Biz Buzz

This just in …. BancorpSouth is expanding into New Albany, opening a branch later this year at the intersection of Highways 15 and 78.

Officials say they were looking at the city for quite some time, and with Toyota coming, it only made sense to move ahead with their plans.

I’m sure that’s very true.

But could it be, too, that it’s a little payback for BNA – the former Bank of New Albany – opening a branch in Belden a few months ago. Purely speculation, of course, but we’re not the first to hear that whisper.

Gov. Barbour is in Tupelo today to celebrate the grand opening of the N.E.W. customer service center that supports DirecTV. The center, which is at the Mississippi Complex at the Tupelo Furniture Market, could have as many as 500 employees in the next year or so. At least, that’s what company officials said back in September. Daily Journal business reporter Carlie Kollath will be covering the event this morning.

And later this afternoon in West Point, Ultralife, a battery company, is expected to announce that it is bringing about 30 jobs to the area. The company is working in conjunction with Mississippi State University.

It may be rainy and yucky outside, but news like this is always welcome.

In case you didn’t hear, Starbucks is slowing the expansion of its stores stateside, which number about a gazillion. However, it does plan to continue its invasion of foreign lands and open more overseas operation.

The company’s first-quarter profit rose by less than 2 percent. That’s pretty rough, compared to the double-digit rates it once enjoyed.

The Seattle-based coffee giant said it will open 425 fewer U.S. stores this year and open 75 more overseas than planned, for a global total of 2,150 new stores.

And, it’s closing 100 poorly performing stores and will quit serving warm breakfast sandwiches by the end of its 2008 fiscal year.

I can’t say I’m too disappointed with the news. In my humble opinion, the chain is overrated anyway. But they do a masterful job in marketing, there’s no denying that.

Our “friends” in OPEC - you know, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which decides on how much to open or close the oil spigots, said today that it doesn’t intend to raise production at its meeting Friday.

The reason? Reports of increased supplies in the U.S. Never mind that the numbers can change at any time, never mind that the price of crude was just over $50 a year ago and now they’re still around $90, never mind that spring is around the corner, which means driving season - and more demand - will be fueling (pardon the pun) high prices.

With “friends” like OPEC, who needs enemies?  OPEC says increased production would be “counterproductive” because there’s enough crude to meet the world’s needs.

They do have a point in that speculators have driven some of the price increases, and refining capacity should be increased, too.

But last year, when some OPEC folks were saying that $50 to $60 oil was acceptable, most of them now are saying $90 oil is fine. Of course they do.

Getting independent of foreign oil sounds better everyday, as does looking for alternative fuels.  Better than being thrown over a barrel (of oil).

The Daily Journal is looking for you…

As you hopefully are aware, we print a monthly Northeast Mississippi Business Journal, and each month we try to concentrate on a particular area. For March, the issue is about tourism and travel, and we have some good story ideas. We could use a few more, if you’re interested in passing them along.

But for April, we’re taking a look at family-owned businesses in the region. We know there are hundreds, probably thousands, out there with unique stories. Obviously, we can’t write about all of them, but we would like to feature a handful. Anything from retailing to restaurants to anything in between.

You don’t necessarily have to blog about it - you can also contact either Dennis or Carlie directly at the DJ. For Dennis, call 678-1578 or email him at dennis.seid@djournal.com. For Carlie, call 678-1598 or email her at carlie.kollath@djournal.com

Thanks for your help!

We knew it was coming, but didn’t expect it today. Gotta love surprises. From MarketWatch:

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Fearing that financial-market turmoil and a weak housing market could cause the economy to spiral downward, the Federal Reserve moved aggressively for the second time in eight days to lower interest rates and signaled it was ready to do more as needed.

The central bank lowered the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 3%. Financial markets were hoping that the Fed would decide to cut rates by this amount. The Fed has cut rates by 1.25 percentage points in eight days, the fastest pace in 20 years. Read the complete story.

Toyota is delaying the start of production at its Canadian plant for a few weeks to ensure the quality of its vehicles meets standards.

This is from today’s (Jan. 30) edition of the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper:

The start of production at the new Toyota Motor Corp. assembly plant in Woodstock, Ont., will be delayed several weeks as the auto maker tries to make sure the vehicles it produces meet high quality standards.

“We’re very optimistic that we’re going to have a good ramp up but I’m going to go slow,” Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc., said in an interview. “Quality first before anything.”

The new plant was originally scheduled to begin cranking out RAV4 crossover utility vehicles in September. Production will still begin this fall, Mr. Tanguay said, but the Canadian manufacturing division of Toyota wants improvements to environmentally friendly painting technology that has been used in the existing RAV4 plant in Japan.

Toyota is still optimistic about the state of the North American market and the prospects for the 150,000 vehicles that will come out of the $1.1-billion plant, he said.

Nonetheless, other Toyota officials have scaled back their expectations of the company’s sales in the U.S. market to growth of about 1 per cent this year from earlier predictions of 3 per cent or more. Read the complete story.
————-

Toyota’s $1.3 billion plant near Blue Springs, Miss. is scheduled to begin producing Highlander sport utility vehicles by 2010, with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles.

The world’s most ginormous retailer, Wal-Mart, is cutting back thousands of prices, just in time for the Super Bowl.

From MarketWatch:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., following an aggressive price-cutting move to win over holiday shoppers, is lowering prices this week by 10 percent to 30 percent on thousands of items to help shoppers save money against a backdrop of economic uncertainties, the retailing giant said Tuesday.

The savings, targeted especially at purchases for the Super Bowl weekend, will be available while supplies last, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said in an interview. They include so-called game-time items as well as health and home products.

Four Pepsi 12-packs, for example, are available for $10, a 30 percent price cut, O’Brien said. Wal-Mart said feeding a Super Bowl party of 10, with chips, pizza, chicken wings and sodas, will cost under $50.

The price cuts, which Wal-Mart calls “rollbacks,” are the “first of more to come while belts are tightening,” she said. “Everyone is in tough times right now.” The rollbacks, part of Wal-Mart’s strategy, are never permanent price cuts, O’Brien said. They usually last 60 to 90 days, she said.

Baldwyn-based Hancock Fabrics is continuing its fight against the state for how much tax money it owes. According to a filing with the SEC today, Hancock said its assessments total $15.8 million, and the company “believes this matter could currently be settled for approximately $2.8 million.” However, from the filing it seems Hancock is going to try to get a few zeros knocked off that figure.

An attorney involved in the litigation (on Hancock’s side) told Biz Buzz that Hancock has a hearing tomorrow afternoon to decide whether the case will be heard in Mississippi or in bankruptcy court in Maryland. How he relayed it to us, Hancock wants the bankruptcy court to hear the case because it will have its court date by the end of February. If it is tried in Mississippi, the attorney said, it could be a few months to a couple years before the courts hear it. And, Mississippi’s court will make Hancock pay a bond of a lot more than Hancock deems fair, the attorney said.

Read the entire filing here.

It seems there is a lack of communication in the Fairpark District. This morning, I got an e-mail from the Tupelo Redevelopment Agency saying a special meeting had been called for Thursday. Thirteen minutes later, I got another e-mail. Here’s what it says:

In lieu of the Mayor’s statement in the Daily Journal today regarding the location of the police station, Chairman Rogers has decided not to call a “Special Called” TRA meeting this Thursday.

Hmmm. Guess someone missed the workshop on inter-departmental communication.