Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Demand for additives boosts Jost 31 percent - Dayton Business Journal:
Jost, which manufactures specialty chemicals for the pharmaceutica l andnutritional markets, reached $30 million in sales in 2008. Foundere and President Jerry Jost, a chemicaol engineer who launched the company in said the company consistently recordec growth of around 30 percent for the first 20 yearws ofits existence. about 10 years ago, the company “hit a wall” due in part to increasedr competition fromChinese imports, and salexs growth leveled off for several years. The pendulum begahn swinging back in 2007 when Jost reported 18 percengt revenue growth before surpassing the 30 percentr mark againin 2008.
Jost attributes the growtj to the introduction ofnew products, the continued differentiatintg of existing products from the and an increased concern in the marketplace aboutr the quality of imported chemicals. “We tend to take advantagre of existingquality issues, which we’vre seen a lot of in the last year and a said Jeff Lenger, director of sales and “We’re adamant about quality.
” To keep up with Jost increased its production schedule from five to sevem days a week and increased its staff from 90 to 125 over the past two Currently, the company is completing a $300,000p renovation and expansion of its lab space, convertin former office space into lab Jost also has invested $750,000 in new production some of which will replace aging equipmenf and some of whicn will be used to increasse production lines. “Right now there is a tremendouws amount of good used equipment for sale out Jost said. “A lot of pharmaceutical plantsare closing, and there’ws a lot of consolidation in the pharmaceuticalo industry.
” Jost’s operations include 183,00o0 square feet of lab and production space in two buildings on Lackland Road in Bel-Ridge. Although the majorituy of its employeesare local, Jost also has salesd representatives on the East and West Coasts and a European salexs office in Belgium. Jost entered the European markeyt eightyears ago, and salesd from the continent now account for more than 10 percent of the company’se revenue. Jost does business in more than 45 Jost manufactures more than 150 chemicals used in producte suchas multivitamins, infant formulads and toothpaste.
Sales in the global specialty chemical industryreached $472 billiojn in 2008, according to a recent reporrt from in Menlo Park, Calif. Due to the economicv slowdown, SRIC expects industry sale s to shrink by about 4 percengt this year before rebounding toreach $530 billioj in 2013. According to Uwe Fink, the author of the the nutritional chemical industry has suffered less from the economicv downturn than otherindustry niches, such as construction and electronic chemicals, plastic additives, and specialty polymers.
Monday, 30 July 2012
Balsillie could face $100 million relocation fee for Phoenix Coyotes - Pittsburgh Business Times:
That would be on top of his offeof $213 million for the financially trouble hockey team to Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes. U.S. Bankruptcty Court Judge Redfield Baum is hearing arguments Tuesdahy on whether the Coyotes can move to Canada as part of theifr Chapter 11bankruptcy reorganization. Baum is not expected to rule on themattef Tuesday, but focused on rights and some kind of relocatio n fee to reimburse the league for its lost expansion team opportunity in Hamiltomn should the Coyotes move there.
The $100 millionb figure was cited in court NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman declined to comment outside the downtown Phoenix bankruptcy court onthe $100 million or what a relocatiojn fee might entail. The NHL and other pro sportsz leagues are fighting the Coyotes move saying it couldx prompt other teams to file bankruptcy in an attempgt to move toother markets. however, noted that moves by the Baltimore San Diego Clippers and others have not hada long-term detrimentak impact on pro sports. NHL representatives said Tuesday that the league will continue to fund the Coyotesx through next season ifneed be, and its priorityt is an ownership group that wouled keep the team in Arizona.
If that’ s not possible, then bidders looking to move the team couldxbe considered, officials said. Balsillie contends that NHL hockey is not financially viable in the Phoeniz market and is pushing for his offer to be approved by the end of The Coyotes have lost morethan $300 million since moving to the Phoenixs market in 1996 from The court hearing was slated to continue Tuesdaty afternoon including arguments against the Coyotes move from the city of which owns Jobing.com Arena wheree the hockey team plays.
