Eight branches open
as Centennial Bank
Centennial Bank of Conway opened eight branches of the former Florida Traditions Bank on Friday as branches of Centennial Bank.
Home BancShares, the parent company of Centennial Bank, announced the purchase of Florida Traditions in April. Home BancShares paid about $43 million in stock to buy the Dade City, Fla., bank, which had $312 million in assets and eight branches in central Florida.
"This gives us a great footprint to fill in our Orlando and Tampa network [of branches]," Randy Sims, Home BancShares' chief executive officer, said Thursday during a conference call .
Sims estimated that Centennial Bank should convert the new branches to its operational system by late September.
-- David Smith
Wal-Mart exec set
to talk at tech event
Karenann Terrell, executive vice president and chief information officer for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., will be the featured speaker at the first-ever Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit on Aug. 11 at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers.
The event, presented by the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Arkansas Technology Council, will focus on helping small business owners apply technology from origination to the end-user. The information provided at the summit is also expected to aid in digital convergence for Wal-Mart suppliers, social media and marketing experts, business analysts, and anyone else with an interest in technology.
At Wal-Mart, Terrell is responsible for the company's global technology, including for both Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs, the retailer's supply chain, merchandising, security and enterprise infrastructure. Other companies presenting at the summit include IBM, Rockfish, Google, Movista and WhyteSpyder.
-- Cyd King
State index up 5.12
as all but one climb
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, jumped 5.12 to 352.54 Friday.
All but one stock on the index gained ground Friday.
Simmons First National climbed 3.7 percent in light trading.
P.A.M. Transportation Services was up 3.1 percent in below-average volume.
Bear State Financial lost 1.2 percent on only 300 shares traded.
For the week, 11 companies advanced and six declined.
P.A.M. Transportation Services rose 12.3 percent for the week.
Home BancShares lost 4.7 percent for the week.
Total volume of the index was 14.8 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 18.3 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 on 07/19/2014