NEWS IN BRIEF

PotlatchDeltic buys

Loutre Land & Timber

PotlatchDeltic Corp. of Spokane, Wash., has purchased Loutre Land & Timber Co. of El Dorado and its 51,340 acres of timberland in south Arkansas and northern Louisiana for 1.96 million shares of common stock and $6.6 million in assumed debt.

PotlatchDeltic expects the land to generate $8.5 million annually in average earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the company said in a news release. Average capital expenditures per year were projected to be $600,000 over the first 10 years.

Eric Cremers, president and chief executive officer of PotlatchDeltic, said the land "enhances our existing timberland footprint" in the region. "We know the markets well and our integrated operating model will create additional value as we process the mature timber in our Waldo and Warren, Arkansas sawmills," Cremers said in the release.

The former Potlatch Corp. in 2018 purchased Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado and its 530,000 acres of timberland and retained the El Dorado office as the base of its southern operations.

PotlatchDeltic, a real estate investment firm, owns about 1.8 million acres of timberlands in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota and Mississippi. It operates six sawmills, an industrial-grade plywood mill, a residential and commercial real estate development business and a rural timberland sales program.

-- Stephen Steed

New president takes

Cobb-Vantress helm

Joyce Lee, an executive in the animal health industry, has joined Cobb-Vantress as its new president.

Lee, a native of Houston, has worked in various leadership roles with pharmaceutical companies that make medicines and vaccines for pets and livestock, including Zoetis, Bayer Animal Health and most recently, Elanco.

At Cobb, one of the oldest broiler chicken breeders and the poultry genetics arm of Tyson Foods, Lee will report to David Bray, Tyson's group president of poultry, according to a news release Monday.

Stan Reid, who was interim president of Cobb last year, has agreed to stay and continue supporting the business.

"I'm honored to be a part of the industry that makes a significant difference in our society," Lee said in a written statement.

-- Nathan Owens

State index starts

year up at 789.00

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Tuesday at 789.00, up 0.88.

"Stocks rose on Monday as investors began the new year by betting the economy could overcome the latest surge in covid cases as Apple shares gained to become the first company ever with a $3 trillion market valuation, and Tesla shares jumped 13.5% on better than expected auto deliveries," said Chris Harkins, managing director at Raymond James & Associates.

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

Upcoming Events