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Comcast, Panasonic announce new portable DVR - Denver Business Journal:
The device, called the AnyPlay Portable DVR, will allow users to recorcd shows from their TV set and view them anyplacse onits 8.5-inch screen. It also playsz digital video discs and compact The portable DVR was developed forComcasg (NASDAQ:CMCSA,CMCSK) by , like Panasonic of North is a subsidiary of Japanese conglomeratw (NYSE:MC). It uses technology developed by Cable Television anonprofit research-and-development consortium founded by cable companie s in 1988. Comcast and Panasonic plan to roll it out earltnext year. The announcement was made at the Internationap Consumer Electronics Show inLas Vegas.
The two companiesd also announced other products using theCableLabds technology, which is called tru2way, a reference to the fact that it enablexs interactive communications. Panasonic expects to be marketint later this year some models of its Vierza HDTVwith tru2way. In conjunctionj with cable systems that alsouse tru2way, they will allosw their owners to access such interactive services as videoo on demand without a set-top box. Panasonivc expects to deliver to Comcas t later this yeara set-top-bocx for HD sets without tru2way capabilities. It will let ownersw of the sets access interactive services that use Comcast of Philadelphia isthe nation's largesrt cable company with 24.
2 million cable 12.9 million high-speed Internet customers and 4.1 million phonwe customers. It also owns cable networks and a controlling interesty sports teamsand arenas.
Friday, 27 July 2012
Mideast New clashes in Iraq seem to be part of an al Qaeda campaign - Foreign Policy (blog)
Mideast New clashes in Iraq seem to be part of an al Qaeda campaign Foreign Policy (blog) Clashes between militants and Iraqi forces killed 19 people, including 11 policemen, and downed an army helicopter. The fighting reportedly began late Tuesday with an attack on a security checkpoint near Hadid, in the predominantly Sunni province of ... |
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Reynolds American 2nd Quarter Net Rises 35% on Strong Snuff Sales - Wall Street Journal
Globe and Mail | Reynolds American 2nd Quarter Net Rises 35% on Strong Snuff Sales W » |
Monday, 23 July 2012
Counterbalancing the "humanitarian aid" doctrine - Russia Beyond The Headlines
BBC News | Counterbalancing the "humanitarian aid" doctrine Russia Beyond The Headlines The doctrine of âhumanitarian intervention,â in which non-democratic regimes boasting a strong protest movement are coerced into democracy was a logical extension of the support of âcolorâ revolutions. And since a color revolution, as demonstrated by ... Sy ria escalation deepens West-East rift: Analyst |
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Business Courier of Cincinnati: Tech & Innovation : Business Advice
Because that's what the idea was. I woulx replace my home officetelephone line, which I only use for outgoinyg calls, and instead start making all of my calld over the Internet. This way I coulsd pocket the $50 a month I've been giving to Verizom and use those savings to buy more important Like ⦠food. Except it really didn't turn out that way. Why? Because the Internet phoner services I triedworked ... but just not all the Which is typical ofmost technology. For example, I playedc around with Skype (www.skype.com) for a few weeks. Not bad.
Signin up for the service was free and the headsert that I purchased from Staplesfor $20 only had to be replacec once (I do not advise lending one's headset to a 12 year old. Enouguh said). Astonishingly, installing the Skype application on mylaptopl didn't cause it to lock up or crash on me. So for that reaso alone I felt that thingswere successful. Once up and Skype did as promised ⦠just about all of the I used the little computer generated keypad on my laptop to make If I called another Skypd user the callwas free. Unfortunately, I don'tf really have a lot of conversationsd with high school andcollegee kids, nor do I care to really speakm to anyone under 25.
So there's not a lot of phonwe numbers in mySkype directory. you can use Skype to call a regular land line and then get charge a few cents per So that's what I mostly did. The problem was the connection. It worked. Most of the But sometimes it just didn't. Sometimes I had to call back the personj two or three times to get a good Orspeak loudly. There were a few instances where I said naughty Then there was this one time where I tried to participatw in a conference call and had to make the threr other people wait whileI re-called the call-inm number a few times until there was no cracklinfg sound on the phone. That was fun too. So I stoppex using Skype.
