Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
January 18, 2024

There are 14 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Home Bancshares Incorporated 4th Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. The purpose of this call is to discuss the information and data provided in the quarterly earnings release issued this morning. The company presenters will begin with prepared remarks, then entertain questions. Then 2 to remove yourself from the list. The company has asked me to remind everyone to refer to their cautionary note regarding forward looking statements.

Operator

You will find this note on Page 3 of their Form 10 ks filed with the SEC in February 2023. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode and this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Donna Townsell, Director of Investor Relations.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to our Q4 conference call. With me for today's discussion is our Chairman, John Allison Tracy French, President and CEO of Centennial Bank Stephen Tipton, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Hester, Chief Lending Officer Brian Davis, our Chief Financial Officer Chris Poulton, President of CCFG and John Marshall, President of Shore Premier Finance. Our team is assembled today to review the 4th quarter results with you, and we will begin with some remarks from our Chairman, John Allison.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon, right.

Operator

Good afternoon.

Speaker 2

Welcome everyone to the Q4 year end 2023 earnings release and conference call. I firstly want to thank you guys for your many years of support that you've given this company. I believe Donna told me the other day how quick time passes, this is our 25th year, is that correct?

Speaker 1

Yes, correct.

Speaker 2

25th year. That's hard to believe that Homebuyer shares have been around for that length of time. I finally remember 1999 as our 1st year in business and we were cash flow positive and would have been profitable Had we not started building reserves at that time, but you know our belief in reserves and we've continued to build them over the years and they've paid dividends for us. Year 2, the company was profitable and has been every year since the 1st year. We ended 2023 with total assets of $22,700,000,000 And earnings of almost $400,000,000 And actually, we would have earned over $402,000,000 without The surprise FDIC $13,000,000 special assessment that we had to book for our part of Fairbanks that occurred during 2023 because of poor management of some of those respective banks.

Speaker 2

I've heard for years Washington complaining about taxpayers bailing out banks that went broke. In 2008, 2009 2010, it was TARP, Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Fed was heavily criticized for that program. We borrowed $50,000,000 from the Fed Had a little over 5% interest. I think during that time we were getting like a point for it. I don't remember how much, Brian, we were getting on that money, but maybe a point and we had We're paying 5%?

Speaker 3

Yes, we weren't getting much on it.

Speaker 2

We weren't getting much. Anyway, I think the Fed did our automatic. I think they made money. We did that totally as an insurance policy and never spent a dime of the money. Do you remember what I said when someone asked me, What did you do with the money?

Speaker 2

I said, I took it home, put it under my pillow and laid a 3.57 Magnum right beside it. I said, it seems like it was yesterday when that happened. We kept the money for several years while becoming the largest buyer of failed banks in the U. S. Or at least one of the largest buyers of failed banks in the U.

Speaker 2

S. We were building out our Florida franchise that has become a very profitable part of this corporation. What a great run that's been. I don't know about other banks paying their fair share, but we certainly did then and we are now. We are having to pay $13,000,000 because of stupidity of other management teams, I don't like that, but it is the best way for banks to repay the Fed.

Speaker 2

After all, the Fed did front the money To save many, many, many banks, I think the failures would have been enormous. I felt the system was on the edge of collapse And the Fed had stepped in with their new BTFP, bank term lending program. Under this program, the Fed allows banks to borrow 100% of face value of any security regardless of the market value. So they had a municipal that they paid $100 for And the market value was $50,000,000 I think if I'm correct, Brian, I think borrow $100,000,000 right? That's correct.

Speaker 2

So that those that had the major AOCI problems, This kind of wiped that out for a lot of them. Probably that saved 80% of the banks in the U. S. Bank management teams plowed all that funny money fiat currency into long term low rate securities, Wow, in a rising rate environment. It's almost funny if it wasn't so serious and you can't make this stuff up.

Speaker 2

That's why I say most bankers are not very smart. The small percentage of banks that did not make that mistake have weathered the storm well. Hull was prepared for failed bank days in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and reaped the dividends Of the Worchester Capital and huge reserves and strong management team. Likewise, this time, Home was totally prepared for this bank crisis. We didn't know when it was coming, but we were just getting prepared with more capital, larger reserves, more experienced management team and a fortress balance sheet.

Speaker 2

But the Monster was just too big and many, many banks would have failed. If the Fed did not provide the easy access to cash again, The regulators move to provide free money once again probably was the best thing the Fed could have done to save the weak banks. Hope was hoping for another band at the apple and again was one of the few in the country that properly prepared for whatever was coming. Our regulators have continually told us to keep our powder dry because they're going to need us to help clean up some of these messes. There are simply too many weak banks cluttering up the bank space with limited capital, crazy growth plans, coupled with Berenwick's leadership.

Speaker 2

Kevin Wilson, the Founder of Holiday Inn said, good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment. And I think there is no substitute for experience. These banks with 8% or less capital, 75% to 80% efficiency ratio and loan to deposits of 105% Threaten the entire safety of the whole bank space. The regulators are stretched to the hip. I think it's just too big a job to regulate that many different financial institutions.

Speaker 2

If my numbers are right, there are nearly 5,700 banks and another 5,400 credit unions and with credit unions buying banks all over the country. By the way, as you know, Credit Union pay no state income tax and no federal income tax. So every time you see a Credit Union buyback, the federal deficit goes up. That needs to be corrected. Let's talk about the results of the quarter and the year, they were pretty good.

Speaker 2

We'll take the blind for poor results That we can't control. But the Fed assessment was almost $10,000,000 after tax, totally beyond our control. So I want to present with you today both ways, how we reported the earnings under GAAP, Brian, correct? Correct. And how they look had we not had the assessment.

Speaker 2

Different from the past, we'd have the Fed would just tell us to pay so much a quarter. We had to actually book the liability this time, right Brian? That's correct.

Speaker 4

We booked

Speaker 3

the whole $13,000,000

Speaker 2

We booked the whole $13,000,000 which ended up about $9,600,000 after taxes, if I recall. It is our belief that matching amount of we're not going to get into the lawsuit deal today because that's in court And I think that probably cost us some money for the quarter as we continue dealing with that over a period of time. But that decision of how much money that is will be determined by a court Of law at some point in time. And it was $9,739,000 after tax was the assessment. So we reported earnings of $86,200,000 Without the Fed charge, we would have had $95,900,000 Almost $96,000,000 So for the year, that put us at $392,929,000 or without that, we would have been at $402,698,000 1,000.

