Steel processor
plans state plant
Union Partners LLC plans to build a steel-processing facility on the campus of Big River Steel near Osceola, the Chicago company said Thursday in a news release.
Union Partners will build a plant that is adjacent to Big River's Flex Mill and can expand to as large as 258,000 square feet.
The plant will have lines designed to cut steel to length and width to fit needs. The facility will serve the needs of Big River Steel including the specific needs of the automotive industry, which both companies are targeting, the release said.
Construction will begin in the first quarter, Union Partners said.
Union Partners did not disclose when the plant will open or how many people it will employ. A Union Partners spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
-- David Smith
Deltic logs profit
before acquisition
Deltic Timber reported a fourth-quarter profit of $200,000 in the last quarter of business before its purchase by Potlatch Corp. closes this month.
The El Dorado company reported net sales of $72.1 million for the quarter, up 23 percent from $58.5 million for the same time in 2016. Earnings for the quarter were $200,000, or 2 cents per share, compared with $3.1 million in earnings, or 26 cents per share, a year ago.
Deltic earned $6.5 million in 2017, compared with $9.2 million in 2016. Annual sales rose from $219.3 million in 2016 to $242.2 million last year.
Deltic last fall announced it was being acquired in an all-stock agreement by Potlatch, based in Spokane, Wash. Potlatch shareholders will own about 65 percent of the combined company, to be renamed PotlatchDeltic. The company will keep a satellite office in El Dorado.
Four Deltic directors will join the 12-member Potlatch board. John Enlow, Deltic's president and chief executive officer, will serve as Potlatch's vice chairman.
Deltic reported earnings Wednesday. It will not host a fourth-quarter earnings conference call.
-- Stephen Steed
State index ends
day up at 416.45
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 1.89 to 416.45 Thursday.
"Equities extended their gains for a fifth-straight session with utilities outperforming the broader market as the S&P 500 Index has now posted a 5.8 percent return since the market close on Feb. 8," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 02/16/2018