NEWS IN BRIEF

Wal-Mart to spend millions on probes

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

expects to spend up to $240 million this fiscal year on matters related to investigations of allegations that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and “compliance-related enhancements” stemming from the investigations.

The news was in the company’s fiscal 2014 fourth quarter and year-end earnings statements released Thursday.

Charles Holley, Wal-Mart executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the retailer would begin to realize costs related to the corrupt-practices investigations for fiscal 2014 in the current quarter for 2015.

Wal-Mart’s fiscal year runs Feb. 1-Jan. 31. The range Holley gave was $200 million to $240 million.

Wal-Mart started an internal investigation in 2011.

Then in 2012, the The New York Times reported that Wal-Mart’s Mexico unit paid $24 million in bribes.

  • Cyd King

Zila deal will close plant in Batesville

Zila Inc. of Fort Collins, Colo., plans to close its plant in Batesville on May 1, putting 78 people out of work, Chief Executive Officer David Speights said Friday.

Zila has been bought by DenMat Holdings LLC of Lompoc, Calif., Speights said.

Employees were given two additional weeks’ notice of the shutdown than the 60 days required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

Speights said the company employs 148. He would not reveal the sale price for the company.

Zila bought Batesville based Pro-Dentec for $34 million in 2006. Pro-Dentec employed 350 at the plant at the time of sale.

Zila makes oral-hygiene products.

DenMat Chief Executive Officer Steve Semmelmayer said in a news release, “Zila’s products are a perfect fit with DenMat’s current suite of oral health and esthetic products.”

The Zila operations will be moved to Lompoc by April, according to the news release.

  • Jack Weatherly

State index up 0.08, but 10 stocks slide

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 0.08 to 318.94 Friday.

Ten stocks fell and seven rose.

Arkansas Best climbed 2.4 percent in above-average trading. Simmons First was up 1.7 percent in heavy trading.

Deltic Timber lost 1.7 percent on average volume.

For the week, winners and losers were almost evenly divided. Home BancShares advanced 5.9 percent for the week, and First Federal Bancshares rose 5.2 percent.

America’s Car-Mart dropped 3.4 percent for the week.

Volume for the index was 25.6 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 24.5 million shares.

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 27 on 02/22/2014

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