NEWS IN BRIEF

Arvest’s $45 million

profit best in state

Arvest Bank of Fayetteville, the largest bank in Arkansas, was the state’s most profitable financial institution in the first three months of the year, according to statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Arvest, which has $14.3 billion in assets, earned $45.3 million in the first quarter. It is the only bank in the state with more than $5 billion in assets.

First Security Bank of Searcy had the second highest net income in the period with almost $26 million.

Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks was third with $21.4 million in earnings. Centennial Bank of Conway was fourth with earnings of $18.2 million.

First Financial Bank of El Dorado was fourth with $6.6 million in net income.

The state’s 127 banks had net income of $191.6 million for the quarter, up 30 percent from about $147.2 million in the first quarter of 2012.

  • David Smith Indiana firm to build UA-adjacent housing

A Terre Haute, Ind., construction company has been selected as the general contractor for the $25 million West Center student housing project near the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Thompson Thrift Construction is a full service real estate, development and construction company. The West Center project is being developed by Capstone Development partners of Birmingham, Ala., and Springdale-based Specialized Real Estate of Springdale. Capstone Development has built oncampus or campus-affiliated housing for 61 colleges or universities, according to its website.

The off-campus project has 471 beds in 150 one-, two- and four-bedroom units. It’s to be at Duncan and Center streets on a nearly 3-acre site. It will have a 408-space parking garage.

The project is expected to be completed for UA’s 2014 fall semester.

  • John Magsam8 stocks rise, 8 fall;

index ends at 287.81

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, increased 1.18 to 287.81 Tuesday, and hit its seventh-straight all-time high of 288.70 during the session.

Eight stocks advanced and eight declined.

Arkansas Best jumped 5.2 percent on three times its average volume.

The Fort Smith trucker matched its 52-week high at $19.21 during the day.

Tyson Foods also matched its 52-week high of $25.42 during the day, closing up 2 percent on 50 percent higher volume than its average.

Acxiom traded at a 52-week high.

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 05/22/2013

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