St. Louis Business Journal articles from February 1998

St. Louis Business Journal archives from February 1998

Maritz Travel takes off.
February 2, 1998... Lands $120 million in new business Maritz Travel Co. has landed several major accounts during the last three months, totaling about $120 million in annual new business, according to the company. Among the new clients are Chicago-based...

Cliff Campeau, James Ferstl, top Venture execs, resign. (Venture Stores Inc.)
February 2, 1998... Venture Stores Inc., which declared bankruptcy Jan. 20, will be navigating Chapter 11 minus two top executives. Cliff Campeau, Venture's senior vice president for marketing since 1994, left the company Jan. 9 for a job as vice president of...

Stinson Mag doubles by raiding other law firms. (Stinson, Mag and Fizzell)
February 2, 1998... Stinson, Mag & Fizzell - one of several Kansas City law firms that have tapped into the St. Louis legal market - has added eight new attorneys to its office here since the beginning of the year, primarily by cherry-picking key lawyers from other...

Bickel ends bid for control of St. Johns Bancshares. (F. Gilbert Bickel III)
February 2, 1998... F. Gilbert Bickel III has dropped his bid to gain control of St. Johns Bancshares Inc. Bickel's decision follows the formation of a new company, Unity Bancshares LLC, by members of the Branneky and Wells families, who control the majority of the...

Missouri State Bank and Trust branches out - to Springfield.
February 2, 1998... Missouri State Bank and Trust Co. plans to open a branch in Springfield, Mo., its first location outside the St. Louis area. James Saitz, the bank's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said the new branch office, scheduled to open...

Flour mill bakes up $10 million expansion. (Italgrani U.S.A.)
February 2, 1998... Italgrani U.S.A. is spending more than $10 million to build two new flour milling units and a bagging facility at its south St. Louis location. The new mills will allow Italgrani, which supplies flour to every major pasta company in the United...

Fulk plans strategic expansion for RightChoice. (RightChoice Managed Care Inc.; Michael Fulk)
February 2, 1998... Michael Fulk, the new top marketing executive at RightChoice Managed Care Inc., is initially looking to build up the company's presence in rural Missouri markets, with a view to eventually expand to other states. Fulk officially took up his...

The next generation: cousins Clark, Nelson position Reed Rubber for 15%-20% growth.(Small Business)
February 2, 1998... Business activity: As the third generation to head Reed Rubber Co., cousins Clark and Nelson Reed have reorganized the sales rome and warehouse, are putting greater emphasis on human resources issues and training, and have the 75-year-old company...

Zoltek Companies Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 2, 1998... Zsolt Rumy Chairman, president and chief executive officer Zoltek Cos. Inc. is a leader in the carbon fibers market, manufacturing products for a range of applications, including aircraft brakes and other composite material, based on carbon...

Sweney pulls in $7 million. (estimated worth of attorney Robert Sweney's stocks in Mercantile Bancorporation)
February 9, 1998... Bryan Cave attorney Robert Sweney is in line for $7 million or more in Mercantile Bancorporation stock, under Mercantile's plan to acquire Firstbank of Illinois Co. Belleville native Mark Ferguson, chairman, president and chief executive...

Studying Searle's options. (G.D. Searle & Co.)
February 9, 1998... Monsanto's drug unit possible takeover target A wave of consolidations in the pharmaceutical industry could push Monsanto Co. to put its G.D. Searle & Co. operations on the block, or seek a joint sales ventura with a rival drug firm, said...

Cass banks on utilities, freight. (Cass Commercial Corp.)
February 9, 1998... Processes $300 million in utility bills, $7 billion in transportation debts Few people like to pay bills. But Larry Collett does. Collett's Cass Commercial Corp. handled $7 billion in bills from transportation companies moving freight for...

Norrington development to feature $1 million homes. (real estate development proposal in St. Louis County, MO)
February 9, 1998... Conservationist Elsie Roth is teaming up with custom home builder Johnson Development Co. to develop a 60-acre site in unincorporated St. Louis County near Sunset Hills. Eleven homes worth more than $1 million each will be built on the estate,...

35 Sprint engineers leaving; more salespeople coming. (Sprint PCS)
February 9, 1998... Now that Sprint PCS has launched its digital phone service here, the company is switching its focus from engineering to sales and marketing. About 35 Sprint PCS engineers in St. Louis have been offered jobs in other markets that are rapidly...

Former Ozark employees try to get new airline off ground. (Ozark Air Lines; Royal Air Lines)
February 9, 1998... A group of former Ozark Air Lines employees is attempting to launch a short-haul airline that might eventually fly into Mid-America Airport. The fledgling Royal Air Lines is incorporated in Missouri and lists an address in Clayton. The annual...

Family design. (Picturesque Graphics)
February 9, 1998... Emges keep former owners' kids in the picture at Picturesque Graphics Business activity: A new family is putting its imprint on Picturesque Graphics. Norman Emge and his son, Mark, bought the silk-screening and embroidering company from its...

Spartech Corp. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 9, 1998... Bradley Buechler President and chief executive officer Spartech Corp., together with its subsidiaries, is a leading producer of engineered thermoplastic materials, polymeric compounds, and molded and profile products for a wide spectrum of...

Federal jobs here decrease, but state, local scene stable. (Saint Louis, MO)
February 9, 1998... Just because the number of federal government jobs in St. Louis is decreasing does not mean St. Louisans are suffering. A Business Journal study indicates that during the past few years, the government has had little to do with economic growth...

Business fares soar. (airline fares)
February 16, 1998... Sverdrup's travel budget up 15% Stung by rising airfares for business travelers. St. Louis companies are scrambling to contain costs. Many companies are encouraging employees to plan ahead and get cheaper advance fares or forgo direct...

