Tag: UPS

Latest Headlines

Amazon’s Prime Air edges closer to takeoff (watch out, UPS); Ford China sales hit July record; and U.S. added 255K jobs in July, beating forecasts

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 9:06 p.m.

Prime Air plane
Amazon’s new Prime Air 767 is operated by Atlas Air.

AMAZON today is showcasing its first branded air cargo plane during Seafair’s Air Show, an annual community celebration in the retail giant’s Seattle hometown. The Boeing 767-300, operated by Amazon’s air cargo provider Atlas Air, is flying in the show for thousands of Seattle residents and employees. In May, Amazon said it would lease 20 of the planes from Atlas for its nascent air delivery service. The 767’s appearance, complete with the company’s Prime Air livery, is the latest step in Amazon’s drive to take control of every phase of its logistics as it becomes both a customer and competitor of UPS, FedEx and other shippers (press release). Amazon and UPS are both big employers in the Louisville area; UPS has 22,000 workers at its Louisville International Airport hub, and Amazon employs 6,000 at distribution centers in Jeffersonville and Shephardsville.

Walmart’s reported negotiations to buy Amazon competitor Jet.com for around $3 billion would only put a small dent in the Seattle retailer (The Street). More news about the rumored Walmart-Jet talks.

UPS filed its detailed quarterly 10-Q financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission today (SEC document).

FORD: Despite China’s slowing economy, Ford and its joint venture partners sold 88,189 vehicles there last month — a record — up 15% compared to a year ago (press release). Also, the automaker yesterday recalled approximately 830,000 vehicles to replace side door latches that may not be operating properly; the recall includes vehicles made in Louisville. They are 2013-15 Ford C-MAX, 2013-15 Ford Escape, 2012-15 Ford Focus, 2015 Ford Mustang and Lincoln MKC, and 2014-16 Ford Transit Connect vehicles sold or ever registered in certain U.S. states (press release). In Louisville, Ford employs nearly 10,000 workers at the Louisville Assembly Plant and Kentucky Truck Factory.

Naked Chicken Chalupa
Headed for menus nationwide.

TACO BELL will roll out its new Naked Chicken Chalupa — a taco with a shell made of fried chicken — across the country next year after testing it on the West and East Coasts (Brand Eating).

Trump and KFC
Not finger-lickin’.

KFC: Late Night host Seth Meyers joined other comedians ribbing GOP White House nominee Donald Trump this week, zeroing in on Continue reading “Amazon’s Prime Air edges closer to takeoff (watch out, UPS); Ford China sales hit July record; and U.S. added 255K jobs in July, beating forecasts” →

Latest Headlines

UPS hits Q2 forecasts; Papa John’s hikes dividend 14%; it’s National Chicken Wing Day at KFC; and Franklin Circuit judge blocks new UofL board, casting school into more turmoil

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:56 p.m.

UPS just reported second-quarter results that were in line with Wall Street’s forecasts. The shipper — Louisville’s single-biggest private employer — reported net income of $1.27 billion, or $1.43 a share, up from $1.23 billion, or $1.35 a share, in the year-earlier period. The FactSet consensus of analysts was for earnings per share of $1.43.

Revenue was $14.6 billion, up from $14.1 billion in the year-earlier period and in line with the FactSet consensus of $14.6 billion. The shipper reiterated its full year EPS guidance of $5.70 to $5.90, compared to the FactSet consensus of $5.80 (MarketWatch and press release). UPS shares closed at $108.10, down 63 cents. The company employs 22,000 workers at the Worldport hub at Louisville International Airport — the biggest fully automated package handling facility in the world.

John Schnatter
Schnatter

PAPA JOHN’S late yesterday boosted its quarterly dividend by a whopping 14%. The new 20-cents-a-share payout, up from 17.5 cents a share, will be paid Aug. 19 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 8 (press release). The pizza giant’s shares closed today at $73.95, up 30 cents. On an annual basis, the 10 cents-per-share hike is worth another $1,045,598 to founder and CEO John Schnatter. His 10,455,981 shares — the most owned by anyone — are now worth $770 million. Shareholders proxy report lists all major holders.

