LITTLE ROCK — Allens Inc. expanding in state, N.Y., Texas
Allens Inc. of Siloam Springs will expand plants in Van Buren and Oakfield, N.Y., and has acquired a plant in Fort Worth, the company said in a news release Monday.
Allens is planning a $13.5 million expansion of the company’s canning facility in Van Buren, although no additional jobs were announced. The plant cans sweet potatoes grown by farmers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
The company operates three frozen vegetable plants in upstate New York and will spend $2.2 million to expand the Oakfield location with canned vegetable and dry-pack bean operations, it said in the release.
The Fort Worth plant is a former ConAgra Foods facility that packed ranchstyle beans. The 200,000 square-foot plant also will serve as a strategic distribution center in that region, with $4.7 million in improvements by 2011, according to the release.
Allens says it is the largest privately held vegetable company in the United States with 12 plants in Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, New York and Wisconsin.
NW Arkansas reports drop in home prices
The median list price for homes in Northwest Arkansas is down 8.6 percent since last year, the Arkansas Realtors Association said Monday. It was $159,900 on Monday, down from $174,900 on June 29 last year. There are 5,890 homes in the market, up 8.4 percent from 5,436 a year ago.
In central Arkansas, the median list price was $162,000, down 4.7 percent from $169,900 last year.
The inventory of homes in central Arkansas was up 10.2 percent to 5,577, compared with 5,063 last year.
In the Fort Smith-Van Buren market, the median list price was $142,750, down 7.8 percent from $154,900 last year. There were 1,397 homes on the market, up 32 percent from 1,057 last year.
In Jonesboro, the median list price was $145,500, up less than 1 percent from 144,900 last year. There were 674 homes on the market, up 4 percent from 646 last year.
Arkansas Index slips
with 9 stocks down
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, was down 0.04 to 174.59 Monday.
“The Arkansas index closed mixed as nine stocks declined and eight rallied,” said Chris Harkins, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.
Arkansas Best jumped 3.6 percent, while Baldor Electric shares rallied by 2.6 percent.
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 23 on 06/29/2010