April 22, 2016 at 7:57 p.m.
Geneva lauds Briggs, Steenburg
Business Roundup
Andrew Briggs, president of the Bank of Geneva, was recognized by the Geneva Chamber of Commerce and Geneva Proud as Citizen of the Year.
Briggs has been deeply involved in leadership positions in a number of local organizations.
Dr. Paul Steenburg, who has practiced medicine in Geneva since 1978, received the organizations’ Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Randy Lehman, who will be retiring this year as manager of the Limberlost State Historic Site.
Case and Quart liquor store was named Business of the Year, and Red Gold was named Industry of the Year.
Basic Bastiat
Those with an interest in economics, particularly the economic theories of the French economist Frederic Bastiat, will be interested in attending a showing of a short film next week at Arts Place in Portland.
Sponsored by John Jay Center for Learning and The Portland Foundation, ECON in Motion will present the film on Bastiat at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 28. The film is one in a series on economics and economists being developed by Ball State University students in conjunction with a 400-level economics course taught by Dr. Cecil Bohanon.
Bastiat’s economic and political views are among the foundations of libertarian politics today. It was Bastiat, for example, who said, “Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.”
The presentation at Arts Place will be free to the public.
Acquisition near?
Ardagh Group, parent company of glass container plants in Dunkirk and Winchester, is the lead bidder for the European assets of Ball Corp. and Rexam, Bloomberg News reported this week.
A decision to negotiate exclusively with Ardagh could come shortly.
When Ball acquired Rexam, it created the largest maker of food and beverage cans in Europe. But in order to win approval for the deal, the companies agreed to sell 12 of the European plants to eliminate antitrust issues.
Meanwhile, the Ardagh proposal is raising questions from bond investors concerned about the size of Ardagh Group’s debt and the size of the Ball-Rexam deal, which could be as large as $4 billion.
“Can Ardagh, which is heavily indebted and in deleveraging mode, really afford to take on more borrowings to buy this asset? The market will be looking for a lot of comfort on how it plans to finance such a deal,’’ David Holohan, chief investment officer of Merrion Capital, told The Irish Times.
“I think the assets that may be acquired would form a global giant within the sector, forming a very complete business, making the company a more attractive investment for equity investors, given that it would not need to make further acquisitions into the future,” he said.
Ardagh chairman Paul Coulson has told investors the company was “very conscious of not over-leveraging the situation.”
Ford award
Moser Motor Sales of Berne has received its fourth consecutive President’s Award from Fort Motor Company.
The award is based upon customer satisfaction with the dealership.
“In order to achieve the President’s Award, dealers must exceed customer expectations every day in every department,” a Ford spokesman said.
Moser Motors also maintains a used car operation in Portland.
Cutting jobs
Allegheny Technologies Inc., parent company of Portland Forge, announced this week that it will eliminate more than 250 salaried positions in its flat roll products business.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the cuts, which involve about one-third of the unit’s salaried employees, will be completed by the second quarter of this year.
ATI will take a $9 million severance charge in the first quarter, but the cuts are expected to generate annual savings of more than $30 million.
New location
M&M Market in Geneva has moved.
The longtime grocery store downtown has relocated to the former home of Harmon’s Restoration Parts on U.S. 27 at the north edge of town.
The new grocery location is just north of Geneva’s Dollar General store.
Owners Mike and Mary Fields said the move will provide much more space for the market.
Evaluating conditions
Tyson Foods Inc., parent of Portland’s Tyson Mexican Original, will be using third-party auditors to evaluate workplace conditions as a part of its new sustainability program.
Issues such as workplace safety, worker treatment, compensation, benefits, hiring, labor relations, worker voice, and safety and environmental matters will be studied.
Auditors are expected to spend several days at each plant reviewing employment records and interviewing randomly-selected employees. The results of the audit will be shared with plant and corporate management and may also be provided to customers.
“We believe we’re a caring, responsible company but also know we must strive to be better in all we do,” said Joe Lloyd, vice president of ethics and compliance for Tyson, said in a prepared statement. “This new program enhances our social compliance efforts and is intended to help us be more transparent with our customers about our working conditions.”
