|
|
| |
| Sat, Nov. 22, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
830 Wind energy jobs coming to Arkansas Sunday, Oct 12, 2008 By Roby Brock Polymarin Composites, an international wind turbine blade manufacturer, will locate a new North American factory at the old Levi's plant in Little Rock. In addition, Wind Water Technology, a supplier to Polymarin, will locate in the same facility. All told, 830 jobs averaging $15 per hour will be hired over the next four years. The two companies will invest $20 million to upgrade the closed Levi's facility. Congressional renewal of a production tax credit for alternative energy as part of last week's $700 billion federal economic rescue package was a factor for the decision to locate in the U.S. Little Rock is also the North American headquarters of another major wind turbine blade maker, LM Glasfiber. Verizon offers more markets to close Alltel deal Verizon Wireless agreed to divest assets in 15 additional markets as a condition for its $28.1 billion buyout of Alltel Corp. In July, Verizon offered to divest 85 properties in 18 states and continue roaming agreements with smaller regional carriers to appease anti-trust regulators. With this latest development, Verizon has offered 100 markets for divestiture. None include markets in Arkansas. The 15 new markets affect the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah. Verizon says it is voluntarily committing to divest the properties. Fort Smith factory bought by private equity group Monomoy Capital Partners, a New York private equity fund, received final bankruptcy court approval to acquire the molded products group of Atlantis Plastics Inc. for $23.1 million in cash and the assumption of $7 million in liabilities. The Atlantis molded products group is a $110 million manufacturer of custom plastic components for the appliance, recreational vehicle, building products and automotive industries. Atlantis has over 900 employees in five states, including a facility in Fort Smith that serves Whirlpool, its largest customer. Wal-Mart, Dillard's blame hurricanes for performance Wal-Mart and Dillard's both blamed Hurricanes Gustav and Ike for unexpected slower sales in the month of September. While it hampered sales, Wal-Mart still posted overall sales of $36.23 billion, a 5.8 percent increase on the strength of its international division, which rose 7.3 percent, and Sam's Club revenues, which jumped 8 percent. Wal-Mart's same-store U.S. sales rose 2.4 percent during the five-week period ended Oct. 3. The retail giant said hurricanes caused 341 stores to temporarily close during the month. Dillard's saw its September overall and same-store sales fall 12 percent compared to last year. The mall retailer reported September sales of $568.5 million versus $649.2 million one year ago. Dillard's management said it believed the detrimental effect of the hurricanes on its comparable store sales performance for the period was approximately 3 percent. 2009 business Hall of Fame inductees named The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame named the inductees to its 11th class of exceptional Arkansas business leaders. Since its founding in 1999, 42 individuals have been honored for their business accomplishments. This year, four new inductees will be honored at a February ceremony: -Chesley Pruet, founder, Pruet Drilling Co., El Dorado. -Raymond Rebsamen, founder, Rebsamen Insurance Co. Inc., Little Rock. -Willis Shaw, founder, Willis Shaw Express Inc., Elm Springs. -Jim Earl Yates, founder, E-Z Mart Stores Inc., Texarkana, Texas. The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame is sponsored by the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. Budget hearings begin Arkansas lawmakers adopted Gov. Mike Beebe's conservative approach to the state budget as they opened fall hearings last week. The national financial crisis was weighing heavily on their minds as a wait-and-see attitude seemed to prevail. "We need to go into this budget process cautious, not overpromising and overextending," said Sen. Bob Johnson, D-Bigelow, who will be the Senate's president pro tem next year. Beebe has recommended $107 million in budget cuts from state agencies in the current fiscal year. Legislators are setting the budget for the next two fiscal years in their fall hearings. Payday lenders dwindle The number of payday lending institutions in Arkansas has steadily dwindled since Attorney General Dustin McDaniel threatened in March to sue over their business practices, according to an advocacy group opposed to the practice. Arkansans Against Abusive Payday Lending reports an 86 percent drop in payday lenders in the state, from 237 operations in March to 33 stores operated by two companies. Last month, the nation's largest payday lender, Advance America, announced it would close all of its 30 Arkansas stores by Oct. 31. Tyson Foods, Syntroleum break ground in Louisiana Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corp. broke ground on a new $138 million synthetic fuels plant in Geismar, La. The two companies have formed a joint venture known as Dynamic Fuels to build the fuel plant. Dynamic Fuels will refine waste from chicken fat and non-edible grease products into 75 million gallons of clean-burning renewable diesel and jet fuel annually. ------- 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. |
