Category: Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

Roadhouse stock hits new record high; Yum shares climb 3% on second-quarter earnings report; and Trump reportedly picks Indiana’s Pence for VP

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 5:02 p.m.

Texas Roadhouse vs S&P
Texas Roadhouse stock (blue) outgunned the S&P 500 index over the past year.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE shares traded at a new record high today: $47.33, before closing slightly lower at $47.02, up 36 cents, or less than 1%. The company’s stock is up 24% from a year ago vs. a much smaller 4.2% gain in the broader S&P 500 index.

YUM‘s stock closed moments ago at $88.27 a share, up $2.53, or 3% on a better-than-expected second-quarter earnings report, released after markets closed yesterday afternoon. The fast food restaurant giant also raised its profit outlook for all of 2016 to 17% from an earlier 12%. Shares have been roaring so far this year, jumping 17% vs. a smaller 5% gain in the broader S&P 500 index (Google Finance).

KFC: The Kentucky Fried Chicken Foundation will award $1.2 million in college assistance to 600 hourly restaurant employees across the country this month (Portsmouth Daily Times).

FORD declared a regular quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share, payable Sept. 1 to shareholders of record July 28 (press release). The automaker also said it will release second-quarter financial results at 7 a.m. ET on July 28 (press release). Ford shares closed at $13.59, up 11 cents, or less than 1%. The current dividend yield is generous 4.4%.

AMAZON said it will hold a conference call to discuss its second-quarter results July 28 at 5:30 p.m. ET; the report itself will be released shortly after markets close that day (press release).

Smaller noose

UPS: About 15 people gathered yesterday outside the shipper’s Maumee, Ohio, distribution center to protest two nooses (photo, left) found hanging in the building, after photographs circulated widely on Facebook and Twitter.

“We want justice. We want accountability,” Julian Mack told WTVG. “There’s no place for nooses in Lucas County.”

Company spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg said UPS had confirmed the nooses’ presence, and fired the worker responsible when he arrived for work Tuesday evening. Maumee is 18 miles southwest of Toledo. (Blade and WTVG).

Trump and Pence
Trump and Pence.

In other news, presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump will choose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, multiple media outlets are now reporting, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The New York billionaire’s choice of Pence had been widely expected in recent days in advance of the start of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, starting Monday.

Latest Headlines

Yum shares jump on sweetened profit forecast; UPS reportedly considering Louisville for new $65M project; and new Jack Daniel’s video is virtual reality

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 10:11 p.m.

YUM reported a big increase in second-quarter profit on a rebound in its big China unit, and raised its forecast for core operating profit growth for the full year. Shares surged 4.6% to $89.65 in extended trading on the report, which was released after markets closed.

For the period ended June 11, Yum reported earnings of $339 million, or 81 cents a share vs. $235 million, or 53 cents a share, a year ago, according to MarketWatch. Excluding costs related to the planned separation of the China business and other items, profit rose to 75 cents a share vs. 69 cents.

Revenue, which includes franchise and license fees, fell 3% to $3.01 billion. It was the third consecutive quarterly decline. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected 74 cents a share on $3.09 billion in revenue.

Greg Creed
Creed

In its forecast, the Louisville-based fast-food giant said it now expects 14% growth from a year ago; the earlier forecast had been a smaller 12%. In a statement, CEO Greg Creed cited a rebound of its China business during the first half of the year. “I’m particularly pleased with the continued sales momentum at KFC China, which delivered better-than-expected same-store sales growth of 3% (MarketWatch and press release).

UPS is reportedly considering Louisville for a new $65 million 180,000-square-foot vehicle packaging facility with automated sorting equipment. But the shipper also is eyeing Jacksonville, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn., and Miami-Dade County. The project emerged in an application UPS filed with Miami-Dade seeking tax incentives to locate it in the northwest part of the county (Atlanta Business Chronicle). UPS is Louisville’s biggest private employer, with 22,000 workers at its Louisville International Airport hub.

AMAZON has passed an important threshold for invented holidays: Continue reading “Yum shares jump on sweetened profit forecast; UPS reportedly considering Louisville for new $65M project; and new Jack Daniel’s video is virtual reality” →

Latest Headlines

Humana stock jumps for second day; Amazon Prime Day sales soared, and yuck: Man chases Jack with bottle of Elmer’s glue

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:38 p.m.

Ford 2017 Escape
The 2017 Ford Escape built in Louisville took top honors in Cars.com’s annual compact SUV challenge.

HUMANA‘s stock closed moments ago up 4.3% at $161.30, posting its second consecutive day of gains. The beleaguered stock has been buffeted since last week’s surprising news that top executives met Department of Justice anti-trust officials in a last-ditch effort to keep the insurer’ $37 billion merger with Aetna on track (Google Finance).

