Financial thoughts

Five college students were awarded a total of $15,000 Wednesday for having the top business plans at the first annual Mason Wells BizStarts Collegiate Business Plan Competition, BizStarts Milwaukee announced in a news release Thursday.

BizStarts Milwaukee is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship in the Milwaukee area.

Fourteen student plans were entered by eight participating colleges. Judges read the top five plans and listened to presentations by the finalists Wednesday to determine the final ranking.

Winners were:

1st place, $5,000: Gabriel Wahab, US Combat Sports — a website where fans of Ultimate Fighting Championship and other combat sports can find fighting dates and locations, player statistics and related information.

2nd place, $4,000: Tyler Sailsbery, Nomoredorms.com — a website for college students seeking off-campus housing.

3rd place, $3,000: Trevor Whately, 5tooltee — a new product designed for use by baseball players that combines different styles of batting tees into a single, easy-to-use tee.

4th place, $2,000: Hugh Morris, Proximity LLC — a marketing alert system that uses the technology of smart phones to forward special coupons, messages or deals to users whenever they are in the proximity of their favorite stores.

5th place, $1,000: Vince Anewenter, Eco-Disk — a company that creates disc golf putters and drivers made from recycled plastic and resin.

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The city of Denver Office of Economic Development is sponsoring a series of small-business classes this week to mark "National Small Business Week."

Also involved in presenting the free seminars are the City & County of Denver General Services/Purchasing Division, Denver Metro Small Business Development Center, Rocky Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Here is the schedule of available seminars. Registration is required at www.denversbdc.org (except as noted). For more information on Small Business Week, visit www.MileHigh.com or call 720-913-1999.

MONDAY, MAY 24

Kick-Off Reception & Overview of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Colorado — 4–6 p.m., Confucius Institute at the Community College of Denver, 1030 St. Francis Way.

ARRA overview to be provided by Maranda Pleau, Director of Minority and Small Business Outreach, Governor’s Office. Reception hosted by the Small Business Administration, Denver Office of Economic Development, Denver Small Business Development Center and the Rocky Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council.

TUESDAY, MAY 25

ACCESS Opportunity with the City & County of Denver General Services/Purchasing Division — 9–11 a.m., 1445 Market St., 4th Floor Boardroom. (Register by noon on Monday by calling Breana Parker at 303-623-3037 or visit www.rmmsdc.org.)

The City of Denver’s Purchasing Division procures goods and professional services for various city agencies. City buyers will be on-site to advise and answer your questions.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 26

National Healthcare Reform: How It Will Impact Your Small Business — 8–11 a payday lenders.m., Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, 1445 Market St., 5th Floor.

8 a.m. ― Breakfast and Networking.

9 – 11 a.m. ― Panel to include Lorez Meinhold, Director of National Healthcare Reform Implementation, Governor’s Office; Marcy Morrison, Colorado Commissioner of Insurance; Ed Regalado, Broker, Hub International Gemini Group; Leo Tokar, Vice-President of Marketing, Kaiser Permanente.

THURSDAY, MAY 27

Road to Recovery — 9 a.m. –12:30 p.m., Kimbal Hall, 700 E. 24th Ave.

During these tough economic times, learn what your company can do to better position itself on the road to recovery. (Individuals can register for one or more of the panel discussions.)

9 – 9:45 a.m. ― The Future of Capital ― Mark J. Martinez, Solera National Bank; Bob Martin, Small Business Administration; Jeff Romine, Denver Office of Economic Development.

10 – 10:45 a.m. ― The Future of Human Capital Management ― Tami Young, AdvenTech; Richard Del Valle, City & County of Denver, Career Service Authority; Janine Vanderburg, JVA Consulting; Jasmin Espy, Summit Staffing.

11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ― The Future of Technology and Marketing ― Eric Elkins, WideFoc.Us; Bart Lorang, Cloud Services; Kim Dushinski, Mobile Marketing Profits; Enrique Gutierrez, Qwest; LaSheita Sayer, ZoZo Marketing Group, LLC; Ellsworth Grant, DBE Today; Mark Mitton, Carbon8.

