QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You need to remember that in 2010 we produced 1 million cars.We’re now at 2 1/2 times that level.”
Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Article, 1D
Trucker, union extend pact
Arkansas Best Corp. said Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has reached another contract extension with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters through Aug. 31.
The company said the extension will allow for the conclusion of the voting process for six remaining supplemental agreements to the ABF National Master Freight Agreement. Employees covered by the supplemental agreements are to receive ballots at the beginning of August, though the ballots will not be counted for several weeks.
ABF said ratification of the supplemental agreements will allow the terms of the national agreement to take effect and put the company back on a path toward sustained profitability.
Acxiom to release 1st-quarter results
Acxiom Corp. will hold a conference call today at 4 p.m. to discuss its first-quarter financial results for the 2014 fiscal year.
The Little Rock company will release its financial results after the markets close in New York, according to the news release.
A live broadcast of the conference call will be available on the company’s website at www.acxiom.com.
Acxiom reported a profit of $13.2 million in its fiscal 2013 fourth quarter, down from $46 million in the same period in 2012.
The company’s revenue for the quarter fell from $287 million in the previous year to $277 million.
For the 2013 fiscal year, Acxiom’s net income was $57.6 million, compared with $77.3 million in 2012. Revenue for 2013 also dropped to $1.1 billion from $1.13 billion in 2012.
Treasury bill rates lowest since 2012
WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday’s auction to the lowest levels since January 2012.
The Treasury Department auctioned $30 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.030 percent, down from 0.035 percent last week. Another $25 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.065 percent, down from 0.070 percent last week.
The three-month rate was the lowest since these bills averaged 0.025 percent on Jan. 17, 2012. The six-month rate was the lowest since these bills averaged 0.060 percent, also on Jan. 17, 2012.
The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.24 while a six-month bill sold for $9,996.71. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.030 percent for the three-month bills and 0.066 percent for the six-month bills.
Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, was unchanged from the previous week at 0.11 percent last week.
China’s BMW denial stokes concerns
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s failure to win government approval to expand a factory in China is fueling concern global automakers could find it increasingly difficult to win regulatory approval on projects in the country.
Shares of BMW partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. fell the most in almost four weeks in Hong Kong on Monday after China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection said it sent back an application, citing inadequate waste water analysis and the plan’s failure to meet government anti-pollution targets. BMW rose 0.7 percent in Frankfurt trading.
“The ease of expansion is probably not going to be as easy as in the past,” said Bill Russo, Beijing-based president of automotive consultant Synergistics. Russo, who’s been in China for the past decade, said he can’t recall the government ever issuing a statement knocking back an automaker’s expansion plans for an existing project.
Nissan to build Mississippi supplier park
CANTON, Miss. - Nissan North America will build a 1 million-square-foot campus for its suppliers just north of the company’s vehicle assembly plant in Canton.
The groundbreaking came Tuesday during a ceremony in Canton.
Earlier this year, Mississippi lawmakers approved a bill to allow the Madison County Economic Development Authority to use $100 million in bonds toward construction of buildings to be used by suppliers of the Nissan plant.
Dan Bednarzyk, Nissan vice president for total delivered cost, said in a news release that the project will support more than 800 jobs, including an expected 400 newly created supplier jobs as well as 400 employees who Nissan has hired since June 1 in anticipation of the project.
Infrastructure improvements will also be made to the current supplier logistics center building located at the south end of Nissan’s plant.
Nissan now makes seven vehicles: the Armada and Xterra sport utility vehicles, the Titan and Frontier pickups, the NV van, the Altima sedan and the Sentra sedan.
- The Associated Press
Oprah network posts 1st quarterly profit
Oprah Winfrey’s OWN cable network posted its first quarterly profit in the second quarter, said Discovery Communications Inc., the TV host’s partner in the venture.
OWN became “cash flow positive” in the three months that ended June 30, David Zaslav, chief executive officer of Discovery Communications, said on an analyst call Tuesday after the owner of cable channels Animal Planet and TLC reported earnings.
OWN, which debuted in 2008 and has received a $420 million investment from Discovery Communications, may have lost as much as $330 million since its inception through the end of last year. Now that it’s profitable, the company should start to recoup that money, Zaslav said.
Second-quarter profit excluding some items at Discovery Communications was 82 cents a share, compared with 76 cents a year earlier, according to a statement. Analysts had estimated 91 cents, on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Revenue at the Silver Spring, Md.-based company advanced 30 percent to $1.47 billion, while analysts estimated $1.48 billion.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 26 on 07/31/2013