Wischmeyer merges. (merger of Bloomington, IL-based Farnsworth Wylie Group with St. Louis, MO-based Wischmeyer Architects and Avanti Technologies)
February 16, 1998... Avanti also joining Illinois company A Bloomington, Ill.-based engineering firm is expanding in St. Louis via a pair of mergers with Wischmeyer Architects and Avanti Technologies. Farnsworth Wylie Group is merging with Wischmeyer and Avanti...

Towers, Wash. U. see change in worker needs. (survey of some of the largest employers in St. Louis, Mo conducted by Towers Perrin and Washington University)
February 16, 1998... With the tight labor market, employees are demanding and getting their employers to focus more on their needs, according to a study of 43 of St. Louis' biggest employers. The study was conducted by the consulting firm Towers Perrin and...

Kroenke, Staenberg pay $14 million for Park Place. (Columbia, Mo.-based developer Stan Kroenke and Michael Staenberg from St. Louis, Mo.-based Michael Staenberg's purchase of an office building)
February 16, 1998... $196 per square foot could be a record Columbia, Mo., developer Stan Kroenke and St. Louis-based developer Michael Staenberg have purchased the Park Place office building in Clayton for $14.15 million from Property Capital Trust. At $196 a...

Pennel, Sedey handle jump in sexual harassment claims. (sexual harassment cases handled by lawyers Kathy Pennel and Mary Annne Sedey in St. Louis, Mo)
February 16, 1998... The case numbers at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tell the story - sexual harassment claims have been rising since Anita Hill leveled sexual harassment charges against Clarence Thomas in 1991. The EEOC's St. Louis office has also...

Corporate Psychology Center helps return vitality to firms. (management consulting services offered by the center)
February 16, 1998... There is more to measuring the health of a company than analyzing numbers on a balance sheet. A company's success depends on the well-being of its employees, as well as the ability to produce quality products and services. The Corporate...

MedAmerica failure to cost Blue Cross $16.1 million. (MedAmerica HealthNet Inc.)
February 16, 1998... The losses that sank MedAmerica HealthNet Inc. came from a contract with the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan and could add up to $16.1 million by the end of 1998, according to bankruptcy court filings. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of...

The long haul. (Werts Welding & Tank Service Inc.)(Small Business)
February 16, 1998... 41-year-old Werts Welding turns focus to selling tank trailers, parts; buys Mid South Business activity: Werts Welding & Tank Service Inc. has come a long way since 1957 when Bob Werts, who was a farmer by day, started doing welding at night...

Meritek, Gwin's, AAA agencies charging fees. (Meritek Travel Co., Gwin's Travel Planners and AAA Travel agencies)
February 16, 1998... Backs to the wall after airlines cut commissions earlier this year, many St. Louis travel agencies are breaching a long-standing industry taboo and charging customers service fees. Meritek Travel Co., Gwin's Travel Planners and AAA Travel are...

State venture capital up 129%, financing for St. Louis firms drops 55% to $24.6 million.
February 23, 1998... While venture-capital investments rocketed 129 percent to $154 million in Missouri last year, funding for St. Louis companies went south, released by Coopers & Lybrand. Missouri was one of only six states to see a hike topping 100 percent last...

TWA's Tokyo flights not a certainty; USAir makes bid. (Trans World Airlines)
February 23, 1998... St. Louis is going head-to-head with Philadelphia for the first shot at being the next city with direct flights to Tokyo. In St. Louis' corner is Trans World Airlines, seconded by Rep. Richard Gephardt. Gephardt pushed U.S. negotiators to cut a...

St. Louis ranks 43rd in country with 15% of jobs in manufacturing.
February 23, 1998... St. Louis is average compared with other cities nationwide when it comes to manufacturing jobs. A recent Business Journal study rated the nation's 100 largest labor markets by growth in manufacturing. St. Louis was ranked 43rd with a little...

Alberici, McCarthy, Sverdrup locked in battle for jail projects. (construction companies J S Alberici Construction Co, McCarthy and Sverdrup Corp)
February 23, 1998... Missouri judges have been passing out stiff sentences over the past five years. While that may be bad for criminals, it's good for construction companies: The growing prison population has created a boom in prison building that shows few signs of...

Horner & Shifrin treating I-70 bridges' mid-life crisis. (Horner & Shifrin Inc)
February 23, 1998... Downtown St. Louis is experiencing the most extensive highway rehabilitation in Missouri history. The Missouri Department of Transportation started the I-70 project in 1997, about 40 years after it was first built. The highway is the oldest...

Kurs named CEO of Tenet Healthcare in St. Louis. (Tenet Healthcare Corp appoints Matthew Kurs as St. Louis CEO)
February 23, 1998... Matthew Kurs, a 13-year veteran of Tenet Healthcare Corp., has been named chief executive officer of Tenet's St. Louis operations, starting March 1. Kurs, 45, will oversee day-to-day operations at Tenet's four local hospitals - Lutheran...

Health care firms protest expansion of state plan.
February 23, 1998... The Missouri House may vote as early as next week on a bill that would allow small companies to join the state-sponsored health care plan. The Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan buys health coverage from private insurers and managed care...

Wholesale design: to the trade weaves $5 million selling designer fabrics. (wholesale showroom)
February 23, 1998... Business Activity: to the trade is the largest wholesale showroom - both in size and number of product lines - for the local design industry. The name reflects the store's policy of selling only to interior designers, decorators and...

Despite cuts in health care, HBE near $500 million mark. (HBE Corp)
February 23, 1998... HBE Corp. is approaching $500 million in revenue despite the fact that cost cutting in the health-care industry has crimped growth in its mainstay hospital construction market. Since Fred Kummer founded the firm in 1959, it has focused on...