LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If you grow a crop and you just hit a home run, well that makes you want to do it again.”
Jason Kelley,
corn agronomist with the University of Arkansas Agriculture Division Cooperative Extension Service Article, 1DWeek’s tally of U.S. oil, gas rigs adds 6
HOUSTON - The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose this week by six to 1,806.
Texas-based oil-field services company Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday that 1,389 rigs were exploring for oil and 413 were searching for gas. Four were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, Baker Hughes listed 2,016 rigs.
Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained 12 rigs, North Dakota four, Alaska and Pennsylvania two apiece, and West Virginia and Wyoming one each.
New Mexico declined by three and Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana and Oklahoma each fell by one. California was unchanged.
The rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
- The Associated Press
Big names said to be courting Skippy
NEW YORK - Unilever, seeking a buyer for its Skippy peanut-butter brand, has attracted interest from potential suitors such as ConAgra Foods and B&G Foods, said three people familiar with the matter.
Skippy employs 125 people at its main plant in Little Rock.
The business may fetch as much as $500 million, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the process is private. The consumer-products company, which had sought preliminary offers by Oct. 25, aims to complete a deal by the end of the year, two of the people said.
Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman is weighing the sale as he sharpens his focus on health and beauty banners, such as Tresemme hair products and Dove moisturizer.
“The future of Unilever is not peanut butter, it’s not Skippy,” said Andrew Wood, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Skippy gets about 70 percent of its $370 million in sales from the United States, according to market researcher Euromonitor International.
Skippy is the second most-popular peanut-butter brand in the United States, trailing J.M. Smucker’s Jif. ConAgra’s Peter Pan brand is third in the U.S.
- Bloomberg News
Settlement over card fees gets an OK
NEW YORK - A federal judge gave preliminary approval Friday to a $7.2 billion settlement between major creditcard companies and retailers over alleged fee-fixing, parties involved in the case said.
Visa, MasterCard and other card companies agreed in July to settle a lawsuit by retailers that claimed card issuers conspired to fix the fees they charge stores for accepting credit cards.
The National Retail Federation, representing more than 9,000 retailers across the country, had argued that a provision barring retailers from filing lawsuits over swipe fees was too broad.
Retailers also had argued that the $7.2 billion was far less than what retailers deserved and might have won at trial.
The preliminary approval was granted Friday by Judge John Gleeson of Brooklyn federal court, both sides in the case said.
Visa called the settlement a “fair and reasonable compromise.” MasterCard also said it was pleased and said a provision in the settlement allowing retailers to charge checkout fees for credit-card customers was supported by millions of retailers.
The retail federation repeated its opposition.
“It’s a morass of legal flaws, and rather than bringing about reform, it would only entrench the anti-competitive behavior of the card companies while putting them beyond the reach of the law,” said Mallory Duncan, a federation lawyer.
- The Associated Press
CEO-to-be ousted at Lockheed Martin
BETHESDA, Md. - Lockheed Martin has ousted its president and anticipated chief executive over a relationship with a subordinate.
The company said Friday that its board of directors asked for and received the resignation of Christopher Kubasik from his role as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer. The 51-year old was previously scheduled to become CEO in January.
Lockheed Martin says an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee. That violates the company’s code of ethics and business conduct.
The board elected the executive vice president of its electronics systems business to take his role. Marillyn Hewson will serve as president, chief operating officer and director immediately and take over as CEO in January.
- The Associated PressING to offer IPO for U.S. retirement arm
Dutch bank ING is preparing an initial public offering of stock to spin off its U.S.-based retirement, investment and insurance business.
The company said in a public filing Friday that it expects to raise $100 million by selling shares of ING U.S. Inc.
ING has been selling off businesses to meet the conditions of a $13.5 billion bailout that it received during the global financial crisis. European policymakers had demanded that ING sell its insurance business, a mortgage division and its U.S. retail bank. ING sold its U.S. online retail bank, ING Direct, to Capital One Financial Corp. for $9 billion earlier this year.
ING will use the proceeds of the stock offering to strengthen its balance sheet, so it can survive as a standalone company.
The IPO is being handled by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
- The Associated Press
French wine output hits 40-year low
France’s wine production slumped 20 percent to the lowest in at least 40 years this year after weather damage and disease caused harvests to plunge in the Champagne and Beaujolais regions.
Output fell to an estimated 1.08 billion gallons from 1.34 billion gallons in 2011, the Agriculture Ministry wrote in an online report Friday. Production dropped 40 percent in the Champagne region, it said.
The damage to France’s grapes and vineyards means world wine output will be the smallest in at least 37 years, the International Organization of Vine and Wine said Oct.
Italy will pass France as the biggest producer, the group estimates.
Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 32 on 11/10/2012