NEWS IN BRIEF

Utility seeks new transmission line

Southwestern Electric Power Co. submitted documents to the Arkansas Public Service Commission Wednesday seeking approval to build a 48-mile transmission line along a proposed route in Benton and Carroll counties.

The new line is expected to cost $116.7 million and includes a power station. Peter Main, a SWEPCO spokesman, said if approved, the project’s cost would raise monthly rates for 1,000 kilowatt hours - the average amount used by customers - by 51 cents. Construction should be completed by June 2016, Main said.

The proposed route runs eastward from Centerton, swings northeast after passing the Pea Ridge area and then shifts southeast to end at a new power station on the Kings River, northeast of Berryville. In its filing, the company offered five alternate routes through Washington and Madison counties in Arkansas and McDonald and Barry counties in Missouri.

SWEPCO serves 114,000 customers in western Arkansas and also operates in Louisiana and Texas.

  • John Magsam

Bank’s extra cash is at $260 million

Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks has enough excess capital that it can potentially buy banks with assets ranging from $1.6 billion to $3 billion, Stephens Inc. analyst Matt Olney says in a research report on the bank.

Bank of the Ozarks has $260 million in excess capital.

Since 2010, Bank of the Ozarks has bought seven failed banks from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as well as two healthy banks.

Olney has a hold rating on the bank’s stock stock.

He raised his earnings estimate for 2013 from $2.34 to $2.58 a share.

He increased the price target on the bank’s stock from $41 to $43. Bank of the Ozarks has traded between $27.83 and $45.16 in the past year and closed at $41.97 on Wednesday in trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

  • David Smith

State index drops 2.82 to 267.67

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 2.82 to close at 267.67 Tuesday.

Acxiom Corp. fell 1.9 percent to end at $19.70 in light trading.

Bank of Ozarks fell 5.4 percent to finish at $41.97 per share in heavy trading.

P.A.M. Transportation Services fell 2.6 percent to close at $10.60 a share in light trading while USA Truck Inc. gained 2.5 percent to finish at $5.01 in light trading.

Tyson Foods Inc.

dropped 1.2 percent to end at $24.46 a share.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 25 on 04/04/2013

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