LITTLE ROCK — Butterball buys Gusto Packing Co.
Butterball LLC, which has three turkey processing plants in Arkansas, said in a release Wednesday that it has purchased Montgomery, Ill.-based Gusto Packing Co.
Gusto has six product lines including bacon, bone-in smoked turkey and pork, smoked boneless hams, cooked hams, deli meats and sliced hams.
The terms of the deal were not released, a Butterball spokesman said in an e-mail. Gusto’s leadership team and approximately 500 employees are expected to remain in their positions.
“With Gusto’s 260,000-square-foot facility, we are adding approximately 325 million pounds of further processed capacity to our operations,” Butterball Chief Executive Officer Rod Brenneman said in the release.
North Carolina-based Butterball employs more than 1,300 workers in Arkansas at plants in Huntsville, Jonesboro and Ozark. - John Magsam
NW airport to lose
nonstop D.C. flight
US Airways is canceling its nonstop service from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport to Washington, D.C., effective Feb. 1, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
Jan. 31 will be the last day for the flight, which offered one afternoon trip daily, except Saturdays, between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Northwest Arkansas airport near Bentonville.
“We canceled because it wasn’t performing well financially,” airline spokesman Liz Landau said.
US Airways started the nonstop service at Northwest Arkansas on July 11.
No other Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport carrier offers nonstop flights to Washington, although passengers can get flights that make one or two stops.
- Lisa Hammersly
Index climbs 2.88
as 13 stocks gain
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, jumped 2.88 to 251.54 Wednesday.
Thirteen stocks advanced and three declined.
Windstream rose 6.3 percent on almost 11 million shares traded, about 50 percent more than average.
Acxiom gained 5.2 percent in above-average trading.
Tyson Foods rose 3 percent on below-average volume.
P.A.M. Transportation Services slipped 3.3 percent on average volume.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services hit a 52-week high of $62.10 during the day before closing at $61.04.
Deltic Timber reached $72 a share during the day, 2 cents from its 52-week high. Deltic closed at $71.37, up 1.1 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 21 on 01/03/2013