LR Tech Park to shore up too-thin wall
Construction on a portion of the Little Rock Technology Park will be delayed because of concerns over the stability of a wall at 415 S. Main St.
Tech park Executive Director Brent Birch informed board members of the delay during a meeting Wednesday at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. No cost for the bracing and repair has been established yet. The tech park has entered into an agreement with Engineering Consultants Inc. of Little Rock.
Birch said the wall, on the building's north side, needs to be "shored up" if it is to serve as an exterior part of the building. It's not thick enough currently, Birch said, causing some concern for contractor East Harding Construction.
Progress at 417 S. Main St. is on schedule, Birch said. It is possible the Tech Park will open the building before the neighboring building at 415 Main St. is finished.
Board Chairman Kevin Zaffaroni said interest from prospective tenants remains "appropriate for where we wanted to be at this point." No final lease agreement has been completed for the Tech Park to present to potential tenants at this time.
-- Chris Bahn
Value of closed New Orleans park: $3M
NEW ORLEANS -- The New Orleans Industrial Development Board has released the findings of the appraisal group selected to value the shuttered Six Flags park.
New Orleans media outlets report that the McEnery Co. of New Orleans submitted its findings to the board Aug. 4 and fixed the value of the former amusement park at $3 million. An additional 65 undeveloped acres that comes with the property are valued at $260,000.
The Orleans Parish assessors office currently assesses the value of the site at more than $51 million.
The appraisal report released Tuesday said the Industrial Development Board could continue renting it as a movie filming location, list the property for sale, put it up for auction or donate it to the city.
-- The Associated Press
Wendy's growth slows to 0.4% in 2Q
DUBLIN, Ohio -- Wendy's is the latest major fast-food chain to report weaker-than-expected sales growth, with the hamburger company saying people aren't dining out as much because it has gotten even cheaper to eat at home.
The chain known for its Frosty shakes and square burgers said Wednesday that sales edged up 0.4 percent at North American restaurants open at least 15 months in the second quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet forecast a 2.4 percent increase.
Wendy's Chief Executive Officer Todd Penegor said during a conference call that customer traffic across the fast-food industry slipped starting earlier this year as the price gap between eating at home and dining out widened.
That's because lower commodity costs have kept grocery prices down, while restaurant chains may maintain or raise prices as they deal with costs for running their businesses and try to improve profit margins.
For the quarter ended July 3, Wendy's earned $26.5 million, or 10 cents per share. That was a penny better than expected, according to Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue fell to $382.7 million from $489.5 million, mostly because the company has been selling back restaurants to franchisees. Shares of The Wendy's Co. fell 28 cents, or 2.8 percent, to close Wednesday at $9.91.
-- The Associated Press
Saudis ease equity rules for foreigners
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday approved new rules for foreigners wanting to invest in its stocks as the kingdom seeks to open up its equity market amid a slump in crude prices.
The regulations -- which will cut the amount of assets foreigners must have under management to invest directly in the nation's stocks to $1 billion from $5 billion -- will be enacted on Sept. 4, according to a statement from the Capital Market Authority. They will also allow individual foreign investors to own not more than 10 percent of shares outstanding in a single company, up from 5 percent.
The Riyadh-based regulator said in May the changes would take effect before the end of the first half of 2017. Saudi Arabia is opening one of the world's most closed stock markets to increased international participation after oil prices more than halved in the past two years. The Tadawul Stock Exchange started allowing limited foreign direct investment in June last year under rules that govern which entities can invest and how much of each company and the market they can own.
Sovereign wealth funds and university endowments will be allowed to invest under the new rules.
-- Bloomberg News
Cargill pins 4Q loss on soybean trades
Cargill Inc., the largest private company in the United States, posted a fourth-quarter adjusted operating loss of $19 million on Wednesday partly because of poor investments in soybean markets. Revenue in the full year fell 11 percent after commodity prices dropped and the dollar strengthened.
Adjusted profit in last year's fourth quarter was $230 million, Minneapolis-based Cargill said Wednesday in a statement. Net income in the three months ended May 31 was $15 million, compared with a $51 million loss a year earlier stemming from asset impairments and costs related to Venezuela's currency. Sales in the quarter fell 5 percent to $27.1 billion, the company said.
A loss in the origination and processing segment was related to the rally in soybeans in April and May, "which worked against our view of the market," spokesman Lisa Clemens said in a telephone interview.
In the full year, adjusted operating profit fell 15 percent to $1.64 billion. Net income rose 50 percent to $2.38 billion.
-- Bloomberg News
Union plans 2 railroad strikes in U.K.
U.K. labor union RMT plans strikes on Eurostar International Ltd. services this weekend and in late August to protest what it said is the rail operator's failure to live up to a scheduling program for train managers.
A four-day walkout will begin in the early hours of Friday and last through midnight on Monday, the union said in a statement Wednesday. Eurostar responded that it will cancel two trains on the first day with as many as four cancellations on each of Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The second strike will last three days, from Aug. 27 through Aug. 29, the RMT said.
"The dispute centers on Eurostar's failure to honor an agreement from 2008 which sought to ensure that train managers could expect a good work-life balance in terms of unsocial hours and duty rosters," the union said.
Eurostar operates high-speed passenger trains linking London with Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel, and it served 10 million travelers in 2015. The company is trying to find a resolution with the RMT, and it will make arrangements so that all passengers who have tickets can travel this weekend, a Eurostar spokesman said by phone from London.
RMT is seeking to preserve "working practices that are decades out of date," U.K. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said in an interview with the BBC, referring to the train operators' working hours. "This simply won't do," he said. "The union should stop doing this and get back to work."
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 08/11/2016