Speaker 2

So we hit the EPS was $0.43 and without the Fed deal, it would have been a 0.0 $0.05 a share, so it would have taken us to $0.48 and that is a beat. Return on assets were 1.55 With the Fed cost and $1.73 without and year to date we run a $1.81 without. Return on tangible common equity was $15,800,000 with the Fed assessment and $17,540,000 after. P5NR was $48.22 We haven't been that low in a while. That's what the assessment in $53,000,000 $51,000,000 allowed.

Speaker 2

So Good news is Steve is going to talk more about it in a little bit, it's the margin. The margin was 4.17% versus 4.19% and A little of that we created ourselves. I like Brian with our borrowing, didn't we? About 1 basis point for the month. So Actually, it was pretty much flat.

Speaker 2

Non performing assets remained stable at 0.42 both in the 3rd and the 4th quarter and we continue to maintain our reserve of 2%. Tantrum book value because of AOCI and earnings kicked up pretty good from $10.90 in the 3rd quarter to $11.63 in the 4th quarter. So CET1 continues to grow. We're at 14% last quarter and this quarter we're at 14.4%. We're making good money and we continue to grow those Capital ratios.

Speaker 2

Leverage was 12.4%, and risk backed assets was 18.1%. Revenue was a beat. 4th quarter revenue was $245,600,000 So I thought that was pretty good. It's interesting watching that we were up pretty strong On interest income, but we're up almost likewise on interest expense. I like the spread.

Speaker 2

We were up $11,000,000 plus On interest income, they were up $11,000,000 plus on interest expense. So hopefully, that's going to stop or slow down at some point in time in the future. Loans grew by $152,000,000 in the 4th quarter. CCFG had a they were down 61,000,000 $61,500,000 for the quarter, but legacy grew total of $214,400,000 were the best quarters we've had in a while. Deposits also grew by $270,000,000 Q4, we repurchased 815,000 shares At 21 average price of $21 for $17,300,000 and for the full year of 2023, we bought back 2,225,000 849 shares at average price of $21.69 for a total buyback of 48,300,000 We have 16,700,000 shares left available for repurchase.

Speaker 2

It was not a great But it was not a terrible quarter. I'm sure a lot of people got bigger problems than homes got. It just was a tough quarter, very frustrating and Difficult quarter. We embarked on a, as I told you last quarter, a cost cutting measure. I don't know where we are there yet.

Speaker 2

I haven't seen any of it, but I think we'll see it, Should start seeing it. I mean, it should show for it should be in this month, next month and the month after that. So if we didn't get enough, we'll go back and get some more. But It's just it's a tough environment. Outside of that, Donna, I don't really have anything.

Speaker 2

You You can have it back and do what you want to with it.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you, Johnny. Next, we will hear from Stephen Tipton with some operational details.

Speaker 5

Thanks, Donna. I'll start with the net interest margin as Johnny referenced in his comments. The reported NIM was down 2 basis points to 4.17% in Q4. But as mentioned, we carried some additional cash on the balance sheet late in the quarter, which improved NII but negatively impacted the NIM by 1 basis point for the quarter. We continue to closely monitor asset repricing against the increase in cost on the funding side.

Speaker 5

When adjusting for the excess cash in December, The monthly net interest margin would have calculated at 4.17% nearly matching the quarterly's average. During the quarter, total deposit costs increased 22 basis points to 2.09 percent, While the yield on loans excluding event income increased 20 basis points to 7.19%. On a monthly basis, total deposit costs increased 6 basis points in December to end the year at 2.16%, While the yield on loans excluding event income increased 4 basis points to 7.25%. Switching to liquidity and funding, it was great to see an increase in deposits in Q4, particularly as the rate backdrop continues to be extremely competitive. Total deposits increased $269,000,000 in the quarter with the majority coming from the Texas and Arkansas regions.

Speaker 5

The deposit mix movement was similar to prior quarters as interest bearing balances increased and CDs continue to be in focus for the consumer. We still remain just under 10% of total deposit balances in that CD category. Non interest bearing balances Account for 24.3 percent of total deposits down from 26% in Q3. Alternative funding sources remain extremely strong with broker deposits still only comprising 2.3% of total liabilities. And the loan deposit ratio was in line with prior quarter standing at 85.9% at year end.

Speaker 5

The focus in loan committees and discussions amongst all of our presidents continues to be on deposit gathering, core customer growth and retention. On the asset side, as Johnny mentioned, in period loan balances increased $153,000,000 with the Texas region Increasing $160,000,000 and Florida increasing $31,000,000 offset by a decline in the balances with CCFG. On loan originations, the volume picked up in Q4 with approximately $1,170,000,000 in commitments. CCFG finished the year strong with nearly half of their full year production coming in Q4. The community bank groups Accounted for 2 thirds of the loan production in Q4 with the Texas regions closing nearly $400,000,000 in volume.

Speaker 5

Overall yield on originations continues to improve with an average coupon of 9.18% in Q4. Closing with the previously mentioned strength of our company, all capital ratios improved in the quarter, notably with a tangible common equity ratio of 11.05 percent, a leverage ratio of 12.4 percent and a total risk based capital ratio of 17.8%. With that, Don, I'll turn it back over.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Stephen. And now Kevin Hester will provide us with the lending update.

Speaker 6

Thanks, Don, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm happy to be able to tie bow in the very challenging year of 2023 and begin to look forward to a new year. Even with the unprecedented challenges that we faced as an industry in 2023, we at home were in a very good position to take advantage of whatever this year brings. Our asset quality remains solid with low past dues and non performing loans combined with a very strong capital position, which includes a 2% loan loss reserve. I'll provide details on that in a moment.

Speaker 6

First, I would like to give you an update on the 3 credits that we discussed in detail last quarter. We have agreed in principle on the sale of the Oklahoma Marina note at par and hope to have it closed very soon. We are finalizing the note sale documents at this time and would anticipate payoff to occur shortly afterwards. We also have a signed offer with Short due diligence period on the Miami property at a number that would result in a full payoff of the OREO balance with a small recovery. This buyer is familiar with the property in the areas that we think is a good buyer for this asset.

