Business North Carolina articles from June 2009

Business North Carolina archives from June 2009

From the vault.(UPFRONT)
June 1, 2009... We once had an editor who believed the magazine put too much emphasis on banking an accusation to which I, as the guy guiding BNC's coverage the last 22 years, can only plead guilty. I wonder what he'd say about this month's issue. But in...

NC trend.(Statistical table)
June 1, 2009... Latest Previous Previous % change month month year from last year EMPLOYMENT Employed (000s) ...

Stock watch.(Statistical table)(Company rankings)
June 1, 2009... HIGHEST PRICE/EARNINGS RATIOS Company P/E ratio (3) 4/24/09 52-week price range Highwoods Properties ...

Economic outlook.(Interview)
June 1, 2009... BNC: Has the incentive program been a waste of money? Lane: No, it hasn't We entered a new era of economic-development competition in the '90s when incentives were extraordinarily useful. North Carolina didn't want to do incentives--we had...

They keep it relative: Wake Forest University's initial family-business awards go to drug-store and car-wash chains, a charter-bus service and a paper maker.(FAMILY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR)(Young Transportation)(Autobell Car Wash Inc. )(Moose Pharmacy )
June 1, 2009... Families evolve at different rates, so it's no surprise that family businesses do the same. As long as they change for the better, they keep success in their sights. The Family Business Center at Wake Forest University Schools of Business this...

The Queen city's slipping crown.(FINEPRINT)
June 1, 2009... Anyone who has lived in North Carolina longer than, oh, 15 minutes or so knows of the intense sibling rivalry between Charlotte and Raleigh. If cities had family reunions, those two would be at each other's throat before the cover was off the...

Tax could be at your service.(CAPITALGOODS)(Law overview)(Editorial)
June 1, 2009... Every so often, I'm reminded that journalists enjoy only about as much popularity among the general public as lawyers. Usually those reminders come from friends who happen to be, yes, lawyers, which forces me to retort that, even so, there's no...

Cecil Goins.(PERSONNELFILE)(North Carolina. General Assembly)(Occupation overview)
June 1, 2009... The General Assembly hasn't made it easy for Cecil Goins to do his job--keeping the legislature's upper house safe. Sergeant-at-arms since 1992, he oversees a 15-member detail that provides security for Senate sessions and committee meetings....

Jim Stevens.(PERSONNELFILE)
June 1, 2009... When Jim Stevens was searching for a place to start a security business in 1998, he chose one where he felt secure. He had summered in Morehead City as a child, and his parents recently had retired there. He even stayed there for his next...

Larry O'Brien.(PERSONNELFILE)(Security Forces, Inc.)(Occupation overview)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Thirty-seven years ago, Larry O'Brien began a career in business development at Charlotte-based Security Forces. Now 65, he's part owner, and the company has expanded from 100 employees to more than 3,400. Revenue was about $104 million last...

Joe Budd.(PERSONNELFILE)(Budd Group)(Occupation overview)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Even as a child, Joe Budd took the family business seriously. After church, he helped make the rounds of buildings cleaned by what was then North State Supply Inc., a small janitorial company his father, Richard, had purchased in 1963. ...

Spotlight on: Gene Loye.(PERSONNELFILE)(Sentry Watch Inc.)(Occupation overview)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... "We were asked to install an alarm system at the home of Ty Boyd, a Charlotte TV personality. He had this half-million-dollar home, and we were putting in a $12,000 system. We sold it on the condition that all the wiring would go inside the...

Tourist spending tightens.(Statewide)(Report)
June 1, 2009... Recession hit the state's tourism industry hard near the end of 2008, but it came too late to do more than slow the growth in spending. That's not the case this year. "Unless we see a dramatic turnaround soon, it's going to be down...

Aquarium project aims to ease pier pressure.(Eastern)
June 1, 2009... If you want to lure fishermen to your pier, it helps to sell beer and undercut competitors. But that's not how the state plans to operate the one it's building in Nags Head. Prices will be at least as high as those of private operators, and it...

Eastern region.(Working capital)
June 1, 2009... EASTERN REGION Jobs: 999,237 YTD change: (22,696) Index: 104.6 Source: Employment Security Commission, March. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000.

Union fails to bring home the bacon at another Smithfield packing plant.(Eastern)(United Food and Commercial Workers International Union)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Lightning didn't strike twice in North Carolina for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Workers at the Smithfield Packing Co. bacon plant in Wilson voted 338-181 against union representation. In December, the Washington,...

