St. Louis Business Journal articles from September 1999

St. Louis Business Journal archives from September 1999

United, BlueChoice post biggest profits.(UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest and BlueChoice are the most profitable health maintenance organizations in St. Louis, Missouri)(Statistical Data Included)
September 27, 1999... Losses on Missouri's state-sponsored health-care plan continue to bedevil area health maintenance organizations. In the first half of 1999, at least four HMOs lost $2 million or more each, with many of them citing losses on their business...

Sterling Direct sold to Dayton printing company.(direct mail firm Sterling Direct Inc. will be acquired by Reynolds and Reynolds Co. of Dayton, Ohio)(Statistical Data Included)
September 27, 1999... One of St. Louis' fastest-growing, independent direct mail firms is soon to be a fast-growing unit of a Dayton, Ohio, printing and software company. Reynolds and Reynolds Co. of Dayton signed a letter of intent to buy Sterling Direct...

Hutchins, Roegner among departing Merc executives.(Sue Hutchins and Darrell Roegner are among the former Mercantile Bancorporation executives who are have been recruited by other St. Louis, Missouri-based banks)
September 27, 1999... Community bankers across the area heard opportunity knocking when Firstar Corp. bought Mercantile Bancorporation. Since the deal was announced, Commerce Bank, First Banks Inc., First National Bank of St. Louis and Lemay Bank and Trust Co....

Laser Vision goes retail with Crown.(Laser Vision Centers Inc. is expected to sign a supply contract for excimer laser to Crown Optical)(Statistical Data Included)
September 27, 1999... Laser Vision Centers Inc. has set its sights on a new market: providing excimer lasers used to correct vision to retail stores that sell eyeglasses and contact lenses. Laser Vision is expected to sign a contract soon to provide a laser...

D'Arcy brews ad campaign for Molson.(advertising firm D'Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles is chosen by Molson Breweries of Canada to run its beer campaign in the US)(Statistical Data Included)
September 27, 1999... D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles is back in the beer business. Molson Breweries of Canada tapped the advertising firm here and its sister agency in Toronto to handle an estimated $12 million to $15 million account for its flagship brand,...

Welsch, Flatness buys old shoe building.(Welsch, Flatness and Lutz has acquired the former building of the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co. in St. Louis, Missouri)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 27, 1999... Insurance firm pays $900,000 for old Hamilton-Brown property Welsch, Flatness & Lutz Inc. has bought the former Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co. building at Olive and 21st streets with plans to renovate the historic property for offices. The...

Lawyers to reap millions from 4 class-action suits.(St. Louis, Missouri)(Statistical Data Included)
September 27, 1999... With at least four high-profile class-action settlements pending in St. Louis area courts, questions are being raised about the merits of such suits and the fees paid to the attorneys who file them. While critics say the suits sometimes...

ICP sells oral care products to Kendall.(ICP Medical; Kendall Healthcare Products Co.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 27, 1999... Local medical products maker ICP Medical has sold its Oral Care division to Mansfield, Mass.-based Kendall Healthcare Products Co. ICP's founders, Joseph Graneto III and Tom Huling, will continue to help with sales and production of the...

Vatterott College's expansion course.(vocational school)
September 27, 1999... Two more campuses, new courses, degrees on the syllabus Business activity: Think of a vocational school and an image of students working in machine shops comes to mind. Go to Vatterott College and that impression is quickly dispelled. ...

Arena fills mid-size niche, draws new events to area.(St. Charles County)(Family Arena Management Enterprise LLC's $32-million Family Arena)
September 27, 1999... Mark Seward knows it's going to be down to the wire as finishing touches are applied to the $32-million Family Arena in St. Charles. Seward, chief executive officer of Family Arena Management Enterprise LLC, said there's a one-or two-day...

$39 million convention complex includes hotel.(the planned St. Charles County, Missouri, convention center)
September 27, 1999... St. Charles appears poised to get a convention center and hotel complex, 11 years after the idea first surfaced. The city has given developers until Oct. 1 to respond to requests for proposals on the plan. Mayor Patti York said more than...

TALX Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
September 27, 1999... William W. Canfield Chairman, president and chief executive TALX Corp. creates self-service solutions for information retrieval via the World Wide Web, interactive voice response, computer telephony integration and other...