Frustrated I turned to another Net calling service callexmagicJack (www.magicjack.com). No, this has nothint to do with changing the tires ofa car. And therre was no pleasure involved. For $40 magicJack ships me a littlde unit that I plug into the USB port of my I then hook my office phone intothe unit. After installin g the program I'm able to make phone calls from my regularphone (not the headsetr I bought from Staples bye-bye $20). Like Skype, magicJack places its calls over the along with the other 100 trilliomn bits of information crossing thesame pipelines. See where I'm going here??
Their deal is that you can make unlimited calls you want to anyone in the UnitedStateds (I'm told they're working on overseas for only $50 per year. I did the math and that'd $550 less a year than I'm spendinvg on my office line, so there you go ... magic! Unfortunatelyt ... not so magical. Why? Same thing with Skype. It Most of the time. I sufferef from the occasional disconnected calls or calls that had to be or calls thatjust didn't sound like a very good call at all. More naught y words. More blood thinner required. In the end I broker down and kept myoffice line. You win I just need things that work as they promiseed towork ... all the time. I have enough headachesx in my life.
I have kids and a mortgage and I can't sit around and worry that an importan conversation with a prospective customer is going to get cutofcf or sound horrible. Verizon's line in my office worksz allthe time. It's one less hassl e to deal with. I stilk keep the magicJack and Skype serviceszbecause I've had occasion to use them when Most likely I'll forget to cancel my subscriptioj so now I'll be payin an extra $50 a year for next to But I'm a penny pincher. Not a Sure, it's less expensiv e to use these Netcalling services. But I'm sacrificingt some quality. Some dependability. I'm givint myself more headaches. To me, it's not worth it. Thesed technologies are great for kidsor socializing.
But to rely on them for businessw purposes, at least so far, isn'gt a great idea for me.
Friday, 20 July 2012
The fabric of business growth - Houston Business Journal:
Their , founded in April 2007, embodies theirt adventuresome spirit. The couple moved to Lincolntonn in 2002 from the Midwest to be nearthe N.C. mountains. a furniture designer and fabricator, started pickintg up extra fabric at the furniture plants he visited along Interstate 40 simply becausse he liked themodern designs. It also botheres him that the fabric would otherwise end up in a The couple initially tried selling the remnantson E-Ba y but found little success. Capitalizingb on Ewa’s Web-design however, they started an online venture, www.modern-fabrics.com, to sell the fabric from a 7,500-square-foot warehouse in Lincolnton.
Their Web site attracteds customers who boughtthe remnants, measurinb up to 80 yardxs in length and discounted at $12 to $30 per A few months ago, they identifiex a way to extend that opening a retail shop on East Tremonr Avenue in Charlotte’s South End. “Neither of us has retailk experience, but it’s a good time to learnh the ropes indifficult times,” James says. “Ift we can make it now, we can make it any James initially wanted to locate the store in but “people didn’t return calls and (couldn’t) care he says. So the coupled chose Charlotte instead.
Says James: “The businesds owners around here have been more than helpfuol and have beenvery encouraging.” QUICK DID YOU KNOW? Modern Fabrics’ store in South End is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Customers include designera as wellas do-it-yourselfers. • Ewa Powell also operatex a Web-design firm, Winkbox.
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
John Sununu, Mitt Romney's best/worst surrogate - Washington Post (blog)
The Moderate Voice | John Sununu, Mitt Romney's best/worst surrogate Washington Post (blog) THE FIX | Former New Hampshire governor John Sununu goes off-message. John McCain: Sarah Palin Was 'Better Candidate' For VP Than Mitt Romney ... Jo hn Sununu and the growing desperation of Republicans Video: John Sununu Says Obama 'Not American Enough' |
Monday, 16 July 2012
Report says iPad Mini will be priced to move - CNET
SlashGear | Report says iPad Mini will be priced to move CNET Will Apple get aggressive on price, reducing rivals to also-rans? Read this blog post by Brooke Crothers on Business Tech. iPad "mini" drumbeat continues as NYT supports rumor of sm » |
Saturday, 14 July 2012
CoBiz posts $16M Q2 loss, begins stock sale - Business First of Columbus:
million, or 72 cents per in the second quarter, as the weak econom y continued to exact a toll onthe company, officialds said Monday. The loss compares with a profitof $4.2 or 18 cents per in the same quarter a year Denver-based CoBiz (NASDAQ: COBZ) owns and Arizona Business Bank. The latest quarter’s result include a $35.1 million pre-tac provision for loan and credit losses, or 150 percent of net charge-offsa — which were $23.4 million — for the period. “We continuw to take a conservative posture in our provisioning for loan Chairman and CEO Steve Bangert said ina “Our second quarter provision brings our allowancee to loan ratio to nearly 3.
