Arkansas Business

After seeing thousands of nondurable apparel manufacturing jobs leave eastern Arkansas since the early 1990s, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his economic development team are bringing 400 of those jobs back to the state.

Wal-Mart says it plans to slow new store openings as it looks to pour more money into its online efforts, technology and store remodels.

Shares of the Bentonville, Arkansas-based chain fell slightly in Thursday premarket trading.

Wal-Mart closed on its more than $3 billion buyout of Jet.com last month, showing how heavily it's willing to invest as it tries to boost online sales that totaled $13.7 billion last year - still just a fraction of the company's annual revenue.

Tyson Foods Inc. has agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle federal allegations of hiring discrimination at six plants in Arkansas, New Mexico and Texas.

The U.S. Labor Department announced the settlement Tuesday after previously alleging the Springdale, Arkansas-based company's hiring processes and selection procedures at the six plants discriminated on the basis of sex, race or ethnicity.

Hunting and fishing giant Bass Pro Shops is acquiring competitor Cabela’s Inc. for $5.5 billion in an all cash deal that will combine the two iconic American retailers with loyal outdoor-oriented customer bases across the American South, West and Midwest.

In an announcement after the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, privately-held Bass Pro and publicly traded Cabela announced they had entered into a definitive agreement under which Bass Pro Shops will acquire Cabela’s for $65.50 per share in cash, a 19.2% premium over Friday’s closing price of $54.93.

Candlemaker Burt Hanna, rice and grain operators and even an oil importer in Arkansas are ready to do business with Cuba, held back only by an embargo rendered 56 years ago that has only served to help impoverish a neighboring nation, according to Melvin Torres.

New employees of the City of Little Rock may receive a financial incentive to reside within the municipality.

The city’s Board of Directors is considering a $5,000 dollar gift for employees who buy homes in town, or $2,500 to employees who rent in Little Rock. The board discussed possible residency incentive for city employees at its meeting Tuesday.

City spokesperson Jennifer Godwin says the proposal was inspired by a recent failed initiative to require police officers to live within city limits.

Talk Business and Politics reports:

Low interest rates, stable loan demand and hyper competition characterized the banking climate in the state and nation, with net income for all U.S. banks up 1.46% in the second quarter of 2016.

Despite a hit and miss retail environment, Wall Street analysts expect Wal-Mart Stores will have decent quarter fueled in part by strong grocery sales. The consensus estimate is for net income to top $3.2 billion in the second quarter, just short of the $3.475 billion reported a year ago.

Earnings per share are expected to be $1.02, compared to $1.08 in the year-ago period according to the consensus of 24 analysts who follow the company. Earnings per share are expected to be 5.5% lower than a year ago. Total revenue is expected to be $120.29 billion, flat against last year.

An animal rights group has released an undercover video that shows Tyson Foods workers abusing and improperly killing chickens at various breeding facilities in Virginia.

The video prompted the Arkansas firm to announce Thursday that it fired the workers for failing to follow company policies and would "aggressively re-emphasize" its animal welfare protocols to current workers. The company also said it would end a practice that involves inserting plastic into chickens' beaks to control how much they eat.

Conway has landed another Fortune 500 company.

Already home to top-tier companies such as Acxiom, HP, International Paper and Kimberly-Clark, Insight – a global provider of information technology solutions – announced it will add a sales center in the Meadows Office and Technology Park in Conway. Talk Business & Politics reports Insight expects to hire 50 more workers in Conway to its new, existing workforce of around 170.

Sun Paper Industry of China says the planned early 2017 construction start for a $1.3 billion superproject in Clark County will likely be pushed back because of ongoing pre-engineering and feasibility studies for the bio-product paper mill.

“They are still trying to nail down some of the issues involving the project and it has taken more time than was expected,” said Julie Mullenix of Little Rock-based Mullenix & Associates, a local governmental relations, PR and lobbying firm.

Members of the Arkansas Rice Federation have traveled to Cuba to discuss the future of trade between the U.S. and Cuba.
 
The delegation, which included Arkansas Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward, was briefed on developments in Cuban farming and also met with representatives of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Trade, Havana University and Alimport, the state-owned operation responsible for agricultural imports and exports.
 

Arkansas officials say a lumber mill that shut down six years ago is reopening, creating 136 new jobs.
 
The state Economic Development Commission on Wednesday announced that Caddo River Forest Products is spending up to $50 million to re-open the Glenwood sawmill. Officials said they expect another 200 to 300 indirect jobs to be created through the project.
 

Walmart.com is looking for some help to grow its e-commerce, retail footprint and scale in China. The retailer announced Monday plans to partner with JD.com, a major online marketplace player in China.

The deal involves a wide range of business initiatives involving online and in-store retail ventures of Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Traffic at Arkansas’ three largest commercial airports improved in May, and shipping on the Arkansas River has recovered from the rain-induced slowdown in 2015, according to information in the June edition of the Arkansas Transportation Report.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is testing drones that it says will help it manage its warehouse inventory more efficiently, and which it says could be rolled out in the next six to nine months across its distribution centers.

Talk Business and Politics reports:

Retail giant Walmart is betting big on grocery pickup as a way to fend off Amazon’s fresh home delivery offering. But while the efforts are being accelerated by Walmart, consumers are slow to adopt the new service, according to a study by Fayetteville-based Field Agent and consultants close to the situation.

Gretchen Hall, CEO of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, likes the numbers she sees.

Last year, Pulaski County accounted for 13,000 travel-related jobs and 6.1 million visitors who spent nearly $1.8 billion in travel expenditures. That translates into more than $31 million in travel-related local taxes and $69 million in travel-related state taxes.

Why is the capital city so attractive for visitors?

A report from international advocacy group Oxfam says poultry workers in the United States labor in a "climate of fear," with some forced to wear diapers on the job.

It says many workers are afraid to ask for permission to go to the bathroom. The report says a worker at a Simmons Foods plant in Arkansas told Oxfam that she and many others resorted to wearing diapers. A Tyson Foods worker says in the report that many workers at his North Carolina plant "have to urinate in their pants."

Talk Business and Politics reports:

Before the market opens Monday, Tyson Foods is expected to post $403 million in net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 which ended. That equates to a Wall Street consensus of $1.03 per share, up 38% over the 75 cents per share reported in the same quarter of 2015.

The company posted net income of $313 million in the year-ago period.

Business growth in Arkansas lost a step in April as a leading economic indicator for the region shows the state’s manufacturing, farming and energy sectors continue to shed jobs and affect overall economic expansion.