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Southwest Airlines Co. — the third-largest carrier at Denver International Airport by passenger count — has announced that parents of minors traveling alone will have to pay $50 to fly their children in the airline's "unnaccompanied minors" program. That is up from the previous price of $25 per child.

Southwest (NYSE: LUV) plans to use funds generated from the added cost to help pay for expenses associated with caring for an unaccompanied minor.

In addition, the Dallas-based airline has plans to roll out a section on its website where parents can book their unaccompanied minors online. This is intended to save parents time by eliminating paperwork at the airport. The online service will be available April 23.

"We continuously evaluate our UM process to ensure that we deliver the best possible service to our young customers who are traveling alone," said Teresa Laraba, Southwest's senior vice president of customer services. "During a recent audit, we identified several opportunities, including the creation of an online booking tool for UMs and an enhancement in the employee training that comes along with handling our young passengers who are flying solo."

Unaccompanied minors on Southwest flights are children ages five to 11 who are traveling without an adult passenger.

In other Southwest news, the airline said it has terminated its codeshare agreement with WestJet, nixing a deal that had promised Southwest its first taste of international business.

If the agreement had withstood the test of time, it would have landed Southwest a link to international status by connecting the airline's service to WestJet flights heading to Canada.

DIA low-fare competitor Frontier Airlines offers service to Mexico and Costa Rica.

Southwest said WestJet had asked to modify its initial 2008 agreement with Southwest, and the airline could not “agree with the modifications to the confidential agreement.”

The Southwest-WestJet deal went sour earlier this month when WestJet announced it could be entering into a codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines. At the time, Southwest sounded the alarm, saying it had heard that Delta, as part of the deal, might transfer slots at New York’s LaGuardia to WestJet.

Southwest indicated that an agreement with another carrier could hurt the deal Southwest and WestJet had in place.

"We prefer the existing terms of our agreement with WestJet,” said Southwest’s executive vice president of strategy and planning Bob Jordan. “Upon reviewing the number of changes that WestJet has requested, we have decided that it is in the best interest of both parties to move forward independently.”

Southwest added it’s still interested in exploring opportunities to enter into the Canadian market, adding that partnerships with other Canadian carriers remain a possibility.

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A little more than a year after the Phoenix Business Journal reported that DeVry University was looking to open a campus in the West Valley, the school has chosen a spot in Glendale’s Westgate City Center.

DeVry will begin offering classes in July in about 18,000 square feet at 6751 N. Sunset Blvd., Glendale. This will be DeVry’s 95th location in 26 states and Canada, and its fourth in Arizona.

Plans call for offering undergraduate degree programs through its colleges of Business & Management and Engineering & Information Sciences.

DeVry’s Keller Graduate School of Management also will offer a number of master’s degree programs in business and technology in Glendale.

DeVry is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Jeff Blake, who served most recently as dean of Keller’s Phoenix campus and dean of graduate studies for the Phoenix metropolitan area, has been named dean of the Glendale campus. Before joining DeVry in January 2003, he was director of organizational development for Schwab University in Phoenix.

For more: www.devry.edu.

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The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday.

There were 496,000 initial job claims filed in the week ended Feb. 20, up 22,000 from a revised 474,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report. The prior week, there were 442,000 claims filed.

A consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected new claims to fall to 460,000.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 473,750, up 6,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 467,750.

"This is certainly not surprising given the very adverse weather conditions for the eastern half of the country, especially in the major population areas," said Robert Dye, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services. "Weather has a huge impact, particularly with things like construction, which remains very soft."

Over the past few weeks, the Northeast, particularly the Washington area, has been hit with snow storms, putting people out of work and resulting in a backlog of claims that the Labor Department wasn’t able to process until this week.

Excluding the weather’s impact, Dye would have expected initial claims to decline at "a healthy rate" of 10,000 to 20,000 last week.

Continuing claims: The government said 4,617,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended Feb. 13, the most recent data available. That’s up 6,000 from the preceding week’s revised 4,611,000 claims.

The 4-week moving average for ongoing claims rose by 4,250 to 4,600,750 from the previous week’s revised 4,596,500.

