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Acxiom rejects takeover bid Sunday, Dec 25, 2005 By Roby Brock After weeks of speculation without comment, Acxiom Corp.'s board unanimously rejected the latest offer from ValueAct Capital, which has sought to take over the database giant. ValueAct submitted a letter on Oct. 21 to acquire all of the shares it does not already own at a cash purchase price of $25 a share. Acxiom's board spent two months analyzing the company's business model and considering the ValueAct offer before rejecting it. A board statement endorsed the company's direction and indicated that Acxiom was worth more than the ValueAct offer. Beverly deal amended Beverly Enterprises (BEI) has entered into an amendment to its merger agreement with Fillmore Capital Partners. The parties are accelerating into 2005 certain employee compensation payments, as well as extending the closure of their merger by 30 days from March 1 to March 31. Beverly and Fillmore announced a $1.8 billion deal earlier this month that will move the nursing home operator from a public to a private company. No free lunch A California jury has awarded $172 million to thousands of employees at Wal-Mart who claimed they were illegally denied lunch breaks. The world's largest retailer was ordered to pay $57 million in general damages and $115 million in punitive damages to about 116,000 current and former California employees. The jury ruled that Wal-Mart violated a 2001 state law that requires employers to give 30-minute lunch breaks to employees who work at least six hours. World of Wal-Mart With financial backing from Wal-Mart, a group of community leaders announced the formation of a national group to speak up for the world's largest retailer and launch counterattacks when it senses criticism is unfair. A steering committee of 16 people will guide the newly organized Working Families for Wal-Mart, whose job will be to talk about what it sees as Wal-Mart's positive contributions. Wal-Mart has come under fire in recent months from union-backed critics, such as Wal-Mart Watch and Wake-Up Wal-Mart. Steering committee members for the advocacy group include singer Pat Boone and film maker Ron Galloway, who released a pro-Wal-Mart documentary earlier this year. Working Families for Wal-Mart may have their first assignment already. The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles has informed Wal-Mart that it is the target of a criminal probe involving the transportation of material deemed "hazardous waste" in allegedly improper vehicles. The retailer says it is cooperating fully with the authorities. Conway location 'in play' Oil and gas field services provider Schlumberger has begun construction on a regional office and service facility on a 20-acre site in Conway's industrial park that will ultimately employ 100 locals. Schlumberger specializes in oil and gas well construction and is locating in Conway because of its proximity to gas drilling in the Fayetteville shale play in Central Arkansas. The Conway complex will feature a 16,000-square-foot office and shop space, as well as a 15,000-square-foot warehouse. The complex will also house a cement bulk plant for cementing oil and natural gas wells. Schlumberger is an $11 billion company employing 58,000 people in more than 80 countries. . Mill to re-open in 2006 A sawmill once operated by International Paper in Clark County is being expanded and redesigned for use by Antoine Hardwoods, which has plans to re-open the mill in early 2006. The mill will be the second for the company, which manufactures lumber, wood chips, and other hardwood-related products. The expansion should create about 20 new jobs and will provide nearly $750,000 annually in additional payroll to the Clark County economy, according to local leaders. Pocahontas Bancorp rebounds Jonesboro-based Pocahontas Bancorp announced earnings for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Net income was $.9 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to last year's fourth quarter net loss of $.3 million. Net income for the year was $3.2 million, compared to $3.5 million last year. Total assets for the fourth quarter increased $21.4 million, or 3 percent, to $741.3 million on Sept. 30. Total deposits increased $23.0 million, or 4.5 percent, to $514.0 million on Sept. 30. Alltel divestiture completed Alltel completed a wireless property exchange with U.S. Cellular of Chicago, fulfilling another portion of its divestiture requirements related to the Western Wireless merger. Alltel acquired two Rural Service Area (RSA) markets in Idaho and received $50 million in cash in exchange for 15 rural markets in Kansas and Nebraska owned by Western Wireless. Keeping score The Southern Good Faith Fund released its 2005 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which measures how Arkansas fares regionally and nationally in areas such as college education, home ownership, small business start-ups, and financial savings and security. Arkansas is compared regionally with Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Key findings: Only 4.6 percent of Arkansans older than 25 have an associate's degree from college. Arkansas ranks seventh in the region and 50th nationally in this statistic. In the area of financial security, 16.9 percent of Arkansas households have zero or negative net worth. Arkansas ranks fourth regionally and 33rd nationally in this category. Arkansas has a small business ownership rate of 12.8 percent, which ranks second in the region and 19th nationally. On the home ownership front, Arkansas' overall rate is 69.6 percent. That statistic scores fourth in the region and 34th nationally. The home ownership rate for the poorest one-fifth of Arkansas' families is 44 percent, which ranks seventh regionally and 42nd nationally. Tyson Foods ranks first For the third straight year, Tyson Foods ranked No. 1 in the development of new food products, according to an industry survey of 900 competitors that include Kraft, Nestle, and Sara Lee. A survey by Cognitio, a company specializing in the evaluation of new food service products, notes that Tyson does the best job of any firm in identifying new products for customers and marketing them effectively. Tyson Foods has developed over 300 new food items for customers this year. College bonds, round two Leaders of the state's two-year and four-year colleges are re-assessing the narrow defeat of a college bond issue earlier this month. The $250 million higher education bond issue, known as Ballot Question No. 2, was beaten in a statewide vote by a mere 596 votes on Dec. 13. The ballot question's coupling with a controversial highway bond issue was the biggest factor for the college bond setback. College presidents say they'll have to take a more active role in pushing for the bond improvements if the measure is put before voters again. Gov. Mike Huckabee would have to call for another special election, which he has not ruled out. Huckabee and state higher education leaders are expected to meet after the holidays to consider options, according to the governor's office. ------- 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. |
