Greg Andrews – Indianapolis Business Journal

BEHIND THE NEWS: The sagest of investors takes drubbing on WellPoint bet

July 14, 2008

Here’s some news that might be comforting as you fret over your depleted stock portfolio: Even Warren Buffett, the oracle of Omaha, gets it wrong sometimes. At least he’s wrong so far on Well-Point Inc., the giant Indianapolis-based health insurer. His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. began scooping up shares in the company in the first quarter of 2007. By June of last year, it had acquired 4.2 million shares. And by the end of the first quarter of this year-the latest…

Law firm pays $50,000, ending $18M nightmare

July 8, 2008

An Indianapolis law firm has paid $50,000 to the Indiana Department of Insurance in a deal that extricates it from an $18 million jury verdict stemming from the collapse of a health insurance trust. The department released Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe from the massive judgment that a Marion County jury handed down against the […]

BEHIND THE NEWS: Finish Line’s stock surge salves investors’ wounds

July 7, 2008

Finish Line Inc. always has been a volatile stock. Jump in at the right time and make a bundle. Pick the wrong time and take a bath. To be sure, investors who had the foresight to invest during Finish Line’s darkest days early this year-when it seemed inevitable that the company would have to close on the $1.5 billion acquisition of Tennessee-based Genesco Inc.-fall in the former category. Since hitting an all-time low of $1.48 a share Jan. 10, the…

BEHIND THE NEWS: $18M nightmare continues for law firm on east side

June 16, 2008

When a Marion County jury two years ago issued an $18 million malpractice judgment against an east-side Indianapolis law firm, the figure was almost too large to believe. Surely this was the kind of zany jury verdict that an appeals court would swiftly overturn. No such luck. The Indiana Court of Appeals last month upheld the verdict against Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe. And now attorneys for the plaintiff, the Indiana Department of Insurance, are tightening the screws. They’re asking…

Update: ATA, FedEx spar over airline’s failure

June 12, 2008

ATA Airlines Inc. says in a lawsuit filed yesterday that FedEx Corp. knew that its decision to drop ATA from its military-charter team would destroy the airline. “ATA representatives … warned FedEx that its decision, if not reversed, would be the ruination of ATA,” according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. […]

ATA sues FedEx over canceled military contract

June 11, 2008

ATA Airlines Inc. on Wednesday sued FedEx Corp., charging it wrongfully canceled a military-charter contract that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for ATA. The suit charges that FedEx had been legally obligated to keep ATA on its military-charter team at least until September 2009. Even so, FedEx in January notified ATA that […]

Bankrupt ATA may sue ex-partner FedEx

June 9, 2008

ATA Airlines Inc. largely blames FedEx Corp. for knocking it out of business this spring. Now, the bankrupt airline is preparing
to fight back by suing the Memphis cargo giant, charging it wrongfully canceled a military-charter contract that generated
hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for ATA.

BEHIND THE NEWS: Steak n Shake roadblock sends dissident on detour

June 9, 2008

Since he began scooping up shares of The Steak n Shake Co. last year, dissident investor Sardar Biglari has been forthright about his intentions. Perhaps to a fault. The Texan’s investor group in January laid out its strategy in a 10-page letter. First, it would push to elect two of its representatives to the nine-member board at the annual meeting. Then, it would ask shareholders to call a special meeting, where he hoped they would replace the majority of the…

BEHIND THE NEWS: ‘Cautious’ truck insurer collides with shareholder

June 2, 2008

Baldwin & Lyons Inc. has been publicly traded for nearly four decades. For most of that span, the Indianapolis company has gone quietly about its business of providing insurance for truck fleets. And investors who went along for the ride generally fared well. But recent months have been bumpy. Baldwin is in the tricky game of setting premiums, then hoping claims come in low enough to ensure a profit. The company’s financial results of late have been worse than expected….

