Johnny Allison considered the first-time quarterly posting of a sub-40 percent efficiency ratio at Home BancShares Inc. worthy of some celebratory skylarking and corporate levity.
About 20 minutes before the third-quarter conference call on Oct. 15, the colorful chairman left the Conway headquarters in search of theatrical props.
“He hopped in his car and drove over to Walgreens and came back with some New Year’s Eve-looking horns,” said Donna Townsell, senior executive vice president of corporate efficiencies for Home BancShares and its Centennial Bank.
The horns were tooted instead of uttering the word “record” during the conference call. The substitution was made as a nod to some analyst chiding of Allison for using “record” too frequently when describing the company’s fiscal accomplishments.
“We got feedback that the horns kind of shook them up,” said Townsell, Allison’s sister-in-law. “So we’ll go back to the word ‘record.’”