NEWS IN BRIEF
Posted on Friday, July 4, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/230485/
Tyson subsidiary OKs deal with genetics fi rm
Siloam Springs-based Cobb-Vantress Inc. signed a deal Thursday to create a joint venture with Hendrix Genetics B. V., based in The Netherlands.
The companies announced the deal in January.
Cobb-Vantress, a subsidiary of Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc., bought Hendrix’s broiler breeding division, Hybro, through a stock deal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The companies also signed a joint development agreement to cooperate on research and development of livestock genetics.
All activities may be combined in the future through another joint venture, the companies said.
Prior to this acquisition, Cobb-Vantress, which operates in more than 70 countries, was virtually tied for the world market share lead with Aviagen Inc., based in the United Kingdom.
“With the addition of Hybro, we can comfortably say we are the largest broiler breeder in the world,” said Brian Cosgriff, Cobb-Vantress’ director of world marketing. High corn prices spur cutback at O. K. Foods
Fort Smith-based O. K. Foods will reduce the number of eggs set for hatching broilers by 7. 5 percent, the company said Thursday.
The poultry company, which slaughters about 3 million chickens a week, blamed the subsidized U. S. ethanol industry for driving up the price of corn and soybean meal, used in chicken feed.
This is the second cutback by O. K. Foods this year. In April, the company cut production by 8 percent, and gave no timeline for when it would resume normal processing rates.
Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride in March shut down an entire poultry complex — which includes hatcheries, slaughter plants and feed mills — in North Carolina to reduce production.
In Thursday trading on the Chicago Board of Trade, contracts for corn to be delivered in July 2009 reached $ 8. 08 a bushel.
Contracts for corn cost less than $ 6 in May, before widespread flooding in the Midwest threatened to limit this year’s corn harvest. Arkansas 20 inches up as 9 stocks post gains
The Arkansas 20, a priceweighted index that tracks public companies based in the state, rose 0. 15 to 180. 16 in a short trading day Thursday.
Nine stocks advanced, seven declined and four were unchanged.
P. A. M. Transportation Services Inc. jumped 4. 9 percent in light trading.
Home BancShares fell 2. 5 percent in below-average trading.
For the week, all but four stocks lost ground.
Dillard’s Inc. dropped 15. 3 percent.
America’s Car-Mart Inc. gained 12 percent.
Volume on the index was 25 million shares. The average daily volume is 44. 9 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.