Investor blasts Baldwin & Lyons’ strategy

May 20, 2008

A New York-based investment firm today said that locally based insurer Baldwin & Lyons Inc. is wildly overcapitalized and encouraged the company to use its surplus to make a large dividend to shareholders. Loeb Partners, which owns 5.4 percent of the trucking insurer’s Class B stock, estimated that the company has $22 million in excess […]

BEHIND THE NEWS: Area’s humdrum economy now looking pretty good

May 12, 2008

Hoosier executives aren’t exactly crowing about the Indianapolis-area economy these days. But they’re painting a brighter picture than you might think, especially compared with the carnage they see in what used to be the nation’s hottest markets. Here’s what Simon Property Group CEO David Simon, not one to lavish idle praise, said during a February conference call with analysts: “I think the Midwest has been flat for I don’t know how many years, other than Indianapolis. Indianapolis seems to be…

BREAKING: Roche moving 300 local jobs to Germany

May 5, 2008

Roche Diagnostics announced late this afternoon that it was transferring 300 local jobs to Germany. The company, which employs 2,800 locally, said moving the jobs-most of which are in operations and R&D-makes sense because similar positions already are there. Swiss-based Roche makes pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. The jobs are expected to shift to Germany over […]

BEHIND THE NEWS: Locally based oil refiner sees boom times vanish

May 5, 2008

Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP, the low-profile Indianapolis-based oil refiner, has been confronting challenges lately that would fray the nerves of even the most seasoned executive. First, the business is grappling with a huge spike in crude oil prices-the main input for its three Louisiana refineries, which churn out vehicle and jet fuel, along with solvents, waxes and other specialty petroleum products. Then there’s the delay-plagued expansion of its Shreveport refinery, which began in late 2006. The project was supposed…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Is it time for investors to bite on Steak n Shake?

April 28, 2008

It takes courage, but sometimes the best time to invest in a stock is when almost no one else is. That strategy paid off royally with Finish Line Inc., whose shares are up 180 percent this year. Now, is the time right to dive into The Steak n Shake Co.? To be sure, naysayers can find plenty of reasons to steer clear of Steak n Shake, which helps explain why shortsellers-investors who make their money when shares fall-have flocked to…

$19M deal leaves 3 price-fixing defendants

April 25, 2008

After negotiating a $19 million settlement with Illinois-based Southfield Corp., class-action attorneys are pressing ahead with claims against three other concrete companies accused of price fixing that so far have not agreed to a deal. The civil case is an outgrowth of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation several years ago that found local concrete […]

BEHIND THE NEWS: Plans in beaten-down state test HHGregg’s strategy

April 21, 2008

HHGregg Inc.’s audacious expansion strategy is about to get its biggest test. Since 1999, the Indianapolis-based electronics and appliance retailer has charged into eight new metro areas, adding 78 stores in such markets as Atlanta; Knoxville, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Charlotte, N.C. The company doesn’t tiptoe in. It starts with multiple stores to justify the cost of building distribution infrastructure and launching an advertising blitz. The strategy has allowed it to swiftly build major market shares everywhere it’s gone. Now,…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Out of the spotlight, Indy’s other airline soaring

April 14, 2008

ATA Airlines may have crashed and burned. But the other Indianapolis carrier is flying high. Republic Airways Holdings Inc. earned $83 million in 2007, and profit might approach $100 million this year, according to the investment firm Raymond James. Revenue cracked $1 billion in 2006 and might surpass $1.5 billion this year. This at a time analysts are wringing their hands over which airline might be next to go bankrupt and cease operations. Skybus, Aloha Airlines and the hometown airline…

Genesco to distribute Finish Line stock

April 7, 2008

Genesco Inc. won’t be a major Finish Line Inc. stockholder for long. Tennessee-based Genesco received a 12-percent stake in Indianapolis-based Finish Line under a settlement the two companies negotiated last month. The pact canceled the agreement Finish Line struck in June 2007 to buy Genesco for $1.5 billion. Regulatory filings show the settlement requires that […]

BEHIND THE NEWS: 2 tech firms planning IPOs get curveball from markets

March 31, 2008

Aprimo Inc. and ExactTarget Inc. haven’t had to weather the recent stock-market turmoil. Not directly, at least. But the two Indianapolis software companies-which filed plans for IPOs last fall, when markets were comparatively serene-surely would have made their public debuts by now if conditions had remained favorable. Lately, they’ve been anything but. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite is off 12 percent in the year. And the volatility of the Dow Jones industrial average is enough to make anyone queasy. One day,…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Buybacks come back to haunt WellPoint

March 24, 2008

For most of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.’s six years as a public company, it’s been a Wall Street darling. Even with the company’s stock down by nearly half since January, it still boasts sterling long-term performance. Since their October 2001 debut, the shares have appreciated 120 percent, obliterating the 18-percent advance of the S&P 500. But that’s yesterday’s news. Management has been on the hot seat since March 10, when the company announced it was slashing its earnings forecast because medical…

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