LITTLE ROCK — Acxiom acquires firm to establish new unit
Little Rock-based Acxiom Corp. on Wednesday said it has acquired DMS, or Direct Marketing Services, in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Acxiom, an interactive marketing services company, said in a release that the purchase is a strategic expansion into the Middle East-North Africa market.
A purchase price was not disclosed for the deal, which Acxiom expects to close in October.
DMS has 150-200 employees, Acxiom spokesman Scott Maple said in an e-mail.
The new Acxiom unit, Acxiom MENA (Middle East-North Africa), will serve customers from Dubai and Jeddah.
Yousef Hamidaddin, DMS' managing director, will become chief executive of Acxiom MENA.
Shares of Acxiom on Wednesday closed at $9.39 on the Nasdaq stock exchange, down 1 cent.
AERT gets more time to meet Nasdaq rules
Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies on Wednesday said Nasdaq, the country's largest electronic stock exchange, granted the deck-board manufacturer a three-month extension to comply with "continued listing" requirements.
However, the Springdale business remained out of compliance with another Nasdaq regulation that will more immediately affect its financial accounting.
AERT, which uses recycled plastic and waste wood to make deck boards, needs to comply before the end of next week with the exchange's $1-per-share minimum closing price regulation.
AERT's stock has traded below $1 since December 2007. Shares have traded as high as 75 cents and as low as 3 cents per share over the past 52-week period.
The firm's shares fell 5 cents, or 7.6 percent, to 60 cents per share Wednesday on the Nasdaq.
Arkansas Index sags;
15 stocks finish down
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed at 162.33 Wednesday, off 2.40.
"U.S. stocks finished lower in a bumpy trading session that saw stocks jump higher after the [Federal Reserve] rate announcement only to sell off in the last hour of trading," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "The Arkansas Index fell as 15 stocks declined while only three advanced."
Murphy Oil fell 2.6 percent on average volume.
P.A.M. Transportation Services rose 3.1 percent in light trading.
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 27 on 09/24/2009