QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Regular guys like to drink beer, there’s no doubt about it.”
Andy England, MillerCoors chief marketing officer Article, 1D
Arkansas Best CEO earns $1.54 million
Arkansas Best Chief Executive Officer Judy McReynolds earned $1.54 million in 2013, an increase of nearly $600,000.
While McReynolds’ base pay of $575,000 did not increase, she earned $331,056 in stock awards, $599,104 in nonequity incentive plan compensation and another $38,382 in “other” compensation. McReynolds’ total earnings for 2012 were $945,386.
Jim Ingram, vice president for strategy and ABF logistics president, and Michael Newcity, senior vice president for finance and information systems, were the only executives to receive a bump in base pay. Ingram was promoted to the ABF logistics president position and his pay increased from $294,000 to $325,000. Newcity, who became a senior vice president, saw an increase from $266,000 to $294,000.
Ingram’s total pay was $716,773 after earning $498,130 in 2012. Newcity’s salary was $633,310 after Arkansas Best paid him $454,428 the year before.
ABF Freight President Roy Slagle earned $1.095 million in total compensation, up from $815,694 in 2012. James Keenan, senior vice president-enterprise customer solutions, earned $734,581 in his first year as a company executive.
P. Allen Smith seals TV program deal
The Exclaim Health TV network has reached a deal with P. Allen Smith Co. to show the company’s home and gardening programs on a new network that Exclaim Health TV recently announced. P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm and Garden Home is in central Arkansas.
Exclaim Health is a television network that provides customized content, such as shows about health, to hospitals, said Benton Brandon, co-founder and chief executive officer of the network.
“Strategically, we could not be more excited about adding a world class brand such as P. Allen Smith to our programming lineup,” he said in a statement. “It allows us to add positive programming covering the home and garden arena, and more importantly it will please our subscribing hospitals and viewers with access to a home, garden, and lifestyle legend.”
Exclaim Health was created this year and has offices in Little Rock and Nashville, Tenn. The network is currently operating in three hospitals in Las Vegas, Brandon said.
Men’s Wearhouse suggests meeting rival
FREMONT, Calif. - Men’s Wearhouse told Jos. A.
Bank on Friday that it needs some more information before the rival men’s clothing retailers can draft an acquisition agreement.
The Houston company’s chief executive officer, Douglas Ewert, said in a letter to Jos. A. Bank Chairman Robert Wildrick that the company would send its rival a list of limited information it needed to review in connection with a proposed acquisition bid. Men’s Wearhouse also said it was ready to meet to discuss the structure of a deal and the next steps needed to complete it.
“We look forward to reaching a transaction that creates value for all of our shareholders,” Ewert wrote.
The letter was sent a day after Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. rejected the latest acquisition bid from Men’s Wearhouse but said it was willing to meet and discuss a higher bid.
Men’s Wearhouse Inc. had offered $63.50 per share for Jos. A. Bank, which was up from its prior bid of $57.50 per share. It also had said it could raise the bid to $65 per share, if some conditions are met.
The two companies have been trading acquisition proposals since October.
The Men’s Wearhouse, Inc. shares jumped $3.37, or 6.7 percent, to close Friday at $53.79, while Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. shares rose $1.78, or 3 percent, to $62.08.
Pending home sales inch up in January
WASHINGTON - The National Association of Realtors said Friday that its seasonally adjusted pending home-sales index inched up 0.1 last month to 95. The index has fallen 9 percent in the past 12 months as sales momentum has faded.
Pending sales are a barometer of future purchases: A one- to two-month lag usually exists between a signed contract and a completed sale.
Higher mortgage rates, rising prices and a tight supply of homes have restricted sales in recent months. Snowstorms across much of the country also delayed purchases. The Realtors project that sales will total 5 million this year, down from 5.1 million in 2013.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, thinks home buying could slow further through March.
“The bad news is that existing-home sales need to fall a bit further to move fully into line with the pending-sales index,” he said in a client note.
Ford’s U.S. retail sales gain on Toyota’s
The Ford brand is closing in on Toyota as the favorite of retail auto buyers, a sign of rising popularity of the Fusion midsize car and Escape sport utility vehicle.
Toyota Motor Corp.’s namesake brand, a default choice of a generation of car buyers who admired its high quality, lost ground during the past six years amid recalls, natural disasters and stiffer competition.
Its share of the U.S. retail market fell to 13.5 percent last year from 16.3 percent in 2008, according to data provided to Bloomberg by IHS Automotive using Polk vehicle registration records. Toyota’s 2.8 percentage point loss matched the gain of Ford Motor Co.’s main brand, to a 13.2 percent share, over the same period.
Retail registrations are the best measure of the tastes of individual car buyers because they exclude bulk fleet sales to corporate and government customers. Toyota dominated the retail market before the recession, with top sellers such as the Camry sedan and Corolla compact. Those models now face tougher competition as car shoppers favor Ford models including the Fusion, and a restyled, fuel efficient Escape. Hyundai Motor Co. and Subaru, the auto unit of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., also gained ground.
“Before 2010, Toyota’s image was bulletproof, and while it is still strong, it’s not rock solid and as perfect as it was before,” Tom Libby, auto analyst for IHS Automotive, said in an interview. “It now appears their march forward has been slowed.”
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 32 on 03/01/2014