KFC: In the U.K. and Ireland only today, fast-chicken giant KFC today will give away a year’s supply of hot chicken wings to one very lucky winner and their best mate in a promotion celebrating National Chicken Wing Day. “All you need to do is follow KFC on Twitter and then tell them why your best mate is, well, the best, using the hashtag ” (Metro). But don’t hesitate: You must enter by midnight tonight U.K. time, which is six hours ahead of Eastern Time.

TACO BELL: The world’s media outlets are now devoting wall-to-wall news coverage to Taco Bell’s new Cheetos-stuffed burritos debuting in the middle of August in Cincinnati. Behold the $1 sandwich in all its orange glory:

12970942_10153677502869958_6288207152348041465_o

AMAZON spent $3.9 billion in the second quarter on its distribution network, Continue reading “UPS hits Q2 forecasts; Papa John’s hikes dividend 14%; it’s National Chicken Wing Day at KFC; and Franklin Circuit judge blocks new UofL board, casting school into more turmoil” →

Latest Headlines

Kindred to open new hospital in Tacoma; Amazon’s Q2 beats top and bottom; orange you glad: Taco Bell’s burrito + Cheetos = ‘peak stoner’; and Ford’s stock dives 8% on poor results

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 7:25 p.m.

KINDRED said it would build a 60-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Tacoma, Wash., in a new joint-venture partnership with CHI Franciscan Health. The new hospital will care for adults recovering from stroke, neurological disease, injury to the brain or spinal cord and other long-term illnesses or injuries. The Louisville-based hospital and nursing home giant will manage the day-to-day operations at the new facility. Subject to regulatory and other approvals, Kindred expects the hospital to open by the first quarter of 2018.

In its Seattle market, Kindred already operates two transitional-care hospitals, two nursing centers, two co-located hospital-based sub-acute units, and it provides home health and hospice services. CHI Franciscan is affiliated with Catholic Health Initiatives, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the nation, with operations in 19 states (press release). Kindred has more than 2,200 employees in Louisville, and 102,000 company-wide. More about Kindred.

UPS is considering a $106 million expansion of its ground hub in Lexington (Herald-Leader).

AMAZON: The retailer just reported second-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street’s forecasts on the top and bottom lines. It earned $1.78 a share on sales of $30.4 billion. Analysts were expecting $1.11 EPS on revenue of $29.6 billion, according to FactSet (MarketWatch and press release). The company’s stock rode a roller coaster in extended trading: Shares are now up 2.7%, or $20.34, to $722.

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt bought 50,000 shares of company stock at $31.45 a share on Tuesday, for a total cost of $673,000 — a bullish sign he thinks the stock may be headed higher (Reuters). Shares closed today at $31.25, barely changed.

Cheetos bagTACO BELL is introducing its latest mash-up experiment, the Cheetos Burrito, mid-August in Cincinnati for $1. This is the second version sold by the Yum unit; it rolled one out last spring, the Cheetos Crunchwrap Slider,  that GrubStreet dismissed as the “height of laziness” (GrubStreet). According to the Orange County Register, it’s a burrito “stuffed with crunchy Cheetos, buttery white rice, seasoned beef and nacho cheese” (Register). We can only imagine how the concoction will taste, muses Uproxx. “Will the Cheetos inside get soggy and soft? Or will they maintain that crunch that everyone loves?” Its verdict is already in: “Peak Stoner” (Uproxx).

FORD‘s stock fell 8.2%, or $1.13, closing at $12.71 a share on weak second-quarter financial results. Revenue totaled $39.49 billion and adjusted earning per share came in at 52 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 60 cents. But that’s a beat on the consensus revenue forecast of $36.31 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters (press release and MarketWatch).

BROWN-FORMAN: How one bourbon distillery makes its handcrafted barrels (Al.com).

In other news, embattled University of Louisville president James Ramsey agreed to resign yesterday, effective immediately, in a deal with the school’s trustees where he’ll be paid $690,000 in severance, the equivalent of about two years of his university salary only. Provost Neville Pinto will lead the university until a new president is selected.

James Ramsey
Ramsey

Chairman Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman said the board rejected Ramsey’s proposal to serve for up to one year as interim president. Bridgeman indicated that at one point the board considered firing Ramsey, 67, outright (Courier-Journal).

His exit caps a tumultuous period where Gov. Matt Bevin fired the previous board of trustees last month because, he said, it had become too dysfunctional to deal with multiple scandals on Ramsey’s watch.

