Tyson Foods is most admired

Tyson Foods Inc., parent company of Tyson Mexican Original of Portland, was honored this week by Fortune magazine as No. 1 on the list of the World’s Most Admired Companies in the food production category.

It’s the second consecutive year that Tyson Foods has topped the list, which is based on a survey of top executives, directors and financial analysts.

“We’re proud to be recognized once again as the World’s Most Admired Company in Food Production. This is a tremendous accomplishment — and a testament to the great work our team is doing every day,” Tom Hayes, president and CEO of Tyson Foods, said in a prepared statement. “2017 was a record year, and we will use that momentum to continue raising the world’s expectations for how much good food can do.”

Hayes said Tyson Foods developed a new company purpose in 2017 — to raise the world’s expectations for how much good food can do, and refined its strategy. 

Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies list is considered the definitive report card on corporate reputations. To compile the Fortune rankings, corporate reputation and performance are measured against nine key attributes: innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products and services and global competitiveness. 

“We constantly have to change,” Hayes told Fortune. “The consumer is constantly changing. So it’s the next level of growth we have to be focused on.”

Tyson’s brands include Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells, ibp and State Fair. It employs 122,000.



Among best

First Merchants Bank came in at No. 4 on Forbes magazine’s 2018 list of “America’s Best Banks.”

The financial services holding company has bank branches in Portland.

In the ranking of the country’s 100 largest banks, Forbes placed First Merchants ahead of such big names as JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Fifth Third Bancorp.

“This is a momentous achievement and speaks to the financial success and future opportunity for both First Merchants Bank clients and the communities we serve. Our success stems from their success,” First Merchants CEO Michael C. Rechin said in a prepared statement.

Forbes ranked banks based on 10 factors related to growth, profitability, capital adequacy and asset quality. Metrics included return on average tangible equity, return on average assets, net interest margin, efficiency ratio and net charge-offs as a percent of total loans. Forbes also factored in nonperforming assets as a percent of assets, risk-based capital ratio and reserves as a percent of nonperforming assets.

First Merchants Bank has more than 120 banking centers in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio with approximately $9 billion in assets,

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 $6.5 billion in loans, $6.9 billion in deposits, and total shareholders’ equity of $1.28 billion.



National rollout

Ardagh Group has announced the nationwide rollout of its Ardagh Direct program that allows food and beverage companies to buy glass bottles and jars directly.

Ardagh, which has glass container plants in Dunkirk and Winchester, first launched the program in 2017 for wineries west of the Rockies.

“With dedicated sales teams and support offices in St. Louis, Philadelphia and Napa, California, customers can expect a high level of attention and responsiveness, as well as flexibility in ordering,” Alex Robertson, Chief Commercial Officer for Ardagh Group’s North American Glass division, said in a prepared statement. “With a wide range of glass bottle and jar options that come with buying direct from a U.S. manufacturer, the Ardagh Direct team has the resources to accommodate customers’ unique requests.”

Food and beverage companies can contact Ardagh Direct via email at [email protected].



Dividend boost

First Financial Bancorp, which has a branch in Fort Recovery and is merging with MainSource Bank, this week announced a 19-cent per share quarterly cash dividend. That represents an increase of about 12 percent over the previous quarterly cash dividend. Payable on March 15, the dividend will be distributed to shareholders of record as of March 1.

First Financial Bancorp has paid a cash dividend every quarter since the holding company was formed in April of 1983. The company’s last dividend increase was in January 2017.

“In addition to the dividend increase, we will accelerate the timing of our dividend payment in an effort to align dividend practices in anticipation of our pending merger with MainSource Financial Group,” said chief executive officer Claude Davis in a prepared statement.



Price jumps

Shares of Allegheny Technologies jumped more than 5 percent Tuesday after the parent company of Portland Forge reported better than expected fourth quarter results and forecast high single-digit revenue growth for 2018, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The company had fourth quarter income of $1.7 million, or 1 cent per share, versus earnings of $9.9 million, or 9 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose 14 percent to $909.9 million.

The results reflect a debt redemption charge of $37 million, or 29 cents per share, as well as $4.1 million in benefits from the tax cuts that Congress and President Donald Trump approved in December, the newspaper reported.

Excluding those items, quarterly adjusted net income was 27 cents per share, topping analyst estimates of 14 cents per share.



Cash dividend

Park National Corporation, parent company of Second National Bank in Mercer County, this week declared a cash dividend of 94 cents per common share.

The bank holding company reported net income for the fourth quarter of $22.8 million, up 14.1 percent from $20 million for the same quarter in 2016.

Net income for 2017 was $84.2 million, down 2.2 percent from 2016.

Headquartered in Newark, Ohio, Park National has 11 community bank divisions, a non-bank subsidiary and two specialty finance companies. It reported $7.5 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31.



Seeks a ban

The Tennessee-based parent of Lutheran Health Network of Fort Wayne is seeking a court injunction to prevent Lutheran’s former chief executive officer from working with IU Health, the News-Sentinel reports.

Community Health Systems claims in a lawsuit that Brian Bauer has shared confidential information with IU Health, which is planning to open two out-patient facilities near Lutheran Hospital.

Jay County Hospital is integrating with IU Health on March 1.



New manager

Shawn Robinson has been named branch manager of Second National Bank’s branch in Fort Recovery.

A Portland resident, he received his bachelor’s degree in business management for IPFW. He began his banking career in 2007 and has worked both as a branch manager and as a farm/commercial lender.