Business briefs

MidSouth Bancorp reports earnings increase
LAFAYETTE (AP) — MidSouth Bancorp Inc. reported its second-quarter earnings rose to $3.9 million, or 34 cents per share, compared to $3.3 million, or 29 cents per share, for the same quarter a year earlier.
The Lafayette-based MidSouth’s president and CEO said strong loan growth and improvements in efficiency and operating earnings helped drive second-quarter results.
MidSouth reported Monday that the majority of the loan growth was in the commercial loan portfolio, along with solid growth in the commercial real estate and consumer loan portfolios.
MidSouth had $1.22 billion in total loans as of June 30, compared to $1.12 billion in loans a year earlier.

Contractor fearing construction worker shortage
LAFAYETTE (AP) — An Acadiana contractor says there are fears of a labor shortage on the horizon.
The National Bureau of Labor Statistics has released figures showing the construction industry’s need for workers will grow twice as fast as the average for all industries. This means that builders could face a 1.6 million-worker shortage by 2022.
However, Seth Lemoine of the Lafayette-based general contractor The Lemoine Co. said the shortage could hit Louisiana sooner.
He notes major projects such as South Africa-based Sasol’s new $16 billion ethanol plant in Westlake and Cheniere Energy’s plan for a receiving terminal in Cameron Parish. And he says some are forecasting a shortage of 80,000 to 85,000 workers in Louisiana over the next three years.
“I think that’s probably accurate considering all of the proposed projects actually going on in construction,” Lemoine said.
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and other groups have lobbied for improved vocational and technical programs, but education reform won’t come fast enough for the approaching demand for workers, Lemoine said.
“Our concern is that with an immediate need for skilled workers, these other projects will certainty impact our business because we are all dipping into the same labor pool.”
With the low price of natural gas in America, businesses like Sasol want to move in. American companies in the manufacturing and oil and gas industries are expanding, too, at a rapid pace. Thus the need to keep building, Lemoine said.

AAR says air carrier deal means up to 175 jobs
LAKE CHARLES (AP) — AAR Corp. says its Lake Charles aircraft maintenance shop has signed with a major carrier and will begin employing up to 175 mechanics within the next two months.
Technical services vice president Danny Martinez said he cannot release the customer’s name but it’s a top-tier company.
About 70 AAR mechanics returned recently to Chennault International Airport.
“Things are starting to pick up as we hoped and planned it would,” Martinez said. “The doors are open, and we’re hiring people.”
AAR, based in Wood Dale, Illinois, gave aircraft mechanics in Lake Charles the option to work at its facilities in Indiana and Minnesota until it found more work in Lake Charles.
“That was a very successful project in that it helped us here because we were lighter in work,” Martinez said. “They were out working on aircraft and gaining experience.”
Martinez said Chennault is shaping up to repair wide-body aircraft. He says that’s lacking in the company’s other six maintenance locations, including Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
“The most important thing for us right now is to get the new hangar up and running,” he said. AAR has five hangars leased from Chennault. Work on the $21 million new hanger began a year ago and, with a target ready-to-use date of Sept. 15.
The state offered AAR an incentive package that included a $2 million performance-based grant. In October 2013, AAR was given a 10-year tax exemption from the Calcasieu Parish School Board — a request that was denied to Aeroframe in May 2013, three months before the company ceased operations, unable to pay its workers for their last two weeks of work.
AAR has one remaining aircraft from Aeroframe. Martinez said it is being painted and “should be gone shortly.”

Post Oak Energy Capital commits $150M to CPX
HOUSTON (AP) — Post Oak Energy Capital LP, through investment partnerships it manages, announced that it committed to a $150 million line of equity to CP Exploration II LLC. Funding from the commitment will be used for acquisitions and growth capital, a news release stated.
CPX is a newly formed oil and gas company co-located in Dallas and Lafayette. The management team, led by CEO Tom Powell, has considerable experience drilling and developing assets in multiple basins across the United States, including the Gulf Coast, Rockies and Appalachia, the news release stated. The company currently has operated assets in East Texas and the Fort Worth Basin.

Entergy 2Q
profit climbs 16%
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Entergy Corp. on Tuesday reported earnings that rose by 16 percent in its second quarter, and fell short of analysts’ expectations.
The New Orleans-based company said profit after paying preferred dividends increased to $189.4 million, or $1.05 per share, from $163.7 million, or 92 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.
Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $1.11 per share. The average per-share estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for profit of $1.16.
The power company said revenue climbed 9.4 percent to $3 billion from $2.74 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
Entergy shares have risen $13.08, or 21 percent, to $76.35 since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has increased 7.1 percent. The stock has increased $6.22, or 9 percent, in the last 12 months.

Rebowe leads N.O. business group
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Philip Rebowe has been elected president of the board of directors of the Greater New Orleans Executives Association.
Rebowe is a certified public accountant and partner in the accounting firm Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC.
The association includes about 60 owners in the New Orleans area focused on legal, accounting, insurance and labor issues.

Hotel proposal clears zoning hurdle
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A proposal to build a 138-room hotel in the Central Business District has advanced after the New Orleans Board of Zoning Adjustments approved the project over the objections of neighbors concerned about its impact on parking in the area.
Chicago-based HW Real Estate Development Corp. plans a six-story hotel with a ground-floor restaurant on a lot that faces on Julia and Baronne streets.
The zoning board granted the developers setbacks needed to provide space between neighboring buildings and a residence on Julia Street.
Jack Stewart, president of the Lafayette Square Association, said the chief issue with nearby residents is its impact on parking He told the board that parking is becoming scarce as lots are absorbed into commercial developments.
Cassandra Sharpe, a Julia Street resident, said the proposed hotel is planned on a very small space.
But architect Amanda Rivera of Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, who represented the developers, told the zoning board the neighborhood includes several comparable developments.
The zoning board denied a request by developers to waive five of 46 required parking spaces. Rivera said the developers are in negotiations with the owners of nearby parking lots to lease those spaces.
A vacant lot and a parking shed now occupy the 26,000-square-foot site where the hotel and restaurant are planned.
Documents filed with the city identify Michael and Gilda Winfield as principals of HW Real Estate Development Corp.
A timeline for building the hotel has not been determined. The project still requires approval from the Historic District Landmarks Commission and the City Council. Demolition of the parking shed must also be approved.