Simmons First gives ex-branch to Wilmot
Simmons First National Corp. has donated a former branch in Wilmot to the city to be used as a municipal building, the Pine Bluff-based bank said Friday.
Wilmot is about 20 miles west of Eudora in southeast Arkansas.
Simmons bought the branch last year as part of its purchase of Delta Trust & Bank Corp.
"The roots of our company are in southeast Arkansas, and we feel very strongly about this part of the state," said George Makris, Simmons' chairman and chief executive officer.
Carolyn Harris, Wilmot's mayor, said the donation "will make a great impact in our city."
The building will provide office space for city personnel, including the water department, Police Department, city treasurer and mayor, Harris said.
The area adjacent to the bank will serve as storage space, she said.
-- David Smith
Specialty-egg firm to build in Berryville
Mid-States Specialty Eggs, a Missouri-based company, will build its first Arkansas egg-processing and distribution plant in Berryville, Mayor Tim McKinney announced Thursday.
"I was extremely impressed with Mid-States' operations," said Chris Claybaker, executive director of the Berryville Chamber of Commerce. "They are on the cutting edge of technology, and they are setting the standard for this new phenomenal growth market of organic products. The extra benefit from these operations locating here is the opportunity it will create for local farmers."
The company plans to begin construction this month.
The plant will employ 25 people full time and is expected to process and distribute about 100,000 specialty eggs a day.
Specialty eggs come from chickens raised with organic feed and without cages.
Most of the eggs are shipped to California. One of the company's founders, Marion Hostetler, said Mid-States Specialty Eggs is compliant with California's standards on specialty eggs, which are among the highest in the country.
-- Claire Williams
Index plunges 8.23; 4 lose 10% in week
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, tumbled 8.23 to 326.97 Friday.
For the year, the index has lost 17.7 percent.
Sixteen stocks declined, one advanced and one was unchanged.
Communications Sales & Leasing lost 5.3 percent in average trading.
Four stocks fell more than 10 percent for the week -- America's Car-Mart, 18.2 percent; P.A.M. Transportation, 10.8 percent; Communication Sales & Leasing, 10.6 percent; and Murphy Oil, 10.1 percent.
Murphy USA was the only stock that improved for the week, rising 1 percent.
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 08/22/2015