ADT Inc., a popular home-security brand, has acquired a North Little Rock company that specializes in integrating home security and other technology.
Advanced Cabling Systems is the second company the Boca Raton, Fla.,-based ADT has acquired in the past two months as it seeks to develop the commercial side of its business.
Advanced will "join forces with Red Hawk Fire & Security," also based in Boca Raton, according to a news release. ADT acquired Red Hawk, which specializes in commercial fire, life safety and security services, last month for $317.5 million. A price wasn't disclosed for the Advanced Cabling Systems purchase.
Advanced was founded in 1997 and specializes in the installation and service of integrated systems, including structured cabling, fire alarm systems, audio/video, closed-circuit television, access control, intrusion detection, intercom/paging systems and nurse call and infant protection systems.
It employs 170 people and has regional offices in Lowell, Tulsa and Oklahoma City and Ozark, Mo.
-- Noel Oman
Missouri researcher given Walton grant
The Walton Family Foundation, the charitable arm of the Walmart heirs, announced a grant this week of nearly $1 million toward development of an education research center at Saint Louis University in Missouri.
The $962,000 grant was awarded to Gary Ritter, dean of the university's School of Education, for the Policy Research in Missouri Education Center opening this spring. The funds will help the center conduct applied research and provide results to the state's educators, administrators and state lawmakers, according to a news release.
Ritter was previously the director of the University of Arkansas' Office for Education Policy, which he founded in 2003. He left that position in August for his current job.
The Bentonville foundation, led by the children and grandchildren of Walmart founders Sam and Helen Walton, focuses on primary and secondary education, environmental conservation and quality of life issues in Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta.
-- Serenah McKay
Arkansas Index adds 0.27, ends at 392.88
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.27 to 392.88 on Thursday.
"The consumer discretionary sector came under pressure as retail stocks drove equities lower on reports of slow holiday sales along with concerns over the duration of the U.S. government shutdown but the broader market rallied to close higher for the fifth straight session," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. 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 01/11/2019