By Roby Brock
Despite a slowdown in corporate travel and households paring back vacation spending, Arkansas’ tourism industry saw a slight improvement in visitor expenditures in 2008 versus the previous year.
According to the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, tourist tax revenue rose from $11.6 million in 2007 to $12 million in 2008, a 3.8 percent increase.
Tourism officials cited more in-state and regional vacationers for the small increase, as well as additional convention business and economic activity in the counties of the Fayetteville Shale natural gas play.
Pilgrim’s Pride to close El Dorado plant
Pilgrim’s Pride announced the closure of three of its 32 facilities, including its El Dorado operations. The move will eliminate the last 600 jobs at the plant. Another 600 jobs were eliminated from the El Dorado plant last year.
The Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Farmerville, La., also will close, costing another 1,200 workers their jobs. Farmerville is about 40 miles south of El Dorado, and the closings are expected to compound problems for the region’s work force.
The company will close its plant in Douglas, Ga., will be idled, affecting another 1,200 workers.
Pilgrim’s Pride, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, said the three idled plants are underperforming. Approximately 430 independent contract growers who supply birds to the three plants will also be affected.
Hino cuts 150 from Marion plant
Hino Motors, which two weeks ago reported its first net loss since 2001, has permanently laid off 150 direct and indirect workers at its Marion, Arkansas facility. The layoffs officially took place on Feb. 6.
The Arkansas facility, which employed about 465 full-time workers prior to the layoffs, manufactures axles and suspension components for the Toyota Tundra and Sequoia vehicles. Sales of Toyota auto products have fallen as have domestic car makers’ sales.
Local work force officials say that job opportunities in nearby Jonesboro may provide employment for the laid-off workers.
Window manufacturer lays off 70 in Little Rock
Deceuninck NV, Europe’s second-biggest maker of plastic window frames, said it will close its Little Rock operations and consolidate American operations to its Monroe, Ohio, plant. The move will impact 70 workers in central Arkansas by April.
The Little Rock manufacturing plant became one of the Deceuninck North America production sites in 2003 together with a plant in Oakland, N.J., after the acquisition of Vinyl Building Products, part of Thyssen Polymer, a German firm.
In a press release, Deceuninck said its American operations had been “severely hit by the consequences of the financial crisis and a worsening economic climate.”
60 new jobs coming to Fayetteville call center
SourceGas, the parent company of Arkansas Western Gas, will add about 60 new jobs in the next few months as it expands its Fayetteville call-handling operations. The company’s contract with a third-party provider for call-center services is set to expire, and SourceGas will expand and centralize its local service center to begin handling calls from outside Arkansas. Lakewood, Colo.-based SourceGas purchased Arkansas Western Gas in July 2008, and serves nearly 420,000 customers in Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and Hermosillo, Mexico.
Fort Smith manufacturer to expand
Fortis Plastics, which has a significant manufacturing concern in Fort Smith, announced that it will locate its central headquarters South Bend, Ind., and it will expand its operations in western Arkansas. Fortis, which is a supplier to Whirlpool, was looking at Fort Smith as a possibility for its headquarters. The number of new hires as a result of the Fort Smith expansion was not disclosed.
Bill filed to remove utility taxes for manufacturers
A bill that would provide a complete sales tax exemption for a wide range of fuels used by a broad definition of manufacturers was filed this week at the state Legislature.
Currently, manufacturers receive a 2 percent tax break on the sales tax paid on their natural gas and electric bills, but only 18 percent of the state’s manufacturing base is taking advantage of the deduction.
The new bill would eliminate the sales tax on any type of fuel or energy used during any manufacturing processes. Fuel and energy are defined in the bill as natural gas, electricity, fuel oil, steam, coal, lignite, wood chips, wood byproducts, nuclear fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, and petroleum coke.
Murphy oil makes $31 million earning adjustment
Murphy Oil Corp. adjusted its 2008 earnings report by $31.1 million. The adjustment is due to the expensing of a well drilled in western Australia that was plugged and abandoned. The well was completed after Murphy Oil’s preliminary earnings release on Jan. 28, but federal Securities and Exchange Commission accounting rules require unsuccessful drilling costs incurred through Dec. 31 to be included in 2008 financial statements. Murphy Oil originally reported fourth quarter 2008 net income of $158.5 million.
Southwestern Energy net income more than doubles
Southwestern Energy Co., the largest investor in the Fayetteville Shale play, saw its 2008 net income rise 157 percent for the year.
The Houston-based natural gas driller posted profits of $567.9 million on revenue of $2.3 billion. In the fourth quarter, Southwestern recorded net income of $104.2 million, a 45 percent increase over the previous year’s fourth quarter.
“By far, the key accomplishment for us in 2008 was the progress we made in our Fayetteville Shale play, a project where we have thousands of wells to drill and quite possibly the most economic position in a shale play in the United States,” said CEO Harold Korell. Southwestern invested approximately $1.2 billion in its Fayetteville Shale drilling program during 2008.
Wal-Mart to alter Canadian strategy
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will close its Sam’s Club locations in Ontario, Canada, to focus instead on opening more Wal-Mart supercenters. The retailer said the decision will result in the closure of six Sam’s Club locations, but it is currently in discussions with a major U.S. retailer to purchase Wal-Mart’s interest in five of the locations.
Wal-Mart Canada intends to open 26 new supercenters in Canada this year, bringing the number of Canadian supercenters to 82 and Wal-Mart Canada’s overall store count to 316 by the end of the year.
ThermoEngergy pursues power plant venture
ThermoEnergy Corp. of Little Rock and Babcock Power of Massachusetts formed a new company to develop and commercialize a new advanced carbon capture power plant design. Carbon capture plants emit less pollution into the atmosphere. According to a news release, the companies say that their process will convert coal, oil, natural gas, waste and biomass into energy with “near-zero air emissions and no smoke stack.” The new venture will be called Babcock-Thermo Carbon Capture LLC.
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Roby Brock, a freelance journalist based in Little Rock, writes weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau. His weekly television program airs at 10 p.m. Sundays in Central and Northwest Arkansas. His e-mail address is roby@talkbusiness.net; his Web site address is www.talkbusiness.net.
