Winterfest plans taking shape

Plans are taking shape for Winterfest, which will be a little later this year.

The holiday parade of lights, sponsored by the Portland Rotary Club, is set for Saturday, Dec. 2.

Businesses, organizations, and families that want to participate should register with the Jay County Chamber of Commerce by Nov. 30. Entry forms are available at the Community Resource Center, 118 S. Meridian St., Portland, where the chamber has its offices.

All entries in the parade must be lit. Line-up will begin at 5 p.m. with the parade stepping off at 6 p.m.

Prizes will be awarded for Best Not-for-Profit Float, Best Business or Industry Float, Best Faith-Based Float, Best Youth Organization, and Best Overall Float.

Several chamber members will be open for extended hours for special events during the holiday season. These include Pre-Black Friday shopping on Nov. 16, WinterFest shopping on Dec. 1 and Guys Night Out on Dec. 14. 



New venture

Allegheny Technologies will create 100 local jobs through a joint venture with a Chinese partner that will import stainless steel slabs from Indonesia and process them at the Pittsburgh specialty metals producer’s plants in Brackenridge and Midland, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this week.

ATI is the parent company of Portland Forge.

The joint venture with Tsingshan Group will require restarting Allegheny Technologies’ Midland plant, which was idled early last year, the newspaper said.

The initiative will also increase use of ATI’s $1.2 billion rolling mill in Brackenridge, which has operated well below its capacity since opening in 2014.

The Midland plant will be owned and operated by the joint venture.

The Post-Gazette said ATI expects its annual share of operating profits from the joint venture will be from $20 million to $35 million.

ATI and Tsingshan will be 50-50 partners in the joint venture, which must clear regulatory and antitrust clearances before it can begin operating. Those approvals are expected in the first quarter of 2018 and the first shipments from the venture will begin shortly after that, Allegheny Technologies said in a press release.

Tsingshan is the world’s largest producer of stainless steel.



Opening 

A former Muncie Marsh Supermarket store will open in December under a new name. 

Pay Less Supermarket will open at 1500 W. McGalliard Road on Dec. 14, according to an article in The Star Press (Muncie). Its parent company is Kroger, which purchased 26 stores at Marsh’s bankruptcy auction in June. 

Kroger is investing $3 million in the location on McGalliard Road. Another former Marsh store on Tillotson Avenue in Muncie will open under the Pay Less banner in March. 



Sponsor

Yum Brands has pulled out as the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby, three years before the agreement was set to expire. 

The Courier Journal (Louisville) reported last week that Yum will no longer be the corporate sponsor of the derby. The agreement, which was supposed to run through 2020, had been extended twice since its inception in 2006. 

According to the article, the reason Yum Brands left the agreement was because its marketing strategies have changed. It plans to market its individual brands - including Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC - rather than the overall Yum company. 

 Woodford Reserve bourbon, owned by Brown-Forman Corp., will take over sponsorship of the derby. 



Profit

First Merchant Bank has turned a $24.4 million profit in the third quarter. 

The Muncie-based bank’s profits are up 15.6 percent over the same quarter’s earnings in 2016, according to an article in The Times of Northwest Indiana. 

It now has total assets of $9 billion. There are two locations in Portland. 



Dropped

Walmart will no longer stock the clothing brand Danskin. 

Iconix, Danksin’s parent company, announced the decision Monday. Walmart has chosen not to renew Danskin’s license beyond January 2019. According to the company’s press release, Iconix will lose an estimated $15.5 million in revenue in 2018 as a result. 

In August, Iconix also confirmed that Walmart was dropping OP (Ocean Pacific), another one of its clothing lines, according to an article by SGB Media. 



Retiring

The president of Coca-Cola North America has announced his plans to retire next year. 

J. Alexander Douglas Jr., who has been with Coca-Cola since 1988 and has served as president of the North America Group for 11 years, will retire on March 1. 

James Dinkins, current president of the Minute Maid business unit and chief retail sales officer, will take over the position on Jan. 1. Dinkins has also worked for Coca-Cola since 1988.

Coca-Cola has a bottling plant in Portland. 



Expanding

Tyson Foods is continuing its expansion into the convenience store market, Food Business News reported last week. 

The company debuted more than 60 new items at the national Association of Convenience Stores Show in Chicago, including sandwiches, frozen foods, snacks and more.

Tyson Mexican Original is owned by Tyson Foods. 



Bumper plant

Motherson Sumi, parent company of MSSL Wiring Systems of Portland, will launch a $154 million, 700,000-square-foot parts factory next year in Cottondale, Alabama, Automotive News reports. The plant is expected to employ 650 to produce bumpers, door panels and cockpits for future Mercedes-Benz models built nearby in Vance, Alabama.

That contract alone is worth $2.45 billion over several years, Automotive News said.