CenterPoint execs to lead after merger
Executives for CenterPoint Energy Inc. will dominate the team that will lead the company after its purchase of Vectren Corp. closes in the first quarter of 2019, CenterPoint said Monday.
Six of the seven members of the combined company's executive leadership team are CenterPoint employees. Lynnae Wilson, currently Vectren's vice president of energy delivery, will be on the team. She will lead the company's Indiana electric utility business.
The group will report to Scott Prochazka, CenterPoint's chief executive officer, who will be appointed to the same role for the combined company.
CenterPoint announced in April that it would pay about $6 billion for Vectren, which is based in Evansville, Ind., and has customers in Indiana and Ohio.
CenterPoint, the largest provider of natural gas in Arkansas with about 415,000 customers, also handles electric transmission and distribution and energy services operations. The company has more than 5 million metered customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.
-- David Smith
Walmart staff gets app to aid shoppers
Walmart Inc.'s new app for employees lets them place orders for store customers who can't find what they are looking for on the shelves.
The Dotcom Store app gives employees access to Walmart.com, where they can look up any item sold or shipped by Walmart that may be out of stock or unavailable in the store. Customers can ask employees to order the item for them and arrange for it to be shipped directly to them or to the store for pickup.
Customers will then get either a printed ticket or an email or text message with a barcode. They can take it to any store register and pay for the item along with the rest of their purchases. The shipping process begins as soon as the item is paid for.
The Dotcom Store service is offered at all Walmart stores in the U.S., a news release stated, and will be available year-round.
The retailer plans to add merchandise from its third-party sellers to the app in the near future, according to the release.
-- Serenah McKay
State index tumbles to mid-April levels
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, tumbled 19.15 to 397.86 Tuesday.
It was the lowest close for the index since April 13, when it closed at 394.72.
Shares of USA Truck and Bank OZK had the worst day, falling almost 10 percent.
The average drop for the 15 companies was 5.4 percent.
Total volume for the index was 28 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 12/05/2018