Deltic Timber reports third-quarter earnings
EL DORADO - Deltic Timber Corp. on Monday reported third-quarter earnings of $245,000, or 2 cents a share, down 96 percent from $6.4 million, or 51 cents a share, during the corresponding quarter last year.
"The depressed environment for the lumber and real estate markets continue to exert downward pressure on the financial performance of forest products companies and Deltic is no exception," President and Chief Executive Officer Ray Dillon said in a prepared statement.
The company's sawmill in Waldo, which suspended operation after an Aug. 9 fire, is expected to resume production in early November, Dillon said. The company also operates a sawmill in Ola.
Deltic released its earnings after the New York Stock Exchange closed. The company's stock fell $1, or 1.68 percent, to $58.36 per share. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $45.79 to $64.98.
Simon gains 8.4 percent
over year-ago period
Simon Property Group Inc.
reported Monday an 8.4 percent increase in its third-quarter earnings compared with the year-ago period.
As part of the report, the company listed "noncore assets" it disposed of in the quarter, including Little Rock's University Mall. Of nine properties, including five in Poland, the company had a net gain of $82.2 million, the company reported.
During a conference call, David Simon, chief executive officer, discussed the properties. "[With] University Mall, we were losing money and we sold it," he said. Boardman Plaza, a center in Youngstown, Ohio, was "not pretty property" and Alton Square, a regional mall in Alton, Ill., was a "very tough project for a number of years."
Jim Strode of Dallas recently bought University Mall and announced plans to knock it down and rebuild with a "lifestyle center" including residential, retail and possibly office components.
Arkansas 20 sees mixed closings, declines 0.97
The Arkansas 20, a priceweighted index that tracks public companies based in the state, fell 0.97 to 210.81 Monday.
"U.S. stocks climbed on investors' hopes of another interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve as shares of financial stocks soared along with energy related stocks after the price of oil broke through $93 a barrel," said Chris Harkins, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock. "The Arkansas 20 closed mixed to slightly lower as 12 stocks declined and eight stocks edged higher."
Shares of Dillard's jumped by 6.5 percent on takeover chatter, Harkins added, while shares of transportation stocks Arkansas Best and P.A.M.
Transportation Services Inc.
each slid another 6 percent, hitting new 52-week lows.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 21 on 10/30/2007