Continuing claims reflect people filing each week after their initial claim until the end of their standard benefits, which usually last 26 weeks guaranteed online payday loans. The figures do not include those people who have moved to state or federal extensions, or people whose benefits have expired.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed a $15 billion bill to spur job creation and give businesses tax breaks for hiring the unemployed, but the bill does not extend unemployment benefits.

More than 1 million people will run out of benefits after Feb. 28 if the application deadline is not extended. Lawmakers are trying to pass a short-term extension by the end of the week in order to give them time to enact a longer fix.

State-by-state: Unemployment claims in three states rose more than 1,000 for the week ended Feb. 13, the most recent data available. Claims in North Carolina jumped the most, by 5,897, which the state attributed to layoffs in the construction, furniture and mining industries.

A total of 13 states said claims fell by more than 1,000. Claims in California dropped the most, by 5,540, which the state said was due to fewer layoffs in the service industry.

Outlook: "I would expect that once we get into March and get beyond the weather-related effects, we’ll see continued improvement in overall jobless claims," said Dye.

He expects employment to pick up in the next couple of months as private sector hiring continues and the government boosts its hiring of temporary census workers.

"But bear in mind that the census workers are only temporary workers," said Dye. "The government’s hiring will ramp up through March, April and into May, and then it will ramp back down in the second half of the year." 

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Driven by growth in insurance services, outpatient medical care and physician services, operating income rose 13 percent or $130 million for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for the six-month period ending December 31, the hospital network announced on Friday.

During the same period, operating revenue rose $216 million to $4.062 billion for a 5.6 percent increase, while the operating margin for the health insurance and medical giant improved to 3.2 percent from 3 percent.

The system’s earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization were $326 million for the first half of the fiscal year, up from $292 million for the same period a year ago and on target to exceed $600 million for fiscal 2010.

The results were released during a difficult period for health care providers and as UPMC’s cost of providing free care and contributions to the community rise, said CFO Robert DeMichiei. UPMC’s cost of charity care rose 16 percent to $518 million from 2007 to 2008, the most recent period data were available.

Key metrics for the six-month period include insurance services, up 8 percent to more than 1.4 million members; outpatient revenue, up 5 percent; and physician services, up 11 percent. During the same period, UPMC’s $3 billion investment portfolio gained $228 million, for a return of 11.8 percent, said Treasurer C. Talbot Heppenstall. UPMC reported a loss of $786 million for the same period a year ago.

Separately, UPMC’s pending $1.175 billion bond refinancing will be used to substitute fixed for variable rate debt and lower interest costs, Heppenstall said. Allegheny County Councilman Charles McCullough has been in court seeking to stop the refinancing because of UPMC’s decision to close Braddock Hospital Jan. 31, but Heppenstall predicted the litigation would not be a factor.

The biggest challenges may be ahead for UPMC and other hospitals, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

In a report released last month, Moody’s maintained its negative outlook for the nonprofit health care industry overall. The outlook was revised to negative from stable in Nov. 2008 based on credit market problems.

“Over the next 12 to 18 months, we believe the relative abilities of different not-for-profit hospital management and governance teams will become more apparent as they face one of the toughest environments in decades,” the report stated.

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AWARDS

Communications and marketing agency Brighton won first place in the National Agri-Marketing Association’s Gateway Region competition for its work developing cottoncommunity.com, a social marketing site for cotton farmers.

Law firm Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP received the Legal Employer Diversity Recognition Award from the Black Law Students Association at Washington University.

EXPANDING
Maryland Heights-based Tagg Logistics is opening a new office in Reno, Nev., for distribution and packaging services.

Overland-based Clayco Inc., a real estate development, design and construction company, is opening a full service office in the Minneapolis area this year.

HELPING OUT

Ford Motor Co. and local Ford dealers raised $38,140 for St. Louis area schools through the "Drive One 4 UR School" program.

The Moneta Group Charitable Foundation donated $42,500 to area charities during 2009, bringing its total charitable donations during the past decade to more than $700,000.

St. Louis-based law firm Armstrong Teasdale LLP gave $2,878 to the American Red Cross after a "dress down" fundraising event.

OPENINGS

The Moore Law Firm LLC opened an office.