Latest Headlines

Texas Roadhouse stock dives 6% on downgrades; Amazon gets U.K.’s OK to test drones, possibly bringing service there before U.S.; and KFC food porn gets a video star

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:39 p.m.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE shares tumbled $2.87 a share, or 5.9%, to close at $46.11 after Jefferies and two other investments firms downgraded the stock. They traded as low as $45.45 during the session; more than three million shares changed hands, five times average volume. The steakhouse chain’s shares have been on a tear since February; even with today’s decline, they’re up 22% from a year ago vs. a much smaller 4.3% in the S&P 500 index.

AMAZON‘s plans to deliver packages by small, unmanned drones took another step forward when the British government gave the retailer permission to start trials over rural and urban areas — a move that could bring the service to the U.K. ahead of the U.S. The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority’s permission means Amazon can explore three key innovations for delivering packages weighing up to 5 lbs.: beyond line-of-sight operations; testing sensor performance to make sure drones can identify and avoid obstacles, and flights where one person operates multiple highly-automated drones. “This announcement,” said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global innovation policy and communications, “strengthens our partnership with the U.K. and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world” (press release). Funny video, top, shows how Prime Air could work.

The move puts pressure on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which recently rebuffed requests by Amazon, Google and other drone makers to advance their plans. The tech giants and other manufacturers have aggressively lobbied the FAA to authorize the devices to significantly reduce costs to transport goods by UPS and FedEx, freight and trucks (New York Times). That has big implications for Louisville, where UPS employs more than 22,000 workers at its Louisville International Airport hub, making the shipper the city’s single-biggest private employer. Amazon itself employs 6,000 at two Louisville area distribution centers. More news about the U.K. plan.

Also yesterday, Amazon launched its Prime membership service in one of the world’s biggest markets: India (TechCrunch).

Pepper robot
Pepper in action.

PIZZA HUT: In the U.K.’s Ashford, the newly refurbished Pizza Hut has reopened with a contemporary new cocktail bar and full drinks menu, as part of a nationwide drive to freshen all the chain’s stores with a more modern look. The remodeling cost about $1 million, and all workers have been trained in cocktail making (Kent and Sussex Courier). The Japanese company that’s leasing robots to Pizza Huts across Asia is expanding the program to sell insurance in Japan. The robots, dubbed Pepper, greet customers and take orders; they’re leased for $836 a month in a service managed by iPhone manufacturer Foxconn (Daily Mail).

But in the U.S., don’t worry: Pizza Hut is still hiring humans. In San Diego, shift manager applicants are asked: “Do you have a friendly, outgoing, and positive can-do attitude? Do you have what it takes to WOW a customer every time?” (Craigslist).

GE: Louisville Metro Police arrested a 43-year-old Louisville man who they said was caught by a General Electric employee trying to sell more than $7,000 worth of stolen appliances online. Terrance Qualls is accused of advertising a refrigerator valued at $2,799 for $700 on an online classifieds website, according to an arrest citation released today. A GE employee noticed the item and asked about buying it (Courier-Journal).

PAPA JOHN’S yesterday presented a $41,000 check to WHAS’s Crusade for Children. The Louisville-based pizza giant raised the money in a promotion where customers got a 20% discount while 20% of the order was donated to the charity benefiting special-needs children (WHAS). Meanwhile, in New York’s Queens borough, Papa John’s says it’s hiring delivery drivers in help-wanted ads saying they’ll earn $600 or more a week working a “safe area” (Craigslist).

Brian Niccol
Niccol

TACO BELL CEO Brian Niccol has joined the 11-member board of directors of Harley Davidson (press release). Last year, directors of the motorcycle manufacturer got paid $235,000 to $290,000, depending on committee assignments, according to the 2016 shareholder’s proxy report. They also received a clothing allowance of $1,500 to buy Harley-Davidson brand apparel and accessories, plus an unspecified product discount available to all U.S. employees.

Harley Davidson ball capWhat could Niccol buy with his $1,500 allowance? Boulevard went shopping at Harley Davidson’s online store, and came up with this wish list:

Niccol’s appointment nudges him a little higher in The Boulevard 400™ powerbroker roster.