Rocky Mount.(Eastern)
June 1, 2009... ROCKY MOUNT -- LS Tractor USA opened its U.S. headquarters and a distribution center here. The maker of high-end compact tractors, which plans to employ 134 within five years, is a subsidiary of LS Mtron, a South Korean manufacturer of heavy...

Elizabeth city.(Eastern)
June 1, 2009... ELIZABETH CITY -- DRS Technologies, which overhauls and services C-130 airplanes for the Coast Guard, plans to add 100 jobs at its maintenance center, giving it 300 local employees. The Parsippany, N.J., company will receive $1.2 million from...

Laurinburg.(Eastern)
June 1, 2009... LAURINBURG -- Nature's Earth Products will open a factory here in August that will employ 98 to make pellets for wood-burning stoves. The West Palm Beach, Fla.-based company, which also makes cat litter, will receive more than $220,000 in state...

Tabor city.(Eastern)
June 1, 2009... TABOR CITY -- Hart & Cooley will close its factory, putting about 40 employees out of work by the end of the month. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company makes vents for heating, plumbing and air-conditioning sytems. It is moving production to...

Edenton.(Eastern)
June 1, 2009... EDENTON -- MiTek Industries, a supplier of building products and software, added 29 jobs, bringing employment to more than 100. The Chesterfield, Mo., company is a subsidiary of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway. It will get $28,000 in state...

Strikers can't win for losing.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. About 110 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at Moncure Plywood LLC--nearly half the 225-person work force--walked off the job last July, complaining...

Reboots on the ground.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... When they scheduled a two-day conference for late April, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and other organizers wanted to draw attention to the Triangle video-game industry--at least 30 companies employing more than 1,200. Among them are...

Triangle region.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... TRIANGLE REGION Jobs: 891,072 YTD change: (11,700) Index: 108.0 Source: Employment Security Commission, March. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000.

Raleigh.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... RALEIGH -- Affiliated Computer Services plans to add 240 customer-service jobs to support Apple's iPhone. The Dallas company employs about 3,100 in North Carolina, including 650 at three Triangle sites.

Cary.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... CARY -- Energy Conversion Systems will shut down if it can't find a buyer, idling 800 worldwide and 165 in the Triangle--nine at its headquarters here and the rest at a plant in Dunn. The company, which makes parts for electric motors, blamed...

Research triangle park.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Drug makers GlaxoSmithKline, based in London, and Pfizer, with headquarters in New York, will form a company to create AIDS drugs. The joint venture's U.S. headquarters will be here, where GSK has its U.S. base. It...

Cary.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... CARY -- ABB has begun moving its North American headquarters from Norwalk, Conn., adding at least 100 jobs to the 500 that the Swiss energy conglomerate has here.

Sanford.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... SANFORD -- Peter Sodini, 67, will retire Sept. 30 as CEO and chairman of The Pantry. He has been chief executive of the convenience-store chain since 1996.

Durham.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... DURHAM -- BioMarck, a drug developer that sprang from research at N.C. State University, raised $6.3 million from investors to finish a clinical trial of a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It plans to partner with a large...

Durham.(Triangle)(Applied Research Associates Inc.)(Virtual Heroes)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... DURHAM -- Albuquerque N.M.-based Applied Research Associates bought Virtual Heroes for an undisclosed price. Both are video-game developers. Virtual Heroes specializes in simulations that train military personnel and emergency workers as well...

Cary.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... CARY -- Deere & Co. is merging two units, which could result in job losses here, where its commercial-and consumer-equipment division has been based and employs 420. The Moline, III.-based company is combining the local unit, which makes lawn...

Durham.(Triangle)(Freelon Group)(Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History )(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... DURHAM -- The Smithsonian Institution selected The Freelon Group over five other architectural firms to design the $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum will be built on 5 acres of the National Mall,...

Creedmoor.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... CREEDMOOR -- The Internal Revenue Service cut tax penalties on the town from $100,000 to $15,200. Faulty bookkeeping was blamed for problems that included failure to pay taxes withheld from employee paychecks.

Clayton.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... CLAYTON -- Caterpillar let go an unspecified number of employees in its second round of layoffs since December. The Peoria, III.-based maker of construction equipment employed about 800 here before the initial layoffs.

Southern pines.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... SOUTHERN PINES -- Ingersoll-Rand laid off 25, leaving it with about 125 local employees. The Piscataway, N.J.-based manufacturer of tools and industrial equipment blamed slow sales. It dismissed 29 in February.

