Sager Creek objects to sale order change
Sager Creek Vegetable Co., the buyer of substantially all of defunct Allens Inc.'s assets, has filed an objection to a motion by some creditors to alter the sale order.
Jason Bramlett, attorney for Sager Creek, in a filing earlier this week said creditors with claims under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act were aware the sale order capped total claims at $19.4 million and that the language directing when those claims would be paid was clear.
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for Dec. 15.
In early November, attorneys for three former suppliers to Allens Inc. asked Bankruptcy Judge Ben Barry to disregard language in the company's sale order so the suppliers can be paid.
Barry has ruled a $9.1 million claim by Hartung Brothers Inc. of Wisconsin, a $1.2 million claim by H.C. Schmieding of Springdale and a $1.9 million claim by D&E Farms of Pennsylvania were all valid. The rulings have been appealed to the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Arkansas.
Allens Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2013. The case has since been shifted to Chapter 7. In February, the company was bought at auction, and it was renamed Sager Creek Vegetable Co. in July.
-- John Magsam
FDIC: State banks' assets total $64.9B
Total assets for Arkansas' banks were $64.9 billion on Sept. 30, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
The state's banks reported net income of $609 million for the first nine months of the year, up 6.7 percent from the same period in 2013.
There were 111 banks in the state as of Sept. 30, 15 fewer than in September 2013.
Pine Bluff-based Simmons First National Corp. accounted for more than half of those banks that disappeared. In the past year, Simmons folded seven of its smaller banks into its main office, Simmons First National Bank in Pine Bluff. Simmons also acquired Metropolitan National Bank in Little Rock.
-- David Smith
Wal-Mart at 52-week high, but index drops
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 2.02 to 378.54 Friday.
Ten stocks declined and seven advanced.
Wal-Mart was up 3 percent and reached a 52-week high of $88.09.
Murphy Oil fell 6.1 percent on more than double its average volume.
For the week, 14 stocks gained ground and three fell.
Murphy Oil fell 10.5 percent for the week.
Total volume of the index in abbreviated trading Friday was 17.9 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 25.4 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 11/29/2014