The New York state insurance regulator has conditionally approved the deal, one of the last state sign-offs needed, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. The approval is significant because New York is one of the nation’s biggest insurance markets. Alongside the Justice Department, state insurance regulators have been conducting their own assessments, which are in some cases required before a transaction can proceed (Bloomberg).

The Louisville insurer is adding 70 telesales jobs to its existing 305 in Middleton, Wisc., to meet anticipated demand for the upcoming Medicare open enrollment period, Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 (Wisconsin State Journal).

KINDRED: Arkansas state lawmakers are giving mixed reviews to the state’s plan to sell its in-home health care services program to Kindred for $39 million, a deal closing Aug 1. Kindred submitted the highest bid of the six bidders and got the highest scores in the state Health Department’s bid evaluation (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette).

UPS fired an employee at its Maumee distribution center yesterday after investigating a photo posted on Facebook purporting to show a noose hanging inside the northeast Ohio facility. It’s unclear whether the employee taking the photo was fired, or the person responsible for the noose itself. Maumee is 18 miles southwest of Toledo (Toledo Blade).

AMAZON said yesterday’s second annual Prime Day Continue reading “Humana stock jumps for second day; Amazon Prime Day sales soared, and yuck: Man chases Jack with bottle of Elmer’s glue” →

Latest Headlines

Taco Bell to open flagship Cantina on Las Vegas Strip; Pizza Hut launches a chatbot ordering system; and Humana stock edges higher, breaking downward spiral

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 5:34 p.m.

Taco_Bell_Las_Vegas_Flagship_Restaurant
Artist’s rendering shows new two-story Las Vegas restaurant.

TACO BELL this afternoon announced plans to build a two-story 24-hour flagship Cantina in Las Vegas right on the Strip at East Harmon Avenue, across from CityCenter and The Cosmopolitan Hotel; it’s expected to open this fall and will be the third in the growing Cantina division. Like other Cantinas, the Las Vegas restaurant will serve alcohol, including beer and Twisted Freezes slushies. Taco Bell introduced the Cantina concept last year with two urban locations, in a bid to draw younger diners with a more tech-focused ordering system and design. Of the 2,000 Taco Bell restaurants planned to be built by 2022, 200 will be urban locations, a typically underrepresented geography for the brand (press release).

Cantina debuted in Chicago last September, and a San Francisco outpost followed a few weeks later. After Las Vegas, Taco Bell plans to take the concept to Atlanta, and further expansion is in the works for college towns and dense urban areas across the country (Eater). Twisted Freezes come in three flavors: Taco Bell’s proprietary Mountain Dew Baja Blast (blue), Cantina Punch (red), and Margarita (green). Patrons can add their choice of rum, tequila or vodka (Chicago Eater).

Baron Concors
Concors

PIZZA HUT announced a new artificial intelligence chatbot that works within Facebook Messenger, and on Twitter, part of a massive roll-out the company is calling “social media ordering.” Chief Digital Officer Baron Concors demonstrated the chatbot at MobileBeat 2016 during a session on chatbot innovations. The new bot can handle pizza and other food delivery orders from customers who have Pizza Hut accounts, streamlining the process, improving accuracy, and eliminating wait-times. It will be available starting next month (Venture Beat and press release).

HUMANA‘s stock closed moments ago at $154.65 a share, up less than 1% — still, the first up day since news broke last week that the insurer and Aetna of Hartford were struggling to keep their $37 billion merger on track during an unexpected meeting with the Justice Department. Aetna’s stock fell less than 1%, closing at $115.50 (Google Finance). None of the parties in the DOJ negotiations Friday have publicly disclosed the outcome. Humana has 12,500 employees in Louisville.

AMAZON: Some shoppers encountered a glitch Continue reading “Taco Bell to open flagship Cantina on Las Vegas Strip; Pizza Hut launches a chatbot ordering system; and Humana stock edges higher, breaking downward spiral” →

Latest Headlines

Humana dives another 3% as investors watch DOJ fallout; and prison time for N.C. man who duped ad agencies over fake Brown-Forman contract

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 5:30 p.m.

AdWeek cover
Ad exec fraudster appears on trade weekly’s just-published cover this week.

