News in brief

Walmart adds firm with intimates line

Walmart Inc. acquired online intimates retailer Bare Necessities for an undisclosed sum on Friday, Walmart said in a news release.

Bare Necessities carries more than 160 brands, including bras, swimwear, shapewear and sleepwear.

Denise Incandela, head of fashion for Walmart U.S. eCommerce, said in the release that Bare Necessities will continue to operate on its own website. However, she said that any of its brands that want to reach more shoppers will "over time" be integrated onto Walmart.com and Jet.com.

Bare Necessities' co-founder and chief executive officer, Noah Wrubel, will lead the intimates category for both Walmart.com and Jet.com while continuing to run the company. Bill Richardson, chief operating officer and co-founder of Bare Necessities, also will remain with the company.

The new addition fits well with Walmart's e-commerce strategy to acquire companies that are category leaders, Incandela said.

-- Serenah McKay

Boll weevil traps are added in Delta

The recent discovery of two boll weevils in northern Mississippi has prompted Arkansas officials to increase the number of traps along the Mississippi River to keep the cotton-devouring critter out of the state.

"It's just a precaution, to protect the investment farmers have made in our program," said Regina Coleman, director of the Arkansas Boll Weevil Eradication Program. "We've come so far, we don't want to go backwards."

The boll weevil hasn't been seen in Arkansas since 2006.

Coleman's staff has put out additional traps at half-mile intervals all along the Arkansas delta, wherever cotton is grown. Even more traps have been put out at quarter-mile intervals at cotton fields closer to Mississippi River bridges at West Memphis, Helena-West Helena and Lake Village.

Mississippi officials have found no other weevils since two were discovered in a trap Sept. 29, she said.

The Arkansas boll weevil program borrowed about $37 million for its eradication efforts, a debt paid off through per-acre assessments on cotton farmers.

-- Stephen Steed

Index down 1.01; Dillard's up 4.1%

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 1.01 to 427.93 Friday.

Dillard's shares jumped 4.1 percent in light trading while P.A.M. Transportation fell 5.2 percent in heavy trading.

Total volume for the index was 22.3 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 22.3 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 10/13/2018

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