Maverick moves up on for-hire ranking
Maverick USA was the biggest mover among Arkansas-based trucking and transportation companies on the Transport Topics 2014 list of the top 100 for-hire carriers in North America.
Revenue of $315 million, up 9.8 percent from the previous year, allowed Maverick to rank No. 80 on the list. Maverick, a privately held company in North Little Rock, ranked No. 84 in 2013.
Rankings for the Transport Topics list are calculated based on the previous year's revenue.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services of Lowell ranked highest on the list at No. 3, with revenue of $5.5 billion. Only UPS Inc. ($55 billion) and FedEx Corp. ($45 billion) ranked ahead of J.B. Hunt on the list.
ArcBest of Fort Smith, formerly Arkansas Best Corp., ranked No. 13 with $2.3 billion in revenue. It was the only state company to slide, moving down from No. 12 in 2013 despite revenue gains.
USA Truck improved its standing from 52 to 50. The Van Buren company reported $555 million in revenue. P.A.M. Transportation Services of Lowell ranked No. 63 with $402 million in revenue.
-- Chris Bahn
MidCon sells shale compression assets
MidCon Compression, LLC, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp., is selling its natural gas compression assets to Exterran Partners L.P. for about $135 million, Houston-based Exterran said Tuesday.
Most of the 162 compression units are in the Fayetteville Shale and are used by BHP Billiton, the Australian-based company that bought assets in the shale from Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake in 2011, the news release said.
The compression stations are used to pressurize natural gas so it can be shipped by pipeline.
When the acquisition is finalized, Exterran will still provide the services for BHP Billiton, said Exterran spokesman Susan Moore.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.
-- Jessica Seaman
State index drops 0.13; J.B. Hunt gains
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.13 to 351.20 Tuesday.
"The major averages were mixed after comments to Congress from Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen expressing concern over small company valuations in the financial markets," said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. gained just over 3.5 percent in active trading after reporting earnings before the markets opened, Williams said.
Murphy USA was the only issue to drop more than a percentage point, falling 2.5 percent on average volume, Williams said.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 07/16/2014