Tag: UPS

Latest Headlines

Ex-Hut owner loses $42M tax round; Taco tests four new layouts; and murder suspect says KFC meals used to coerce her confession
Taco Bell redesign
One of four new Taco Bell formats.

A news summary focused on big employers.

Gene Bicknell
Gene Bicknell

PIZZA HUT: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed legislation yesterday that could have helped former pizza baron Gene Bickell, who’s contesting a $42 million state tax bill over his 2006 sale of NPC International — America’s biggest Pizza Hut franchiser, with hundreds of restaurants (Topeka Capital-Journal).

TACO BELL is testing four new store designs this summer that give restaurants a more upscale look to better compete with Chipotle and boost dinnertime traffic (USA Today). Here’s the press release. The remodeled stores will be in the Orange County communities of Brea, Newport Beach, Santa Ana and Tustin (Los Angeles Times).

UPS is rolling out a new service where customers can track packages in real time on a map (Fortune). Also, a package handler in Sacramento, Calif., was killed in a fight during a concert Sunday; Thomas Noble, 31, leaves behind a school-age daughter (Sacramento Bee).

Jeff Bezos
Bezos

AMAZON CEO Jeff Bezos yesterday promised more retail stores beyond the single brick-and-mortar outlet in Seattle, as well as new services for the company’s Prime unlimited shipping membership during the company’s annual stockholders meeting (Wall Street Journal).

KFC: A woman in South Africa accused of murdering her employer says a detective coerced her into confessing by buying her KFC, mutton curry and pies (Iol).

In other news, one of Louisville’s biggest law firms — Bingham Greenebaum Doll — has hired former Metro Council President David Tandy as an attorney and lobbyist (Courier-Journal). Lexington Mayor and businessman Jim Gray became the first openly gay major party nominee in Kentucky to seek a U.S. Senate seat when he won yesterday’s Democratic primary; he’ll face Sen. Rand Paul in November (Herald-Leader). Wall Street stocks were flat as investors waited for the release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes (MarketWatch).

Latest Headlines

Trump renews Amazon attack, 93-year-old KFC retiree hits rare milestone; and UPS plans big new Austin facility

A news summary focused on big employers; updated 2:02 p.m.

Donald Trump
Trump

AMAZON: White House GOP candidate Donald Trump attacked Jeff Bezos again, claiming the Amazon CEO bought The Washington Post to promote a political agenda that would help the company on taxes (CNN). Also, a former software director who led the company’s new FireTV initiative was charged with promoting prostitution in the Seattle area (KIRO).

KFC: A retired 29-year employee in Ontario has reached an American Legion milestone that few reach in any organization: he’s been a member for 60 years. William Young, 93, worked at a KFC franchise, rising to manager before retiring. And he met founder Col. Harland Sanders (Argus Observer).

UPS plans a new $70 million, 300-employee distribution center in Austin with room for 300 vehicles; it’s to open at the end of 2018 (Austin Statesman). Asked and answered: How important is e-commerce to the shipper’s sales (Motley Fool).

In other news, The Courier-Journal has joined 199 other investors in buying a two-year-old colt, which the nascent Churchill Downs Racing Club hopes to run during the current spring meet. The horse is being trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas (Courier-Journal).

Latest Headlines

Amazon in ready-to-cook food delivery; Hut adding 200 stores in UK; Texas sued over peanuts, and UPS stockholders reject ‘Holy Land’ proposal

A news summary, with a special focus on big Louisville employers; updated 11:01 a.m.

AMAZON and Tyson Foods are close to launching a ready-to-cook ingredients delivery service, akin to what Blue Apron and HelloFresh do, showing the e-commerce company’s growing ambition in the grocery and food business (Business Insider). Restoration Hardware, Land’s End and other retailers are getting into Prime membership-like plans (CBS). As Amazon gets into air delivery, is it time to sell UPS shares (The Street)?

PIZZA HUT is adding 200 stores and about 3,000 jobs across the UK. The expansion will cost £40 million ($57 million U.S.) and a quarter of the stores will be Pizza Hut “Express” formats (Independent). Pizza Hut already has more than 14,100 restaurants and 300,000 employees in nearly 100 countries, excluding the Yum China division; those are about 59% of Yum’s total 505,000 workers (company website).

FORD has filed for a patent for an invention producing artificial noises that make it sound like more cylinders are working, leading drivers to be more fuel-efficient (Markets Daily).