Speaker 6

Regarding the 3rd asset, which is the office Property in California. I will pass it to Chris Bolton for an update.

Speaker 7

So the subject property is a 95,000 square foot This building is subject to a ground lease located at 1733 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California. During the quarter, we completed a deed loop for closure in October. During the Q4, we expensed just over $300,000 in transaction costs to bring the property into REO. As part of that transaction, we received just over $5,000,000 from our borrower and this was reduced used to reduce our basis in the property to just under $23,000,000 The current as is appraised value is just over $32,000,000 putting our carrying value at approximately 70% LTV. Building is currently 50% occupied, operates just above breakeven, where the lease income or sorry, Yes, our lease income is at or just above our buildings expenses, which includes ground lease tax, insurance and other operating costs.

Speaker 7

We're planning to occupy space in the building. We started moving our West Coast office into the building this week. Our prior lease in LA expires this month. Our media focus on the building is in 3 areas. 1st, stabilizing the rental income through extensions and new leases.

Speaker 7

2nd, there's some cleanup Remaining on the existing ground lease. And then 3rd, we're preparing to market the property for sale. Bad news is that this is an office building. The good news that it's very well located. We've been paid down by 50% against our original loan.

Speaker 7

We have an immediate use for a portion of the space And the current building income is sufficient to operate at a breakeven today. With that, I'll turn it back to you, Kevin.

Speaker 6

Thanks, Chris. Going back to the asset quality numbers, non performing assets remain unchanged on a linked quarter basis at 42 basis points. Early stage past dues at twelvethirty onetwenty 3 were 61 basis points, which is down 23 basis points on a linked quarter basis and flat when compared to a year ago. Net charge offs for the year of 2023 were 9 basis As a further note, we have completed a detailed review of all 2024 maturing loans over $3,000,000 With an interest rate below 7%, and have noted very few loans for which an increase to current interest rates would create any significant default concerns. This is due to a combination of strong borrower guarantor support, low overall leverage and the majority of our lending taking place in growing Southern U.

Speaker 6

S. Geographies. We will continue to monitor this subset of loans, but are encouraged at what we see at this time. In conclusion, I'd like to thank our lending staffs across the footprint for doing the hard things, asking to be paid for the risks that we take And pushing for the equity and structure needed to make sure that the borrower's interest are aligned with ours. It's not easy work, but it's the difference between an average performing bank And a best in class financial institution.

Speaker 6

Donna, that's all I have and I'll turn it back to you.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Kevin. Johnny, before we go to Q and A, do you have any additional comments?

Speaker 2

Chris, you got any Well, first

Speaker 8

of all, congratulations on the 25 years. I could have sworn longer because I thought I'd work for you for 40. So 40? Yes, 40. Congratulations on that, John and Mr.

Speaker 8

Allison, hell of a story you've created. Good reports. It's nice to see 2023 close the books on it. It was an interesting year. Last quarter seemed to show the turn in the loans and deposits.

Speaker 8

As you've indicated, our non interest income, non interest expense, I think there's certainly room for improvement there and we'll continue to do that. But Just also compliment the entire management team of the bank all across this company of all the things that they've done to Get us through this year and look forward to 2024, I think. Johnny?

Speaker 2

The margin, being able to maintain that margin to me, Steven, it's pretty important right now. And looks like you think we're I think we've got they asked Don and I that's on the road when we're out, they'll ask us, I'm sure, next time, You think you can maintain that margin and I told them I thought we could. We certainly intended to try to. So what do you think?

Speaker 5

Yes, I think certainly On a monthly basis over the last quarter or 2, I mean we've operated in a pretty tight range. We still have We have the maturing loans that we previously talked about that will continue to come through over the course of 2024 and if we continue to Be able to reprice those upwards. I think the prospects of that are good. That's certainly what we're working for.

Speaker 2

So Kevin, are you seeing the pipeline remain fairly strong through here? Are you seeing it get short to pipeline easing up a little bit?

Speaker 6

No, I think it depends on the geography, but we certainly have some folks that have some good opportunities in some good areas. So It looks like 1st quarter's holding in there and I feel pretty good about 2024.

Speaker 2

Brian, have you completed your budget for 2024?

Speaker 3

Well, yes, we're going to have it presented

Speaker 9

for the Board meeting this week. How much

Speaker 2

did you write? Did you lower or raise? What did you do?

Speaker 3

Well, it's down a little bit.

Speaker 8

Better than expectation. John? We've challenged it to be better than what expectations are out there.

Speaker 2

I asked Don and I, they said, we got you all forecasted to be down next year. And I said, what do you think about that? I said, I don't think about that. That's not how I think.

Speaker 5

I don't think that we're going

Speaker 2

to be down. I think we got a shot. There might be some opportunities out there. You saw where HomeStreet sold today or yesterday. We see some activity out there.

Speaker 2

Maybe some opportunities for us out there at some point in time that we can pick up. We haven't really addressed much M and A in the last Couple of months, right? We got on the deal out in Texas at one point in time and that kind of went away for us and we really hadn't I can't think we haven't looked at anything lately, have we? Kind of had our head down running our own business and trying to make get the year in. So Anyway, I think, Donna, I'm going to turn it back to you.

Speaker 2

And I guess, we're I'm ready. If everybody's ready for Q and A, we'll go to Q and A.

Speaker 1

I think we're ready for questions.

Operator

Before asking your question. Our first question comes from the line of Brett Rabatin with Hovde Group. Your line is now open.

Speaker 10

Hey, good afternoon, everyone, and congrats Tony on 25 years. It's been a run, right?

Speaker 2

Thank you. Yes, that's great. I didn't realize it did.

Speaker 10

Wanted to first go just talk about the margin a little more. You talked about being able to maintain it. Can you talk maybe about the dynamic with NII and the margin? And it would seem like you might manage the balance sheet fairly flat or have an opportunity to and While you're growing loans, which could mean the margin is better later this year. And so just wanted to get an outlook for the margin, If the Fed does cut rates, how you feel about that?

Speaker 10

Could the margin trend up later this year?

Speaker 5

Hey, Brett, this is Steven. Good afternoon. I think our view today is while we continue in this rate environment that we're Yes, that we're able to kind of tread where we are. Like we said, we've traded in a pretty tight range here over the last couple of quarters. We do have the opportunity from a loan repricing standpoint.

