Biz Buzz

Furniture Brands International, whose companies include Lane, Broyhill, Drexel-Heritage and Maitland-Smith, has seen its shares drop today after Raymond James cut its rating on FBN from “outperform” to “market perform”.

From the Associated Press, here’s what RJ analyst Budd Bugatch said in a note to investors. But what he says about the industry as a whole really isn’t all that surprising:

We had admittedly been to optimistic for far too long, consumer demand for big ticket home furnishings seems likely to remain weak for the balance of 2008 and well into 2009 due to persistent weakness in housing, higher gasoline prices, plummeting consumer confidence and generally deteriorating economic trends.”

Morgan Keegan analyst Laura A. Champine said across the sector, the second-quarter results are likely to be below expectations, the AP reported.

We believe investors should reduce exposure to the home products sector, as the valuations of many of our companies remain unattractive reltive to potential long-term growth rates,” she wrote.

She rates Furniture Brands “Market Perform”

No, it’s not looking very good right now for the furniture industry, but that’s not news, really. We’ve seen it going on for the past couple of years.

Officials have confirmed that the Action/Lane Furniture plant in Pontotoc is closing, affecting some 230 workers at the facility.

Pontotoc Mayor Bill Rutledge said it was “a bad day” for Pontotoc, but indicated there was a little good news coming from the announcement that might soften the blow.

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security also said it was ready to send a Rapid Response Team to help employees. An official said it had contacted the company.

For more details, check Saturday’s edition of the Daily Journal.

At CDF’s job fair yesterday, the booths for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi and its suppliers - Auto Parts Manufacturing Mississippi and Toyota Boshoku Mississippi - were busy busy busy.

All of the reps I spoke with said they were losing their voices - and they still had three hours of the job fair left. And with an estimated 2,000 people at the fair, the inevitable question is what is Toyota looking for?

Here’s the list of qualities Toyota said it wants in its employees:

• Ability to work and thrive in an environment that is fast-paced, data-driven and emphasizes consensus decision making.
• High level of work ethic and job satisfaction.
• Strict attention to detail.
• Highly adaptable and flexible.
• Conscientious with attendance and punctuality.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Initiative.

Toyota currently is hiring (job opportunities), but will start taking the bulk of applications for its production team members later this year.

No new Toyota-related jobs this week on Job Central or Mojo (previous coverage). But you still have your pick of almost 100 job opportunities, not including listings with the other industries in the area.

Job Central:
It looks like the Toyota folks have been busy hiring. We’re now down to 17 jobs from 28 last month. Positions include:
• Paint Production Assistant Manager
• Stamping Engineering Specialist
• Body Weld Production Group Leader
• Quality Body Operations Assistant Manager
• Paint Maintenance Group Leader
Click here and search for “Toyota” to find out more info and to apply. Note that you will get a few jobs for auto techs at dealerships.

On MOJO:
• Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi still has 60 jobs listed. Job opps include tool and die maintenance, facilities maintenance and multi-skilled maintenance.
• Auto Parts Manufacturing MS (supplier in Baldwyn) still has nine jobs listed. Job opps include maintenance team leader and tool & die maintenance team leader.
• Toyota Boshoku (supplier near Fulton) still has five job openings. Titles include department manager, maintenance manager and quality manager.
• In addition, SeverCorr (Columbus), Golden Triangle Mills Service (Columbus) and ACCO Inc. (Booneville) have job openings listed. GE-Aviation in Batesville is hiring as well.
Click here for more info and to apply.

According to the Graduate Management Admission Council, the MBA Careers Services Council and the European Foundation for Management Development, people with MBA degrees will find that companies are hiring you.

Here’s some info from the release:

The proportion of respondents to the annual GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey who are preparing to hire new MBAs is higher this year than it was in 2007. Seventy percent of recruiters in the survey are in the market for people with MBAs, compared with 64 percent last year. Additionally, the expected projected number of new hires per employer is slightly up, from an average of 12 new MBA hires to 13 new MBA hires.

Through economic slow downs, as well as expansions, organizations see value in the skills that MBAs bring to the table,” said David A. Wilson, president and CEO of the Graduate Management Admission Council. “Even as there is serious retrenchment going on at investment houses, more companies in the finance and accounting industry plan to hire MBAs than did last year. About 18% more health-care companies plan to hire MBAs than did last year.”
Most employers expect salaries to rise at the rate of inflation or better despite a rough economic climate that is seeing many firms retrench. The projected starting annual salary for new MBA hires in 2008 averages $83,541, up from $80,452 last year. In the U.S., projected average starting annual salaries is $85,581, up from $81,483.