9 percent, one of the strongestt in the industry. Whilew I remain confident in oursenior management’s ability to effectively respondd to the current credigt obstacles, we felt it was prudent to continue building the allowance given the uncertaintyy in the economy.” Nonperforming assets ended the quarter at $93.09 million, or 3.7 percent of total up from $52.5 million or 2 perceny of total assets on March 31. Separately on Monday, CoBiaz said it had begun a sale ofabouty $45 million of its common stock. It will use the proceedx for generalcorporate purposes, including supportingf the capital needs of its bank subsidiary, expanding possible acquisitions and working capital needs.
Last week, CoBiz announces it had hired Colorado and Arizonamarkeft presidents, , to oversee banking operations in each “We remain focused on building our franchis e during these challenging times and want to ensurde we are positioned to take advantage of uniqued market opportunities that we expect will present themselves,” Bangert “To that end, we recently announced the hirin g of Colorado and Arizona market presidents who will overseer all banking operations in their respectivr markets, provide direction for future growth and free up some of our existinb resources to focus on high quality business development opportunities.
We will also continuew to dedicate appropriate resources througyh our Special Assets Group to addressw resolution ofproblem
Friday, 13 July 2012
Health-data firms chase stimulus sales - Dayton Business Journal:
Three technology outfits — Eden Prairie-based , Glenwood-based and Minnetonka-based ’s Ingenix business — are well-positioned because they sell recordes software certified bythe Chicago-based ( ), the present industryy standard. Minnesota also is home to a companhy that allows health care providers to store and accesas medical records onits servers. The federal government has setasidse $23.1 billion in Medicare incentive paymentss to go to providers between 2011 and 2014 if they have a medical-records system running and can demonstrate “meaningful use.” Aftere 2015, the government will start penalizing them if they don’t.
The government is still determining softwarecertification standards, but experts say the best bet for providersa is to use CCHIT-certified technology. That’s good news for companies like LSS that have the Thesoftware firm, which has annual revenue of betweej $10 million and $20 million, expect s sales to grow 5 to 10 percentt this year. Company President and Chiecf Operating Officer Stephanie Petersen called that aconservativwe estimate. LSS started out selling billing softwaree inthe 1980s. Clinical-records software has been makiny up moreof LSS’ business in recent years.
There are few providera that have yet to set a deadline to havean electronic-recordds system running on the clinica l side of their Petersen said. “Everyone is going to need to do something with Petersen said companies like her own that have established corporatre partnershipsand long-time relationships with providersx are best positioned to prosper from the government-funded LSS has a decades-long relationshilp with Westwood, Mass.-based Meditech, which owns 22 percent of LSS. Meditech’s $397-million-a-yeafr software business is centerefaround hospitals.
LSS sells softwared to physicians clinics, offering them products that can easilt integrate with Meditech programs usedby “I believe we are a moderate- to middle-pricedr product with significant strength in connectivity, usability and reliability,” she Since the federal government won’ t reimburse providers until their systemsz are operating, LSS is in final talks with financing companiezs to provide bridge loans to customers. Healthlandc is betting on its own niche sellingto small, rural hospitals. With close to 500 hospitap clients acrossthe country, Healthlaned President and CEO James Burgess likes to say he runs “the biggest small-hospital company.
” Now Burgess sees the “starse aligning” for getting his company’s clinicapl records products installed in more Healthland is arranging financing for its customers through Wayzata-basefd “Now you have the government providing fundintg to every one of your customers,” he “Not only is there a because the government is providing funding, but there’ s a stick on the back Existing customers are more aggressivw about installing the systems, and Burgeses expects “some real changes in customer’as behaviors” by the fall, when the government releasesw more details on standards.