UPS: In Beaumont, Texas, Anna Gabrielle Van Hook, a 26-year-old woman hurt in a fatal crash last month, is now seeking $1 million from the shipper in a lawsuit accusing a UPS driver of traveling at an unreasonable speed on June 17, causing a chain-reaction crash involving multiple drivers. The accident started when a UPS truck hit a Mercedes from behind, and the driver of that car struck Van Hook’s car. A 45-year-old passenger in the Mercedes was killed (Enterprise).

KFC: In Swaziland’s Manzini, police are investigating allegations that a KFC restaurant manager locked two employees in a walk-in freezer for more than 20 minutes last week, before they were rescued by a co-worker who heard them banging on the door. The employees say it all began when their boss asked them to go into the freezer to retrieve some supplies (Swazi Observer).

And if that wasn’t strange enough, there’s this: In the U.K.’s Yorkshire, a 25-year-old woman who goes by just one name — Lydia — is cashing in on an Internet food porn craze called muk-bang, where thousands of people Continue reading “Texas Roadhouse stock dives 6% on downgrades; Amazon gets U.K.’s OK to test drones, possibly bringing service there before U.S.; and KFC food porn gets a video star” →

Latest Headlines

KFC to double outlets in Germany; Jack Daniel’s is going down under; Papa John’s quiere gerentes que harlan Inglis; Taco Bell wants 😀 applicants; and a UPS wedding in Fla.

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 1 p.m.

KFC plans to more than double its presence in Germany over the next five years, to 300 restaurants from 140, according to Insa Klasing, head of the chicken giant’s German subsidiary. Where most locations were major city drive-ins, “today we are also on the market with smaller restaurants,” Klasing said. But even with 300 sites, KFC will still be overshadowed by the nation’s biggest fast-food chain: McDonald’s (Europe Online). And the addition of 160 restaurants would increase total KFCs by just over a 1% vs. the current 15,000 worldwide (KFC corporate website).

KFC bucket of chickenIn India, KFC is re-emphasizing chicken at its approximately 300 restaurants, two years after a push to sell more vegetarian burgers. In the last six months, the Yum division has rolled out three campaigns for its new chicken items, including the Chizza fried chicken slathered with cheese. During the same period, it didn’t start any new ads for vegetarian meals. KFC won’t stop selling vegetarian meals or launch vegetarian options, which still account for 30% of its India menu. But it won’t invest significantly on it either, KFC India marketing chief Lluis Ruiz Ribot said in an interview: “While chicken has always been a large part of our menu, 2016 is the year that we have refocused on our core,” he said (Quartz).

Jack Daniel's bottleBROWN-FORMAN: In Australia, Jack Daniel’s assistant Master Distiller Chris Fletcher will host a series of master classes and tastings in Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth, as part of the Brown-Forman brand’s 150th anniversary celebrations (Au Review). BF executives toured Ontario’s Collingwood, where it distills Collingwood Canadian Whiskey, and saw first-hand the impact of a $100,000 company donation to the YMCA and a community hospital. “We work from the corporate office and a lot of the things that we do, we only get to see on paper,” said BF civil engagement manager Karen Krinock. “We knew what the ask was, but to see both the YMCA and Collingwood General and Marine Hospital was really meaningful” (Enterprise Bulletin). Louisville-based BF employs 1,300 in the city, and another 3,300 worldwide.

HUMANA: The Justice Department’s lawsuit to block the $37 billion Humana-Aetna merger on antitrust grounds seeks, ironically, to prevent what Obamacare aimed to achieve: government-directed oligopolies, according to The Wall Street Journal editorial board. “The new regulations and mandates since the law passed in 2010 are designed to encourage consolidation,” the paper’s lead editorial says. “But now the trust busters are fretting that these giants will have less incentive to innovate to reduce costs and improve quality, and patients will have fewer choices” (WSJ). Humana employs 12,500 in its Louisville hometown, and a total 50,000 across the country.

Concord mapPAPA JOHN’S: In the San Francisco Bay area, prospective managers who can communicate with customers in English are especially welcome, although bilingual skills are a plus, too, according to a new Craigslist helped-wanted ad for Papa John’s in Concord, Pleasant Hill and Martinez (Craigslist). In surrounding Contra Costa County, 24.4% of the population is Hispanic vs. 23.5% for the San Francisco Bay area; 37.6% for California, and 17.6% for the nation as a whole (Census).

