In 1998 two local businessmen and friends, John Allison and Robert ‘Bunny’ Adcock, set out to start a new community bank.
They purchased Bank of Holly Grove, located in Holly Grove, Ark. for $4.5 million, which had $27MM in assets and they opened a temporary facility in Conway.
During the first year of business they changed the name to First State Bank and quickly became the fastest growing bank in the history of Arkansas.
The pair’s commitment to take the bank public was fulfilled in 2006 on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol ‘HOMB’, for the parent company Home BancShares, Inc. Now the company’s assets are over $4 Billion and they continue to grow, thanks to the leadership and vision of Allison and Adcock.
“I consider it a huge accomplishment that our little $4.5M bank has grown to a $4 Billion bank with $1 Billion in Market Cap, over 1,000 employees and a payroll of almost $50 M.
“That is largely due to our shareholders who have stuck with us and, by the way, their shareholder equity is now at $506 M,” said Allison, Chairman of the board of directors.
“Our focus has been, and always will be, our customers, our employees and our shareholders. We are owned by thousands of Arkansans which makes us a ‘true’ community bank in Arkansas.
“Our culture and talented team of bankers is quickly helping us become the community bank in our Alabama and Florida markets as well,” Allison said.
In 2012 Home BancShares reported record quarterly earnings and the stock price reached an all-time high of $35 per share.
“We are extremely proud to announce our $4.5 million investment we made in 1998 has reached $1 Billion in Market Capitalization,” said Allison. Market Capitalization (or Market Cap) is the total dollar market value of all of a company’s outstanding shares. Market Cap is calculated by multiplying a company’s shares outstanding by the current market price of one share of stock.
“So are we finished yet? No we’re just warming up for the future,” said Allison.