Business news in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The next leg of the recovery will increasingly rest on the shoulders of consumers.”

Sal Guatieri,

a senior economist with BMO Capital Markets Article, 1D

Rheem to lay off 100 in Fort Smith

About 100 hourly employees at a Rheem Manufacturing plant in Fort Smith will be out of work as of Friday, as part of a planned layoff, a Rheem spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

“The exact number of employees to be laid off has not been determined,” the company said in a news release.

Rick Lolley, division director of human resources at the Fort Smith facility, said the plant employs 988 hourly workers, who are represented by United Steelworkers Local 77893, and 338 workers on salary.

The layoff is attributed to seasonal business conditions, the company said in a news release.

Fort Smith is the corporation’s air-conditioning division headquarters. Rheem is a Japanese-owned air-conditioning and heating system manufacturer that operates plants in Alabama, Georgia, California, Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Wells Fargo admits foreclosure errors

WASHINGTON - Wells Fargo acknowledged Wednesday that it made mistakes in 55,000 foreclosure cases and promised to fix them.

The San Francisco-based bank said it plans to refile the documents by mid-November. The company described the mistakes as technical and said it has no plans to halt the foreclosure process.

The documents are being refiled in the 23 states where a judge’s approval is needed to complete a foreclosure. Arkansas is not one of those states.

John Stumpf, Wells Fargo & Co.’s chief executive officer, has declined to join Bank of America Corp., Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage and other banks in suspending foreclosures because of flawed paperwork that surfaced at several large banks.

UA retail sustainability workshop set

The University of Arkansas, Environmental Defense Fund and other partners are sponsoring a day-long workshop Nov. 5 to explore opportunities in generating revenue from environmentally sustainable practices in retail supply chains.

The event is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Willard J. Walker Hall. The attendance fee is $75, which includes breakfast, lunch and a postconference reception.

Speakers include five executives from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.: Fred Bedore, senior director, business strategy and sustainability; Zach Freeze, senior strategy manager, environmental, safety and health compliance; Lea Jepson, director, sustainability, global sourcing; Vonda Lockwood, director, store innovations and sustainability; and Matt Kistler, senior vice president, marketing.

Other speakers are to be Michelle Harvey, project manager, Environmental Defense Fund, Bentonville office; Greg Van Buskirk, research fellow and manager, product development, The Clorox Co.; and Catherine Greener, cofounder, Cleargreen Advisors.

Procter & Gamble reports sales rise

CINCINNATI - Procter & Gamble Co. is slowly luring back budget-battered consumers to its big brands, while attracting new buyers around the globe by getting more products into emerging markets such as India and China.

Procter & Gamble reported Wednesday that net income was $3.08 billion, or $1.02 per share, down from $3.3 billion, or $1.06 a year ago. Sales rose nearly 2 percent to $20.1 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, $1 per share on revenue of $20.2 billion for the July-September quarter.

Procter & Gamble shares rose 22 cents to $63.08 in Wednesday trading. They have traded in a 52-week range of $39.37 to $64.58.

Demand down; Whirlpool profit falls

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. - Whirlpool Corp., the world’s biggest appliance maker, said Wednesday that price competition pulled its third-quarter revenue and shipments down 3 percent in the U.S. and kept revenue nearly flat worldwide, compared with a year earlier.

The company, which makes refrigerators in Fort Smith, saw demand rebound last winter with the arrival of federal rebates on energy-efficient appliances. And it still expects U.S. shipments to rise 3 percent overall for the year.

But that’s down from an earlier company forecast for a 5 percent increase.

Whirlpool said it earned $79 million, or $1.02 per share, in the quarter, compared with $87 million, or $1.15 per share, a year earlier. Excluding the $1.20-per-share cost of settling federal price-fixing charges, Whirlpool earned $2.22 per share. That adjusted figure was much higher than the average forecast for $1.76 per share from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who usually remove onetime items.

Brian Sozzi of Wall Street Strategies Inc. said three factors put Whirlpool in a “downdraft in the U.S.” in the third quarter: allegations that mortgage lenders cut corners on foreclosures; soft midyear housing data; and falling demand with the end of the tax credit and rebates.

Whirlpool shares fell $3.48, or 4.1 percent, to $81.04 in Wednesday trading.

Dubai World: Lenders back debt deal

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Dubai World has secured full creditor support for its $24.9 billion restructuring plan, a spokesman for the indebted state conglomerate said Wednesday.

The deal closes one chapter in Dubai’s efforts to get its financial house in order nearly a year after it shocked global markets by acknowledging that it couldn’t repay all its bills.

State-owned Dubai World announced last month that nearly all its creditors had signed onto the debt-restructuring plan, which extends the amount of time the firm has to repay lenders. The lack of total agreement could have drawn it into protracted and potentially costly legal wrangling.

Dubai World gained full support after a U.S. distressed debt firm that had been holding out on the deal sold a $5 million sliver of debt to Deutsche Bank, according to a report Wednesday in the Financial Times.

Deutsche Bank spokesman Michael Lermer declined to comment, citing a possible relationship with a client. The New York-based debt firm, Aurelius Capital Management, couldn’t immediately be reached.

Business, Pages 28 on 10/28/2010

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