— 1001 Boardwalk Springs Place

Suite 111

O’Fallon, Mo. 63368

Phone: 636-887-5297

PROJECTS

Belleville-based Holland Construction Services Inc. is building a major expansion of Eckert’s Country Store and Restaurant in Belleville. The $5 million project, scheduled for completion later this year, will include a new store, an expansion of the Eckert’s Country Restaurant, more parking and a new outdoor plaza.

Edwardsville-based Contegra Construction Co. has completed a 42,500-square-foot, $2.5 million John Deere dealership in Scott City, Mo., for Wm. Nobbe and Co..

RECOGNITION

Don Downing, a principal in Gray, Ritter & Graham PC, was selected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

The Media Financial Management Association named Larry Rubin, partner-in-charge of Clayton-based RubinBrown’s media and entertainment services group, one of its People to Watch for 2010.

St. Louis-based Energizer Holdings Inc. and its partner Universal Power Group Inc. received Popular Mechanics magazine’s 2010 Editor’s Choice Award for the new Energizer All-in-One Auto Charger.

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National statistic agencies should have the same autonomy as central banks to avoid any attempts by government to influence economic data, said Enrico Giovannini, chairman of the Italy’s national statistics institute.

“Both the legal and financial independence of statistics should be guaranteed, as is the case for central banks,” Giovannini, 52, said in an interview. “Otherwise, there may always be ways to choke a statistics institute, such as cutting its funding, something which can’t happen with a central bank.”

For more than a quarter-century, independent central banks have been able to take painful and politically unpopular measures such as raising interest rates to restrain inflation. In the euro region, the European Central Bank and national central banks are banned by law to take or seek instructions from governments of the EU member states.

Officials in the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have repeatedly asked data agencies to stop spreading bad economic news and have questioned Istat’s methodology. In a June 24 speech, before Giovannini’s appointment, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti criticized the Rome-based institute’s methods for measuring unemployment, saying the survey overestimated joblessness.

Giovannini was chief statistician for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for eight years before taking over the Italian agency in July. He said that Italy should consider legislating the independence of the statistics agency as part of a debate on constitutional reforms.

Revisions of Greek economic data in October that showed the economy had been in recession for more than a year, rather than expanding as initially reported, demonstrate the urgency for statistics agencies to be autonomous, he said.

“The current practices are apparently not sufficient and need to be strengthened further,” Giovannini said. The “institutionalization of statistics should be aimed not so much at increasing technical reliability, but in raising the integrity and independence from political pressures.”

The credibility of Greece’s data had been previously questioned after revisions to budget deficit numbers. The European Commission in 2004 launched an investigation into Greece’s deficit after a revision of data revealed that, contrary to previous indications, the shortfall had exceeded the EU’s 3 percent of output ceiling ever since the country switched to the euro.

“The Greek case is unfortunately a repeat of what happened in 2004, when deficit and debt figures were questioned to the point that the European Commission established a code of good practice for official data,” Giovannini said. “This took place again despite the efforts put in place then by the EU’s statistics office Eurostat to monitor the Greek data.”

Greece’s credibility was further damaged by the government revising forecasts. Within weeks of the October elections, Prime Minister George Papandreou’s new government, said the 2009 budget deficit would be an EU-high of 12.7 percent of economic output, about twice the outgoing government’s prediction. The revision contributed to Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings cutting the country’s creditworthiness, which sent Greek bonds and stocks tumbling this month.

Giovannini replaced Luigi Biggeri as Istat chairman in July.

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WASHINGTON–Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen lead the insurance industry’s annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.

The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded its "top safety pick" on Wednesday to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength.

Ford Motor Co. and its Volvo unit received the most awards with six, followed by five awards apiece for Japanese automaker Subaru and German automaker Volkswagen AG and its Audi unit.

Chrysler Group LLC received four awards followed by two each for Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Co.

Toyota Motor Corp., BMW AG, Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. were shut out in the annual IIHS review.

Ford’s recipients include the Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS passenger cars and the Volvo S80 and C30 passenger cars and the XC60 and XC90 SUVs.

Ford said in a statement it is "committed to providing customers with safe vehicles for a broad range of real-world crash conditions.”