HUMANA‘s shares fell another 2.6%, or $4.15, to close at $154, as investors watched developments at the Louisville company and proposed acquirer Aetna, after executives mounted an 11th-hour battle Friday before antitrust officials to save the companies’ $37 billion merger. Aetna’s shares closed down 0.5%, or 56 cents, to $116.44. Last week, Humana tumbled 11% and Aetna a smaller 2% after news first leaked about the Department of Justice talks on Thursday (Google Finance). The company’s charitable foundation today announced a $225,000 grant to the Louisville Urban League to launch “It Starts with Me.” The insurer’s employees will visit the California, Parkland, Russell and Shawnee neighborhoods, helping families get health insurance, connect participants with support resources and find after-school activities for children (WLKY). Based in Louisville, Humana employs 12,500 employees in the city.

BROWN-FORMAN: A former North Carolina advertising executive was sentenced to 57 to 81 months in prison for defrauding two ad agencies in a scheme where he faked a series of contracts in 2012 with Brown-Forman and Coca-Cola Co. supposedly worth $269.9 million. The man, Bill Grizack, went so far as to create email addresses with domains closely resembling addresses of actual Brown-Forman employees, and used “burner” cellphones for made-up  conversations with the whiskey giant (AdWeek).

Rick Bubenhofer
Bubenhofer

Former Brown-Forman public relations chief Rick Bubenhofer has opened a boutique public relations agency, RBPR, with offices in Louisville and New York (TR Business).

In Nashville, the distiller’s Jack Daniel’s unit later this month is opening its first branded retail store outside its corporate home in Lynchburg, Tenn. Called the Nashville General Store, the outlet will sell clothing to barware and custom-made musical instrument displays. But it won’t sell whiskey because the store would need a liquor license (Tennessean via USA Today).

The Filson Historical Society is nearing completion of a $12 million expansion and renovation project partly underwritten with nearly $600,000 in contributions from Brown-Forman’s founding Brown family. The project includes a new, 20,000-square-foot Owsley Brown II History Center honoring the late Brown-Forman CEO. Founded in 1884, Filson is devoted to Kentucky and Ohio River Valley history and culture (Courier-Journal). Here’s a drone’s eye view of the project:

AMAZON Prime members now make up more than half the online retailer’s customer base, according to a new study. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates Amazon counts 63 million Prime members among its shoppers — an increase of 19 million from last June (Fortune). Amazon stock traded at a new intraday high of $755.90 before giving back some; shares closed at $753.78, up $7.97, or 1%. Investors are anticipating tomorrow’s second annual Prime Day super sale; the stock closed at $. The retailer’s stock has soared 70% from a year ago vs. a much smaller 2.8% gain in the S&P 500 index. The company employs a total 6,000 workers at distribution centers in Jeffersonville and Shepherdsville.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE‘s stock also traded intraday at a new record 52-week high, $46.83, but closed at $46.54, up $1.12, or 2.5%.

Latest Headlines

This New Zealand journalist ate a daily pizza for 222 days — 350,000 calories! — and has Pizza Hut to thank; plus, a Ford truck job seeker’s cautionary tale

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 11:56 a.m.

 

Richard Meadows‘ plan began simply enough: The Auckland journalist was feeling weak and out of shape, with nagging injuries that hobbled his amateur career in strength sports.

“What better way to restore myself to peak physical condition,” he writes in a first-person account in this morning’s Star-Times newspaper, “than to hit the gym hard while devouring an entire pizza every day? With a whopping 1,600 calories and a decent chunk of protein, the Domino’s $5 range represented absurdly good value for money.”

But then social media, plus a tad bit of Meadows’ oversharing, led to a betrayal by an unhappy Domino’s — throwing a wrench in his plan. “To commemorate my 100th pizza, I’d posted a photo to their Facebook page, reclining on the boxes I’d collected and sharing a few highlights from the journey to date: ‘Bowel movements now arrive every hour on the hour, and the cheese nightmares are becoming less frequent!'”

His post racked up several thousand “likes” that same night. But when he woke up the next morning, “my heartfelt tribute had been deleted without explanation,” he said. “The relationship was over.”

Pizza Hut boxThat’s when Meadows — who also documented his caloric journey on Instagram — turned to a Pizza Hut restaurant on Dominion Road in Auckland. Within days, he and the manager, identified only as Hriday, were on first-name terms. “Hriday never judged me for my gluttonous ways, and we soon built a rapport. He worked long hours, and Sunday was his only day off. If I went to a different branch during the week, he would worry.”

Meadows called the project done on Day 222, a number that had a nice symmetry to it, and he got a final blood test to mark the occasion. “After taking in over 350,000 calories of the stuff, my vital signs improved in almost every measurable way,” he says. “How can this be?” Continue reading “This New Zealand journalist ate a daily pizza for 222 days — 350,000 calories! — and has Pizza Hut to thank; plus, a Ford truck job seeker’s cautionary tale” →