Farmers Bank plans Prescott bank deal
Farmers Bank & Trust of Magnolia has entered into an agreement to buy the Bank of Prescott, officials with the two banks said Monday.
Farmers Bank is privately owned by Magnolia Banking Corp., which has 20 locations in Arkansas and Texas. The Bank of Prescott is a subsidiary of Prescott Banchares Inc. The purchase is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, with the sale likely to close this fall.
"Farmers Bank & Trust is excited about the opportunity to serve the community of Prescott, Ark.," said Chris Gosnell, Farmers Bank's chief executive officer. "Upon completion, this transaction will present a good opportunity to continue our financial services expansion in Arkansas along the I-30 Interstate corridor."
Farmers Bank said it will have assets of about $1.7 billion when the sale is closed. It was founded in 1906.
Founded in 1904, the Bank of Prescott has $67 million in assets and is the town's only bank. Its chief executive officer is John Brannon Jr.
-- Stephen Steed
Passenger traffic at state airports rises
Passenger traffic in April at the state's largest airport rose 2.49 percent over the same month in 2018, according to the latest data.
A total of 177,300 passengers went through Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field last month. The total was 4,305 more than the 173,025 passengers who passed through the airport in April a year ago.
The April total brought passenger traffic to 659,816 through the first four months of 2019, a 7.57 percent increase over the same period a year ago when 613,363 passengers went through Clinton National, a difference of 46,453.
Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport at Highfill, the second-busiest airport in the state, continued to see increased passenger traffic.
The airport reported 142,719 passengers in April, a 12.7 percent jump from the same month in 2018. Through the first four months of 2019, 519,689 passengers passed through the airport, a 12.6 increase compared to the first four months of last year.
-- Noel Oman
Index rises by 3.27, ends day at 420.43
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed at 420.43 Monday, up 3.27.
"An early rally rolled into a lower finish for stocks after the White House's restrictions on Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei Technologies further inflamed trade tensions between the United States and China," said Chris Harkins, managing director at 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 05/21/2019