TEXAS ROADHOUSE: In a lawsuit, an Iowa man has accused the company of negligence after he slipped on peanut shells on a Cedar Falls restaurant floor and shattered his knee in February 2015. The steakhouse chain serves buckets of peanuts to customers, and encourages them to throw the discarded shells on the floor, creating a hazard, the suit says (Des Moines Register).

UPS said shareholders re-elected all 11 members of the board of directors during their annual meeting. But stockholders voted down three shareholder proposals, including one on “Holy Land Principles” that would govern the shipper’s Israeli-Palestinian employment practices (SEC filing).

KINDRED has filed its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (10-Q filing).

In other news, U.S. stock markets were climbing, with the S&P 500 index at 2077, up 1% (Google Finance). Led by Amazon, nearly all components in the 11-stock Boulevard Stock Portfolio were trading higher.

Philanthropy

Video: UPS foundation chief Martinez demos new blood-delivery drone plan

Foundation President Eduardo Martinez briefed reporters on this morning’s announcement that UPS’ charitable arm will explore drone use to deliver life-saving medicines such as blood and vaccines across the world. The UPS Foundation has awarded an $800,000 grant to support the project’s initial launch in Rwanda (press release).

Latest Headlines

Ford exec sells $800K in stock; Humana files SEC quarterly report, and Powerball pot soars to $415M

Latest news, with a special focus on big Louisville employers; updated 5:39 p.m.

Joseph Hinrichs
Hinrichs

FORD Executive Vice President Joseph Hinrichs sold 60,000 shares of stock at $13.32 a share yesterday for a total near $800,000, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this afternoon. Ford paid Hinrichs $6.4 million last year, including changes to his pension value. Boulevard’s executive pay database.

KINDRED said it plans to make presentations at two upcoming investor conferences later this month (press release). Also, the company held a first-quarter earnings conference call with analysts at 9 a.m. today. How to listen to the replay; the company released results yesterday (press release). And the board of directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 12 cents a share (press release). Shares closed at $13.44 down 7.3% this afternoon.

HUMANA just filed its first-quarter 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Also, the insurer may exit some states’ insurance exchanges next year, the company said during its first-quarter report yesterday (Business First, Insider Louisville and CJ). In the pre-market, shares were basically flat at $175.70.

TEXAS ROADHOUSE has just filed its 10-Q, too.

UPS shareholders have re-elected the full slate of 11 board members (press release).

YUM has filed initial documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on its planned China division spinoff (Business First).

PAPA JOHN’S: Here’s a transcript of yesterday’s first-quarter conference call with analysts.

pb_logo_1In other news, the Powerball jackpot is now a staggering $415 million, the ninth-largest potential payout in U.S. history, after no winning numbers were drawn last night; next drawing is Saturday (WAVE). Last night’s numbers: 30 47 57 66 69 3. How to play. Also, Norton Healthcare is adding four operating rooms to the Women’s and Kosair Children’s Hospital in the Dupont area as part of a 7,000 square-foot addition (Business First).

Latest Headlines

Ford April sales best since 2006; Brit accused of attempted murder at KFC gets suspended sentence, and UPS adds to hybrid electric fleet

Latest news, with a special focus on big Louisville employers; updated at 1:43 p.m.

FORD said April U.S. auto sales rose 4%, and that retail sales grew 3%, also its best April retail results since 2006. “We saw strong consumer demand in April, especially for pickups,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service (CNBC). Ford shares recently traded at $13.49, down 1%, as automakers overall fell with a broadly lower market.

YUM: A 40-year old British man received a suspended prison sentence after being accused of threatening to kill an employee at a KFC store in late February in central England. Craig Mellor was caught on video surveillance camera putting his hands around Kallum Byatt‘s neck at the restaurant in Hanley, south of Manchester. Mellor was arrested and later pled guilty to a racially aggravated assault on Byatt (Stokes Sentinel).

UPS is adding to its Louisville fleet of hybrid electric delivery trucks, to a total 125, to extend their range and improve fuel efficiency (Courier-Journal).

In other news, Kentucky’s coal industry continued its freefall in the first quarter, falling nearly 13% statewide.  The bulk of the job losses came in Eastern Kentucky, with more than a 1,000 lost there. Statewide, about 6,900 coal miners are employed, the lowest level recorded since 1898 (WFPL).