Business memo 09/04/01

Business counseling sessions available

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions at Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Perryville and Malden.

The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call 335-3312 for appointment.

He will conduct sessions at the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce from 9-11 a.m. Sept. 18. Appointments are available by calling (573) 471-2498. He will hold sessions at the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning office in Perryville from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 20. Appointments are available by calling (573) 547-8357. He will conduct sessions at the Malden Chamber of Commerce from 9-11 a.m. Sept. 13. Appointments are available by calling (573) 276-4519.

Ceramo enters into pottery agreement

Ceramo Company Inc., of Jackson, Mo., will distribute a line of decorative clay pots to its customers in the United States. Brothers Potteries, Ltd. of Norwich, Ontario, Canada, will distribute Ceramo's line of standard red clay flowerpots in Canada.

The two North American pottery manufacturers have announced a special agreement to distribute each other's products.

"This agreement provides opportunities for both companies to expand their existing pottery lines," said Vernon Kasten Sr., Ceramo founder and CEO.

Ceramo Company Inc., is a manufacturer of red clay flowerpots and a distributor of a wide variety of decorative pottery, containers and garden accessories from around the world. Ceramo Company, founded in 1945 by Kasten, services growers, garden centers, floral center and craft wholesalers throughout 22 states in mid-America. Ceramo also offers it red clay flowerpots throughout the U.S. and Canada through distributors and chain stores.

Brothers Potteries, Ltd., was founded in 1963 and started producing pottery in Canada in 1984.

Brothers manufactures a variety of decorative clay floral containers that are sold through a network of distributors, floral wholesalers, and wholes sale greenhouses throughout Canada and the United States.

Spartech announces earnings for third quarter

Spartech Corp. has announced sales and earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2001.

Bradley B. Buechler, Spartech president and chief executive officer, reported third-quarter sales at $222.8 million, down about 13 percent from the $255.9 million reported in 2000.

Earnings for the quarter before the company's previously announced $9.1 million in non-recurring expenses for costs associated with certain plant closings, were $24.2 million, or 22 percent lower than the $31 million reported for the same quarter a year ago. Third-quarter diluted earnings per share, after the non-recurring expenses, was 17 cents.

Spartech, with headquarters in St. Louis, has two operations in Cape Girardeau -- Spartech Plastics at 2500 Spartech Drive and Spartech Compounding on Nash Road. Spartech, a leading manufacturer of engineered thermoplastic materials and polymeric compounds, has 45 facilities throughout North America and Europe.

New pork processing plant subject of meeting

Potential economic impacts of a new cooperative pork processing plant in Missouri will be discussed during a meeting to be held at the University of Missouri Extension Center at Jackson Wednesday.

Officials of Family Farms Pork Cooperative are conducting a series of meetings across the state to discuss a the proposed new plant.

Family Farms Pork Cooperative is a new corporation made up of new generation hog farmers.

Plans call for the plant to be on the north side of Shelbina, Mo., in the city's industrial park. An estimated $16 million will be invested to build and equip the new facility. The co-op plans to open the plant in July with approximately 110 employees. Of these, 95 will be line workers earning an estimated $18,720 per year, and 15 managers earning approximately $30,000 per year.

Approximately 319 total non-farm jobs will be created throughout Missouri because of this enterprise.

Bankruptcy filings up from April though June

Bankruptcy filings by American consumers and businesses jumped 24.5 percent in the April-June period amid the continuing economic slump, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported Friday.

Filings reached 400,394 during the period, the highest ever quarterly total, up from 321,729 a year earlier, the office said.

Bankruptcy filings are now on track to surpass the recording-breaking year of 1998, when 1,442,549 new cases were filed, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, an independent group of bankruptcy judges, lawyers and experts.

In the first six months of the year, 767,235 new cases were filed, an increase of 21 percent over the first half of 2000 and up 5.4 percent from the first half of 1998.

-- From staff, wire reports