Johnson Research investors lose $2 million.(Johnson Research & Capital)
September 20, 1999... Twenty-three investors in Johnson Research & Capital lost more than $2 million when the brokerage closed its doors Sept. 9, after only nine months in business. The investors include former Magna Group chairman Thomas Andes; Bridge...

Hospitals blame Medicare for income losses in 1998.(St. Louis, MO, hospitals)
September 20, 1999... Area hospitals are feeling the squeeze of lower Medicare payments as labor, drug and other medical costs rise. As a result, about one-third - 13 of 38 area hospitals - lost money in 1998, according to Medicare cost reports obtained by the St....

13 loft apartments coming soon to Polly Esther's.(apartment project by McGowan Development Co.)
September 20, 1999... McGowan Development Co., which owns or has options on about 40 percent of the developable property in the Washington Avenue loft district, is full speed ahead on its first project: 13 two-bedroom loft apartments atop Polly Esther's dance club...

Kaemmerlens get jolt from communications unit.(Kaemmerlens Electric Co.)
September 20, 1999... Business activity: A decision to split the company into two separately incorporated entities in 1987 has helped Kaemmerlen Electric Co. and Kaemmerlen Parts & Service Inc. experience the best growth in the history of the 75-year-old family...

Digital printing technology propels industry changes.(Printing & Direct Mail)
September 20, 1999... With growth of the Internet and other means of communication, the roughly $70 billion printing industry has changed dramatically in recent years. Digital printing plays an increasingly important role and, according to a survey from CIT...

Zip Mail Services earns tough postal certification.(Printing & Direct Mail)
September 20, 1999... When Zip Mail Services Inc. says it's zippy, count on it. The mail pre-sort bureau recently was certified as an expert mail handler by the National Association of Pre-Sort Mailers and the U.S. Postal Service. Of the hundreds of...

Latest printing technology gives Stolze needed edge.(Printing & Direct Mail)(Stolze Printing)
September 20, 1999... Armed with a $3,000 loan, Phil Stolze started a printing company 15 years ago in the basement of his home. Stolze Printing is on target to generate about $4.5 million in revenue this year. With 34 employees and a 20,000-square-foot...

PlanetRx deal out of this world.(Planet Scripts' online pharmacy)
September 13, 1999... Express Scripts eyes $700 million return from online pharmacy Express Scripts' deal to sell its online pharmacy could be worth more than $700 million over the next five years, a return of more than 7,000 percent on the company's original...

Sporting News could sell for $32 million.
September 13, 1999... The Sporting News is expected to sell for at least $32 million, according to analysts who follow the publishing industry. The price tag could climb to $80 million, but analysts said that would be a stretch, given that the weekly sports...

Blues turn to Thomas.(Dick Thomas; St. Louis Blues)
September 13, 1999... Columbia attorney to replace Ritter Meet Dick Thomas, a 57-year-old attorney from Columbia, Mo., who soon will be moving to St. Louis. Here, he will be point man for Bill and Nancy Laurie's newest investment: the St. Louis Blues and the...

Kroenke, Staenberg on Parmenter team.(E. Stanley Kroenke; Michael Staenberg)
September 13, 1999... An ambitious proposal to build luxury condominiums and offices in downtown Clayton has increased in size and moved closer to reality. THF Realty principals E. Stanley Kroenke and Michael Staenberg are joining The Parmenter Co. to develop...

Price hike gives Symphony $400,000 more.(Saint Louis Symphony)
September 13, 1999... Offsets loss of 450 disgruntled subscribers The Saint Louis Symphony kicks off its 1999-2000 season with 450 fewer subscribers and a net gain of more than $400,000 in subscription ticket revenue. The unusual result stems from the...

3 executives take bigger stake in Ross and Baruzzini.(Carl Hauck, Thomas Buchheit and Craig Toder)
September 13, 1999... Ross & Baruzzini, a 46-year-old engineering and architectural firm, has expanded its ownership and management. Company chairman Don Ross, 75, who controlled the business, is selling a portion of his holdings to key company managers,...

Missouri casinos deliver $203 million in taxes, fees.
September 13, 1999... After a four-month selection process that picked St. Louis-based Keller & Associates for a $300,000 Hispanic marketing contract with the state of Missouri, officials are rebidding the work. "The Tourism Commission and I are going back to...

