5 schools to share $2.84M in grants
The Walmart Foundation is donating $2.84 million in grants to five universities for work focused on innovations in textile manufacturing.
U.S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund grant recipients were announced this week by the Walmart Foundation and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Clemson University, Cornell University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University and the University of Texas at Austin were selected as this year's recipients. This is the second round of grants as part of a fund that will award $10 million over five years.
The universities are being asked to focus their research on reducing the cost of textile manufacturing in the U.S. or improving manufacturing processes "with a broad application to many types of consumer products."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. committed in 2013 to buying an additional $250 billion in U.S.-made products by 2023. The retailer said the initiative will help create more jobs in the U.S.
-- Chris Bahn
Bear State reports earnings of $2.6M
Bear State Financial earned $2.6 million in the fourth quarter last year, down 46 percent from $4.8 million in the same period in 2014, the Little Rock-based bank reported Friday.
The bank earned 7 cents per share, down from 14 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Not including one-time charges in the quarter, the bank had core earnings of $4.2 million.
Net income for 2015 was $10.6 million compared with $24.3 million in 2014.
Bear State, formerly known as First Federal Bank, had $1.9 billion in assets on Dec. 31, compared with $1.5 billion on Dec. 31, 2014.
On Oct. 1, Bear State completed the purchase of Metropolitan National Bank of Springfield, Mo.
Bear State has 43 branches and three lending offices in Arkansas and Oklahoma and 12 Metropolitan branches in Missouri.
15 gainers propel state index higher
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 3.87 to 284.09 Friday.
Fifteen stocks advanced and three declined.
Windstream rose 9.1 percent in average trading.
Communication Sales & Leasing was up 8.3 percent on low volume.
For the week, Simmons First National fell 10.5 percent and Home BancShares fell 5.1 percent.
USA Truck was the biggest gainer for the week, rising 19.5 percent.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 01/23/2016