Inspecting poles
Keep an eye out for white pick-up trucks with the name “GeoForce” on the side.
Crews from that company will be inspecting utility poles for Indiana Michigan Power. I&M, a unit of American Electric Power, has hired GeoForce to visually examine the poles.
“In some cases, the inspection process also involves minor digging at the base of the poles and treatment of the wood. GeoForce employees will inspect about 36,000 poles over the next several months,” an I&M spokesman said.
The process is expected to continue into the fall of the year.
Promoted, hired
Stephanie Hart, Fort Recovery, has been promoted to district technician by the Mercer County Soil and Water Conservation District board.
A nutrient management technician for the district since October, she is in her third year at Wright State University-Lake Campus, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in technical and applied studies in agriculture.
The board hired Lorraine Shier, Fort Recovery, as Hart’s replacement. Shier has an associate’s degree in wildlife sciences from Hocking Technical College and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Ball State University.
Most recently she has been an ecologist aide for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Nature Preserves.
Abatement approved
Bluffton City Council this week approved a 10-year tax abatement on $1.5 million in new equipment being installed by Almco Steel.
No new jobs will be added at the Bluffton plant, which employs 101.
Inducted
Terry Wehrkamp, director of live production for Cooper Farms, has been inducted into Ohio State University’s Animal Science Hall of Fame.
A 1982 graduate of Ohio State, he joined Cooper Farms in 1985. As director of live production, he manages teams that deal with turkeys, hogs, and chickens.
“Through his over 30 years at Cooper Farms, Terry has excelled in his career in every position and through each promotion,” Cooper Farms chief operating officer Gary Cooper said in a prepared statement.
Wehrkamp resides in Paulding County, Ohio, where he is active in civic and agricultural affairs.
Board shrinks
Wal-Mart Inc. announced this week it will shrink its board of directors from 15 to 12.
The change will be made at the annual shareholders’ meeting. The company will still have three members of the Walton family as directors.
Gain in China
Yum Brands, parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC, is now seeing gains in its business in China, just about the time it’s getting ready to spin off that sector, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.
“The KFC China business has largely bounced back, posting 12 percent same-store sales growth in the quarter,” The Journal reported.
The spin-off of the China business is still expected to take place before the end of 2016.
Record year
The Grand Lake area saw a record year for tourism in 2015.
Grand Lake Region Visitors Center executive director Donna Grube reported last week that total tourism revenues hit $54.8 million, up from the previous record of $51.7 million in 2008.
Local tourism spending by hotel guests over the past five years have contributed more than $239.8 million to the Mercer and Auglaize county economies, Grube told the group’s annual meeting.
She said 2,740 people were employed in tourism-related jobs in the Grand Lake area.
In your car
CVS Health will expand its curbside pick-up service this year, The Associated Press reported this week.
The company launched curbside service in December at a dozen stores in San Francisco. It has expanded the service to stores in Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The AP reported that CVS expects to have curbside service at a majority of its stores by the end of 2016.
Adding jobs
Frontier Communications announced this week it will add 30 full-time sales and service jobs to its call center in Fort Wayne. Currently Frontier employs about 1,325 in the Fort Wayne area.
Golf outing
The Chamber Classic golf outing of the Jay County Chamber of Commerce will be Friday, May 6, at the Portland Golf Club. A portion of the proceeds for the event will benefit the new senior center at the Jay Community Center.
Box to app
Comcast announced this week its customers will be able to ditch their set-top boxes by switching to an app embedded in some new TVs.
The app, which is embedded in new Samsung smart TVs and Roku devices, can display channel lineup and information about shows and movies.
“Because it’s all software-driven, it will potentially allow Comcast’s more than 22 million video customers to return their cable box — equipment that costs the average household more than $230 a year to rent, according to a recent congressional probe,” The Washington Post reported.
The Federal Communications Commission has recently proposed rules that would allow third parties to create set-top boxes and eliminate the need to rent the box from a cable provider like Comcast.
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