Business North Carolina articles from August 2008

Business North Carolina archives from August 2008

And once again.(UPFRONT)(Alliance of Area Business Publications Editorial Excellence Awards)
August 1, 2008... When the longtime emcee of the Alliance of Area Business Publications Editorial Excellence Awards announced the winner of this year's gold prize for best body of work by a magazine writer, he prefaced it by saying, "Here's a name we're familiar...

In the Spirit.(READERSWRITE)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2008... G.D. Gearino's article on Spirit AeroSystem's coming to the Global TransPark (Fine Print, July) was a sobering reminder of the millions of tax dollars flushed during the past two decades into this money pit in Jim Hunt's backyard. There is no...

It's too much.(READERSWRITE)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2008... In "Tall Order" in your July issue, Sam Neill was quoted as saying Outside magazine rated Asheville the top place in the United States to live. That is wrong, wrong, wrong! In the 2007 August issue of that magazine, Asheville was voted the top...

Mountains range.(READERSWRITE)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2008... The rest of the state groups the mountain region with Asheville, but we are worlds apart. Murphy, for example, is almost three hours away from Asheville. Our economies are so different. Though included in your Regional Report, we are lucky if...

Big on small biz.(READERSWRITE)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2008... I believe every issue of BNC should provide one or more stories on small-business topics. Perhaps you could establish a new department. This would provide a valuable stimulus to the creation and nurturing of North Carolina small business, which...

Making it better.(READERSWRITE)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2008... I would be interested in more articles related to technology and manufacturing companies. I recently attended a meeting of the North Carolina Military Business Alliance in Morganton and felt that there was a lot of potential for this...

Nctrend.(Statistical table)
August 1, 2008... Latest Previous Previous % change month month year from last year EMPLOYMENT Employed (000s) 4,310.4...

Stockwatch.(Market share report)(Statistical table)
August 1, 2008... HIGHEST PRICE/EARNING RATIOS Company P/E 6/27/08 52-week ratio (3) price range New Century Bancorp 198.3 $7.93 $6.05-12.93 Hatteras Financial...

Diffusion or dilution? Experts differ on whether spreading biotechnology across the state will weaken its base in the Triangle.(TRIANGLE REGION ROUND TABLE)(Interview)
August 1, 2008... By promoting biotechnology in other parts of the state, is North Carolina weakening its stronghold in the Research Triangle region? That's one of the questions addressed during a round-table sponsored by the Research Triangle Regional...

Tourism leaders hope region quits smoking.(Eastern)
August 1, 2008... First it was the faltering economy, then the birds, specifically nesting plovers, an imperiled species that prompted the closing of some popular Cape Hatteras National Seashore fishing beaches. Together, figures Carolyn McCormick, managing...

Working capital.(REGIONALREPORT Eastern)
August 1, 2008... EASTERN REGION Jobs: 1,061,703 YTD change: 4,808 Indes: 111.1 Source: Employment Security Commission, April. Figures are not seasonality adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000. ...

Passenger rail service plan could be at a crossroads.
August 1, 2008... Fantasy? People thought that when the state studied passenger rail service for the Southeast in 2005. Not now, says Patrick Simmons, director of the N.C. Department of Transportation's rail division. Thank rising fuel costs. Two alternatives...

Kinston -- Sanderson Farms.
August 1, 2008... KINSTON -- Sanderson Farms postponed plans for a factory that would employ 1,500. The Laurel, Miss.-based poultry processor, which was to begin construction this year, blamed rising feed prices. It won't set a new timetable until next year.

Navassa -- Brunswick.
August 1, 2008... NAVASSA -- Brunswick shut down its boat factory for one month and cut 50 of 300 jobs. It blamed slow sales. The Lake Forest, III. -based manufacturer eliminated 1,000 jobs companywide.

Kinston -- Reliance Industries.
August 1, 2008... KINSTON -- Reliance Industries plans to open a $215 million resin factory by the end of 2009. It will employ more than 200. The Mumbai, India-based company could receive up to $6.2 million in state and local incentives.

Laurinburg -- ArvinMeritor.
August 1, 2008... LAURINBURG -- ArvinMeritor will add about 50 jobs at its factory here during the next three years, bringing employment to more than 250. The Troy, Mich.-based maker of truck parts also will add 13 jobs in Fletcher, increasing employment to...

Clinton -- Embarq.
August 1, 2008... CLINTON -- Embarq will close its call center in September, idling 63. The center handles residential sales and customer service for the Overland Park, Kan., phone company.

