QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It has been a painful year and has required wide ranging and substantial actions across the company.”
Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar chairman and chief executive officer Article, 1D
Mars to expand Fort Smith pet-food plant
FORT SMITH - Mars Petcare has announced plans for a $50 million expansion of its pet-food plant in Fort Smith.
The Times Record reported Wednesday that construction has begun and production is expected to begin this winter. The expansion also is expected to lead to 42 additional jobs at the plant that already has about 125 employees.
The Fort Smith plant produces Cesar Canine Cuisine in addition to pet food for private label brands.
Mars Petcare US is based in Franklin, Tenn., and is part of the privately held Mars Inc. The company produces brands such as Pedigree, Cesar Canine Cuisine, Sheba, Whiskas, The Goodlife Recipe and Temptations cat treats.
Deltic Timber net income jumps in quarter
Deltic Timber Corp. on Wednesday reported net income of $5.9 million for its second quarter, up from the $3.2 million reported in the same quarter a year ago.
Earnings per share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 were 46 cents, compared with 25 cents per share in the same period in 2012.
Ray Dillon, Deltic’s president and chief executive officer, attributed the results to the company’s manufacturing segment that involves company-owned pine timberland supplying raw material to wood-products facilities. The manufacturing segment reported operating income of $11.4 million during the third quarter of 2013 compared with $5.6 million during the same period of 2012. The company said its average lumber sales price of $381 per 1,000 board feet was 19 percent higher than a year ago.
Deltic said it sold 69.5 million board feet of lumber in the third quarter, compared with 68.3 million board feet in the same quarter a year ago.
Deltic will hold its conference call at 10 a.m. today to discuss the quarter’s results. The call can be accessed at (877) 703-6103 and using the pass code 61423359. It also will be streamed live online at deltic.com.
Solar firms see batteries boosting sales
NRG Energy Inc. and Exelon Corp.’s Constellation unit say interest in combining solar power with battery storage has soared in the year since superstorm Sandy knocked out power to millions of homes and businesses on the East Coast.
They are among more than a dozen solar-equipment providers that have introduced or enhanced in the past year systems that combine rooftop solar panels that generate power and batteries that retain electricity to use later.
People with solar-powered homes and businesses were frustrated to discover that losing power from local utilities also knocked out the inverters that connect rooftop panels to the grid, leaving them unable to tap the electricity they were producing.
Battery storage can add more than 20 percent to the cost of a typical 10-kilowatt solar system for a four bedroom home, said Brendon Quinlivan, director of solar development at Constellation.
NYC Opera lists Chapter 11 assets, debt
NEW YORK - New York City Opera, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 3 after years of management missteps, listed assets of $6.67 million and debt of $3.59 million in a court filing.
The holdings include $4.29 million in the defunct opera’s BlackRock Inc. accounts, $476,430 in its main operating account at Bank of America Corp. and a separate “pre-paid ticket” account with about $407,500, according to a formal listing of financial affairs filed Tuesday in U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
The nonprofit organization, which this year produced the opera Anna Nicole, about the late tabloid celebrity, valued its costumes, props, furniture, crates, shop equipment, projector and lighting at $10,000, plus a harp located at the Koch Theater at Lincoln Center Plaza worth $0. Donor pledges of more than $441,000 were also listed with the caveat that they are mostly uncollectable as a result of the bankruptcy.
- Bloomberg News
Spain emerges from 2-year recession
MADRID - Spain pulled out of a two-year recession in the third quarter, with its economy growing 0.1 percent from the previous quarter, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Spanish central bank.
Since coming into office almost two years ago, the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has pushed through deeply unpopular spending cuts and tax increases to comply with budgetary targets in accordance with Spain’s European partners.
“The worst is over,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank in London, in a note published Wednesday.
“One by one, the euro-crisis countries are returning to growth after a savage adjustment recession,” he said, noting that Greece, Ireland and Portugal showed signs of expansion earlier this year.
Pump prices seen falling to 3-year low
Gasoline-pump prices in the U.S. are poised to drop to the lowest since February 2011 by New Year’s Eve as supplies increase more than demand, providing a lift for consumers in an economy struggling to recover from the deepest recession since the 1930s.
Retail prices will probably sink to an average $3.15 a gallon by Dec. 31 from $3.339, said Michael Green, a spokesman in Washington for AAA, the nation’s largest motoring organization. In Arkansas, the average price for a gallon of gasoline Wednesday was $3.143.
The highest seasonal inventories in three years are set to rise as plants return from scheduled maintenance.
Refining capacity in the fourth quarter will be 410,000 barrels a day higher than last year while demand climbs 10,000 barrels, the Energy Information Administration estimated Oct. 8.
U.S. refiners are making the most gasoline ever for this time of year, having expanded to take advantage of ample domestic and Canadian crude. U.S. oil production grew in September to the highest level since May 1989 as advances in drilling techniques led to increased output from shale formations. The U.S. met 87 percent of its own energy needs in the first six months of 2013.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 28 on 10/24/2013