Mountain View boat
factory to add jobs
The Excel Boats plant in Mountain View will undergo a $1.9 million expansion and add 30 or more employees, a company executive said Tuesday.
The announcement from Dave Reynolds, national sales manager for Excel Boats, came a day after Tennessee officials disclosed that the company will build a $9 million, 100,000-square-foot production facility and, within five years, employ nearly 200 people in the northwest Tennessee community of Ridgely.
Excel says it makes an "affordable and tough" line of aluminum boats.
The Mountain View plant totals 42,000 square feet and employs 75 people, Reynolds said. The expansion will add 35,000 square feet of manufacturing space and allow Excel to employ an additional 30 to 35 people, he said.
The plant builds boats at the rate of one every 139 minutes, Reynolds said. After the expansion, it will have the capacity to build one every 90 minutes, he said.
-- Noel Oman
Van Buren OKs aid
for steel-wire plant
Bekaert Corp. is planning a 100,000-square-foot expansion to its operations in Van Buren.
The Van Buren City Council unanimously approved the issuance of $16 million in industrial revenue bonds for the project during a special meeting Monday night, according to Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman. The bonds will be used to finance construction and equipment for the expansion.
A spokesman for Belgium-based Bekaert -- which produces steel wire -- said in an email that the company could not disclose additional details regarding the expansion Tuesday.
Freeman said the project will create an estimated 40 jobs in Van Buren. The manufacturer employs about 400.
A spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission said Monday that based on the anticipated investment and job creation, Bekaert is eligible to receive incentives that include five years of cash rebate and sales and use tax refunds. The company also is eligible for a $200,000 community block development grant.
-- Robbie Neiswanger and John Magsam
Arkansas Index dips
2.63 on mixed day
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.63 to 397.88 Tuesday.
"U.S. stocks closed mixed Tuesday as investors continue to take in global trade negotiations, central bank moves and the latest round of corporate earnings results," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 05/02/2018