Speaker 5

I think we talked last year we had 1,000,000,000 Over the next five quarters, I show we have about $780,000,000 that is Under 6% that will mature this year and give us the opportunity to reprice. We've got a little over $1,000,000,000 that's At or below kind of our spot rate at the end of December, which was 7.25% on the loan book. So we still have Some upward pressure on the deposit side. That seems to maybe have slowed a little bit. We had A lesser increase in December than we've seen on a monthly basis in the back half of the year.

Speaker 5

And so I think our view is that The ability to reprice loans can offset what we continue to have to do on the deposit side in this rate environment that we're in. Yes. I think our view is if we do see some cuts at some point in 2024 that gives us the opportunity To pair back on the deposit side of what we've done, we've got $11,000,000,000 in interest bearing checking and Yes, a really short CD book. Looking here, our total CD book is about $1,600,000,000 and I think 80% plus of that matures in 2024. So even as some of these come through, we may be able to fine tune some of that if we see some rate cuts It actually materialized.

Speaker 2

We watch it every day and we'd look at it every day. We look at what the revenue is generated For that day and basically what the margin is for that day. So we I mean, we live it 20 fourseven around here. So I actually don't think there's not as much room. I don't think interest expense is going to go up as much as interest Revenue is going to go up.

Speaker 2

So we got as you heard from Steven, we got some repricing opportunities coming out about $1,000,000,000 worth. So I think we'll continue to do that. We'll monitor it on a daily basis as we have been doing. We As you can see, we basically won a little bit in the 4th quarter. The 3rd quarter, we were getting beat.

Speaker 2

The interest expense was outrunning the revenue and was disappointing and we made some adjustments So in my last call, I said only 2 ways to increase profitability and that's to cut expenses or increase revenue. And we did both, but you haven't seen the cost cut effects of the company yet to my knowledge. I appreciate the compliments about Good expense control, but it's not where we wanted it to be. We just got a little fad over the years and it happens. It's just natural to do that and we went back in and we went to work on it.

Speaker 2

And if we didn't get enough, we'll go back and get some more. So We're committed to the cost save side at this point in time and we're committed to the revenue side. So we'll continue to monitor On a daily basis, but deposit costs, I think, I don't know if they trough, but they certainly Gotten to a point there. We're still seeing these 5% and 6% CDAs run by these banks that are out of money, completely out of money. A person would certainly want to be careful about putting money in one of those banks running those kind of hats because what that Essentially says, as we borrowed all the money we can borrow because you can borrow from the Fed a lot less than that.

Speaker 2

And we're just to hell with profitability, we're going to try to save We got to save the company somehow. So you'll see us I suspect I would have really thought that our margin would have been up. We did a little borrowing and We borrowed about $500,000,000 from the

Speaker 3

BTFP program. We borrowed an extra $500,000,000 Borrowed

Speaker 2

an extra $500,000,000 and we're getting a spread on it about 45 Basis points?

Speaker 3

It's actually up to 64 basis points today.

Speaker 2

64 basis points. So anyway, I don't know how I feel about doing that. We bought it and then put The money there with the Fed. I don't know how I feel about that, but that wasn't what the intention of the program was for. The intention of the program was to save these banks that are broke And they did it work and it saved them.

Speaker 2

Well, we didn't we were in that deal. I thought we ought to get something out of this deal. So we're getting a little spread on that. So that lowered our margin for the month by a basis point.

Speaker 3

For the quarter.

Speaker 2

For the quarter by a basis point or we would have been within one basis point And the 3rd quarter had a little juice in it that the 4th quarter didn't. So actually margin was flat and I'm pretty proud of that During the quarter. So we'll continue to monitor that. No, it's a long winded answer, but there's a lot entailed in this company to managing the margin.

Speaker 3

If we have the $500,000,000 for the whole quarter, it will be that itself will be profitable to the bank, but it will be diluted to the margin about 10 basis points.

Speaker 8

Yes. If we keep

Speaker 2

it all next quarter, it will be diluted to the margin by 10, but it will increase profitability by about $1,000,000 for the quarter. So That's right.

Speaker 11

That's helpful. I was going

Speaker 4

to ask about that. It looked like that

Speaker 10

was what that increase in borrowing was. In fact, just on my other question, my follow-up question was just around loan growth and it sounds like the pipeline suggests you can continue to have some growth. Last year, you kind of manage Flattish growth, if we were penciling in mid single digit for the year, would that seem fair to you guys or would a different number Be more appropriate.

Speaker 6

Hey, Brett, this is Kevin. So I mean, I think we gained some traction last quarter in production. I think you'll I feel good that that's still continuing in at least Some of our markets, I think the question is going to be really payoffs and that's even more as we get into the middle of the year. I think probably low single digits is more is something that I can Get on a little bit more than mid, but a lot of that will depend on I think payoffs.

Speaker 2

We're seeing payout slow somewhat in different markets because they can't get financed. We're blessed with the fact that we didn't make the mistakes that 95% of the banks did and we have money to loan. So we're in a position to loan money. As a result of that, that's where you saw the loan growth come in, in the quarter was because the fact we had money to loan And not many banks in the country had money to loan. So they came to found us, came to us and we made some good relationships, Hopefully, relationship loans will go be with us for a long time.

Speaker 2

So

Speaker 10

That's really helpful. Thanks for all the color.

Speaker 2

There's lots of loan business out there because there's not many people on it. I mean, this we could roll into a recession pretty quick here These banks that are 105% or 108% loan to deposit can't loan any money, they just shut down.

Speaker 10

Great. Thanks so much guys.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Jon Arfstrom with RBC. Your line is now open.

Speaker 12

Thanks. Good afternoon.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon. Congrats on the 25 years, John.

Speaker 12

Yes, I've only covered you for 16 years. So I still have training wheels on.

Speaker 2

He said he's just catching up. He's been with us 16 years. Thanks for your support.

Speaker 12

Yes, you got it. Can you talk a little bit more about the expense expectations? You keep hinting at it a little bit that It didn't show up in the Q1 or it didn't show up in the Q4. What can we expect? I know Brian Davis, you touched on a little bit as well, but what's coming?

