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Sunday, November 8, 2009
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BUSINESS TODAY
Business Today for November 02, 2009
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La. ranks 25 on Site Selection ‘business climate’ list
Louisiana ranked No. 25 in Site Selection magazine’s Top Business Climates for 2009, down three slots from the previous year. North Carolina ranked first, followed by Texas, Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Kentucky. Half of the rankings were based on performance in Conway Data’s New Plant Database, which tracks new and expanded business facility activity. Louisiana ranked ninth in this measure for the first eight months of 2009, compared to No. 28 for 2008. Half of the rankings are based on a survey of corporate site seekers across the country. The survey asked, “Based upon your experience, what are the top 10 state business climates, taking into consideration such factors as lack of red tape, financial assistance and government officials’ cooperation?”
Entergy guidance for 2010 leads stock slightly higher
Entergy Corp.’s stock rose 98 cents per share to $77.70 this morning in the wake of the utility’s announcement that it expects earnings per share ranging from $6.15 to $6.95 for 2010. The guidance issued Friday night assumes “a business as usual” operation for the full year, as well as post-spin-off outlooks for Entergy and Enexus Energy Corp. The company also announced it planned to buy back $750 million worth of shares, which are expected after the spin-off of Enexus and its non-regulated nuclear power plants.
Chamber retention/expansion program honored
The Baton Rouge Area Chamber has been recognized for its business retention and expansion program by Blane, Canada Ltd., a firm that specializes in business retention and management. The chamber received the Critical Business Partner award at the Wheaton, Ill.-based firm’s Synchronist Users’ Forum. The chamber beat out other economic development organizations in the United States and Canada for the award. Blane, Canada cited the chamber’s positive impact on existing businesses in the Capital Region. The award recognizes the critical role economic development organizations play between businesses and the community in which they operate. “Since current Baton Rouge area businesses will generate over two-thirds of the new jobs created within the region, it is imperative that BRAC have a robust business retention and expansion program. This honor shows that our program is not only successful, but it is also one of the best in the country,” chamber President and Chief Executive Officer Adam Knapp said in a prepared statement.
Amedisys releases quality review of its operations
An Amedisys Inc.-funded consultant’s review of its operations found that the home health company’s compliance and quality improvement processes meet or exceed the industry average. The review by Marwood Group Advisory LLC also found that Amedisys ranked highest compared to other publicly traded home health companies in terms of quality improvement and compliance processes. Amedisys employs best practices in field clinician coding and accuracy, oversight and management infrastructure, corporate compliance and care coordination technology, according to Marwood. Marwood is a health-care advisory and financial services firm with headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington, D.C., and London.
Cleco reports 61 percent profit increase
PINEVILLE (AP) — Power provider Cleco Corp. posted a 61 percent increase in third-quarter profit that handily beat analysts’ forecasts, the company reported Monday. Although electricity sales fell from a year ago, Cleco took advantage of lower prices for generating fuel and for additional power it buys from outside its system. For the July-September period, Cleco earned $59.8 million, or 99 cents per share, on revenue of $241.5 million, up from year-ago earnings in the third quarter of $37.1 million, or 62 cents per share, on revenue of $343.7 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, had forecast per-share earnings of 76 cents for the latest quarter.
Louisiana online jobs postings fell in October
Online advertising of job vacancies nationwide dropped by 83,200 slots from September to October, according to The Online Conference Board. In Louisiana, online advertising vacancies fell by 1,700. Overall, there were 3.3 million vacancies advertised online for October, down 1.1 million from the year before. Annual comparisons for states were not available. The Conference Board measures the number of new, first-time online jobs and jobs reposted from the previous month on more than 1,200 major Internet job boards and smaller job boards that serve niche markets and smaller geographic areas.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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