Manufacturer buys Russellville plant
Wisconsin-based Rockline Industries has purchased a plant in Russellville as part of the company’s ongoing expansion plans.
The use for the 240,000-square-foot complex on a 30-acre site has not been decided, a company spokesman said Tuesday. More details on the deal, and the number of workers the new location will employ, will be released in the near future. The terms of the deal were not released.
Rockline Industries employs about 2,000 worldwide and has two Arkansas plants that make wet wipes, one in Springdale and the other in Booneville in Logan County.
- John Magsam
Wal-Mart expanding India store network
Wal-Mart India Private Ltd., the wholly owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., announced plans Tuesday to open 50 wholesale stores in India over the next four to five years and said it would introduce an e-commerce platform to serve members of the Best Price Modern Wholesale stores. The business-to-business online program will provide an assortment of products similar to what’s found in stores, as well as special items, to smaller shopkeepers.
Wal-Mart India now operates 20 Best Price stores in eight Indian states with the first coming online in 2009. Wal-Mart picked Krish Iyer to lead its India business in December and said then that the company would focus on opening wholesale stores and building its supply chain. Long-held plans of opening retail stores in India evaporated with last year’s breakup between Wal-Mart and joint-venture partner Bharti Enterprises.
As of now, Indian law prevents outside companies from doing retail business in the country without an India-based partner.
- Cyd King
Car-Mart rises 4.4% as index adds 2.56
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 2.56 to 332.58 Monday.
“Stocks advanced and the major averages snapped a three-day slump fueled by a rebound in technology shares,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock. “Arkansas stocks trended strong with advancing issues outpacing decliners by better than 4-to-1.”
Shares of America’s Car-Mart rose 4.4 percent on average volume.
Bank of the Ozarks fell 1.1 percent.
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 04/09/2014