Tuesday, December 4, 2012
LITTLE ROCK — Centennial Bank adds Florida firm to roster
Centennial Bank has completed its acquisition of Premier Bank of Tallahassee, Fla., the Conway-based bank said this weekend.
Centennial, which is owned by Home Banc-Shares Inc., announced the purchase of Premier, a healthy bank with six branches in the Tallahassee area, in August.
Centennial said it expects to convert Premier to its computer operating system by next summer.
With almost $4.1 billion in assets, Centennial now has 34 branches in the Florida Panhandle and a total of 55 offices in Florida - with others in the Florida Keys, southwestern Florida and central Florida.
It also has 47 branches in Arkansas and eight in Alabama.
Dillard’s to open 4th store in Las Vegas
Little Rock-based Dillard’s Inc. said Monday that it plans to open a new store in Las Vegas in 2014.
The company plans to build a two-story, 200,000-square-foot store at The Shops at Summerlin, according to the news release.
The Shops at Summerlin is an open-air shopping center that will include more than 125 stores and restaurants.
The center is part of a 22,500-acre planned community that includes, offices, hotels and multi-family housing.
Construction on the Shops at Summerlin is scheduled to start next year and be finished by late 2014, said Tom Warden, spokesman for the Howard Hughes Corp., a development company.
This store will be Dillard’s fourth in Las Vegas.
The department store has 302 stores nationwide.
Arkansas Index drops 0.38, closes at 245.72
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 0.38 to 245.72 Monday.
“The major averages fell to their session lows on the close after a weaker-than-expected U.S.
manufacturing report and concerns about escalating unrest in the Middle East,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock. “Arkansas stocks fared slightly better with advancing issues outpacing declining by 3 to 2.”
Shares of the four publicly traded Arkansas banks dominated the winners in Monday’s trading.
Bank of the Ozarks rose nearly 2 percent, followed by Home Bancshares, First Federal and Simmons First, Williams said.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services fell 1.3 percent, while USA Truck dropped 3.1 percent. Wal-Mart slid 0.9 percent.
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 23 on 12/04/2012