Business North Carolina articles from February 2006

Business North Carolina archives from February 2006

Still hard to figure.(BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA )
February 1, 2006... As the silver type in the red bar of our logo on the cover indicates, we've begun the year that we'll celebrate the magazine's 25th anniversary. When we reach that mark this fall, we'll have published 300 issues, several thousand stories and...

Trend.(Illustrations of Employment, Electric Utilities, Construction)(AIR PASSENGER BOARDINGS)(TAXABLE RETAIL SALES)(Illustration)
February 1, 2006... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Latest Previous Previous % change month month year from last year ...

Taking chances: Mike Easley plays up the lottery and what else he has done--and wants to do--for economic development.(ECONOMIC OUTLOOK)
February 1, 2006... Last year, the first year of Gov. Mike Easley's second term, the General Assembly passed a state lottery, a key plank in the platform he first ran on in 2000. What effect will it have on the Tar Heel economy when it begins later this year?...

Answering to a hirer power: turmoil roils payrolls of companies that can't help but feel the weight of the world on their shoulders.(LARGEST EMPLOYERS)
February 1, 2006... Continental Tire North America gave workers at its Queen City plant an ultimatum in January: Surrender 35% of your wages and benefits or we'll cut employment almost in half, slashing 513 jobs, leaving only 573. Even then, we still might shut...

Salad days dawn in tobacco's twilight.(AGRICULTURE)
February 1, 2006... North Carolina's hottest agricultural fad is spreading from one end of the state to the other, and a $54 million Dole Food processing plant to open in 2007 in Gaston County will accelerate its movement. It's crop diversity. And as tobacco fades...

Urge to merge could surge among smaller N.C. banks.(BANKING)
February 1, 2006... After yawning their way through the first half of 2005, the state's three biggest banks got busy buying in the second half. Even Winston-Salem-based BB & T--which had sworn off mergers in 2004 after struggling with two earlier purchases--got...

Increased cost of materials hammers builders' margins.(contractors of north carolina)
February 1, 2006... Be careful what you wish for: You might get it. North Carolina contractors have been hoping for more private work for the past three years but instead had to settle for lower-margin public projects. Now private-sector work is back: Retail and...

Sizzle is more a drizzle in tech's second wind.(Lenovo)
February 1, 2006... The Tar Heel electronics industry isn't performing anywhere near the dizzying levels of the 1990s, but no one expects it to any longer. In fact, expectations are so low that many people probably don't realize that the industry is growing. "It...

Costs leave providers with a squeezy feeling.(HEALTH CARE)
February 1, 2006... Trying to evaluate the health-care industry is like trying to explain a high blood-pressure reading: Something is wrong, but it's hard to pinpoint the cause. One thing is certain: Rising costs and falling revenue are putting the squeeze on...

Storms cause insurers to seek higher ground.(INSURANCE)
February 1, 2006... North Carolina was spared a direct hit from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But like Gulf Coast residents in the path of the storms, some Tar Heel insurers had a big mess to clean up afterward. Chapel Hill-based James River Group, a...

Biotech develops formula that nurtures job growth.(LIFE SCIENCES)
February 1, 2006... Several times a week during much of the last year, Monica Doss answered her phone to find someone from the West Coast calling to ask about the state's life-sciences industry. Most were California biotech veterans. About half told her they...

Factories dig niches to divert job runoff.(MANUFACTURING)
February 1, 2006... Among North Carolina manufacturers, one topic dominates most discussions: globalization. Textile makers seem obsessed with it, and many other Tar Heel manufacturers are at least wary of foreign competition, especially from the surging Chinese...

Tar Heel shoppers find reasons to keep buying.(RETAIL)(economic aspects)
February 1, 2006... With energy costs, personal debt and bankruptcies rising, Tar Heel shoppers could be excused for leaving their money under their mattresses this year. But Jim Smith, a finance professor at UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, thinks...

Tar Heel ports are ready to pull out the good China.(Transportation services of North Carolina )
February 1, 2006... The Chinese might be hanging many North Carolina manufacturers out to dry with hard-to-beat prices, but they're making quite a splash at the state ports in Wilmington and Morehead City. Tom Eagar, CEO of the North Carolina State Ports...

High gasoline prices don't unravel travel's big year.(TRAVEL/TOURISM)
February 1, 2006... From the coast to the mountains, North Carolina tourist attractions reported a strong 2005, despite a gasoline shortage that curtailed some travel Labor Day weekend and higher prices at the pump, which made travel more expensive. Some credit a...

Many phone users don't feel the need to be wired.(UTILITIES)
February 1, 2006... When Concord-based CT Communications launched broadband Internet services that deliver information at 10 megabits per second about a year ago, executives touted the new lines as the fastest in the region. They certainly were a big improvement...

Part and parcel; Here's how the pieces fit and have fared: a statistical breakdown of the state's regions, counties and cities.(BY THE NUMBERS)(economy)
February 1, 2006... Forget about the rising tide raising all boats. The statewide economy improved in 2005, but it didn't get better everywhere. On the following pages, you'll see numbers that define North Carolina's economy at the state, county and municipal...

Hundred weighed: comparing the vital statistics of the state's 100 counties.(BY THE NUMBERS)(economic indicators)(Illustration)
February 1, 2006... POPULATION Avg. annual Density per Change from (000s) change square mile migration 2004 1994-2004 2004 2000-04 North Carolina 8,541.3...