Subaru recorded winners with the Subaru Legacy, Outback and Impreza cars and Tribeca and Forester SUVs. Subaru was the only automaker with an IIHS winner in all four vehicle classes in which it competes.

The automaker, which has bucked the brutal U.S. sales market with a 13 per cent increase during the first 10 months of 2009, attributed its safety success to a unique engine design that sits low in the vehicle chassis and moves down and under occupants in a frontal collision.

Tom Doll, executive vice president and COO of Subaru of America, said the awards were a "tribute to the engineering that goes into Subaru products.”

Volkswagen scored with the 4-door versions of the Jetta, Passat and Golf, the Audi A3 and the Volkswagen Tiguan, a small SUV. Mark Barnes, Volkswagen of America’s chief operating officer, said the "safety of our cars is of the utmost concern, from the initial design stages all the way through the maintenance procedures at dealerships.”

Chrysler won the award for the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger sedans equipped with optional electronic stability control, the Dodge Journey midsize SUV and the Jeep Patriot with optional side thorax air bags loan until payday.

Scott Kunselman, Chrysler’s senior vice president-engineering, said the awards underscore the Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker’s “engineering capability and leadership in occupant protection.”

General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co. both received two awards. GM was recognized for the Buick LaCrosse and the Chevrolet Malibu while Honda won for 4-door versions of the Civic with optional electronic stability control and the Honda Element.

Other winners included the Nissan Cube, the Kia Soul and the Mercedes C Class.

The vehicles are selected for best protecting motorists in front, side and rear crash tests based on Institute evaluations during the year. The vehicles are required to have electronic stability control, or ESC, to qualify for the award. Earlier this year, the Institute said vehicles would need to receive its highest score in its roof strength evaluation to qualify the safety pick designation.

"With the addition of our roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all four of the most common kinds of crashes," said Institute president Adrian Lund. "Consumers can use this list to zero in on the vehicles that are on the top rung for safety.”

The Institute awarded its top prize to 94 vehicles in 2009 and attributed the decline in awards this year to the roof strength requirement. The Honda Accord and the Ford Fusion both dropped off the list because 2010 versions didn’t earn high enough scores on the roof test.

The Toyota Camry would have made the list, the Institute said, if it had received the highest rating in rear crash protection. The Institute said the Camry’s seats and head restraints were rated marginal for protection against whiplash injuries.

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On the Net:

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: http://www.iihs.org

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Bank of America Corp’s search for a new chief executive has been hurt by federal pay limits that played a major role in the senior vice chairman of PNC Financial Services Group Inc spurning feelers from the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

PNC’s William Demchak rejected a feeler from a recruiter for Bank of America last week, and the required approval of U.S. government pay czar Kenneth Feinberg for any compensation package was a major factor in the decision, the paper said, citing a person familiar with the situation.

The bank, which borrowed $45 billion from the government, would “get blasted” for buying out Demchak’s PNC shares, the unidentified source told the Journal. Demchak also did not see Bank of America’s situation as fixable given the government’s heavy influence, the paper said.

Feinberg declined to comment to the Journal, which also could not reach Bank of America Chairman Walter Massey.

Bank of America has argued the added regulation, like the pay czar’s compensation limits, hurts its ability to compete with other financial firms.

Those limits are expected to be in place for any successor to Kenneth Lewis, who is scheduled to retire at year end and gave up his 2009 salary and bonus at Feinberg’s request.

Other high-profile external candidates linked to the job — like Bank of New York Mellon’s CEO Bob Kelly and BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink — have either declined the post or denied interest to begin with. At least two internal candidates have expressed interest, according to reports.

Bank of America’s next chief faces a bevy of operational, regulatory and political challenges.

The bank is struggling to stem real estate and consumer credit losses while integrating two large businesses, mortgage lender Countrywide Financial and brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co.

On top of that, government regulators have issued a secret regulatory oversight agreement that overhauled Bank of America’s board and mandated pay cuts for some top employees.

The bank’s credit problems are the key to relieving the pressure of government involvement, analysts have said. Once the bank’s loan book stabilizes, it can start to pay back the money it borrowed from the U.S. government, which came with some serious strings attached including Feinberg’s control of compensation for top executives.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman, editing by Vicki Allen)

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