Speaker 8

John, there were some reduction with staff done in the 3rd 4th quarter And most of that happened in November December. So some of that will show up in starting now. Every market and we've talked to every region and every manager that's Board office type stuff and it's just making sure we're fine tuning everything. So there's still room to improve. We always want to do that and always have been able to do that.

Speaker 8

So I think there'll be more, But we're off to the Q1 should kick in a little bit.

Speaker 2

I had I told Tracy, I said, can you get the cost down? And he said, yes, I'm going to get them down. We can get them down because I got Townsend. We got Donald Townsend warming up on the sidelines. She was efficiency guru.

Speaker 2

And if you

Speaker 8

In Texas, there were some things that were dragged out and Scott Lewis and the team out there Picked the ball up and earned extremely well. So that will I think you'll certainly see some of that effect in the Q1 And some of that will because we'll actually close a branch or 4. And so That happened in the Q1, so you may not see some of that till the Q2. But he's fine tuning everything, all the managers out there picking the ball up

Speaker 2

We didn't get the savings out of happy that we expected. We just didn't get them. And Now this management team is working on getting those expense cuts. We'll see that, we'll feel that, I think in the Q2, so Q1, some in the Q1 and but some of these branches were closed, it will be at 2nd quarter events.

Speaker 12

Yes. Okay. I was going to ask a different question, but you $25,000,000

Speaker 2

to $50,000,000 that's the number.

Speaker 8

I didn't say that.

Speaker 12

Okay. Yes, full year. Okay.

Speaker 2

But you probably hate that. John, you got expenses going up. I mean, our group insurance went up a couple of $1,000,000 You just got Everything going up. Everything is going up. So to say that you're going to reduce expenses in 2024, if you can hold Frances in 24 with all of these things that are beyond our control would be great.

Speaker 12

Yes. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. I just wanted to ask a question on credit.

Speaker 12

It kind of dominated the call Last quarter and you're pretty quiet on it this time around, but anything new on credit, any newer emerging concerns we should be aware of? And then for Chris, just anything on the potential timeline for resolving the California office property?

Speaker 6

Hey, John, it's Kevin. I'll take the first one. Nothing of any significance at this point. We're working through Those 3 we talked about and as I said, we've looked at what's maturing that's at low rates and Don't really see any significant issues there. Past dues are they're flat from last year below where they were a quarter ago.

Speaker 6

So I think that's why you saw that there was less emphasis on it this quarter and it was Yes, more of a focus last quarter.

Speaker 12

Yes, fair enough.

Speaker 2

Chris, you can take that now.

Speaker 7

Yes. Hey, John. I would say we're going to be pretty patient on this one. It's an office building and it's a Tough market for office. I could liquidate it, but I don't think that's the best result for our shareholders here.

Speaker 7

It's breakeven. I can use it, Have a need for it. And I think if we put a little elbow grease into this and stabilize it, we drive a higher value for it. My point of view is that I think we can enhance the value of this. I think that this was not well managed by The previous borrower, once they realized they weren't going to be able to recoup their money and it took us a little time to get control of it.

Speaker 7

Now that we have it, I think we should do some work on it. Let's get the we're doing some work on leasing, etcetera. Let's get that done and put it in a good position for a buyer. We're not the right long term owner of it, but I think we might be

Speaker 12

the right short term owner. Okay. All right. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2

John, I've been quiet because We've sold 2 of the 3 of them. So hopefully they close, the transaction close and we didn't lose any money on. So we are on a road ride on the 1st place. Thank goodness, the team's Kevin's right. Our team's really done a good job.

Speaker 2

They did a good job underwriting. In times like this, a lot of people do eightytwenty lending. You put 20% in and they loan you 80 and that's kind of becomes a rule. But in times like this, you've got no equity because the values of some of those properties have deteriorated and there's no value in them. So The good tough underwriting at home is maintained over the years is certainly paying off for us.

Speaker 2

And there may be some hiccups in the field, some people may have some hiccups, But I don't think there's going to be substantial hiccups. It's not an old five-six. We made or 7 when we made that tour through the Florida Keys, it's not one of those fields. So it feels different now because most of the stuff we've got were at a loan to value of 65%, 70%. So instead of having no money or little money in a deal, we got 25%, 30%, 40% in deals.

Speaker 2

So think it will be I think we'll have some, but not a lot. So that's the reason I was flat because I'm pretty happy the fact that we had three Piece of property that concerned me and we've sold 2 of the 3.

Speaker 12

Yes. It's good progress. Okay. Thanks a lot.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brady

Speaker 4

I wanted to start with your sensitivity to interest rates. I mean, the forward curve suggests A decent amount of rate cuts this year. If that plays out, will there be much of an impact to your Net interest margin, I feel like you guys tend to be somewhat rate neutral. But what's the impact to the margin if we do see rate cuts?

Speaker 5

Hey, Brady, this is Steven. We're looking at our ALCO model Assumptions now, I mean, to your point, I think we've been plus or minus 5% on both sides, Up or down in the past. I mean, as I've said to Brett, kind of at the outset of the call, I mean, I think our view today Is that in a down rate environment, if we see short term rates come down this year, we'll be able to kind of attack The interest bearing checking side of things and see a little margin improvement. I think our budget, if I remember right, has Four rate cuts potentially in it next year and show some margin improvement throughout the year. So Yes.

Speaker 5

In terms I don't know what the model shows today. I think as we work through our assumptions, that's our belief in terms of being able to improve in a down rate

Speaker 2

Brady, if we have 6 rate cuts this year, we're going to be in lots of trouble. I hope that's not correct because I hope it's not politically motivated behind it. But if we have 6 rate cuts, It's a sign that we're in trouble. So I don't the country is in trouble, not home. The country is in trouble.

Speaker 2

So That is that's pretty scary to think that we could have 6 rate cuts. And I understand they're pricing those 6 rate cuts in. I'm still higher for longer guy. I just believe that. We may see 25 or 50 basis points wouldn't hurt us.

Speaker 2

But if we got 4 major regular fixed rate cuts, We got big problems and it reminds me of the late 70s when Volcker pivoted because of pressure And we had to come back at 21% rates in the early 80s to kill a snake. So I've been I think a long I think it's going to be hopefully, we don't end up in recession.

Speaker 4

Yes, I agree with it. KBW only has, I think, 2 cuts in our economic baseline. So yes, I agree with you. My last question is just on bank M and A. Johnny, I know you've been very active in that over the years.