Lumberton -- Piedmont Natural Gas.
August 1, 2008... LUMBERTON -- Piedmont Natural Gas plans to build a $300 million storage center for liquefied natural gas in Robeson County. The Charlotte-based utility hopes to pick a site by September and begin construction soon afterward. The center would...

RDU flights take a nosedive.(Triangle)(Raleigh-Durham International Airport will drop 15% and flights will drop 19%)
August 1, 2008... Last summer, Raleigh-Durham International Airport was flying high. Its 243 daily departures in July represented a 9% increase from the previous year. Since then, it has lost altitude, giving back all it gained and then some. This July, RDU had...

Police coverage.(Triangle)(Durham officials defend cops in Duke case)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... Durham officials say the Police Department was just following the orders of a state employee, former District Attorney Mike Nifong, when it charged three Duke University lacrosse players with rape (cover story, January). But the state...

Working capital.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... TRIANGLE REGION Jobs: 927,826 YTD change: 903 Index: 112.5 Source: Employment Security Commission, April, Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000. ...

New Jersey.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... DURHAM -- New Jersey-based Merck plans to spend $300 million to expand its vaccine factory and add at least 150 jobs, for a total of 400. Construction is scheduled to begin this winter and end in 2011.

Henderson -- Clarcor.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... HENDERSON -- Clarcor plans to close its Purolator air-filter plant here this month, idling more than 130. The Franklin, Tenn.-based company blamed high fuel prices and low demand. It will shift production to Pittston, Pa.

Patheon.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... DURHAM -- Patheon will move its headquarters here by the end of the year and set up a research center in Research Triangle Park. The Toronto-based drug developer is moving to accommodate U.S. customers and will employ about 100 in the region.

Engineous Software.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... CARY -- Engineous Software, which develops programs for product design, agreed to be purchased by French software developer Dassault Systemes for $40 million. The deal was expected to close in July. Some of Engineous' 90 employees could lose...

George Bednarz.(Triangle)(Yellow Pages publisher appointed George Bednarz)(Progress Energy appoints Mark Mulhern)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... CARY -- George Bednarz will become president and chief operating officer of Yellow Pages publisher R.H. Donnelley Sept. 1. Peter McDonald, 57, will retire. Bednarz, 54, is vice president of enterprise operations. RALEIGH -- Peter Scott,...

Research triangle park.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Danish chemical maker Cheminova is moving its U.S. headquarters here this month from Wayne, N.J. It will employ about 20.

Durham -- Freudenberg Nonwovens.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... DURHAM -- Freudenberg Nonwovens laid off about 50 employees at its U.S. headquarters here, leaving it with about 230. The German textile maker blamed high petroleum costs and weak demand.

Morrisville -- AMR.(Triangle)
August 1, 2008... MORRISVILLE -- AMR, parent of American Airlines and American Eagle, will cut 10 flights to four cities from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in November. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company blamed rising jet fuel costs. For a daily...

UNCG will be a player in Triad.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... Linda P. Brady, 60, replaces Patricia Sullivan as chancellor of UNC Greensboro this month. For the past two years, she's been senior vice president and provost at the University of Oregon. Before that, she was dean of the College of Humanities...

Two's company.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... Is there room for two aerotropolises in one state? Henry Isaacson, chairman of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, says there is. State leaders have been trying for more than a decade to build an aerotropolis--an airport ringed by...

Working capital.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... TRIAD REGION Jobs: 765, 975 YTD change: 1,018 Index: 100.2 Source: Employment Security Commission, April, Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000. ...

High point.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... HIGH POINT -- St. Louis-based Furniture Brands International plans to close its Henredon and Drexel Heritage plant here by 2009, idling about 300. City officials blamed the shifting of work to countries with cheaper labor.

Greensboro.(Triad)(John Cawthron resigned and Ron Utecht, Kevin Carter appointed from TIMCO Aviation Services)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... GREENSBORO -- John Cawthron, 65, resigned as chairman and CEO of TIMCO Aviation Services, which employs about 1,600 here repairing and overhauling airplanes. It says Cawthron wants to spend more time with his family and pursue other interests....

High point.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... HIGH POINT -- Beginning next spring, the High Point Market will operate Saturday through Thursday instead of Monday through Sunday. Officials say the change in the twice-a-year furniture show is intended to accommodate buyers.

High point -- Thomas Built Buses.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... HIGH POINT -- Thomas Built Buses laid off about 190 of its nearly 1,600 employees here. It blamed slow sales.

Fibrowatt.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... ELKIN -- Fibrowatt, which burns poultry waste to produce electricity, will spend $140 million to build a second plant in North Carolina. It hopes to begin production in 2011 and employ about 80. The Langhorne, Pa.-based company also plans a...

