Firm breaks ground on recycling plant
OSCEOLA — A business that recycles precious metals from junked electronics equipment broke ground Tuesday in Osceola, where the company promised 75 high-paying jobs for workers at the $35 million plant.
The ceremony drew former Vice President Al Gore, who is a partner in the Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers venture capital firm, which is investing in the business, BlueOak Arkansas.
Workers at the plant in northeast Arkansas will extract copper, gold, palladium and silver from old computer circuit boards, discarded cellphones and other electronics.
John Correnti, who led the effort to get a $1.2 billion steel mill to Osceola, is on BlueOak’s board and helped draw the business to the community.
“We hope to turn Osceola and Mississippi County into the recycling capital of the world, and we’re going to do it in an environmentally friendly and responsible manner,” Correnti said at the ceremony. “Globally, there are 1.5 billion cellphones sold every year, and they get recycled every eight to 12 months. They’re e-waste to you, but to BlueOak, they’re gold, silver and platinum.”
Gore said at the gathering that BlueOak was launched by environmentalists who wanted a way to responsively dispose of electronic waste.
“If you want to get 10 ounces of gold from ore, you have to mine 100 tons, but you can also get 10 ounces of gold from 1 ton of used circuit boards,” Gore said. “Osceola has literally struck gold today.”
— The Associated Press
Strong storms damage state corn crops
In addition to downing trees and power lines, the storms that lashed Arkansas over the past week knocked down some of the state's corn crops, causing headaches for growers at a time when the plants are vulnerable to high winds.
Jason Kelley, a wheat and feed grains extension agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said much of the damage caused by "greensnap" occurred in northeast Arkansas, particularly in Craighead County, but fields in other counties also were affected.
Greensnap occurs when a plant's stalk breaks in high winds. Strong gusts can also cause roots to give way in wet ground, causing them to fall over, but not snap.
"At this stage, the stalks are pretty brittle," Kelley said Tuesday.
While growers deal with this problem each year, Kelley said he's been getting many reports of storm damage, with a few farmers reporting losing 75 percent of their fields to greensnap or blowdowns in their fields and many others finding scattered damage. He said there is little growers can do because replanting this late won't produce optimum yields.
Most corn in the state is 4 to 5 feet tall and getting close to generating a tassel, Kelley said. Damage from greensnap and blowdowns will cut per acre yields during harvest. About 600,000 acres of corn was expected to be planted in Arkansas this year. In 2013, the average yield was 187 bushels per acre, the highest on record for the state.
-- Glen Chase
Best Buy raises its quarterly dividend
Best Buy Co. raised its quarterly dividend for the first time in two years Tuesday after Chief Executive Officer Hubert Joly cut costs and improved cash flow, signaling that a comeback is underway.
The dividend, increased 12 percent to 19 cents a share, will be payable Oct. 2 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 11, the Richfield, Minn.-based company said in a statement. The increase exceeded the 18 cent estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Joly, who took over as CEO in September 2012, has been reducing expenses and renovating stores to include new spaces for vendors such as Samsung Electronics Co. He's set a goal of trimming $1 billion in annual costs and piled on discounts while making a permanent a policy of matching competitors' prices in an effort to ward off online rivals.
"We see it as a strong indicator that management is increasingly confident about the trajectory of the company's ongoing recovery," Alan Rifkin, an analyst for Barclays PLC in New York, wrote in a note to clients. Provided stabilization continues, "Best Buy will be well-positioned to begin repurchasing shares by early 2015."
-- Bloomberg News
Tobacco maker asks for FDA approval
RICHMOND, Va. -- Smokeless-tobacco maker Swedish Match is asking the Food and Drug Administration to certify its General-branded pouches of tobacco as less harmful than cigarettes.
The company, whose North American headquarters is in Richmond, Va., said it's requesting the FDA approve the snus products as "modified risk."
Snus are teabaglike pouches that users stick between their cheek and gum. They are popular in Scandinavian countries.
A 2009 law gives the FDA authority to evaluate tobacco products for their health risks and lets the agency approve ones that could be marketed as safer than others.
How the FDA handles the products is being closely watched by both the public-health community and the tobacco industry. It also highlights the debate over how best to control tobacco use.
-- The Associated Press
RadioShack's losses widen in quarter
FORT WORTH -- RadioShack's first-quarter loss widened and revenue slumped as the retailer dealt with weakness in its mobile business and consumer electronics.
Chief Executive Officer Joseph Magnacca said in a statement that its mobile business was hurt because the current handset assortment didn't resonate well with customers. It was also contending with more promotions, including those of wireless carriers.
Magnacca said RadioShack is working to build its pipeline of new products, including private brands and exclusive items such as those from new partnerships with Quirky Inc. and PCH International, Ltd., two companies that focus on start-up technology.
Part of its turnaround effort has included cutting costs, renovating stores and shuffling management. It also announced in March that it planned to close up to 1,100 of its stores in the U.S., leaving it with more than 4,000 U.S. locations.
For the period that ended May 3, RadioShack Corp. lost $98.3 million, or 97 cents per share. That compares with the loss of $28 million, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding certain items, its loss from continuing operations was 98 cents per share. Analysts, on average, expected a loss of 52 cents per share, according to a FactSet poll.
Revenue for the Fort Worth-based company declined 13 percent to $736.7 million from $848.4 million.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer's health, fell 14 percent on softer traffic and weakness in the mobile business. This metric excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.
Shares of RadioShack Corp. fell 16 cents, or 10.4 percent, to close at $1.38 Tuesday.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 06/11/2014