Speaker 4

Any do you see bank like traditional bank M and A, unassisted bank M and A, do you see that dethawing at all anytime near term?

Speaker 2

We talk about it around here. It's just the expectations of the sellers and the cost of the deals And the marks, we saw where HomeStreet got bought. That's probably a pretty good trade. There may be some trades like that out there that make That are really need to banks that need to be in stronger hands. But outside of that, I'm afraid M and A, you know me, I like to do M and A trades and we've done a lot of them.

Speaker 2

I'm just afraid we can't get them done. I'm just afraid they won't work. We haven't been involved in nobody's been involved in M and A really around here lately because We've been trying to

Speaker 6

wrap the year up and

Speaker 2

do what we're doing, get the year we want our $400,000,000 and Brian Davis told me we We'll have to book our exposure to the Fed deal, but that's okay. I mean, we would have made we would have done it without it. So I don't know if I've answered your question or not, but that's about as good as

Speaker 5

I can do.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. Thanks for the color guys.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Brady.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Matt Olney with Stephens. Your line is now open.

Speaker 13

Hey, thanks. Good afternoon, everybody.

Speaker 2

Good afternoon, Matt.

Speaker 13

Hey, Johnny, you mentioned the market expectations for Home Bank was for net income to be down in 24 Versus 2023, it sounds like you don't agree with this. So I'm just curious if you want to give you a chance to talk about your targets for 2024. What's the Johnny model for Home Banking in 2024?

Speaker 2

Well, it's certainly not a down. It's not a down scenario. I've never budgeted a down scenario in my life. So they're not if they're going I think it's going to the Board for approval, I'm going to vote against it because When you think about taking advantage of this opportunity when all these banks are brought in the country I can't loan any money. It ought to be a great time for us.

Speaker 2

I mean, we had revenue was strong. We got Growth in revenue growth with high interest times, we had growth in revenue, growth in deposit, loans, margins hanging in really good, asset quality is wonderful And we've got lots and lots of capital and one of the few banks in the country that can pay out all uninsured depositors. So I like where we're sitting. I like where Homebuy shares are sitting. We have built this in the accident.

Speaker 2

We built it this way. So It is one of the strongest banks in America. We'll get our fair share, but I'm north of $400,000,000 Without a settlement on the West Texas deal, it bothered us. I'm north of 420. That's where I want to be.

Speaker 2

That's a Johnny number. Okay. Okay.

Speaker 13

Well, I appreciate that and wouldn't be surprised if you guys ultimately get there this year. What about on the loan growth front? I think you guys mentioned a while back you were looking at doing An energy loan, didn't know if you got that deal done and funded or that's still on the drawing board?

Speaker 2

We did it. It's done. It's on the books. Going the books, going well. Going the books, going well.

Speaker 2

So we're we've got an opportunity on another energy loan. We're not afraid of energy loans. I think you've seen the guys on TV trying to run these electric cars down the road. Something tells me oil and gas is going to be here for a long time because I think Hertz is selling my 45,000 electric cars or something, taking a beating on getting rid of them. I I believe oil and gas is going to be here for a while.

Speaker 2

So we're not afraid oil and gas, we would do more oil and gas.

Speaker 13

Yes. Okay. And then just lastly, I think Kevin mentioned in his prepared remarks that you did a I think it was a deep dive in some of the CRE properties that will be reset higher, the loan pricing, I think you mentioned this in prepared remarks, but I missed this. Was this any Specific segment or any region or just kind of a more broad deep dive? Thanks.

Speaker 6

Matt, this is Kevin. So it was all loans that are maturing in 2024 over $3,000,000 and had An interest rate less than I think it was 7%. So just really across the board, just trying to get ahead of anything that's going to have a Pretty big rate shock and make sure that we understand what that looks like and that there's not any issues. If there's going to be an issue, we want to know it now In the Q3 when it matures. So in that review, there was just a handful of things that And none of any great size that looked like it could be even A challenge to the project and the good news is almost everything we saw had either a really, really strong guarantor with a lot of liquidity or A lot of very, very low leverage, those sorts of things.

Speaker 6

So again, Johnny is talking about the underwriting That we feel like that we've done well over the past several years. I think that's where this comes into play is when you're looking at several 100 Basis point increase in rates and still everything looking like it's going to work out.

Speaker 5

Yes, I

Speaker 2

didn't know he was doing that and he did it. And I think it's great. He called me, just said, hi, I just went through everything, dollars 3,000,000 less, it matures in the next 12 months, that is 7% or less. And he said, Johnny, I didn't find hardly anything, which gave me real comfort. So I appreciate them doing that.

Speaker 2

Appreciate them doing that makes me feel good. It should make you feel good, Matt, representing us to investors.

Speaker 13

Yes. No, that's definitely good news. Glad you guys are doing something like that.

Speaker 11

Thanks. All right, guys. Thanks for your help.

Speaker 13

Congrats on the year.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Stephen Scouten with Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

Speaker 9

Hey, good afternoon, everyone.

Speaker 12

How are you?

Speaker 8

I'm a little scared to

Speaker 9

know what a good year looks like if This is supposed to be a bad year, Johnny. What did you put? 1.8% ROA, 17% ROTCE. I got scared when I read the first line press release and then I looked at the numbers. So

Speaker 2

it seems like a good result. We write not only just I did the quarter last quarter and I think we ranked in the top 3 or 4 or 5 of every category ROA, ROE. And Tracy, so we're getting this kind of performance. And I said, we don't care if we don't pay attention to other people's performance. It's what we're going to do.

Speaker 2

We're going to do better than anybody. We want to be better than everyone. So we're getting good performance. The numbers look good. But I appreciate that comment.

Speaker 2

You might him and Steven and Tracy and Brian, I want to just take a nap or go on vacations.

Speaker 8

Even I've gone from right here to no one.

Speaker 2

Yes. Okay. We don't have that.

Speaker 9

So the Area I'm most interested in is really the strong loan growth you guys had. I mean, so far this quarter, we haven't seen much in the way of loan growth From a lot of peers and a lot of the industry as a whole. So 4.3%, I mean, it may not feel like a lot, but on a relative basis, it looks Like a ton. And so I'm just wondering if you think that's sustainable, maybe going back to Brett's question earlier on, and then if there's any kind of geographic Dispersion or any segments or kind of any additional color, Kevin, you might be able to lend of where that's coming from and how you're getting it?