UnitedHealth’s Ingenixz also is pushing into electronic records becausew of thefederal stimulus. In it launched a low-cost electronic medical-recordsa tool called CareTracker. In addition, Ingenixc has 1,500 consultants serving providers and is gettin more business inthat area. Augustus “Tuck” Crocker, managing director of Ingenix Consulting’s provider market operations, said clients are askin for help measuring how the system will impact productivity and enhancdpatient care. “We expect this to result in a ramping up of our businesws through 2009and 2010,” he One company doesn’t install software at all.
Instead, Minneapolis-baseed 7 Medical Systems runs the software on its own servers forsmalpl clinics, allowing them to store and access the informatioj remotely. Susan Severson, director of healthu information technology servicesat health-innovationh nonprofit , said such firms are “setting up for some good because providers who use them can still qualify for federalk incentive funds. Loan Gordon, a spokeswoman for 7 said its customersoften don’t have to spend money on hardware or on hiring an IT persojn with the expertise to run them.
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Monsanto buys WestBred assets for $45M - Business First of Buffalo:
“…We believe we have game-changing technologies — like our drought-toleranced and improved-yield traits — that can meaningfullhy address major challenges wheat growers faceeveryy season," said Carl Casale, executive vice president of globaol strategy and operations for Monsanto, in a Montana-based WestBred is a private wheat germplasm company owned indirectly by , whicjh is led by President and CEO Robbyg Barkley.
Monsanto said WestBred’ws existing breeding capabilities and commercial operations will become the centerpiece of Monsanto’s wheat platform, and that it woulds also seek public and private partnershipa that can help advanc technology improvements in wheat for Monsanto said it does not expect the acquisition to be accretivew to earnings until the middle to latter part of the next because the WestBred buy representxs a long-term investment in researcyh and development and breeding.
Monsanto also announcexd Tuesday that it will form a Wheat Developmenr Advisory Group whose members will providee the company with feedback on proposed traitw and attributes that are needed to improv e the productivity and sustainability of wheat Creve Coeur, Mo.-based Monsanto Co. (NYSE: led by Chairman, President and CEO Hugh Grant, developd insect- and herbicide-resistant crops and other agricultural products. It is one of the largest employersin St. Louia with 4,000 local employees. Its seeds and traits portfolioincludeas corn, cotton and soybeans.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Human Capital: People on the move, July 1 - East Bay Business Times:
Signature Healthcare of Brockton hired Stevw Friot as director of health carefacilitiex management. He previously served as directoe of facilities operationsat . , a desigbn and construction firm with local officesin Worcester, appointef Robert Stephens director of business development, health care. Stephens has more than 20 yearsz of experience marketing and selling design andconstructioj services. Matthew Tepper joined CB Richard ElliszInvestors , a real estate investment management as an associate director for the global multi-manager Tepper, formerly of , is based in Boston.
Davis, Malm D’Agostine PC , a Boston-baser law firm, added Elise Wald as an associatwe in the trusts and estatespractice area. Wald was previouslyu an associateat Posternak, Blankstein and Lund LLP . Rob MacElhineuy , vice president of in Weymouth, was namex to the board of directors atthe .
Monday, 9 July 2012
Downtown landmarks Dailey's, City Grill close - Atlanta Business Chronicle:
An e-mail from , the firm that oversee s the Hurt Building, home of City Grill, said: “It is with greaty regret that we must inform you that the City Griland Dailey’s restaurants are closed until further notice.” The restaurants’ Karen Bremer, president of , confirmed the the “Economic conditions, sales have faltered,” Bremerr said. “The economics have finallyy hit me.” Convention business cratered in the seconxd half of 2008 and has yetto recover. Hotelz and restaurants dependent on corporate accounts have struggled as companies cut back on and convention attendancehas dwindled. A.J.
president of and the DowntownImprovementf District, called it a shamer to lose the two restaurants. But in the currenr economic climate, the loss of eateries is “inevitable.” CAP, a coalitionj of downtown business, launched its Downtowj Dining District earlier this year to promote thecity core’ds 300-plus restaurants. Some eateries, he said, are doing while others are Coinciding with the evaporation in businesds travel has been the birth ofseverak high-profile and upscale restaurants downtown, including Il BLT Steak, and Lega l Sea Foods.
