Jessica Seaman
Stories by Jessica
Acxiom profit off 71.3% but still tops predictions
posted: 05/16/2013 3:48 a.m. Discuss
Acxiom Corp.’s net income for its fiscal-2013 fourth quarter fell 71.3 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago, the company said Wednesday.
Windstream profit falls 13%
posted: 05/10/2013 3:27 a.m. Comments 2
Windstream Corp.’s shares fell 3.8 percent Thursday after the telecommunications company reported a 13 percent drop in its net income for the first quarter of 2013.
LR-set telecom makes top 500
posted: 05/07/2013 2:55 a.m. Discuss
Windstream Corp. was named to the Fortune 500 list for the first time Monday, making it the sixth Arkansas company on the annual listing.
Windstream: Fortune 500, here we come
posted: 05/05/2013 2:47 a.m. Discuss
Windstream Corp.’s 2012 revenue of $6.16 billion is expected to put the Little Rock-based company on the Fortune 500 list for the first time when it is released Monday.
Murphy Oil profits up 24%
posted: 05/02/2013 12:34 a.m. Discuss
Murphy Oil Corp. on Wednesday posted a first quarter profit of $361 million, up 24 percent from the same period a year ago.
Business news in brief
posted: 04/30/2013 2:07 a.m. Discuss
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Job additions and rising household wealth will continue to support housing demand.” Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist Article, 1D First Federal reports officers’ earnings Dabbs Cavin, chief executive officer at First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas, earned $263,000 last year, the Harrison bank said in a federal filing Friday.
Civilian workers await furlough news
posted: 04/21/2013 2:23 a.m. Discuss
About 1,000 civilian employees with the Arkansas National Guard, 860 workers at the Pine Bluff Arsenal and 650 employees at the Little Rock Air Force Base at Jacksonville are still waiting to hear when the Pentagon will order the start of furloughs mandated by automatic federal spending cuts.
LR-set network aims at blacks
posted: 04/18/2013 12:45 a.m. Discuss
A Little Rock-based television network aiming to attract black viewers in the South is set to begin broadcasting next month.
Osceola rail-to-barge oil hub in works
posted: 04/09/2013 12:26 a.m. Discuss
A Texas development company has plans to build a rail-to-barge oil terminal near Osceola that could bring 200 jobs to the area.
Prevalence, age of pipelines in state raise safety concerns
posted: 04/07/2013 4:03 a.m.
Comments 2
The 65-year-old Pegasus pipeline that spilled thousands of gallons of oil into a Mayflower subdivision a short distance from Lake Conway on Good Friday should be capable of handling the heavy Canadian crude it was moving from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, analysts and industry members say.
Routine, risk coexist at spill scene
posted: 04/02/2013 12:13 a.m.
Comments 6
Standing between a canopy of tall pines and the Northwoods subdivision of this Faulkner County community along Lake Conway, folks might not suspect it is the scene of a major oil spill, except for the faint odor of oil and the presence of emergency workers.
Cotton planting to drop, corn acreage to rise
posted: 03/29/2013 12:29 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas’ cotton acreage is expected to continue to shrink this year as farmers plan to plant the largest corn crop in 62 years, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Medicaid expansion can pay for tax cuts, Beebe says
posted: 03/27/2013 4:25 a.m. Discuss
By expanding health-care funding in Arkansas, state legislators would be able to soften the effects of any tax cuts they might approve this year, Gov. Mike Beebe said while speaking Tuesday morning to members of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce.
’12 a record year, LR brewer says
posted: 03/19/2013 12:08 a.m. Discuss
Diamond Bear Brewing Co. announced Monday it had a record year in 2012, but officials said things could have been better were it not for the brewery’s cramped quarters.
Farming hall inducts new crop of honorees
posted: 03/09/2013 3:27 a.m. Discuss
When Margaret P. Alexander was told last fall she would be a member of the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame, she was surprised.
Cotton shrinks in state
posted: 03/03/2013 4:16 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas’ cotton gins are looking at a grim future with an expected plunge in cotton acreage this year as farmers turn to more-profitable crops such as soybeans and corn.
Dillard’s shares drop 9.4%
posted: 02/26/2013 12:57 a.m. Discuss
Shares of Dillard’s Inc. tumbled Monday after the Little Rock-based retailer reported a 14 percent increase in profit for its 2012 fiscal fourth-quarter, slightly missing analysts’ expectations.