Speaker 6

Hey, this is Kevin. So geographically, certainly, you got Texas and Florida who are Poised to provide that because you got so many people still moving to those 2 geographies, and particularly Yes, the Southern Florida part. So that's always helpful. Do I think it can continue? It certainly can.

Speaker 6

Do I think it's Johnny mentioned it earlier, I think you've got a lot of banks who have pulled back and either by choice or because they don't have Any liquidity and ability to loan, so that bodes well. We're still going to we're still having to fight the rate issue because Some deals just don't work at these rates where they you have to have so much equity that it is a challenge to get people To put that much in. So that's still a challenge, but there's from a competitive standpoint, we have a little bit of a break here, it feels like, and the ability to do that. So to the degree that we can still get what we want to get from a yield standpoint and get the leverage points we want, There are opportunities. That's what we're working into.

Speaker 6

Stephen, if I could add, I mean,

Speaker 8

a lot of it Is the referrals that we're getting, I used an example Johnny has a customer, a great customer that he got introduced to someone when he was down there visiting with his customer That's turned into several opportunities for us. In Texas, we've made some relationships that Getting customers calling, referring us to help them on opportunities and we're seeing that in Arkansas too. Some of the banks that have changed or done something different in our Northeast Arkansas, they're getting opportunities to look at. Will we do them all? We don't know.

Speaker 8

We're just it's coming back to just good old fashioned

Speaker 2

referrals that we're getting from other just Keep our

Speaker 8

hands shaking and saying hello.

Speaker 2

That's exactly right. It's kind of referral to referral to referral and it's We just had a guy come in and Ace and Strays and Flushes hits banks in trouble, 95% of them are facing trouble. And sometimes you wonder if you're doing the right thing and you just keep building your company That's across your T's. And when you see a crisis like we've seen, you know you're doing the right thing and people are coming across the country to come see you To do transactions with you because you have good reputation because you got the money. And the guy looked at me and said, what's the cost?

Speaker 2

I said, it's 10% plus a point. And he said, I figured that's what she's going to say. And that's what it was. That's what the price of the deal was, 10% plus a point. So We have that opportunity right now.

Speaker 2

Hopefully, we'll be able to continue to we're not going to do everything at 10% plus. We have the opportunity to do some of those transactions, I think, and at some reasonable rate in the future. So 1 of our big customers in company wide was in Florida and his resort and Had me come down and meet this guy and I opened with Kevin and his referral deal and he was a great credit, great guy, $50,000,000 credit, we did it. Just one led to another and another. He said, yes, I'm having a problem getting this done.

Speaker 2

He said, you need to talk to my banker. So anyway, because we got the availability of money, because we got the strength to do it, it has it is that's why you're seeing the loan growth. Yes.

Speaker 9

That's great. And you mentioned that 10% plus a point. I mean, What sort of yield on average, I don't know if you have that number, but average new yield yields in the quarter, what's kind of what you're seeing and how much pushback is there From customers on those yields, whether it's renewals or new customers?

Speaker 5

Hey, Stephen. It's Stephen. The new the coupon on new originations in Q4 was $9.18 I believe. So as Johnny

Speaker 2

mentioned, there's

Speaker 5

A mix of some tens and some primes, right? But largely, we've been able to improve on that, I think, every quarter this year. Kevin may I have some color in terms of just pushing back.

Speaker 6

Well, yes, I mean there's obviously there's pushback. Guys that's part of why I made the comment in the earlier remarks is I mean, our guys fight that every day, every loan, every situation and try to get all they can out of it. So It's one of the things that we do and just part of working here at home. I mean, you got to do that And it's very important. And there's obviously pushback.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 9

Makes sense. All right, guys. I appreciate the time. Congrats on a

Speaker 8

great year. Thank you. Appreciate

Speaker 2

it. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Rose with Raymond James. Your line is now open. Please ensure

Speaker 11

you are unmuted.

Speaker 2

Operator, let's just move on if there's another question and we'll come back to Michael, see if he's back on there.

Operator

Certainly. Our next question will come from the line of Brian Martin with Janney. Your line is now open.

Speaker 11

Hey, Good afternoon, guys. Congrats, Johnny, on 25 great years.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Just

Speaker 11

a couple for me. Just on the fee income side, it looks like the last two quarters have been a little bit lower and I think, Tracy maybe mentioned that there's somebody mentioned earlier, I think there's some opportunity for upside. Just kind of wondering where there's some opportunity there or The current level is kind of a run rate to think about as you go into next year or just kind of where the puts and takes could be there?

Speaker 8

Yes, we do. We think there's certainly opportunity improvement. The mortgage business operations have been interesting with the Interest rate increases over the year, that's fine tuning, making sure we got the right people in the right place and Keith That runs that, does a really good job of handling that. So we think that can probably pick back up and smooth out a little better. We've also trying to figure out, we've analyzed all our accounts, we've done a lot of things to keep see There's not a whole lot of room that we can improve on some of the account fee type stuff today.

Speaker 8

I thought there would be on that, but we're again, as we're just taking a look at every non interest income, non interest expense category And identifying what could be out there. But just the way the year was in some of our Service Industries, I think that hopefully that opportunity comes back. If not, we've been very, very fortunate with the Trust Business, Kevin Orrin, his team have done a really, really good job of joining in with our Texas opportunity and we have the Gold Star Trust out there. That's been a it's been a nice pickup and I think that has opportunity to continue to go and grow with the staff that he's That we've got together there. So that's always been a little player in our field in the past, but it's a line item today.

Speaker 11

Okay. The equity investments have been

Speaker 2

go ahead. Sorry, can I just I'm pretty pleased with watching Gold Star Trust and How they progressed? That's a pretty sweet little organization that we I gave it no value when we did the transaction because I didn't understand it, but They do a really good job and I'm pretty pleased with that. We may have him on one of these conference calls sometime tell you

Speaker 6

what all he does. I think it'd

Speaker 2

be good to Have him join and explain to the world what he does sometime.

Speaker 11

Yes, maybe just The equity investments have been down a little bit. So that's another area, I guess, I would presume that's more volatile, as far as when that lumpy one that would come in.