N.C. A&T State University.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... GREENSBORO -- N.C. A&T State University and UNC Greensboro hired James G. Ryan, 53, as the first dean of their Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. Ryan was a nanotechnology researcher at State University of New York at Albany.

Apparel maker VF.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... GREENSBORO -- Apparel maker VF bought a third of Los Angeles-based Mo Industries, a marketer of women's sportswear. Terms of the deal, which includes an option to buy the other shares next year, were not disclosed.

South Atlantic Bonded.(Triad)
August 1, 2008... GREENSBORO -- South Atlantic Bonded Warehouse plans to close this month, idling 87. The company recently lost a contract with a nearby Procter & Gamble plant. For a daily roundup of business news in the Triad region, go to...

Saving Wachovia will test temper of Steel.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... Durham native Robert Steel, 56, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs and undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury, became CEO of Charlotte-based Wachovia in July. He has a big mess to clean up. The bank expected to lose nearly $3...

Working capital.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE REGION Jobs: 1,047,403 YTD change: 540 Index: 108.9 Source: Employment Security Commission, April. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000. ...

Help from Boston: Cash, maybe karma, for Petty.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... It has been a great year for pro sports in Boston. The Celtics are champs in basketball, the Red Sox are the reigning kings of baseball, and the Patriots won all of their football games--except the Super Bowl. Now, New Englanders will run...

Bank of America.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Bank of America plans to cut 7,500 jobs from its mortgage, home equity and insurance businesses. It wants to eliminate overlap between recently acquired mortgage lender Countrywide Financial and BofA's previous operations. No...

Convergys.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... HICKORY -- Convergys will spend about $4 million to open a call center by October. It will employ nearly 450. The Cincinnati-based company manages customer relations, information and human resources for other companies.

The Charlotte Observer.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- McClatchy, a Sacramento, Calif.-based newspaper chain, cut 123 jobs at The Charlotte Observer and 70 at The News & Observer of Raleigh in response to falling ad sales. The Charlotte paper now has about 1,000 employees; the Raleigh...

Duke Energy.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Duke Energy bought Rutland, Vt.-based Catamount Energy for $240 million. The purchase will more than double Duke's wind-energy production to 500 megawatts, roughly the same as a medium-size power plant.

Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman was bought by Pittsburgh-based K&L Gates, which has 25 offices and about 1,700 lawyers around the world. Kennedy Covington employed about 175 lawyers in the Carolinas.

Alcatel-Lucent.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Alcatel-Lucent says it might close its plant here, idling about 225, if union representatives don't agree to cost-saving proposals during the next four to six months. The Paris-based maker of telecommunications equipment says it...

Nucor.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... CHARLOTTE -- Steelmaker Nucor agreed to buy Auburn, Ind.-based Ambassador Steel, which makes concrete-reinforcing bars, for $185 million. The transaction is scheduled to close in the third quarter.

Chris-Craft.(Charlotte)
August 1, 2008... KINGS MOUNTAIN -- Chris-Craft laid off 15 employees, leaving it with about 70 here. The Sarasota, Fla.-based boat maker blamed the weak U.S. economy. For a daily roundup of business news in the Charlotte region, go to...

Mountain port will be no joke.(Western)(Harbors can create hundreds of jobs)(Report)
August 1, 2008... Virginia has one. Texas has a bigger one. North Carolina wants another one. Why are inland ports popular? Supporters say they're worth millions in trade and can create hundreds of jobs to prepare containers for shipping. Proponents who...

Pecking order.(Western)
August 1, 2008... Wilkes County leads the region in farm revenue, thanks largely to sales of poultry and other livestock. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] (millions) Wilkes $296.6 Henderson 137.2 Buncombe 92.1 Ashe ...

Working capital.(Western)
August 1, 2008... WESTERN REGION Jobs: 499,174 YTD change: (1,516) Index: 102.7 Source: Employment Security Commission, April. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000.

Appalachian State University.(Western)
August 1, 2008... BOONE -- A study by Appalachian State University says the school had a $506 million economic impact on Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Watauga and Wilkes counties in fiscal 2006-07. More than half came from direct university expenditures, including...

Valdese Weavers.(Western)
August 1, 2008... VALDESE -- Valdese Weavers plans to cut about 85 jobs at its four plants in Burke County, leaving it with more than 900 employees. The company is consolidating operations after three acquisitions last year.

Molded Fiber Glass.(Western)
August 1, 2008... MORGANTON -- Molded Fiber Glass laid off 50 workers, leaving its plant here with about 130 employees. The maker of parts for trucks and buses blamed slow sales. Executives say they hope to rehire the workers by the end of the year.

