Business news in brief

3 at UA to lead at animal-science group

Three academics at the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville have been appointed to positions with the American Society of Animal Science.

Mike Looper, department head, will serve as the society's president-elect in 2014 and president in 2015.

"The society has played a critical role in the success of animal agriculture as well as the development of numerous professional careers," Looper said in a release Monday. "It's important to give back to an organization that has provided so much for so many."

Jason Apple, a professor who researches meat quality, was elected president of the society's Midwest Section and will serve a three-year term. Charles Rosenkrans, a professor who studies animal toxicology, was elected to serve as secretary-treasurer for the Southern Section and will become president of the section in 2017.

The American Society of Animal Science supports the careers of scientists and animal producers in the United States and around the world, according to its website.

-- John Magsam

U.S. Treasury bill rates mixed at auction

WASHINGTON -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with three-month bills unchanged and six-month bills dropping to their lowest level in three weeks.

The Treasury Department auctioned $26 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.025 percent, unchanged from last week. Another $24 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.055 percent, down from 0.060 percent last week.

The six-month rate was the lowest since those bills stood at 0.050 percent on June 23.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.37 while a six-month bill sold for $9,997.22. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.025 percent for the three-month bills and 0.056 percent for the six-month bills.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, was 0.11 percent last week, unchanged from the previous week.

-- The Associated Press

CBS spinoff, Van Wagner billboards deal

CBS Outdoor Americas Inc., the billboard company spun off from broadcaster CBS Corp., agreed to acquire some advertising assets from Van Wagner Communications LLC for $690 million in cash.

The purchase gives CBS Outdoor about 1,100 large billboard displays in 11 U.S. markets, according to a statement Monday. The deal requires regulatory approval and is expected to be completed next year.

Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Male said earlier this year that CBS Outdoor intends to acquire smaller billboard companies as it competes with Lamar Advertising Co. and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. The assets acquired from closely held Van Wagner generated $206 million in revenue last year, New York-based CBS Outdoor said.

"This deal might spark further consolidation in the outdoor advertising sector," said Paul Sweeney, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. "CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor and Lamar Advertising together control more than 85 percent of the industry's revenue, but there are still several regional companies that can be rolled up."

-- Bloomberg News

Halliburton expands fracking holdings

Halliburton Co. expects continued improvement in the North American hydraulic fracturing market and is "immediately" adding crews to begin work later this year.

The world's largest provider of the service that blasts water, sand and chemicals underground to free trapped hydrocarbons, expects third-quarter operating profit margins in the region to be near 20 percent, the company said Monday in a statement. Second-quarter earnings were 32 percent above the results from the same period last year. Sales climbed 10 percent to $8.1 billion.

After two years of a falling market for fracking services from a glut in equipment, prices in the U.S. are expected to increase 2 percent this year and another 4 percent in 2015, according to a May 16 report by PacWest Consulting Partners LLC.

"You're seeing tightening in overall frack capacity," said Luke Lemoine, an analyst at Capital One Southcoast in New Orleans. "People are going to like this, coupled with the large North America beat."

The average number of drilling rigs active on land rose 5.6 percent in the U.S. to 1,781 in the quarter as producers seek to increase output from shale formations, according to Baker Hughes Inc.

Halliburton shares rose 7 cents to close Monday at $71 in New York. The shares have gained 58 percent in the past year.

-- Bloomberg News

Botox's Allergan to cut 1,500 workers

Botox maker Allergan will cut about 13 percent of its workforce, or roughly 1,500 employees, as part of a push to become more efficient and productive.

The Irvine, Calif., company also said Monday it plans to eliminate about 250 vacant positions in a restructuring that will streamline its business and allow the drugmaker to focus on its "highest value opportunities."

Allergan, which is fighting a takeover bid from Valeant Pharmaceuticals, announced the cuts the same day it also said second-quarter earnings grew 16 percent to $417.2 million, or $1.37 per share, and revenue jumped 17 percent to $1.86 billion.

Both earnings and revenue trumped analyst expectations, according to FactSet.

The drugmaker also raised its forecast for adjusted 2014 earnings to between $5.74 and $5.80 per share from a range of $5.64 to $5.73 that it predicted in May. Analysts expect, on average, $5.71 per share.

Allergan said its restructuring will yield annual pre-tax savings of about $475 million in 2015, while costs tied to it will total between $375 million and $425 million.

The Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management have made several bids to buy Allergan, the latest amounting to about $53 billion in cash and stock.

-- The Associated Press

Business on 07/22/2014

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