News in brief

J.B. Hunt forecasts decline in '17 profit

J.B. Hunt Transportation Services said Thursday its 2017 profit could drop as much as $32.6 million compared with 2016. Its fourth quarter ends Sunday.

The Lowell-based company included 2017 projections in a news release, saying its shareholders will likely see earnings between 77 and 82 cents per share, down from $1.05 a share in the fourth-quarter a year ago. A revenue projection for the fourth quarter shows a 10 percent increase, according to the news release.

The company said 2017 earnings will be calculated at a tax rate of 37.6 percent. The recently signed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will eventually lower its corporate tax rate and will affect write-offs and deductions. Company officials said they are studying the law and how it will affect the company.

J.B. Hunt's fourth-quarter results will be published Jan. 18.

-- Dalton LaFerney

Tyson seeks growers at Kansas meetings

Southeast Kansas remains a potential location for new poultry farms despite Tyson Foods' recent decision to build a high-tech chicken plant in Tennessee.

A second meeting has been scheduled in Montgomery County, Kan., for those still interested in becoming poultry growers, according to the county's economic development agency.

The discussions, meant to inform rural residents about the chicken industry, have featured state poultry researchers, former growers and agricultural finance groups. The next talk is scheduled for Jan. 9.

Although Tyson chose another state for its expansion, "long-term projections show rapid growth and we're laying the groundwork," said Trisha Purdon, executive director for the Montgomery County Action Council.

Springdale-based Tyson chose Humboldt, Tenn., as the site for a $300 million chicken processing complex in mid-November, abandoning a proposed site in Leavenworth County, Kan., after local resistance to the project.

-- Nathan Owens

Index gives up 2.75 with 16 stocks down

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.75 to 406.10 Friday, the final trading day of the year.

Volume was light, with most losses coming in markets' final minutes of trading. The Dow lost nearly 0.5 percent, trimming its 2017 gains to 25 percent.

Two stocks rose, with Deltic up $1.53. Sixteen stocks fell. P.A.M. Transportation and Simmons First each fell $1.15.

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

Business on 12/30/2017

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