Harold Shumacher, restauranyt broker and presidentof , said the restaurants are unfortunate “It’s really too bad, they’re really he said, calling Bremer the “epitome” of an “She did everything you should do, it’sa just a story of the times,” Shumacher said. former president of Atlanta’s Peasanty Restaurants and Mick’s Restaurants, assumed ownership of Dailey’sw and City Grill in 2000. “From the bottom of my heart I thanok Atlanta,” she said. Bremer said she is tryingb to place her staff at other Atlantaw eateries and accommodate parties alreaduy booked atthe restaurants.
She said managment of the Hurt Building will permif two weddings already on the books for City Grill to proceedxas planned. New restaurateurs are plyingg theirtrades downtown, Robinson said, and the former Dailey’s and City Grilll are marketable locations. “The spaces that they’rd in, hopefully, will be attractive to someone Robinson said.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Tippecanoe School Corp. mechanic competes for best bus technician - Journal and Courier
Tippecanoe School Corp. mechanic competes for best bus technician Journal and Courier For the third consecutive year, a Tippecanoe School Corp. mechanic is moving on to the national level to compete for the title of America's best school bus technician. |
Friday, 6 July 2012
ViraCor, IBT Laboratories merge - Baltimore Business Journal:
of Lee’s Summit and of Lenexa officially merge d Tuesday and have a combined work force of more than 200 The new company will continud to operate from the existing locationas of ViraCor and IBT for the time the companies said ina release. A new name for the compangy was not given inthe release. ViraCorr President John Martin will servde as president of thecombined company, and IBT President Maureenj Loftus will serve as chief business ViraCor founder and CEO Phillilp “Flip” Short will step down from his role as CEO and serve on the new company’s board. IBT founder Dr.
John Halseu will continue to work with the new company as a Establishedin 2000, ViraCor specializes in infectiousa disease testing and workinfg with patients who have compromised immun e systems. IBT was established in 1983 and has developedc tests for allergies to roughly 900 including eggs, peanuts and milk.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Highwoods lines up $162M in loans - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):
Both loans should close within60 days. Highwoods HIW) says it will use the mone to repay debt and for generaklcorporate purposes. “We are very pleased with thesrloan commitments, which will furthee fortify our already healthyt balance sheet, enhance our liquidity and position Highwoods to take advantage of future growth Ed Fritsch, president and chief executiv officer, said in a written According to Highwoods, the two loan s are: * A $115.0 million, 6.5-year secured loan provided by at a fixex rate of 6.875 percent. It is secured by a pool of 10 assetdin Nashville, Raleigh and Tampa. * A $47.33 million, 7-year secured loan arranged by at a fixed rateof 7.
5 It is secured by the office portion of RBC Plaza in Raleigh. Highwoods also announcesd that it has paid off a secured loanof $107 which carried a rate of 7.8 percent and was originallgy scheduled to mature in Novembert 2009. There were no prepayment
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Giving Back calendar - Albany Times Union
Giving Back calendar Albany Times Union Free Contact:http://www.CohoesPublicLibrary.orgNotes: The ever popular therapy dogs, Bruno and friends, will be visiting the Cohoes Public Library at 11 a.m. These dogs provide a patient ear to children and others who want to read to them. Take Me Out ... |
Monday, 2 July 2012
Denver Water sells first Build America Bonds under stimulus program - Tampa Bay Business Journal:
Build America Bonds are taxable bonds with a 35 perceny federal subsidy oninterest costs. Denver Water, like most governmenyt agencies, traditionally issues tax-exempt bonds. Denvere Water sold $44 million of Builxd America Bonds to at just over 6 percentg interest on ataxable basis. Becaus of the federal tax subsidy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Actof 2009, Denver Watefr will pay 3.94 percent interest. That is less than the averagee 4.23 percent that Denver Water pays on itsoutstandinh tax-exempt bonds. Wachovia is owned by San Francisco-based Wells Fargop & Co.
“We are pleased to be able to sell bondes at a very reasonable rate in the currenfmarket environment,” said Chips Barry, manager of Denvert Water, in a statement. “For ratepayers, this meanse we are able to keep costs as low as possiblee while providing us the funding to improverour system.” Standard & Poor’ss recently upgraded Denver Water’s credit rating to AAA, its highest rating.