Ardagh shows revenue growth

Ardagh Group, parent company of glass container plants in Dunkirk and Winchester, reported full-year revenue of 7.644 million Euros this week. Revenue was up 20 percent from the previous year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were up 16 percent to 1.34 million Euros.

Earnings per share were .24 Euros, compared to a 2016 loss of .33 Euros per share.

As of Jan. 1, the company will be reporting its earnings and revenue in dollars.

The company is projecting earnings in 2018 of $1.6 billion.

“Profit improvement initiatives in Glass North America are under way,” said chairman and chief executive Paul Coulson in a prepared statement.

Coulson said the company is focused on driving growth in its earnings and generating cash as it continues to reduce its debt.



OSHA course

A 10-hour OSHA Outreach Training Program for General Industry will be offered in April by Ivy Tech Community College at John Jay Center for Learning.

The 10-hour class is intended for entry-level workers. It will be led by OSHA certified instructors. Training includes seven contact hours of mandatory topics and three contact hours of elective topics. Those who complete the course will receive a 10-hour card from OSHA.

The deadline for registration is April 17.

The class will meet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 24 and 25. The fee is $250.

To register, visit ivytech.edu/register-now or email [email protected].



New brew

Plans are underway for a new microbrewery in west central Ohio.

The New Bremen Brewing Co. plans to open at a site on the west edge of New Bremen in the Bunker Hill Industrial Park.

The brewery will be operating under the name Gongoozle, and James Gilberg will be the brewmaster. It’s expected to be operational by the fall of this year, The Daily Standard reported.

Two other microbreweries are located in the same part of Ohio. Tailspin is located in Coldwater, and Moeller Brew Barn in Maria Stein.



E-commerce up

Walmart reported that e-commerce sales were up 23 percent in the final quarter of 2017. The previous quarter had seen a jump of 50 percent. 



Selling branches

In connection with a proposed merger, First Financial Bancorp and MainSource Financial Group Inc. will sell five branches to German American Bancorp, The Greensburg Daily News reported this month.

The two companies said in a statement that MainSource Bank will sell five branches in the Decatur and Bartholomew counties to German American Bancorp.

The sale of the five branches will be completed before the MainSource-First Financial merger is complete. 

Both companies say they will continue working toward “a smooth transition for all customers impacted by the merger.”



New feature

The Jay County Home Guide, now in its 22nd year, has launched a new feature, a page featuring properties for lease or rent and property management services. Previously the free publication had only featured properties for sale.

The Home Guide, published by the Graphic Printing Co., is available at 20 locations in Jay County. The company also publishes The Randolph County Home Guide.



Not shopping

News that Walgreens Boots Alliance is in talks to buy the rest of drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp. means the drugstore giant is unlikely to buy a health insurer, Forbes said last week.

“Some industry observers have speculated for weeks that Walgreens would follow the lead of rival pharmacy chain CVS Health into the health insurance business,” Forbes said.

Instead, Walgreens is now looking to spend potentially billions of dollars to buy the remaining 74 percent of Ameri-sourceBergen that it doesn't yet own. 

A larger stake by Walgreens in AmerisourceBergen “more likely than not” takes Walgreens “off the table for a near term acquisition of Humana or WellCare Health Plans,” Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte wrote after news of the talks broke.



Starting soon

Blue Buffalo’s new pet food production plant in Richmond is expected to be up and running later this year, The Palladium-Item reported last week.

The 400,000-square-foot plant, situated on a 125-acre tract in the Midwest Industrial Park, has been under construction since September 2016.

Construction is still underway.

"Things are going well," plant manager Travis Moore told the Richmond newspaper. "We'll be able to start producing product later this year ... Dry pet food is what we'll be producing by the middle of this year; dog and cat (food)."

Moore said Blue Buffalo has already hired about 20 people for management-level positions, but anticipates hiring dozens more in the coming months. Eventually the plant will employ about 160.



Expanding

A German auto parts supplier plans to create 120 jobs in Fort Wayne with an expansion costing about $23 million, The News-Sentinel reported.

Plans call for a “spec” building to be constructed and leased to ElringKlinger.

ElringKlinger focuses on “lightweighting” concepts to reduce the overall weight of vehicles in order to improve mileage.



Dismissed

A Tennessee court has dismissed three of six counts in Community Health Systems' lawsuit against Brian Bauer, former CEO of Lutheran Health Network, The Journal-Gazette reported last week.

The remaining three counts will be decided by a judge or jury.

Both sides see the ruling as a victory.

Counts of trade and commercial disparagement, unfair and deceptive business practices, and breach of duty of loyalty were all dismissed this week.

Lutheran Health Network operates Lutheran Air, which has a helicopter based at Portland Municipal Airport.



Pool closing

Increased competition and declining numbers of visitors were cited in a state decision this month to close the swimming pool at Ouabache State Park at Bluffton.

Use of the pool at the park had been in sharp decline over the past six years.



Revenues drop

Gannett, which owns the Muncie StarPress, USA Today and 109 other news properties, Tuesday reported a net loss for the fourth quarter of 2017, citing declines in circulation and print advertising.

The company reported a net loss of $13.6 million, or a loss of 12 cents per share, compared to net income of $24.6 million, or 21 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. 

Total operating revenue for the quarter declined 1.5 percent to $854.2 million from $867 million in the prior-year.



Not happening

A proposed new apartment development in Winchester failed to win approval from city leaders Monday night, effectively killing an effort to bring a slew of new housing units to the area, The Palladium-Item reported this week.

Winchester City Council voted 3-2 against the rezoning of about three acres of land near Residence Street — which runs north to south on the west side of Goodrich Park — into a multi-family dwelling area. 

The project would have been located on a 3.4-acre piece of land at the northwest corner of Fifth and Residence streets. 

The developer, SMD Winchester LLC of Berne, reportedly had plans to build up to 28 single-family apartments on the property, with at least eight coming in the next two years.

Roger Muselman, chairman for SMD, told the Richmond newspaper he was surprised by the council's decision not to move forward with the project. He cited stagnation in home building in the area as a primary reason the company had an interest in building in the city.

“I'm disappointed for Winchester; it would have been a really good project ... I'm actually shocked. … I’m sad for Winchester because there's been no development on that north side in years.”



Joins bank

Kyle Raugh has joined First Bank of Berne as the bank’s security specialist.

A graduate of Indiana University, he currently works as a football coach for South Adams Middle School students and is a youth leader at The Bridge Church.



Closed

A Tyson Foods Inc. meat-processing plant in Logansport was closed this week due to a major pest infestation, The Logansport Pharos-Tribune reported.

“Operations have been temporarily halted … due to a production related issue,” a Tyson spokesman told the newspaper. 

"We hope to have the issue resolved quickly and resume operations as soon as possible.”

Tyson is the parent company of Tyson Mexican Original, Portland.