QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We are starting to see some recoveries abroad, and in general, stronger global growth is going to lead to a pickup in export growth over time.”
Jay Bryson, Wells Fargo Securities global economist Article, 1D
Riverdale 10 Cinemas in LR calls it quits
The Riverdale 10 Cinemas and Cafe at 2600 Cantrell Road in Little Rock closed Tuesday. Notification of closure was announced on a sign posted on the front door.
“Since our opening in 1995 as Carmike Riverdale 10 and then upon the national bankruptcy of the Carmike Theaters chain and our conversion to Riverdale 10 Cinemas and Cafe, we have happily endeavored to keep open and vibrant a locally owned First Run movie theater,” the sign reads.
“We have been proud of our involvement in the movie community for the last 18 years with events like the Little Rock Film Festival, educational film showings, birthdays and special event showings, but sadly the time has come to, in theater parlance, ‘Exit Stage Right.’”
A man who answered the phone at the number on the sign would not identify himself and would not comment beyond what the sign said.
Carmike declared bankruptcy in 2000. The 10-screen movie house underwent a renovation worth more than $1 million in 2004.
ABF closing 30 terminals; 2 are in state
ABF Freight System Inc. is to close 30 of its 277 terminals nationwide, including two in Arkansas.
Arkansas Best of Fort Smith, the parent company of ABF, announced the consolidations Wednesday in a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
Company spokesman Kathy Fieweger said 100 employees will be affected by the change but all but seven have the option of transferring to other ABF facilities.
Terminals in Harrison and Russellville are among those scheduled for closure. ABF has already shut down eight facilities and will consolidate an additional 22 early in 2014.
Analysis of the company’s network began earlier this year, and the 2014 closures will come after its proposed changes are discussed with local unions.
Local meetings are scheduled after a change-of-operations hearing with the union in January. No date for that meeting has been set.
A five-year master freight agreement between Arkansas Best and the Teamsters was ratified in October.
Arkansas Best, ranked No. 12 on Transport Topics’ list of “Top 100” for-hire carriers, said in the filing that the change-of-operations proposal, once implemented, “will result in improved transit times for customers, enhanced operational efficiency and greater density in the carrier’s less-than-truckload freight network. The company will continue to directly serve customers in all the markets it currently serves.”
Additional details on the cost-saving measures will be released in the first quarter of 2014 on the Arkansas Best earnings call, the company said.
Arkansas Best Corp. recorded third-quarter revenue of $623 million and reported $14 million in net income, a 115 percent increase from the same period last year.
OPEC forgoes change to output ceiling
VIENNA - OPEC, content with current oil price levels, agreed Wednesday to keep the group’s crude output ceiling unchanged at least until June even as Libya, Iran and Iraq plan to increase exports in coming months.
Maintaining the current 30 million barrel-a-day target for the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will ensure stability of oil prices, Venezuela’s Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said. There will be no need to reduce the cap at the next meeting, Libya’s Oil Minister Abdulbari al-Arusi said.
“The big question is what OPEC will do if output from Libya and Iran returns to the market next year;
this topic was not on the agenda today, but will probably be discussed at the next meeting in six months,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
CEOs optimistic about economic uptick
More U.S. chief executive officers project a pickup in sales, capital spending and hiring in the next six months, a survey showed.
The Business Roundtable’s economic outlook index climbed to 84.5 in the fourth quarter from 79.1 in the previous three months, the Washington-based trade group said Wednesday.
Readings greater than 50 are consistent with economic expansion, and the group said the index’s long term average is 79.4.
Seventy-three percent of respondents project an increase in sales in the next six months, up from 71 percent in the third quarter. Those expecting increased business investment in the next six months jumped to 39 percent in the fourth quarter from 27 percent in the previous three months.
Thirty-four percent of corporate leaders plan to boost payrolls, up from 32 percent in the third quarter.
The survey, completed Nov. 4-21, tabulated the responses of 120 CEOs who belong to the Business Roundtable.
The group’s members represent companies with a combined workforce of more than 16 million and about $7.4 trillion in annual revenue.
- Bloomberg News
2 arrested in Germany in Bitcoins fraud
German police arrested two suspects in a fraud investigation into illegally generated Bitcoins worth $948,000.
Prosecutors in the southern town of Kempten are investigating whether several people used software to spy on digital identities and to create Bitcoins, Germany’s federal police said Wednesday in an emailed statement.
In a separate Bitcoin investigation in China, three people were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of stealing money from investors through a fake online exchange, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Bitcoins, which aren’t regulated by any country or banking authority, are a currency that exists as software in an open online system. It gained credibility after U.S.
law enforcement and securities agencies said at U.S.
Senate hearings last month that it could be a legitimate means of exchange.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 27 on 12/05/2013