Fort Town Gets ‘OK’ For Private Business

The Region’s Largest Private Companies
• Click here for a printable PDF version of the list. (List requires Adobe Acrobat viewer. Click here for a free copy.)

The Arkansas River Valley boasts eight of the 49 largest privately held companies in the six-county area. With their combined $1.24 billion in 2003 revenue, those firms bring in more money than the largest private concerns in any other area city.

That’s due largely to the estimated $616 million in annual revenue for O.K. Industries Inc. of Fort Smith, the region’s largest private venture by nearly $200 million. O.K. Industries is a poultry processing and livestock feeds company.

The 49 firms on the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s annual list of the largest private companies combined for $5.34 billion in annual revenue, up 5.5 percent from $5.06 million in 2002. Together, they employ 32,473 people.

Six Poultry producers made up the largest individual business segment, combining for $2.05 billion in annual revenue. Those firms, which employ 14,381 people, saw their combined revenue increase 5.1 percent from $1.95 billion in 2002.

The listing intentionally excludes banks, nonprofit organizations and subsidiaries of publicly traded companies. Local operations for national or regional chains based outside the market are also excluded, unless the company voluntarily supplied its local financial information.

There are also a number of sizable private concerns that decline to participate (see notes, p. 26). The compilation is still, by far, the most comprehensive and accurate one available.

The “Old Fort Town” eight saw their combined revenue increase 1.3 percent, up from $1.23 billion in 2002. The figures exclude a ninth company, Air Systems Inc., which reported $85 million in 2002 revenue but did not respond to repeated requests for 2003 information. So the city’s total is really probably closer to $1.3 billion.

Combined, Fort Smith’s big private firms employ 11,986 people.

O.K. Foods is Northwest Arkansas’ sole representative among the Top 10 largest privately held firms statewide, according to weekly Little Rock publication Arkansas Business. Six total firms from the northwest corridor cracked the state’s top 20.

If counting Petit Jean Poultry, a deboned chicken and fryers operation in Danville, five total Arkansas River Valley companies made the statewide Top 75. With 2,000 employees, Petit Jean had $80 million in 2003 revenue.

Fort Fortunes

Fort Smith is home to some of the region’s largest private companies:

Company — 2003 Revenue — 2002 Revenue — % Change

O.K. Industries Inc. — $616.0 — $616.0 — 0.0%
Sparks Health System Inc. — $225.0 — $254.5 — -11.6%
K-Mac Enterprises Inc. — $128.0 — $128.0 — 0.0%
Cooper Clinic PA — $90.3 — $84.4 — 7.0%
Carco Transporation Systems Inc. — $83.2 — $46.0 — 80.9%
Riverside Furniture Corp. — $80.0 — $74.0 — 8.1%
Zero Mountain Inc. — $25.9 — $29.6 — -12.5%
Totals — $1,248.4 — $1,232.5 — 1.3%

Source: the companies and selected periodicals.

Statewide Top 10
Ranked by 2003 revenue of Arkansas-based, Arkansas-owned private companies (click here to see the full list)

Rank — Company —2003 Revenue (millions) — Percent Change — City — 2002 Revenue (millions)

1 — Truman Arnold Cos. — $1,204.6 — 45.3% — — Texarkana, TX — $829.0
2 — Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield — $907.1 — 6.9% — — Little Rock — $848.5
3 — Stephens Group Inc. — $900.0 — 0.0% — — Little Rock — $900.0
4 — Riceland Foods Inc. — $873.0 — 16.4% — — Stuttgart — $749.8
5 — Affiliated Foods Southwest Inc. — $737.0 — -2.5% — — Little Rock — $756.0
6 — Mountaire Corp. — $712.8 — 25.1% — — North Little Rock — $570.0
7 — Frank Fletcher Cos. — $670.0 — 4.2% — — Little Rock — $643.0
8 — Baptist Health — $648.7 — 0.2% — — Little Rock — $647.2
9 — O.K. Industries Inc.* — $616.0 — 0.0% — — Fort Smith — $616.0
10 — E-Z Mart Inc. (Sept. year-end) — $559.7 — -1.8% — — Texarkana — $569.7
Totals — $7,828.9 — -1.8% — $7,129.2

*Revenue estimated and not confirmed by company. Fiscal year also ended June 30.

Source: Arkansas Business in Little Rock