Energy firm has loss for quarter
posted: 02/22/2013 2:41 a.m. Discuss
Modest natural-gas prices in 2012 cost Southwestern Energy Co. a $1.9 billion impairment charge that lowered the value of the company’s natural-gas and oil assets.
Gas jumps 21 cents in week
posted: 02/20/2013 12:28 a.m. Comments 6
Arkansas motorists have seen prices climb at gas pumps for 33 consecutive days as an annual increase in prices started early this year, energy analysts said.
Phone utility’s value up slightly
posted: 02/20/2013 12:10 a.m. Discuss
Shares of Little Rock-based Windstream rose slightly Tuesday after the company reported a fourth quarter profit of $10.1 million and said it would pay its $1 dividend.
Profit hard to net for catfish farms
posted: 02/16/2013 3:20 a.m. Comment 1
Steve Johnson says there is a catchphrase for the current state of the catfish industry: “gloom and doom.” “Everybody is pretty depressed about the profitability of the business because feed prices are so big,” said Johnson, a member of the board of directors for Catfish Farmers of Arkansas.
Arkansas Business Hall of Fame to induct 4
posted: 02/15/2013 3:21 a.m. Discuss
Four Arkansas business leaders will be added to the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame tonight at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
953,446 Deltic Timber shares move
posted: 02/15/2013 3:18 a.m. Discuss
An investment company bought 7.5 percent of Deltic Timber Corp.’s outstanding stock Thursday, the day after Deltic said it would purchase the remaining interest in an El Dorado-based fiberboard plant.
Hot Springs shrugs at loss of Sun Belt
posted: 02/09/2013 3:14 a.m. Discuss
March is a hectic month in Hot Springs, so the loss of the Sun Belt Conference’s basketball tournaments shouldn’t have much of an effect on commerce, hotel managers and a tourism official said.
January 2013 flouts law of lower gas prices
posted: 02/05/2013 12:13 a.m. Discuss
Arkansas motorists are seeing the digital readouts on gas pumps climb a little higher as the average price of regular gasoline jumped 17 cents per gallon in the past week, mirroring a nationwide jump caused by rising crude oil prices and less refinery production.
WEHCO expands its Web-based offerings
posted: 02/01/2013 3:20 a.m. Discuss
WEHCO Media, Inc. has created a new division called 121 Digital Marketing to offer digital advertising services in its 14 daily newspaper markets in Arkansas, Texas, Missouri and Tennessee.
Conway reels in Internet ad firm
posted: 02/01/2013 3:12 a.m. Discuss
Inuvo Inc., an Internet marketing company, is moving its headquarters from New York City to Conway, the publicly traded company said Thursday.
Murphy reports 4th-quarter gain
posted: 01/31/2013 2:46 a.m. Discuss
Murphy Oil Corp. turned a fourth-quarter profit of $158.7 million, reversing a $113.9 million loss a year ago, the El Dorado-based company reported Wednesday.
Acxiom quarter up 83% in profit
posted: 01/31/2013 12:46 a.m. Discuss
Acxiom Corp. almost doubled its net income in its fiscal-2013 third quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago, the company said Wednesday.
Business news in brief
posted: 01/30/2013 3:05 a.m. Discuss
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Europe is a mess. It’s going to be tough for anyone to make any money in Europe for the foreseeable future until the economies turn around.” Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group Article, 1D KLRT, KARK-TV cut jobs, consolidate Two Little Rock television stations — KLRT, Channel 16 and KARK-TV, Channel 4 — laid off employees this week as the stations consolidate.
AT&T clients: U-verse still out
posted: 01/26/2013 3:19 a.m. Discuss
Some AT&T U-verse customers were still without service Friday, after the company said Thursday that service had been restored to all subscribers.
AT&T to buy wireless business
posted: 01/23/2013 12:02 a.m. Discuss
AT&T Inc. has agreed to buy Atlantic Tele-Network Inc.’s U.S. retail wireless telephone business, which is based in Little Rock, for about $780 million, the company announced Tuesday morning.
Drilling in state shale scales back
posted: 01/20/2013 3:27 a.m. Discuss
Drilling in Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale has slowed to a pace that reflects modest market prices for natural gas, prices that aren’t expected to rebound anytime soon from 2012’s lows, analysts say.
