarter credit loss expense of $16.7 million, which brings the total hurricane reserve to $33.4 million.
“The two hurricanes spanned across the third and fourth quarters, and the amount of time it takes for customers to settle with insurance will no doubt increase, with two back-to-back events. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had $110.9 million in loans on deferral as a result of the two hurricanes,” the company noted in the earnings report.
Following are other financial items from the quarterly and annual report.
• Total assets as of Dec. 31 reached $22.49 billion, down from the $22.656 billion at the same period in 2023.
• Total loans receivable as of Dec. 31 were $14.764 billion, up from the $14.424 billion at the same period in 2023.
• Total deposits as of Dec. 31 were $17.146 billion, up from the $16.787 billion at the same period in 2023.
• The return on assets as of Dec. 31 was 1.77%, unchanged compared with the same period in 2023.
Founded in 1999, Home BancShares has 76 branches in Arkansas, 78 branches in Florida, 58 branches in Texas, 5 branches in Alabama and one branch in New York City.
Shares of Home BancShares (NASDAQ: HOMB) closed Wednesday at $29.11, up 65 cents. The results were posted Wednesday after the markets closed. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged between $32.91 and $22.38.