Raleigh.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... RALEIGH -- Television station WNCN wouldn't specify the number but said it cut about 20% of its staff. Its owner, Richmond, Va. -based Media General, cited slow ad sales. WNCN let go six employees in December.

Morrisville.(Triangle)
June 1, 2009... MORRISVILLE -- Bright View Technologies raised $4 million to make and market its products, which use light-emitting diodes. Durham venture-capital firm Intersouth Partners led the round of funding.

Four Oaks.(Triangle)(Bank and Trust Co.)(Nuestro Banco)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... FOUR OAKS -- Four Oaks Fincorp, holding company for Four Oaks. Bank & Trust, agreed to buy Garnerbased Nuestro Banco for $2.7 million. The deal is set to close in the third quarter. Nuestro lost $3.3 million last year. For a daily roundup...

Cable provider mulls byte-size packages.(Triad)
June 1, 2009... Gone but not forgotten. That's what Time Warner Cable Inc. and its opponents are saying about the company's plan to test tiered charges for residential broadband Internet service in Greensboro and three other cities. The New York-based...

Triad region.(Working Capital)
June 1, 2009... TRIAD REGION Jobs: 715,663 YTD change: (27,699) Index: 93.7 Source: Employment Security Commission, March. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000.

Splitting MSA slices hospital's funding.(Triad)
June 1, 2009... It's not as though it has fewer patients, but 94-bed Lexington Memorial Hospital gets about $200,000 less in annual Medicare reimbursements than it did two years ago. That's due to a 2004 decision by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to...

Yadkinville.(Triad)(Nonni's Food Company Inc.)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... YADKINVILLE -- Nonni's Food plans to open a commercial bakery by Sept. 1 that will create more than 170 jobs by the end of next year. The company, based in Westchester, Ill., makes biscotti, bagel and pita chips and Melba toast under its own...

Elkin.(Triad)
June 1, 2009... ELKIN -- WestPoint Home will close its local mill this month, putting 134 out of work. The New York textile maker, which also will close plants in Maine and Florida, blamed foreign competition.

Mebane.(Triad)
June 1, 2009... MEBANE -- Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric cut 100 jobs at its factory here, leaving about 300. The plant makes products to distribute, protect and control electrical power and equipment.

High point.(Triad)
June 1, 2009... HIGH POINT -- Banner Pharmacaps was put up for sale by VION, its Dutch parent, which wants to narrow its focus to food. Banner, which has headquarters here, makes gelatin capsules for drug makers. It employs about 550.

Winston-Salem.(Triad)
June 1, 2009... WINSTON-SALEM -- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice trimmed salaries 10% to lower costs. The 530-lawyer firm also laid off and unspecified number of employees.

Linwood.(Triad)
June 1, 2009... LINWOOD -- Warvel Products plans to close its plant by the end of the month, idling about 35. The office-furniture maker, a subsidiary of Mooresville-based TRM, blamed tight credit and global competition. For a daily roundup of business...

Charity now says firing was for a good cause.
June 1, 2009... Just when it seemed the board of Charlotte's United Way chapter had run out of surprising maneuvers, it came up with another: It changed its rationale for firing former President Gloria Pace King--more than six months after the fact. ...

Charlotte region.(Working Capital)
June 1, 2009... CHARLOTTE REGION Jobs: 980,087 YTD change: (20,916) Index: 101.9 Source: Employment Security Commission, March. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000.

Philip Morris will snuff out cigarette plant a year early.
June 1, 2009... As if a jobless rate of 11.3% weren't bad enough, Cabarrus County faces the loss of about 1,100 jobs more than a year earlier than expected. Philip Morris USA Inc. now says it will close its cigarette factory in Concord by the end of July. It...

Kings mountain.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2009... KINGS MOUNTAIN -- Baldor Electric plans to close its plant in Fort Mill, S.C., this summer and shift production here, where it employs about 400. The Fort Smith, Ark.-based company makes electric motors for water pumps, air conditioners,...

Shelby.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2009... SHELBY -- Unless sales pick up, Bernhardt Furniture plans to close its local plant, which employs more than 100, by the middle of the month and consolidate production of upholstered furniture in Lenoir, where it has its headquarters.

Shelby.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2009... SHELBY -- PPG Industries cut about 90 jobs at its fiberglass plant, leaving it with more than 400. Slow auto sales created weak demand for its products.