Haywood Regional Medical Center.(Western)
August 1, 2008... CLYDE -- Haywood Regional Medical Center continued its recovery by winning back Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. The hospital was dropped from the insurer's network after losing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements in February over...

Timber Wolf Forest Products.(Western)
August 1, 2008... HUDSON -- Timber Wolf Forest Products will nearly double its floor space when it moves this month into a 32,000-square-foot former furniture factory. The company, which makes wooden parts for furniture makers and does other contract work, has...

Bill Johnson; CEO, Progress Energy Inc., Raleigh.(Energy/Environment)
August 1, 2008... In October 2007, Bill Johnson went from chief operating officer to interim CEO to CEO of Progress Energy in the course of a week. It happened when Bob McGehee, his predecessor at the Raleigh-based utility, died from a stroke. The 54-year-old...

Dhiaa Jamil; Chief nuclear officer.(Energy/Environment)
August 1, 2008... DUKE ENERGY CORP., CHARLOTTE Career: Graduated in 1979 from UNC Charlotte with a bachelor's in electrical engineering. Went to work for a now-defunct company that provided technical support for textile-factory machinery. Went to work in...

Mary Price Harrison.(Energy/Environment)
August 1, 2008... STATE REPRESENTATIVE GREENSBORO Career: Bachelor's in history in 1980 from Duke; law degree in '85 from UNC Chapel Hill. She worked at Haley, Bader & Potts law firm in Washington, D.C., helping with MCI's antitrust case that eventually led...

Chuck McGrady.(Energy/Environment)
August 1, 2008... HENDERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER, HENDERSONVILLE Chuck McGrady is used to getting weird looks when people find out he's an environmentalist and a Republican. But the Henderson County commissioner says Democrats have emerged as champions of the...

Spotlight on: Frank Tursi.(Energy/Environment)(Occupation overview)(Brief article)
August 1, 2008... For more than 30 years, Frank Tursi chased the news as a reporter and editor for newspapers such as the Miami Herald and the Winston-Salem Journal. But in 2002, he became Cape Lookout coastkeeper for the North Carolina Coastal Federation, a...

I read the news today, oh boy.(FINEPRINT)
August 1, 2008... One of North Carolina's highest-profile industries is deeply troubled, shedding jobs and watching revenue melt away like ice in August. Who mourns for this industry? Not thee. Not me. We don't have to. The newspaper industry mourns for itself...

Muzzling the tax bite: seven years ago, North Carolina lawmakers were starved for cash. A slowing economy put the state budget temporarily in the red, leaving a shortfall exceeding $1 billion. Legislators responded by turning the dogs loose on tax scofflaws.(CAPITALGOODS)
August 1, 2008... The dogs seem to be out of control. Small-business owners have come to legislators with horror stories of being billed for uncollected sales taxes based on what they say are changing interpretations of law. Audite of 20 interior-design...

Count down.(FEATURE)(Top 75 public companies)(Company rankings)
August 1, 2008... As the nation celebrated its 232nd birthday, many public companies around the state seemed locked in some kind of free-market limbo contest, with share prices dropping and lots of folks wondering how low they could go. Sixty of North Carolina's...

Measuring up.(TOP 75 PUBLIC COMPANIES)(Statistical table)(Company rankings)
August 1, 2008... Net margin (latest fiscal year) 1 Triangle Capital 69.3% 2 Trimeris 55.5 3 Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina 28.2 4 ECB Bancorp 23.4 5 First South Bancorp...

Peak performance: despite the economic slump, Bobby Ginn vows to pull off the biggest development in the history of the high Country.(COVER STORY)
August 1, 2008... Barrett Freeman steers a Toyota Tundra up the side of a mountain east of Boone and Blowing Rock, crunching along a steep gravel road whose sides are shored against erosion. This is the resort development of Laurelmor, and the terrain...

Air borne: veteran jumpers and novice thrill seekers get a lift from skydiving indoors in a wind tunnel.(PICTURE THIS)
August 1, 2008... It's 90 feet tall and has 2,164 horsepower. In it, you're going nowhere but getting there in a hurry--up to 185 mph. Tim D'Annunzio says his vertical wind tunnel in Raeford is the largest and most powerful in the world, enabling indoor...

Bricks & mortar.
August 1, 2008... Lawyers, bankers and laymen engaging in commerce in Jackson County often follow a 107-step business plan: obtain a lien, file a deed, make a loan, then trudge 107 steps up to the hilltop courthouse in Sylva to record the papers. Built in the...