By Roby Brock
For the first time in 42 months, statewide home sales rose in July by 1.6 percent. Officials with the Arkansas Realtors Association said it was the first monthly year-over-year increase for the industry since December 2005.
Pulaski County home sales rose 16.7 percent compared to one year ago. Washington County home sales leaped 19.3 percent in July, and Benton County home sales only slipped 3.9 percent.
Statewide average home prices were slightly lower than one year ago, a 2.6 percent decline to $153,047.
Tyson foods CEO likes the way 2010 ‘shaping up’
Speaking at a consumer conference Wednesday, Tyson Foods interim CEO Leland Tollett said Tyson’s chicken business has softened since August, but the company’s other meat segments are operating as expected.
“Our business has been trending pretty much as predicted,” he said. “We’ve been making progress toward improving our chicken operations, and we still have room for improvement there, but I like the way things are shaping up as we move into 2010.”
Tollett says the recession has shifted Tyson’s sales from the food service sector to supermarket sales as more consumers are eating at home. In August, Tyson reported a third-quarter profit of $134 million, but it still had an $82 million loss for its first three quarters of the current fiscal year.
Lincoln tapped for agriculture committee chair
Arkansas’ senior senator, Blanche Lincoln, has been tapped as the next chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. In the committee’s 184-year history, Lincoln will be the first Arkansan and first female ever to serve as chairman.
With the state’s emphasis on agriculture, Lincoln will be in a position to exert tremendous policy influence on farming, poultry and aquaculture issues.
Entergy files base rate increase
Entergy Arkansas filed for a base rate increase of $223.2 million for its Arkansas system that provides electricity to about 700,000 customers in 63 of Arkansas’ 75 counties.
The company said in its filing with the Arkansas Public Service Commission that base rates had not increased since 1985. The company also estimates the base rate increase will not raise customer bills in the long term.
Entergy said part of the rate increase will pay for facility improvements and upgrades to its transmission grid.
Stable fed policy key to wind energy expansion
At a meeting in Little Rock on Thursday, members and officials with the American Wind Energy Association said that policy consistency in Washington, D.C. was the critical factor for continued industry growth.
Arkansas is home to three wind blade manufacturing firms and one major supplier.
Industry officials lauded Arkansas’ efforts, but complained that national policies changed with the political winds of Congress. Current proposed federal legislation seeks a 6 percent increase in wind-generated power by 2012, but wind energy officials contend it should be higher.
Windstream acquires small North Carolina firm
Windstream Corp. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Lexcom, Inc., a North Carolina communications company based in Lexington, N.C., for approximately $141 million in cash.
Little Rock-based Windstream will add approximately 23,000 access lines, 9,000 high-speed Internet customers and 12,000 cable TV customers in the transaction. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Home Bancshares starts $90 million public offering
Home Bancshares, parent company of Centennial Bank, announced it has started a $90 million public offering of its common stock.
The Conway-based company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund internal growth and selective acquisitions, including possible FDIC-assisted acquisitions.
Home Bancshares also said it could use a portion of the proceeds to repurchase all or a portion of the Series A preferred shares and warrant it issued to the U.S. Treasury in January 2009 as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
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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.
