Tyson offered $20M in Tennessee perks
Tennessee has offered Tyson Foods Inc. a $20 million incentive package for the expansion of chicken production operations next year.
The State Funding Board on Wednesday approved two economic development grants totaling $20 million for Tyson’s expansion. A $14 million grant was approved for electric, water and sewage costs, and a $6 million grant for construction.
Tyson’s project in Humboldt, Tenn., about 85 miles northeast of Memphis, is expected to cost $300 million and create more than 1,500 jobs. Once operational, Tyson said the plant will process 1.25 million birds per week. A completion date is set for late 2019.
Tyson chose to invest in Tennessee, after plans for a big chicken plant in Tonganoxie, Kan., fell through.
— Nathan Owens
NW area places 2nd in Forbes job ranking
The Fayetteville-Spring-dale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area has been recognized by Forbes magazine as the second-best medium-size area for job growth.
Earlier this week, Forbes posted its 2018 list, which looks at 422 metro areas. The magazine ranks the areas on short-, medium- and long-term job creation from 2006 onward and also considers if job growth is slowing down or picking up speed. The nation’s largest cities were ranked separately.
The Fayetteville-Spring-dale-Rogers area placed second in midsize areas with 256,900 jobs in 2017, and job growth of 2.14 percent, and ranked 10th overall, according to the magazine. The Provo-Orem area in Utah took the top spot for medium-size areas with 254,900 jobs and 4.3 percent job growth for the period.
The job growth in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers area was credited in part to corporate giants Walmart Inc. in Benton-ville and Tyson Foods Inc.in Springdale
The Fayetteville-Spring-dale-Rogers area includes Benton, Washington and Madison counties, along with McDonald County in Missouri.
— John Magsam
State stock index up 2.95, ends at 424.78
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 2.95 to 424.78 Thursday.
Total volume for the index was 44.3 million shares.
In U.S. trading, a morning rally fizzled and stock indexes “closed roughly even against the backdrop of rising crude oil prices and higher U.S. Treasury yields,” said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
The Arkansas Index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.