Speaker 3

Yes. I mean, to be honest with you for this particular quarter, the equity investment income is down about 2 point $2,000,000 And when I say that we've booked about $858,000 in income for Q3, But unfortunately, we had a couple of those equity investments that had a decline in their capital balance. And so we took a loss of $1,300,000 which Sitting in the reduction in our other income line item

Speaker 6

on the

Speaker 3

income statement. So it's about $2,200,000 Q3, Q4.

Speaker 6

Yes. We anticipate this has been prudent

Speaker 12

in Q1.

Speaker 11

Yes. Okay. And then just on the expenses, I think maybe you said it Johnny, but just the not like we should expect a reduction per se on an absolute basis in expenses as you look From 4Q to 1Q, given some of the initiatives you've got, but maybe better to think about it for now that, it's holding the full year to full year At a stable level is a better way to think about it until you go further along?

Speaker 2

This inflation is not over and it's continuing. So it is We're seeing the expense go up. So if we can cut 20 I don't think our expenses have gone up $25,000,000 but if we can cut $25,000,000 out, we should get some benefit of that. And if inflation lowers its head, then I think I think we'll get some benefits,

Speaker 9

but if not, we'll have

Speaker 2

to go back to it again. We got to do what we got to do. We got a responsibility to the shareholders of this corporation to be profitable, And they're the ones that own us. We work for them. So we're going to do what we need to do there.

Speaker 2

Whatever it takes, we'll do. So Hopefully, right now, we'll see what comes out at the end of the quarter and what the expense reduction is and compare that to the You won't see it all because like I said, insurance, all these different expenses are up for the year. So but we'll get a little of it.

Speaker 11

Okay. And Q1 should be is typically impacted seasonally a little bit higher anyhow. So it seems as though it's probably The second, third and fourth quarter, that should be a little bit lower than 1Q given the timing of these savings and some seasonality in 1Q anyhow. So

Speaker 8

That's great.

Speaker 11

Okay. And then maybe just last was on the timing of the borrowing program. Just Maybe I missed what you said earlier as far as the timing and the impact to dollars of net interest income and Margin, but it was what a basis point in the quarter. I mean, I guess timing wise, when was the borrowing implemented and just Kind of run back through what the timing impact of it was for 4Q?

Speaker 2

That was about we didn't start till about mid month of December. Let me start about. So what you're saying is about 15 days of the borrowing program, about 15, 16 days. We didn't start.

Speaker 8

We talked about it 3 or 4 times. We didn't need it. We didn't have to have that. It's just the opportunity came with Fred,

Speaker 2

we missed had the Fed not put their borrowing program in, you would have had multitudes of failed banks. And as you know, we were the largest buyer in the country last time and we would have been this time even bigger buyers Because of the strength of our balance sheet and the equity in this corporation. So we missed That opportunity because the Fed came in with free money again, which was probably the right thing to do. That was probably the right thing to do. And then they come back against us profitable banks and we pay our fair share.

Speaker 2

So I think that was I think it was the right thing to do over a period of time. We'll see them.

Speaker 11

Okay. And the total borrowings on that program that You're getting a spread on what you said spread 64 basis points, how much were the borrowings?

Speaker 2

$500,000,000 All right.

Speaker 3

We've got $500,000,000 that we took out in December kind of as a special borrowing, but we already had $200,000,000 outstanding when we did it. We were kind of paying our money back and we're rebarned and trying to keep about $150,000,000 in the checkbook. And Today, we're at $711,000,000 So, but it's the whole $700,000,000 and it's 64 basis points.

Speaker 11

Okay. And that impact then, Brian, would be

Speaker 2

I mean, the impact is about $10,000 a day. And don't know if I feel good about us doing it or bad about us doing it, but we would have been if we didn't have this opportunity to do that now, We would have certainly, if they hadn't brought the program on, you might see 150 banks out of business today. So Probably would say 150 banks out of business today. If they got runs on them, they'd be out of business. I'm telling you the big bad wolf show up, Bunch of the banks around the space would be out of business.

Speaker 2

So I thought we ought to get something out of it. So Our group on executive committee meeting said let's borrow some money and I thought okay, so we're borrowing first at 37,42,50 and then now 64. 64. So it's a nice little income piece for us. It does hurt the margin.

Speaker 2

So when you see our margin, if we leave it in The entire quarter next quarter, Brian said it will be about 10 basis points, but it will be more money. So you'll understand, You can adjust the margin for 10 basis points into next quarter, but I

Speaker 3

guess the real question is do you want an extra $1,000,000 to have

Speaker 6

a 10 basis point dilution to your margin? I mean, it's real money.

Speaker 11

Right. And do you guys right now expect to keep it? Is that the plan? Or Is that kind of up for debate or the timing on that?

Speaker 3

I guess it really depends on what happens with Fed funds, right? Right. If they drop the Fed funds rate and all of a sudden we have 14 basis points spread on the margin, then it probably doesn't look very attractive we had some opportunities to do that earlier in the quarter, we just passed on it.

Speaker 11

Got you. Okay. And just to remind me, I mean, your outlook or just expectations, I mean, do you expect with this benefit to be able to grow the dollars of NII year over year, is that kind of baked into the outlook here as far as with the sensitivity On the margin and the growth

Speaker 5

outlook? Yes, I think that's certainly the goal. When we talked about Thoughts on loan increase and the outlook there and if we're able to even in this environment, if we're able to hold the margin And where it's at, we can see a little balance sheet growth, I think, and I follow.

Speaker 11

Okay. That's all I had guys. Thanks for taking the questions.

Speaker 2

Hi, thank you. Appreciate your support. Let's see if Michael Rose got back. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. There are no additional questions in the queue at this time. So I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Allison for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you for your time and patience with us. It's been a trying year. Last year was extremely stressful. Think it's the most stressful year of my banking career when you see banks going broke in 24 hours And all the electronic transfers, deposits running out and high rates and it was actually very Stressful for all of us. And when Home came through it, you can see how well we came through.

Speaker 2

You heard Stephen Scouten say, you said it wasn't a very good year, it was a great year. Well, it was we set it up for that to happen and it's happened that way. So I appreciate your support and hopefully We'll have a good 24 and maybe we'll buy something worth the money for to add to the what we already have. Thank you very much for your time and your support.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Home Bancshares, Inc. (Conway, AR) Q4 2023
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