ArcBest up 38 spots on Fortune 1000 list

ArcBest Corp. ranks No. 889 on the most recent Fortune 1000 list, up 38 spots from the previous year.

Revenue at ArcBest, formerly Arkansas Best, was up 11 percent to $2.3 billion in 2013. Fort Smith's ArcBest is the parent company for ABF Freight, ABF Logistics, Panther Premium Logistics, FleetNet America and ArcBest Technologies.

CEO Judy McReynolds has said the company wants to increase revenue to $3 billion by 2015. Growing segments of the company outside of ABF Freight, which celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2013, will help ArcBest generate additional revenue, McReynolds has said.

ABF Freight was responsible for more than $1.7 billion of the company's revenue last year.

"We are very gratified that our growth is recognized on the Fortune 1000 list," McReynolds said in a news release.

-- Chris Bahn

Agency: Business aid at $12.4 million

Arkansas has awarded almost $12.4 million to small businesses in the state through the U.S. Treasury's State Small Business Credit Initiative, the federal government said Wednesday.

The funds are 94 percent of the almost $13.2 million total that was allocated to the state, a percentage that ranks fourth among the states in the country.

The money is allocated through the Arkansas Development Finance Authority. The Development Finance Authority uses the funds to leverage greater amounts of private lending and venture capital investment to small businesses. The authority has made 98 loans as of December, through micro-loans, direct loans, loan guarantees and venture capital programs.

The state has participated in the program since 2011.

-- David Smith

Arkansas Index up 0.02, closes 354.47

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.02 to 354.47 Wednesday.

"U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday after an [Automatic Data Processing] employment report showed U.S. companies added 281,000 workers in June," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "The Arkansas Index was essentially unchanged as 11 stocks declined and six advanced."

Shares of Tyson Foods climbed 2.9 percent in heavy trading.

America's Car-Mart was up 2.5 percent in light trading.

Dillard's hit an all-time high of $120.11 before closing at $119.10, down 19 cents.

Acxiom lost 2.5 percent in below-average volume.

USA Truck fell 2.4 percent on low volume.

Total volume of the index was 26.7 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 on 07/03/2014