NEWS IN BRIEF

Allens’ filing seeks timeline for buyout

Allens Inc. has asked in a bankruptcy court filing that parties interested in buying the struggling canned vegetables company to submit bids by Jan. 14. Allens, of Siloam Springs, also is asking that a sale hearing be held Jan.

24.

Judge Ben Berry previously scheduled a Jan. 6 hearing to approve bidding procedures that will determine if New York’s Seneca Foods Corp. is the best bidder. Seneca Foods has offered $148 million to purchase Allens, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October.

Allens employs 1,200 at plants in Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin. It owes its primary lenders $114.36 million and reports debts of $65.6 million to its secondary lenders.

  • Chris Bahn

McDaniel to probe

Target data thefts

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has opened an investigation into a security breach at Target Corp. that allowed hackers to gain debit and credit card information from about 40 million customer accounts.

Target admitted the breach last week and said customer information was at risk for anyone who used debit or credit cards at its stores from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15.

“My office is actively investigating the cause of this breach and its impact on consumers in Arkansas, and we want to know exactly how many individual Arkansans are at risk. We are working to hold accountable those who are responsible, as are other states and the federal government,” McDaniel said in a release.

McDaniel said information contained in the magnetic strips on the back of credit cards was targeted.

Included on the strip is the name of the account holder and card expiration date, but no Social Security numbers were at risk.

  • Chris Bahn

State index up 0.23;

10 stocks advance

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.23 to 337.63 Thursday.

“U.S. stocks continued to climb on Thursday after a better than expected jobless claims report. The Arkansas Index moved higher as 10 stocks advanced and 7 stocks declined,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

Shares of Arkansas Best Corp. climbed 1.88 percent to $34.70 while America’s Car-Mart Inc., fell about 1 percent to $41.78.

Dillard’s, Inc., saw its share price drop 1.2 percent to $95.63 while First Federal Bancshares declined to $8.76.

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 12/27/2013

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