Briggs featured in magazine

Andy Briggs, president and CEO of Bank of Geneva, is featured in the cover story of the latest issue Hoosier Banker magazine.

A fifth generation banker, Briggs succeeded his father and grandfather at Bank of Geneva. The five-page story covers the Bank's history and answers questions about being part of a "banking legacy."

Full-time 'copter

An agreement announced this week between Ball Memorial Hospital and Life Air means that a medical helicopter will be stationed in Muncie on a full-time basis.

Beginning soon, Life Air will provide air ambulance service to Muncie and surrounding areas from its base at Delaware County Regional Airport.

Jay and nearby counties are currently most often served by medical helicopters based in Fort Wayne or Dayton, Ohio.

An open house to view the Life Air medical helicopter will be held Saturday, May 30, from noon to 4 p.m. in the parking lot of Ball Memorial Hospital at the corner of University and Tillotson avenues.

Sold

Verizon Communications Inc. packed bags and stepped out of the residentiial service business by accepting a sale from Frontier Communications Corp.

The $5.3 billion deal was paid for in stock and about 11,000 employees will begin working for Frontier. The changes for users should be minimal.

Frontier will nearly double in size from the purchase, picking up nearly 5 million residential phone lines and 1 million broadband connections.

No voice

A proposal to allow shareholder input on executive pay packages for Comcast Corp. died in the annual stockholders meeting this week.

The proposal didn't gain enough support in the meeting. It is the third year such a proposal has been introduced but failed to pass.

Making progress

The Berne Community Development Corporation is edging closer to beginning work on a clock tower project in the city.

The corporation is moving into a final fundraising period to gather the last $600,000. The starting date of the project will be dependant on the success of the final fundraising push.

Selling off

AT&T is planning to sell off coverage areas in Louisiana and Mississippi following a successful purchase of Fort Wayne-based Centennial Wireless.

AT&T wants to shed the two areas since it overlaps with current service already offered by the company. Centennial agreed to a $2.8 billion deal to be bought up by AT&T. The deal is expected to be completed by mid-year.

Free class

Curves of Winchester is offering free weight management classes to both members and non-members.

The classes are free, but all participants will be able to purchase a fitness pack including health supplements and a new fitness book for $49.95.

The women's only fitness club will hold classes today from 12:30 to 3 p.m. For more information, contact Carolyn Cox at (765) 584-9000 or [email protected].

Wal-Mart dips

Wal-Mart will continue its "staycation" advertising theme as it focuses on offering ways to enjoy summer from home.

Starting last summer, "staycation" offered ideas and deals for people not taking a vacation due to high fuel and food prices. This year, with unemployment and tight money squeezing budgets, Wal-Mart decided to continue the advertising program.

Wal-Mart has continued to pick up market share during the worsening economy as shoppers search for low prices on necessities.

But Wal-Mart expects overall second-quarter revenue to be hurt compared to last year, when shoppers were spending their government stimulus checks. The company expects to earn between 83 cents and 88 cents per share in its second quarter, a range that surrounds the analyst consensus of 85 cents per share.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe said the company expects exchange rates to be a challenge into the third quarter.

Wal-Mart said its first-quarter earnings of $3.02 billion, or 77 cents per share, were hurt by 4 cents per share because of currency effects. Revenue fell 0.6 percent to $93.47 billion, but would have risen 4.5 percent without the impact of the strong dollar. Nearly a quarter of Wal-Mart's sales - 22.7 percent - came from its international division.

The stronger dollar has been hurting many U.S.-based companies that have large overseas businesses. Most convert sales from other currencies into dollars to report their financial results. If the U.S. currency strengthens relative to others, the revenue translates into fewer dollars.

Analyst Todd Slater at Lazard Capital Markets said in a research note Thursday that he expects the foreign exchange pressure to peak in the second quarter.

Slater noted other possible risks for the company, including a further pullback in consumer spending, food price deflation and legislation that favors labor unions.

New office

Raymond James Financial Services Inc., Bluffton, has moved to a new location at 1245 N. Main St.

The former office operated in the Villa North shopping center and moved to the new building on May 1.

The office is operated by Kim Gentis and assistant Karen Prible.

Selling seminar

Swiss Village Retirement Community, Berne, is hosting a seminar offering tips on how to sell a home.

The free seminar, "Secrets to Selling Your Home," will be held May 28 at 1:30 p.m. in the Arthur and Gloira Muselman Wellness Pavilion.

Speakers will include representatives from Century 21 realty, Miz Lehman Realtors, and Swiss City Real Estate.

For more information, contact Michelle Lechlitner at (260) 589-3173.[[In-content Ad]]