3 state banks make best-performing list
Three of the 10 best performing regional banks in the country last year were based in Arkansas, according to research by SNL Financial of Charlottesville, Va.
SNL defined a regional bank as having less than $50 billion in assets with at least 60 offices and being well capitalized according to regulatory standards.
The firm ranked banks on profitability, asset quality and growth in 2013.
Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks was ranked third on the list, followed by First Security Bancorp of Searcy at No. 5 and Home BancShares of Conway at No. 6.
Houston-based Prosperity Bancshares was rated No. 1 among the 25 top regional banks in the country.
First Security was the best-performing privately owned bank among the top 25.
- David Smith
State’s production of milk drops 23%
Arkansas milk production for the first quarter of 2014 was down nearly 23 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The state’s milk production and dairy herds have been in decline for more than 15 years. Arkansas dairies produced 105 million pounds, or 12.2 million gallons of milk in 2013, down from 635 million pounds, or 73.83 million gallons, in 1997.
Milk production in the state during the January to March period of 2014 was 24 million pounds, down from 31 million pounds for the same period in 2013.
Milk production was up compared with the last quarter of 2013, when Arkansas cows produced 22 million pounds.
Dairies across the nation produced 51.1 billion pounds of milk during the first quarter of 2014, up 1 percent from 50.5 billion pounds for the same period last year.
Arkansas’ dairy herd numbered 7,500 during the first three months of the year, down nearly 32 percent from 11,000 head two years ago during the first quarter of 2012. A survey of the dairy herd was not performed in the first and second quarter of 2013.
- John Magsam
Arkansas Index up 3.62; 13 issues rise
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, finished up 3.62 to 338.36 Tuesday.
Thirteen stocks rose and four declined.
Dillard’s had the best day, gaining 5.3 percent on three times its average volume. Simmons First National advanced 2.7 percent in heavy trading.
P.A.M. Transportation Services climbed 2.6 percent in average trading.
Total volume for the index was 19.1 million shares.
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 04/23/2014