QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Consumer attitudes in this cycle, as have so
many things, have kind of lagged what we would consider to be normal in the mature phase of a recovery. Attitudes continue to be pretty restrained in terms of the job market.”
Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Conn.
Article, 1D
Acme Holding Co. files for bankruptcy
Acme Holding Co., the parent company of Allied Bank of Mulberry, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of Arkansas.
Acme reported assets of less than $50,000 and liabilities of $3.4 million.
Acme owes $2 million to Axys Capital Management of Austin, Texas, and $1.4 million to Southern Bank in Batesville.
The debt with Southern Bank is related to losses Allied Bank suffered in a 2010 fraud case involving Kevin Lewis, a Little Rock attorney and former director of First Southern Bank in Batesville, Alex Golden, Allied’s chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement. Lewis was convicted of creating a scheme involving the sale of about $47 million in fraudulent bonds victimizing up to 20 banks.
First Southern Bank collapsed and was acquired by Southern Bank of Poplar Bluff, Mo., in 2010.
The Acme bankruptcy does not affect the bank, Golden said. Allied Bank has assets of almost $140 million. It lost $3.1 million last year.
Bentonville at top of business index
Bentonville topped Arkansas Tech University’s ranking of 16 municipalities in January for its new business index, the university’s College of Business announced Tuesday.
Bentonville has seen its rating on the index rise 3.2 points to 108.58 since December, according to a news release. The increase was attributed to growth in building permits.
The Arkansas Tech Business Index, recently established by the college of business, measures economic activity in the state using the labor, housing market, construction and retail sales indexes.
The index has a base value of 100. A rating above 100 means a city is doing better than the state average from 2009 to the present.
Others on the index include Little Rock with 97.39, Conway with 100.01, Jonesboro with 98.17, and Fayetteville with 103.55.
China pork giant suspends Hong Kong IPO
HONG KONG - China’s WH Group, the world’s biggest pork company, said Tuesday that it is shelving its multibillion-dollar Hong Kong initial public offering as investor demand sags amid rocky financial markets.
In a brief statement posted on the Hong Kong stock exchange’s website, the company said that “in light of deteriorating market conditions and recent excessive market volatility,” the global stock offering “will not proceed at this time.”
WH Group became the world’s biggest pork company after buying Smithfield Foods of the United States last year, and the decision to abandon the share sale complicates its efforts to pay off loans for that purchase.
The Chinese company initially planned to raise up to $5.3 billion in an initial public offering on Hong Kong’s stock exchange.
Target names new technology chief
Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. retailer, said Tuesday that Bob DeRodes, who has advised the U.S. Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department and the secretary of defense, will become its new chief information officer on May 5.
DeRodes, the new technology chief, is on the board of NCR Corp. and has held technology jobs at companies including Home Depot, Citigroup Inc. and Delta Air Lines.
The company also named MasterCard Inc. as the processor for the more secure, house-brand credit and debit cards it plans to introduce early next year.
Business, Pages 28 on 04/30/2014