Home BancShares establishes additional reserves for loan losses

Home BancShares (HOMB) announced it has established additional reserves for loan losses as a result of Hurricane Milton. On October 11, HOMB announced a $16.7M reserve as a result of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall September 26. Upon announcement HOMB indicated the more recent and powerful Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on October 9, and caused the spin-off of more than two dozen tornados, would likely lead to an increase in this reserve amount. “Out of an abundance of caution, HOMB has decided to make an additional $16.7 million reserve following the second Florida hurricane, bringing our total hurricane reserve to $33.4 million for the year,” said John Allison, Chairman of HOMB. “The two hurricanes spanned across the third and fourth quarter and the amount of time it takes for customers to settle with insurance will no doubt increase, with two back-to-back events,” continued Allison. “We have approximately $110 million currently on deferral as a result of the two hurricanes and in keeping with our conservative nature, we feel as though this proactive move is a prudent and predictable course of action,” added Allison.