News in brief

Bear State reporting 3Q profit of $3.2M

Little Rock based Bear State Financial on Thursday reported a third-quarter profit of $3.2 million, or 10 cents a share.

That was down 86 percent compared with the $22.7 million, or 68 cents a share, it earned in the same period a year ago.

Bear State had $1.5 billion in assets on Sept. 30, about the same as the third quarter of 2014.

Bear State completed its purchase of Metropolitan National bank of Springfield, Mo., on Oct. 1. Bear State paid about $28 million in cash and $42 million in stock for Metropolitan, which has 11 offices in southwest Missouri.

Bear State has a total of 55 offices in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Shares of Bear State rose 7 cents Thursday to close at $10.22. The report was released after U.S. markets closed.

-- David Smith

Jury awards Lion Oil $72M for lost income

A U.S. District Court jury in El Dorado has awarded almost $72 million to Lion Oil Co. for lost income and expenses resulting from a 2012 pipeline rupture.

Lion Oil on Wednesday was awarded $60.4 million for income loss and an additional $11.3 million to cover expenses the company incurred as a result of the pipeline break according to a news release.

Lion Oil was seeking insurance coverage for income losses and expenses that resulted from the rupture of a pipeline that supplied the refinery with crude from oilfields in Louisiana.

The pipeline, owned by an Exxon Mobile subsidiary, is 200 miles long and can carry 440,000 barrels of oil, according to the news release.

The rupture in 2012 caused the pipeline to be shut down for 10 months. Lion Oil said the 14 insurance companies it had all-risk policies from should cover the company while it ran its refinery at reduced capacity, the news release said.

-- Jessica Seaman

Arkansas index rises 0.39; 12 stocks gain

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.39 to 336.84 Thursday.

Twelve stocks advanced and six declined.

Simmons First National gained 2.1 percent on below-average volume and hit a 52-week high.

Bank of the Ozarks rose 1.8 percent on low volume.

Murphy USA fell 4.2 percent in active trading.

Windstream fell 3.8 percent on heavy volume.

Acxiom shares reached a 52-week high.

Total volume of the index was 22.8 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 11/06/2015

Upcoming Events