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Tyson takes stake in Chinese poultry firm Sunday, Jul 20, 2008 By Roby Brock Tyson Foods will buy a 60 percent stake in Chinese poultry processor Xinchang Group. Tyson recently signed a framework agreement with Xinchang, China's fifth-largest poultry producer, pending due diligence and government approval. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Xinchang, which will be able to process 125 million chickens a year once a new plant opening in August allows it to double capacity, had sales of $289 million last year. In late June, Tyson Foods announced a joint venture to expand in India. Pilgrim's Pride to cut 600 jobs in El Dorado Pilgrim's Pride Corp. will shut down a portion of its tray-pack chicken business at the company's El Dorado processing plant. Following a 60-day transition, the El Dorado facility will operate as a supply plant. About 600 of the company's 1,215 positions in El Dorado will be eliminated by Sept. 19. Most of the positions eliminated will be hourly jobs in chicken processing. Contract growers and employees in live operations will not be affected, the company said. State unemployment declines Arkansas' June jobless rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 5 percent from the previous month. One year ago, unemployment in Arkansas stood at 5.4 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate registered at 5.5 percent in June. In the state, government jobs fell by 6,000 due to seasonal school closings. The leisure and hospitality industry added 1,600 jobs during the month. J.B. Hunt net income drops J.B. Hunt Transport Services, posted second quarter 2008 earnings of $50.6 million, a 21 percent decline from one year ago. The company said $10.3 million of profit was a net benefit from a tax settlement with the IRS. Total revenues for the reporting period were $977 million, a 14 percent increase from the second quarter of last year. USA Truck sees slight improvement USA Truck posted net income of $2.1 million during the latest quarter on the strength of base revenue of $103.8 million. One year ago, the Van Buren-based trucking firm reported quarterly net income of $1.6 million on revenues of $101.7 million. Clif Beckham, President and CEO of USA Truck, said discipline in operations helped improve results. He cited "challenging" conditions in the industry, characterized by suppressed freight volumes due to the slowing U.S. economy and record diesel fuel costs. Simmons earnings fall 14 percent Beefing up loan loss reserves and a decrease in student loan sales hurt quarterly profits for Simmons First National Corp. The Pine Bluff-based bank holding company reported second-quarter earnings of $6 million, down 14 percent from the same period a year ago when earnings topped $7 million. "The increase in provision for loan losses reflects our anticipated return to more historical levels, and a special provision related to our northwest Arkansas region," said Simmons First CEO Tommy May. Home BancShares earnings up, bank charters to combine Home BancShares announced second-quarter earnings of $5.7 million compared to earnings of $5.1 million for the same period in 2007. Bank officials touted the 11.7 percent increase in earnings and added that "solid loan growth" contributed to the quarter's profits. Last week, the Conway-based bank holding company reported it had dismissed a senior official over an alleged $2.1 million fraud. Federal officials are investigating the matter. Also disclosed in its earnings report, Home BancShares has approved the combining of all of the company's individually chartered banks into one charter over the next 12 months. A spokesman for Home BancShares said the company has not decided whether to rename any of its community banks. Metropolitan releases earnings In an apparent move to show financial stability, Metropolitan National Bank released an earnings statement for its second quarter. Metropolitan, an Arkansas-based privately held company with branches throughout Central and Northwest Arkansas, also reported second-quarter net income of $2.5 million and a 42.8 percent increase in its allowance for loan and lease losses. "These second quarter results continued Metropolitan's successful record of consecutive quarterly profits that stretch back to the 1970's," the bank said in a prepared statement. Private banks are not required to release earnings reports to the public. In mid-June, Metropolitan reached a formal agreement with federal regulators to improve its capital holdings and clean up problem loans. Payday lenders altering business models, opponents contend About one-third of the payday lending operations Attorney General Dustin McDaniel ordered to shut down or face lawsuits are still up and running after adopting new business models to try to avoid regulation, opponents of the practice said Wednesday. A report released by Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending showed 55 of the 156 payday lending stores McDaniel warned were, in the group's opinion, still acting illegally. McDaniel's office said it is investigating the stores acting under different models which might not comply with state law. The total number of payday lenders operating in the state has fallen from 237 in March to 136 this month. Representatives for the payday lending industry did not return calls seeking comment. Leggett & Platt sell aluminum die-casting unit Leggett & Platt Inc. has sold its aluminum die-casting business unit to its management and Kenner & Company, Inc., a New York-based private equity firm. The aluminum group will be known by its previous name, Pace Industries Inc., and remain headquartered in Fayetteville. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pace will have 19 manufacturing locations throughout the U.S. and Mexico, and become the largest privately owned custom non-automotive die-casting company in North America. Company-wide, the group employs about 3,500 workers. Arkansas die-casting operations are also located in Harrison and Jonesboro. Chesapeake sells Arkoma assets Chesapeake Energy has sold a swath of properties in the Arkoma Basin of Oklahoma to BP America Inc. for $1.75 billion. BP will acquire all of Chesapeake's interests in approximately 90,000 net acres of leasehold and producing natural gas properties in the Arkoma Basin Woodford Shale play. Chesapeake plans to invest a portion of the proceeds in its shale play activities in Texas and Louisiana. Potlatch directors approve spin-off plan Potlatch Corp. has unanimously approved a previously announced plan to pursue a tax-free spin-off of its pulp-based businesses into a publicly traded company called Clearwater Paper Corp. The planned spin-off is subject to final board approval based on regulatory, market and other conditions and should be completed by year's end. The move will create two stand-alone, publicly traded entities: A timber real estate investment trust with 1.7 million acres of forestland in Arkansas, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and a pulp-based manufacturing company that will include Potlatch facilities at Cypress Bend and at facilities in Idaho, Nevada and Illinois. Potlatch will retain its wood products operations, consisting of four sawmills in Arkansas, Idaho, Michigan and Minnesota. ------- 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. |
