QUOTE OF THE DAY “Job additions and rising household wealth will continue to support housing demand.”Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist Article, 1DFirst Federal reports officers’ earnings
Dabbs Cavin, chief executive officer at First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas, earned $263,000 last year, the Harrison bank said in a federal filing Friday.
Cavin had a salary of $235,000 last year, up 38 percent from about $170,000 in 2011.
Christopher Wewers, who was president and chief operating officer for First Federal last year, was paid a total of $248,000 in 2012.
Wewers has been named chief executive officer, replacing Cavin, effective June 30. Cavin will serve as executive vice chairman of the company starting that day.
Tom Fritsche, executive vice president, was paid $215,000 last year, and Sherri Billings, chief financial officer, earned about $209,000.
Bear State Holdings, which bought controlling interest in First Federal in 2011, owns more than 80 percent of the bank. Members of Bear State include Scott Ford, former chief executive officer of Alltel Corp.; Richard Massey, chairman of First Federal; Cavin and Wewers.
State-based firm tests Prius charger
An Arkansas technology company said Monday that it has developed a prototype battery charger for the Toyota Prius that is more efficient, smaller and more powerful than existing on-board chargers.
Fayetteville-based Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc. said in a release that it is testing the device with a Prius. The on-board charger converts alternating current to controllable direct current to charge the car’s battery bank.
“We’ve been able to get a product that is 10 times smaller and lighter weight than existing silicon-based chargers,” said Ty McNutt, director for business development at Arkansas Power Electronics. “We can also produce almost three times the amount of through power with the charger, at an increased efficiency.”
It will be five years before the battery charger is ready for production, McNutt said in the release.
The company employs 40 and is a client of the Genesis Technology Incubator at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
ConAgra to hire 50 at Batesville plant
ConAgra Foods Inc. plans to add about 50 jobs to its Batesville plant, Kate Thomas, a spokesman for the Nebraska-based company, said Monday.
Thomas said the new positions will help with the production of new Marie Callender’s frozen breakfast sandwiches.
The Batesville plant’s products include Banquet and Kids Cuisine meals.
Last year, ConAgra Foods laid off more than 250 workers at the plant.
ConAgra also plans to close the Odom’s Tennessee Pride pork-processing plant in Little Rock this year. The company told its approximately 240 employees in October that the facility would close.
ConAgra also has a frozen-foods plant in Russellville.
P.A.M. executive Goddard quits in May
Longtime P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. finance chief Larry Goddard has resigned effective May 10, according to a report filed Monday with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goddard, 54, executive vice president of the Tontitown trucking firm, had been with the company for 25 years, according to P.A.M.’s most recent proxy statement. His previous positions included vice president of finance, chief financial officer, secretary and treasurer. Goddard’s total compensation was $349,752 in 2012, according to the proxy statement filed last Tuesday. That was up from $300,390 in 2011.
The company had a profitable year in 2012, with net earnings of $2.18 million that improved upon a net loss the previous year of $2.86 million. P.A.M. reported a net loss of $456,267 for the first quarter of this year.
P.A.M. Transportation, a truckload dry-van carrier, ranks as the 62nd largest in the U.S. and Canada, according to Transport Topics newspaper, an industry publication. The company has about 2,760 employees and carries general commodities throughout North America.
Exxon Mobil in stalemate with union
Exxon Mobil Corp. and union steelworkers at the company’s Baytown, Texas, refinery and chemical plant face a June 15 strike or lockout after failing to agree on a contract at the largest petroleum and petrochemical complex in the U.S., the United Steelworkers said Monday.
The next round of talks is scheduled for Friday.
A lockout or strike may occur June 15 unless the two sides reach an agreement on contract language covering health and safety, according to a union statement. United Steelworkers’ Local 13-2001 issued a 60-day strike notice after three weeks of talks ended April 15 and the company responded with a lockout notice. It represents 850 plant workers.
Exxon Mobil’s media relations office didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on the union statement.
EU limits 3 pesticides to protect bees
BRUSSELS - The European Union plans to restrict the use of three pesticides to better protect dwindling bee populations.
The announcement Monday was cheered by environmentalists but disappointed chemical companies and came after the bloc’s 27 nations failed to agree on a common stand.
European Union Consumer Commissioner Tonio Borg said his agency will override the deadlock and move “in the coming weeks” to restrict three neonicotinoid pesticides on plants and cereals that attract bees. The measure takes effect Dec. 1 for two years.
Beekeepers have reported an unusual decline in bees over the past decade, particularly in Western Europe, according to the European Food Safety Authority. It says bees are critically important to the environment, sustaining biodiversity by providing pollination for a wide range of crops and wild plants - including most of the food crops in Europe.
Borg said bees contribute over $29 billion a year to European agriculture.
In all, 15 European Union nations were for the restrictions, eight were against and four abstained.
Business, Pages 24 on 04/30/2013