TACO BELL: Language skills aren’t the hiring issue at Detroit area Taco Bells, but something much more basic: Applicants “must be able to come to work on time, show up for scheduled shifts, and be productive when at work.” Also: be happy (Craigslist). Meanwhile, on Craigslist’s Missed Connections section for the Seattle area, a man is looking for a woman Continue reading “KFC to double outlets in Germany; Jack Daniel’s is going down under; Papa John’s quiere gerentes que harlan Inglis; Taco Bell wants 😀 applicants; and a UPS wedding in Fla.” →

Latest Headlines

BF starts distribution system in Spain; GE Appliances owner Haier dragged into GOP China politics; and Tenn. man arrested over 20 lbs. of marijuana allegedly shipped via UPS

A news summary focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:55 p.m.

BROWN-FORMAN announced this morning that it’s launching its own distribution network in Spain, Europe’s third-largest whiskey market and the world’s ninth-biggest overall. The Louisville spirits giant will add about 40 employees in the expansion. The current distributor is Importaciones y Exportaciones Varma S.A. under a contract that will end June 30, 2017. “Establishing our own distribution organization in Spain will support the development of the Jack Daniel’s trademark as well as our broader portfolio in this dynamic market where premium spirits are growing,” said Thomas Hinrichs, president of Brown-Forman’s Europe and Asia markets.

Spain will join Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and the U.K. as markets where Brown-Forman owns or directly manages its own distribution. (press release). The company employs 1,300 workers in Louisville and another 3,300 across the U.S. and around the globe.

Trump and Pence
Trump and Pence

GE: Haier Group has been drawn into the bitterly contested Republican race for the White House, less than two months after the Chinese company completed its $5.6 billion purchase of GE Appliances. The conservative Federalist website says Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s past support of Haier’s research and development center in Evansville, Ind., is an example of the politician’s helping China “steal” U.S. jobs. Although Donald Trump has run on a campaign attacking U.S.-China trade, the website implies his selection of  Pence as running mate casts doubt on the GOP nominees’ anti-China bonafides (Federalist). In the past, the site has sparked stories in more mainstream media, including Politico and The Daily Beast.

Haier Pence
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, second from right, and Haier Group President Liang Haishan, far right, at the Evansville ribbon-cutting.

A year ago, Pence joined Haier executives at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Evansville center. The pro-trade America China Society of Indiana quoted Pence saying at the time: “When I met with Haier executives in China this spring, I was invigorated by the company’s plans to accelerate technology development in Indiana. In addition to our strong workforce and pro-growth business climate, Indiana has quickly become a center for innovation, making the Hoosier State the natural choice for this facility as Haier continues to increase its presence in the United States” (America China Society). GE Appliances employs 6,000 workers at Appliance Park in Louisville’s south end.

UPS: In Spring City, Tenn., a man was arrested and charged with drug trafficking after Rhea County Sheriff’s deputies caught him with 20 lbs. of marijuana he allegedly received via UPS from California. Sheriff’s investigator Charlie Jenkins said the man, George Robert Luttenberger Jr., told him he’d been getting pot from California since 2012 (Herald-News). In Brooklyn, a federal judge allowed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to proceed with a lawsuit accusing UPS of discriminating against male workers and job applicants who wore beards or long hair for religious reasons (Reuters).

PAPA JOHN’S fired a Denver employee who used a racial slur on a customer’s order slip and apologized to the teenager who placed the pizza order. “This action is inexcusable and doesn’t reflect our company values,” company spokesman Peter Collins told the Denver Post.

This was the second instance in less than a month where a Papa John’s employee was fired over an apparently racist order slip circulated on Twitter; the first one involved an Asian-American customer’s order at a Louisville restaurant near the end of June.

The Denver area restaurant is owned by Peyton Manning, the retired Denver Broncos quarterback who’s promoted Papa John’s in TV commercials. The teenager’s mother saw the order ticket and asked a community activist named Brother Jeff Fard for help (Denver Post). Yesterday, Fard sent a Tweet that included a possibly NSFW photo of the racial slur: Continue reading “BF starts distribution system in Spain; GE Appliances owner Haier dragged into GOP China politics; and Tenn. man arrested over 20 lbs. of marijuana allegedly shipped via UPS” →