NEWS IN BRIEF

Trucker reports net loss in first quarter

P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. of Tontitown reported a net loss of $456,267 for the first quarter of this year, or 5 cents per diluted share, company officials announced late Wednesday.

That compared to a profit of $674,193 in the first quarter of 2012, and earnings per share of 8 cents.

Operating revenue was up, totaling $99,981,938 for the first quarter of 2013.

That marked a 4 percent increase over the first quarter of last year, when revenues were $96,155,411, company officials said in a news release.

Revenue growth was fueled by a 57-truck increase in average fleet size, a 10 percent reduction in uncompensated empty miles and 4.3 percent year over-year growth in supply chain solutions revenue, said Daniel Cushman, chief executive officer and president.

The company, a truckload dry van carrier, ranks as the 62nd largest in the U.S. and Canada by Transport Topics newspaper, an industry newspaper.

P.A.M. Transportation has about 2,760 employees.

Counties collect unwanted pesticides

A county-by-county collection effort has removed more than 1 million pounds of unwanted or outdated agricultural pesticides as potential environmental threats, the Abandoned Pesticide Advisory Board said Tuesday.

At almost 100,000 pounds collected, Mississippi County accounted for about a tenth of the pesticides collected through the Abandoned Pesticides Collection Program. Clay County, the first row crop county to hold collections in the program, amassed at least 57,000 pounds of unwanted farm pesticides in the past year alone, said Andy Vangilder, chairman of that county’s Cooperative Extension Service staff.

Since 2005, collection efforts have been held in all of Arkansas’ 75 counties, drawing help from cou

  • Glen Chase

Arkansas index flat as seven shares slip

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.02 to 267.37 Wednesday.

“U.S. stocks were mixed on Wednesday after weaker-than-expected durable goods orders were offset by a round of largely upbeat earnings,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index finished slightly lower as nine stocks advanced and seven declined.”

Simmons First National rose 1.2 percent in heavy trading.

P.A.M. Transportation Services fell 3.2 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 25 on 04/25/2013

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