QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s a big win for 21c. It’s a big win for Bentonville. It’s a big win for Northwest Arkansas.” Godwin-Charles Ogbeide, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville associate
professor of hospitality management on the 21c Museum Hotel’s designation by TripAdvisor as one of the 10 quirkiest hotels in the nation Article, 1D
Deltic says housing market slowing sales
Deltic Timber Corp. said Thursday that its fundamental business was improving, but a lackluster housing market was holding back sales.
Net income for El Dorado-based Deltic’s second quarter was $11.2 million, or 89 cents per share, compared with $3.5 million, 28 cents a share, a year ago. Most of the increase came from the company’s acquisition of Del-Tin Fiber.
“The timing of our Del-Tin Fiber acquisition proved to be very beneficial,” Deltic Chief Executive Officer Ray Dillon said Thursday during a conference call. “The medium density fiberboard market strengthened during the second quarter, resulting in improved sales prices.”
Deltic Timber owned half the facility before buying out International Paper Co.’s share for $20 million earlier this year.
While prices rose for medium-density fiberboard and lumber, Deltic’s sales were down. That caused lumber revenue to slide $330,000 compared with the second quarter in 2012, though medium-density fiberboard revenue increased $270,000.
Total assets increased 17.6 percent over the course of the quarter to $415 million. Long-term debt increased 59 percent over the same period, to $100 million.
Deltic Timber Corp. shares increased 1.2 percent to close Thursday at $65.17.
Arkansas Times sets blog-access charge
The Arkansas Times, a Little Rock-based weekly publication, will begin charging $9.99 a month on Thursday for Internet subscribers to access four blogs on its website.
Readers will receive 10 free blog views each month before the charge kicks in. The charge applies only to the Times’ four blogs - the Arkansas Blog, Eat Arkansas, Eye Candy and Rock Candy. The rest of the Internet site will continue to be free, the Times said.
The Times contacted the University of Missouri’s journalism department to conduct a survey of Times readers, Times’ Publisher Alan Leveritt said. The survey determined that readers would be willing to pay $9.99 a month for online access, he said.
For years, the Times has been critical of Internet pay walls - charging for online access to publications’ articles.
“I’ll eat some crow,” Leveritt said. “I’m not proud. We can’t be stupid and let things go by us. If people want the Arkansas blog, the restaurant blog and the entertainment blog, you’re going to have to pay for it. We can’t do it for nothing.”
The Times also circulates a weekly print newspaper at no cost to readers.
5 charged in years-long hacking scheme
NEWARK, N.J. - Four Russians and a Ukrainian have been charged with running a sophisticated hacking organization that over seven years penetrated computer networks of more than a dozen American and international corporations.
Indictments were announced Thursday in Newark, N.J., where the U.S. attorney called it the largest hacking and data breach scheme ever prosecuted in the United States.
The accused conservatively acquired more than 160 million credit and debit card numbers and sold them to resellers around the world. Losses to consumers and the corporations are put in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Victims included Nasdaq, 7-Eleven Inc., Heartland Payment Systems Inc., French retailer Carrefour S.A. and the Belgium bank Dexia Bank Belgium.
The defendants are Russians Vladimir Drinkman, Aleksander Kalinin, Roman Kotov and Dmitriy Smilianets, and Ukrainian Mikhail Rytikov.
IMF praises China for deregulating rates
WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund is welcoming China’s deregulation of interest rates and other changes to improve the business climate and encourage small enterprises.
China said last week it was ending controls on bank lending rates in a move toward creating a market-oriented financial system to support economic growth. Banks currently lend mostly to state industry rather than to entrepreneurs who create new jobs and wealth. Allowing banks to negotiate their own rates with borrowers could channel more credit to private enterprise.
The ruling party has promised changes to support credit-starved entrepreneurs, including possibly allowing privately owned lenders.
-The Associated Press
Ex-bank exec: Email to girlfriend ‘silly’
Fabrice Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
vice president facing civil fraud claims over a $1 billion mortgage-bond debacle, said Thursday an email he sent to his girlfriend was “silly” and “romantic.”
His email messages are at the center of a case that alleges Tourre misled clients on a 2007 mortgage-backed investment that lost a group of investors about $1 billion when the housing market crashed.
Tourre is testifying near the end of two weeks of evidence against him brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency’s lawyers are trying to show Tourre misled investors about the role of Paulson & Co., the hedge fund run by John Paulson, in helping select the assets behind the investment, which the fund then bet against. Tourre took the stand after Laura Schwartz, a participant in the deal and a key SEC witness against Tourre.
Earlier in the trial both the prosecution and defense addressed a January 2007 email from Tourre to his girlfriend, which included the “Fabulous” nickname that’s stuck to him since it became public. SEC lawyer Matthew Martens said the email shows Tourre knew what he was doing was wrong. Tourre’s lawyer, Pamela Chepiga, called it “an old-fashioned love letter” that has nothing to do with the issues in the case.
In the email, Tourre alternated between English and French, writing: “More and more leverage in the system, the whole building is about to collapse anytime now … Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab … standing in the middle of all these complex, highly levered, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all the implications of those monstruosities !!!”
Business, Pages 28 on 07/26/2013