Monroe.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2009... MONROE -- Bloomsburg Mills closed its dye plant, idling 87. The New York-based maker of woven fabric blamed foreign competition.

Southern conference.(Charlotte)
June 1, 2009... CHARLOTTE -- The Southern Conference will hold its men's and women's basketball tournaments here in 2010. Early-round games will be played at Bojangles' Coliseum, with the semifinals and finals at Time Warner Cable Arena, where the Charlotte...

Matthews.(Charlotte)(PokerTek)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... MATTHEWS -- PokerTek, which develops and markets electronic gambling tables, installed two more PokerPro tables at Harrah's Cherokee Casino, bringing the total to seven. The company didn't disclose terms. PokerPro tables simulate live poker and...

Recession lifts park's spirits.(Western)
June 1, 2009... They call Ghost Town in the Sky's rollercoaster the Cliff Hanger. That could describe this season for the Maggie Valley amusement park, which declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March. It planned to open May 22 but was still waiting early in the...

Cropped out.(Western)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Nearly 11% of western North Carolina's farmland disappeared between 1997 and 2007. Five counties gained farmland. Country Acres (000s) Change Clay 9.7 (47.2)% Polk 21.0 (31.6) Jackson ...

Western region.(Working Capital)
June 1, 2009... WESTERN REGION Jobs: 457,637 YTD change: (22,269) Index: 94.2 Source: Employment Security Commission, March. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000.

Clyde.(Western)(Haywood Regional Medical Center)(WestCare Health System)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... CLYDE -- Haywood Regional Medical Center ("How a Hospital Had to Heal Itself," March) and WestCare Health System have agreed to merge and be managed by Charlotte-based Carolinas HealthCare System. Haywood Regional, which has 170 beds, and...

Sylva.(Western)
June 1, 2009... SYLVA -- Jackson Paper Manufacturing's Stonewall Packaging joint venture will open a plant this fall to make corrugated cardboard sheets for makers of small boxes from material recycled from its parent company. It will employ 61 at an annual...

Fletcher.(Western)
June 1, 2009... FLETCHER -- Asheville Regional Airport will receive $7.5 million in federal economic-stimulus funds to renovate its terminal. Construction could begin as early as next month and be completed in 2011.

Lenoir.(Western)
June 1, 2009... LENOIR -- Caldwell County commissioners approved $500,000 in cash incentives for Monroe, Mich.-based La-Z-Boy to consolidate production of wooden furniture in the state under its Kincaid Furniture division. The move will preserve 200 jobs here...

Asheville.(Western)
June 1, 2009... ASHEVILLE -- A study commissioned by Handmade in America, which promotes mountain crafts, says they contribute about $206 million a year to the region's economy. A 1995 study placed the value at $122 million. For a daily roundup of...

The measure of a Marine.(BOOK EXCERPT)
June 1, 2009... From the time he became CEO in 1983 to his retirement in 2001, Hugh McColl waged an aggressive campaign that turned what once had been North Carolina National Bank into Bank of America, relying on the skills he honed in a uniform that bore...

Breaking the banks: risk, recession and regulators all team up to tame the performance of the state's financial institutions.(FEATURE)
June 1, 2009... There's always room to hope that this year will end up better than last for Tar Heel banks. Things can't get worse, can they? When Wachovia Corp. was snatched from the brink of failure and sold to San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., more...

Darkness before dawn: economic forces that mauled major banks still stalk those that aren't too big to fail.(COVER STORY)
June 1, 2009... As the U.S. financial system staggered to the brink of collapse last September, Buddy Greenwood watched events unfold with growing concern. As CEO of Weststar Financial Services Inc., he runs its sole subsidiary, Bank of Asheville. This BofA...

A head of its time: for a fresh take on an ancient beverage, Red Oak Brewery marries modern manufacturing to time-honored recipes.(PICTURE THIS)
June 1, 2009... It takes new equipment to brew old-fashioned beer in today's market. Ask Chris Buckley, who grew up in Germany and learned his trade in Munich, mecca for beer lovers. As the brewmaster at Red Oak Brewery LLC in Whitsett, he uses a $1 million...

Bricks & mortar.(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Eyes up: Steel, glass and wood evoke the Piedmont's rolling hills at Raleigh-Durham International Airport's new Terminal 2. Eyes down: Terrazzo floors that hint of quilts and carpet resembling DNA sequences suggest the handmade tradition and...