News in brief

Shareholder moves to buy Deltic Timber

Southeastern Asset Management Inc., the largest shareholder in Deltic Timber Corp., has been approached by many investors interested in buying El Dorado-based Deltic, the Memphis firm said in a federal filing Wednesday.

Deltic has hired a financial adviser "but refuses to enter into substantive negotiations with these potential partners that are willing to pay a price for Deltic in excess of current trading levels," Southeastern, which owns 15 percent of Deltic, said in the filing.

An acquisition would benefit shareholders in several ways, Southeastern said, including geographic diversity outside Arkansas and Louisiana; superior, experienced corporate leadership; and a dividend increase of more than five times its current level of 40 cents a share a year.

Deltic's stock fell $1.48, or 1.8 percent, to close Thursday at $81.03. The stock rose 5.6 percent Wednesday.

Mark Leland, Deltic's interim president and chief executive officer, did not return a phone call seeking comment. Ed Rowley, a spokesman for Southeastern, declined to comment about the filing.

-- David Smith

CS&L changes name, notes $6.2M 4Q loss

Communication Sales & Leasing had a net loss of $6.2 million or 4 cents a share in the fourth quarter, the Little Rock-based real estate investment trust said Thursday.

The loss was below expectations of a 1 cent per share profit in the fourth quarter, based on a survey of eight analysts by Thomson Reuters. The company also had a 4-cent per share loss for the year.

Shares of Communication Sales rose 96 cents, or 3.5 percent, to close Thursday at $28.30 in trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

The company announced it is changing its name to Uniti Group Inc., and its ticker symbol will change to UNIT. The firm's shares will begin trading under the new name beginning Monday.

Communication Sales also said it has agreed to acquire Hunt Telecom of Hammond, La., for $170 million in cash and stock.

-- David Smith

State index closes at 355.30, off 1.95

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 1.95 to 355.30 Thursday.

"The Dow Jones industrial average posted a new closing high for the 10th-consecutive day as the health care and telecommunications sectors outperformed,'" said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

Total volume for the index was 29.7 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 02/24/2017

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