Maverick truck-safety exec wins award
Dean Newell, vice president of safety and training at Maverick Transportation in North Little Rock, was named the Truckload Carrier Association's 2015 Clare C. Casey Award winner.
The award is presented annually to a safety professional whose "actions and achievements have had a profound and positive benefit or contribution to better highway safety," according to the organization.
Newell has worked at Maverick for more than 30 years, beginning his career as a driver before moving into positions in recruiting, driver services and safety. He has helped Maverick earn more than 30 awards and currently manages a fleet containing more than 1,400 tractors and 2,000 trailers. Newell also oversees facilities that employ about 1,500 people.
"Dean is wholeheartedly committed to the improvement of trucking safety across the board -- not just within the corporate structure of Maverick," said Stephen Selig, Maverick's president and chief operating officer.
-- Robbie Neiswanger
4 cities advance in Tech business index
Four Arkansas cities saw their ratings on the Arkansas Tech Business Index advance in February, the university's College of Business said Wednesday.
Conway's index reading increased by 0.86 points to 102.36; El Dorado by 0.43 points to 96.81; Jonesboro by 0.18 points to 99.62; and Searcy by 0.12 points to 99.06, according to the news release.
The index ranks cities in the state based on labor, housing market, construction and retail indexes. Any number above 100 means a city is doing better than the state average.
Fort Smith continued to lead the list of cities included in the index in February despite its index number falling 2.27 points to 104.98, the release said.
-- Jessica Seaman
Wendy's to sell bakery unit, restaurants
The Wendy's Co. shares surged Wednesday after the burger chain said it would divest its bakery operations and pushed ahead with a plan to sell hundreds of restaurants to franchisees, aiming to refocus the company and cut costs.
The bakery business, which produces buns for Wendy's, is expected to be sold by the second quarter, the Dublin, Ohio-based chain said in a statement Wednesday. That will give the company the freedom to work with more suppliers, Wendy's said.
"This divestiture will provide us with greater sourcing flexibility, focus resources on our core restaurant business and eliminate future bakery capital expenditures," Chief Executive Officer Emil Brolick said in the statement.
The step is part of a broader push to remake Wendy's image and streamline operations. Wendy's has re-engaged the investment firm Cypress Group to help sell 540 domestic restaurants to franchisees, he said.
Wendy's shares jumped 76 cents, or 7.2 percent, to close at $11.19.
-- Bloomberg News
Comcast hiring 5,500 to boost service
Comcast Corp., the biggest U.S. cable-TV provider, will create more than 5,500 jobs during the next few years in a move designed to improve customer service.
Three new customer-support centers employing 2,000 workers will be set up in Albuquerque, N.M.; Spokane, Wash.; and Tucson, Ariz., Comcast said Tuesday in a statement. It also set a goal for punctual service and will credit customers $20 if a technician is late to an appointment.
Comcast's plan includes hiring hundreds of additional technicians and tripling the size of the social media team to respond to customers on Twitter, Facebook and other sites.
Philadelphia-based Comcast and competitor Time Warner Cable Inc., based in New York, have the most dissatisfied customers among subscription-TV and Internet-service providers, according to the annual University of Michigan American Customer Satisfaction Index.
-- Bloomberg News
Iran sets $70-$75 target for crude oil
Iran, OPEC's fifth-biggest producer, sees $70-$75 per barrel as a suitable price for crude, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Wednesday, as markets show signs of a partial recovery from last year's collapse.
"Nobody is satisfied with current prices and instabilities and fluctuations," Zanganeh said at a news conference in Tehran. "I think everyone is very satisfied with $70 to $75."
It would take Iran 10 days to increase crude output if international economic sanctions against it are removed, Zanganeh said. Production would climb to 3.8 million barrels a day within six months and 4 million in less than a year, he said, enough to propel Iran to second-biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Nuclear talks are to resume Tuesday in Vienna with a deadline for an agreement of June 30.
-- Bloomberg News
Rolex rips Italian government's remarks
Rolex ran full-page newspaper ads in Italy on Wednesday saying the Italian government damaged its image by portraying the perpetrators of a recent violent protest as spoiled children whose parents could afford to buy them timepieces made by the luxury Swiss watchmaker.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, the Geneva-based company said it needed to "defend the brand's reputation and image." The letter, signed by Gianpaolo Marini, the head of the luxury watchmaker's Italian unit, appeared in at least six of Italy's biggest daily newspapers.
Protesters torched parked cars, smashed shop windows and clashed with police in central Milan on Friday during the demonstration against the Expo Milano 2015 fair. Renzi said the participants were "hooligans with Rolexes" while Alfano called them "the usual thugs with hoods and daddy's boys with Rolexes."
The comments "produced the unacceptable association of Rolex's image with the Milan devastation," Marini said.
Neither Rolex nor Renzi's spokesman had an immediate comment.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 05/07/2015