The swelling housing recession and slower business spending are likely to result in 2007 economic growth slipping to 2.4 percent, the weakest pace in five years, according to Bloomberg. Mortgage defaults and rising foreclosures threaten the housing market, and falling business investment might restrict the number of jobs companies are willing to create, said 29 […]
The president and CEO of Evansville-based Escalade Inc. died yesterday of an apparent aneurysm. Daniel A. Messmer, 53, had led the sporting goods manufacturer and marketer since August. He joined the company in 1976. “We are all shocked and saddened by the unexpected passing of Mr. Messmer,” said Terry Frandsen, Escalade’s CFO, in a written […]
Keronite International Ltd., a British company with technology for putting hard surfaces on metals, has asked Greenwood for tax incentives to establish a plant with 29 jobs, according to the Daily Journal of Franklin. The plant would be located at Interstate 65 and Rocklane Road.
Tipton, the community north of Hamilton County, might become home to a Getrag Corporate Group transmission plant if the German company follows through on a plan it filed recently with the Tipton County Plan Commission. The plan calls for building a total of 700,000 square feet on 228 acres at U.S. 31 and State Road […]
Joblessness is ebbing in Indiana, but the reason might be driven more by people dropping out of the labor force than by workers soaking up new jobs. The state’s unemployment rate stayed stubbornly above 5 percent for four years. In the past few months, though, the rate mostly has stayed below 5 percent, U.S. Bureau […]
Mutual Bancorp Inc. of Sidney, Ohio, has been sold to Richmond Mutual Bancorporation for $19.8 million in cash, the parties said today. Richmond Mutual is the parent of First Bank Richmond in the eastern Indiana city and American Trust Federal Savings Bank in Peru. The Ohio institution has four offices north of Dayton, Ohio The […]
Krom River Partners, Mother Earth Investment AG and other investment firms are snapping up corn contracts as prices slip, according to Bloomberg. Corn prices fell after a March 30 report showed farmers plan a big increase in planting. However, large investors are turning bullish because the increase is not as large as traders expected. […]
Indianapolis is growing faster than Columbus, Ohio, and that concerns officials in the Ohio city, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Metro Indianapolis’ population increased 9.2 percent between 2000 and 2006 compared to 7 percent for the Columbus area; also, Indianapolis’ job numbers swelled 5.5 percent vs. Columbus’ 1.8 percent. Though Columbus has 59,500 more residents—1.73 […]
When IBJ newsgathering partner WISH-TV Channel 8 and cross-town rival WTHR-TV Channel 13 each won a Peabody award last week, it was a rare event for any television market, let alone Indianapolis, the 25th-largest television market. Only New York, Boston and Chicago also have seen two local stations win the prestigious award in the same […]
Eli Lilly and Co.’s optional severance package has been accepted by 200 of the 1,000 workers at its Tippecanoe Laboratories in Lafayette, according to The Journal & Courier of Lafayette. The Indianapolis drugmaker said in January it would offer the buyouts to 250 at the Lafayette site because it had too much capacity in biomolecules. […]
The peak of excess new houses for sale in the Indianapolis area passed about two months ago and is on track to be whittled to a normal level before September, predicts a Nashville, Tenn., company that researches housing stock in 30 Midwestern and Southern cities. Edsel Charles, who owns Market Graphics in Nashville, Tenn., said […]
One of the fastest-growing sectors in the Indianapolis area is fueled by the region’s burgeoning warehouses and trucking companies. The industries have added 4,500 jobs in the past four years to bring the February total to 50,900, according to figures compiled by Ball State University. That’s a nearly 10-percent increase compared to the 5.4-percent gain […]
Indianapolis slipped to 27th from 10th in Forbes’ latest annual ranking of the best places for business and careers. The magazine rated 200 cities on growth in jobs and incomes, living costs, crime, work force education and other criteria. Raleigh, N.C., placed first. Indy Partnership, which markets the Indianapolis area to prospective businesses, issued a […]
Seventeen of the 37 malls that Simon Property Group and a partner reaped by acquiring shopping mall owner The Mills Corp. will be operated as a "separate retail real estate platform," Simon said today. The 17 properties merge traditional mall, outlet center, big box and entertainment uses, and will be managed and leased from an office […]
L&D Mail Masters Inc., a New Albany direct mail and logistics firm, plans to add 46 jobs to its roster of 98 and build a 71,000-square-foot warehouse. The project in the city near Louisville will cost $4.2 million. L&D received $415,000 in state and local incentives, Indiana Economic Development Corp. said.
Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire whose Tracinda Corp. last year withdrew an attempt to gain control of General Motors Corp., has offered $4.5 billion to buy Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler AG. Chrysler would be operated as a stand-alone company, Tracinda said in a letter to the German automaker, according to Bloomberg. However, a new contract would need […]
The Great Lakes Chemical Corp. office and research-and-development facility in West Lafayette might be hit by layoffs planned by its Middlebury, Mass., parent, Chemtura Corp. Chemtura said yesterday that it plans to lay off 620, or 10 percent, of its global work force as part of a restructuring aimed at gaining closer access to customers. […]
Cities that set buying trends for the rest of the country increasingly are turning to foreign cars despite General Motors Corp.’s attempts to win back buyers. Sales of Chevrolets, Buicks and other GM brands are slipping in places like New York, Los Angeles and Miami as the Detroit automaker pours resources into reinforcing an image […]
WISH-TV Channel 8, IBJ ’s newsgathering partner, has won a Peabody award for an investigative series showing how a $30 helmet pad could save soldiers’ lives in a blast. WTHR-TV Channel 13 received a Peabody for exposing problems with the state’s tornado warning system, and a second for showing how area pharmacies discarded patient subscription […]
Roche Group has spent $600 million to buy full ownership of BioVeris Corp. of Gaithersburg, Md., gaining control of BioVeris’ diagnostic technology. The Swiss company’s U.S. subsidiary, Indianapolis-based Roche Diagnostics, had licensed the electrochemiluminescence technology in machines it sold to hospitals and commercial laboratories—but was limited to diagnosing human diseases. The acquisition, which is expected […]
