Business briefs

West St. Mary Port may pay less for park work
CHARENTON (AP) — The first phase on construction of an industrial park at the West St. Mary Port may cost substantially less than earlier estimates.
Port executive director David Allain said bids were opened last week for work at the industrial park site on the Charenton Navigation and Drainage Canal.
The project calls for digging a slip and construction of a roadway.
Reid Miller of Miller Engineers and Associates says that of five bids, the low proposal was $1.3 million, about $700,000 below estimates.
He says the bid is getting further scrutiny.
If there is money left over from the original allocation for the project, port officials say other items previously cut from the project outline might be restored.

Russia starts drilling its northernmost oil well
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has begun drilling on its northernmost oil well, in the Kara Sea off the northern coast of Siberia.
The well is part of a joint project between the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and ExxonMobil to develop the region’s oil reserves, which are estimated at up to 100 billion barrels.
The Russian-American project comes despite deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, in which each side has hit the other with sanctions.
President Vladimir Putin, who gave the signal to begin the drilling Saturday in a video linkup between the Arctic and his summer residence in Sochi, praised the project as an example of “pragmatism and common sense.”

Scott City Council defers on city land-use code
SCOTT (AP) — The Scott City Council has set aside a proposed city land-use code in order to give further review to a document that could affect development in the city for the next 30 years.
The proposed code would make special provisions for the Apollo Road corridor, an extension that will run from Cameron Street to the intersection of Dulles Drive and Rue de Belier.
The Apollo corridor will serve as an alternate route from Interstate 10 into the heart of Lafayette. Scott officials said they hope to develop the corridor into an attractive new commercial corridor.

Lamar Advertising buys Marco Outdoor
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Lamar Advertising Co., the Baton Rouge-based billboard giant, has acquired New Orleans-based Marco Outdoor Advertising Inc. and its more than 150 signs for an undisclosed amount of cash.
Most of Marco’s billboards are in New Orleans, particularly along the Pontchartrain Expressway and other major routes into the city. Marco also has signs in Covington, Mandeville, Slidell, Gonzales and LaPlace.
Lamar Chief Executive Sean Reilly said the deal strengthens Lamar’s position in the New Orleans market.
The acquisition of Marco fits in with Lamar’s recent strategy of buying smaller billboard companies in large metro areas to improve its presence. In August 2013, Lamar announced it spent $24 million to acquire several companies, including Empire Outdoor Media, which owned about 500 billboards across southern California.

Stone Energy reports quarterly earnings drop
LAFAYETTE (AP) — Stone Energy Corp. in Lafayette reports second-quarter net income of $4.4 million, or 8 cents per share, on oil and gas revenue of $205.0 million, down from $39.0 million, or 78 cents per share, on oil and gas revenue of $243.5 million in the second quarter of 2013.
Earnings also were down from $25.9 million, or 52 cents per share, on oil and gas revenue of $222.6 million in the first quarter of 2014.
Stone attributed the reduced earnings to lower natural gas and natural gas liquids prices and a higher depreciation, depletion and amortization rate.

$19.5M Calcasieu River dredging contract awarded
WESTLAKE (AP) — The Pentagon says a Westlake company has won a $19.5 million contract for maintenance dredging in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes.
According to a list of contracts awarded Tuesday, Mike Hooks Inc. made one of three bids to the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans.
The dredging includes the Calcasieu River and pass from mile 5 to mile 15, Sabine Unit 1A, and Devil’s Elbow.

LHC Group posts earnings gain
LAFAYETTE (AP) — Lafayette-based home nursing firm LHC Group reported second-quarter earnings of $6.1 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with $5.8 million, or 34 cents per share, a year ago.
The company also raised its full-year 2014 per-share guidance to a range of $1.25 to $1.35. LHC had forecast earnings of $1.15 to $1.35 per share.
The company also raised its 2014 revenue forecast to a range of $720 million to $730 million. LHC’s earlier guidance estimated revenue in the range of $700 million to $720 million.

Report says La. workers need temporary housing
LAKE CHARLES (AP) — A new report on housing in southwest Louisiana says the Lake Charles area will need more accommodations as an estimated 16,000 temporary workers come to the area to build industrial projects over the next several years.
The finding is included in the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance’s regional housing plan.
Even with the planned construction of employee villages such as Pelican Lodge and Moss Lake Village, the region will still be about 10,000 units short of meeting its temporary housing demand, says David Conner, the alliance’s vice president of economic development and international commerce.
Conner said more villages are needed.
Pelican Lodge is a $70 million housing facility under construction on Port of Lake Charles property that will house up to 4,000 temporary workers. Moss Lake Village is expected to house about 2,500 temporary workers once it is built in the Carlyss area.
Conner said building permanent housing is not the answer.
“During that time of construction when construction numbers rise, you satisfy a need,” he said. “But when those numbers come down, you’ve created a 10- to 20-year skewing of the market with an overbuilding of permanent homes. So you end up with a lot of empty apartments, empty hotels and empty permanent structures that have no market.”
Morgan Murray Turpin, the alliance’s housing grant administrator, said the area’s apartment stock is at about 95 percent occupancy. Without additional temporary housing for construction workers, she said, tenants now renting apartments could be face challenges when they want to move.
Conner said the report does not project how many employee villages should be built.