Real estate groups fight wireless providers' access.
September 13, 1999... A developer's building is his castle - and he has the right to lower the gate to keep out any telephone companies he doesn't want. That's the real estate industry's argument against a proposed Federal Communications Commission regulation...

SSM consolidates hospice program, names Ryan to top post.(SSM Health Care; Audrey Ryan)
September 13, 1999... SSM Health Care has opened SSM Hospice, a new organization that will replace programs previously run by SSM St. Mary's Health Center and SSM St. Joseph Health Center. Audrey Ryan was named manager of SSM Hospice. Ryan, a 27-year veteran...

United, Mercy may charge Medicare members more.(UnitedHealthcare; Mercy Health Plans Inc.)
September 13, 1999... At least two area Medicare health maintenance organizations have filed plans to start charging members premiums next year. Both of the plans, Mercy Health Plans Inc. and UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest, said they are still considering...

Speeding up Highway 40.(Missouri Department of Transportation's 7-year timetable for Highway 40 can be speeded up)
September 6, 1999... Can MoDOT's 7-year project be accelerated? The prospect of seven years of gridlock on Interstate 64/Route 40 looms before St. Louis. That's the time frame the Missouri Department of Transportation has for its $300 million plan to...

Edison, Newman take big hit.(stocks of Peter Edison and Andrew Newman, board members of theme restaurant Dave & Buster's suffer from dismal earnings of the restaurant)
September 6, 1999... Suffer losses as Dave & Buster's stock drops 45% Peter Edison, the owner of Weiss and Neuman Shoe Co., lost $1.1 million on paper in a single day, when Dave & Buster's stock nose dived 45 percent on Aug. 27. Andrew Newman, Peter...

State pulls Henry from FFP's top post.(First Financial Planners Inc.'s Roy Henry ousted from the firm's management as part of an agreement with the Missouri Commissioner of Securities)
September 6, 1999... Roy Henry, who grew First Financial Planners Inc. into a national financial planning firm with 750 investment representatives, has been ousted from the company's management as part of an agreement hammered out with the Missouri Commissioner...

Engineered Support firing away, targets $300 million.(military contractor Engineered Support Systems)
September 6, 1999... Two years ago, Engineered Support Systems was bringing in less than $100 million a year in revenue selling its ground support gear to the military. Now, thanks to eight acquisitions over the past 18 months, the company is set to top $300...

Source Information insiders sell $13 million in stock.(Source Information Management Co.)
September 6, 1999... Six shareholders at Source Information Management Co. have sold more than 1 million shares of stock in the company - sales with a total value of more than $13.4 million. The largest seller of the group was William Lee, a company...

Glennon moves to Witte Building on the Landing.(Glennon Co.; Laclede's Landing, Missouri)
September 6, 1999... The Glennon Co. has moved to a very old building hoping for a very fresh start. The 35-year-old advertising agency, trimmed down after several account losses in recent years, moved last month to a 6,000-square-foot loft in the Witte...

Unity, state question need for new women's hospital.(Unity Health; Missouri)
September 6, 1999... A proposed $33.6 million women's hospital in Chesterfield backed by SSM Health Care is drawing sharp criticism from one competitor. Officials of Unity Health question whether a hospital is needed in west St. Louis County, and even...

Shareholder seeks sale of Angelica as earnings plunge, stock dives.(Angelica Corp.)
September 6, 1999... Angelica Corp.'s 18-month effort to improve its financial performance lost momentum in the second quarter, raising questions again about the future of the St. Louis-based uniform and laundry company. Angelica reported a 25 percent drop in...

Singh for your supper.(Harinder Singh, owner of India's Rasoi restaurants has plans of adding 26 new restaurants in the Midwest)
September 6, 1999... Harinder Singh corners the market on Indian cuisine Business activity: When Harinder Singh entered the restaurant business, he says "it was a little like being thrown to the sharks." With no previous experience in the field, Singh...

Ricci Associates creates financial planning unit.
September 6, 1999... Steve Ricci knew his insurance clientele of small- and mid-size businesses had a need for financial planning. Until he and business associates Richard Shasserre and Craig Bauer formed a financial planning business, Pillar Financial Group,...