NLR’s Wild River park is under new ownership
posted: 01/19/2013 1:54 a.m. Discuss
North Little Rock’s Wild River Country has been sold to a new company and is under new management.
In study of wells, fracking in clear
posted: 01/10/2013 2:52 a.m. Discuss
Shallow water wells in two counties in the Fayetteville Shale studied by the U.S. Geological Survey were not contaminated by natural-gas production, according to a report released by the agency Wednesday.
Wind tax credit seen as late relief in state
posted: 01/05/2013 4:20 a.m. Comments 2
A year-long extension of the federal Production Tax Credit, approved by Congress this week, did not come soon enough for Arkansas’ wind-industry manufacturers, who aren’t rushing to hire more employees or start new projects. It’s going to be a slow start for the wind-energy industry, company officials said.
Weather hinders gas runs in state
posted: 12/29/2012 2:17 a.m. Discuss
Ice-covered roads hampered gasoline deliveries to service stations in central Arkansas this week, distributors said, leaving supplies short for the stations not closed because of power failures.
Storm packs hotels, keeps staffs hopping
posted: 12/28/2012 12:02 a.m. Discuss
The 120 rooms at the Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Little Rock are filled with people seeking shelter after Tuesday night’s winter storm left many in central Arkansas without electricity.
Firm to curb Fayetteville Shale funds
posted: 12/22/2012 2:05 a.m. Discuss
Southwestern Energy Co. plans to spend less money in the Fayetteville Shale next year, a move energy analysts attribute to relentlessly low natural-gas prices.
Dillard’s settles suit over disclosures
posted: 12/19/2012 4:31 a.m. Discuss
Dillard’s Inc. has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit that said the department store violated the law by requiring workers to disclose their medical conditions when they took medical leave.
Low natural-gas prices sink tax revenue
posted: 12/16/2012 3:05 a.m. Discuss
Severance-tax revenue paid to the state from natural-gas production has fallen about 32 percent through November, compared with the same period last year, because of persistently low natural-gas prices.
El Dorado to see plant rebuilt, jobs
posted: 12/06/2012 12:53 a.m. Comment 1
A chemical company in El Dorado plans to replace its nitric acid plant that was damaged in an explosion in May by building a new $120 million facility that will expand its operations, El Dorado Chemical Co. announced Tuesday.
Payouts hurried to beat tax raise
posted: 11/28/2012 12:03 a.m. Discuss
Publicly traded companies in Arkansas are approving bigger and earlier dividend payouts to shareholders to avoid tax increases that might take effect in 2013.
Some cut short Thanksgiving, get in sales line
posted: 11/24/2012 4 a.m.
Discuss
Throngs of shoppers in Little Rock were out hunting deals early Friday despite “Black Friday” promotions on the Internet and the fact that some stores had opened on Thanksgiving Day.
Black Friday shoppers start early
posted: 11/23/2012 5:05 a.m.
Discuss
Trina Mitosinka didn’t spend Thanksgiving Day eating turkey and stuffing.
Lower demand for gas drops average to $3.19
posted: 11/13/2012 12:24 a.m. Discuss
Gasoline prices in Arkansas have dropped about 42 cents since mid-October, and industry analysts expect prices to continue to fall into the winter months.
Dillard sales hit above forecast
posted: 11/09/2012 3:29 a.m. Discuss
Little Rock-based Dillard’s Inc. on Thursday reported strong gains in sales that beat analysts predictions and helped its thirdquarter adjusted profit.
Windstream shares drop to a 3-year low
posted: 11/09/2012 3:25 a.m. Discuss
Shares of Windstream Corp. fell to a three-year low Thursday after the company reported a 31.2 percent dip in its quarterly profit compared with the same period last year.
Bid for bond districts appears dead at polls
posted: 11/08/2012 3:05 a.m. Discuss
An effort to give counties and cities the ability to establish development districts was headed for defeat as almost all election results were reported Wednesday.
Bond-district proposal seen trailing early
posted: 11/07/2012 1:45 a.m. Comment 1
With more than half of the precincts statewide reporting, voters Tuesday appeared to reject a proposed constitutional amendment to allow local governments to finance redevelopment project districts using bonds payable by sales taxes collected within the district.
