QUOTE OF THE DAY
“They need to show that this aircraft is
truly ready for prime time.You can get customer confidence back pretty quickly in
this business if you can show a consistent pattern of no glitches.”Richard Aboulafia, Teal Group vice president, on the Boeing 787’s return to service in the United States on Monday Article, 1DWal-Mart program to focus on state firms
Wal-Mart projects that sales by Fayetteville-based Hanna’s Candle Co. will increase from $4 million in 2012 to $30 million this year, then to $45 million in 2017.
Hanna’s Candle will be among 73 brands and 44 suppliers either based in Arkansas or with a manufacturing facility in the state that will take part in Wal-Mart’s Arkansas’ Own program, which was announced Monday at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Little Rock’s Shackleford Crossing shopping center.
The higher sales through Wal-Mart will enable the company to increase its employees from 150 to 250 or 300 by 2017, owner Burt Hanna said in a telephone interview after a press conference Monday.
Hanna also makes candles for Wal-Mart under the chain’s Mainstay label, he said.
The candle maker is already benefiting from Wal-Mart’s commitment, announced in January, to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S. products over the next decade, said Melissa Gloeckler, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president for home.
Hanna’s Candle and others will be spotlighted in the Arkansas’ Own program with special placement in Arkansas stores.
San Onofre plant decision delayed again
LOS ANGELES - Federal regulators have indefinitely delayed a decision on the proposed restart of the closed San Onofre nuclear power plant in California, raising new questions Monday about whether the twin reactors will produce electricity again.
The seaside plant between San Diego and Los Angeles has been dark since January 2012, after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of damage to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water.
Operator Southern California Edison wants permission to restart the Unit 2 reactor and run it at reduced power in hopes of stopping vibration and friction that was blamed for damaging tubing.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission delayed several earlier target dates for a ruling. Its website on Monday listed no date for a restart decision, only saying it was “to be determined.”
Agency spokesman Victor Dricks had no comment.
Last week, the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board sided with environmentalists who have called for lengthy hearings on the restart plan, concluding that firing up the plant would allow Edison “to operate beyond the scope of its existing license.”
Edison had no immediate comment.
Last month, SCE’s parent, Edison International, said costs tied to the shutdown had hit $553 million.
L.L. Bean keeps chairman title in family
FREEPORT, Maine - L.L. Bean’s grandson Leon Gorman is retiring as chairman after more than a half-century as chairman or chief executive of the outdoors retailer, but the privately held company is keeping the position in the family.
The Maine-based retailer informed its 5,000 full- and part-time workers on Monday that L.L.’s great-grandson Shawn Gorman will serve as chairman.
Shawn Gorman, 47, who served as a senior executive, said there’s been a careful behind-the-scenes transition over the past two years led by his 78-year-old uncle, Leon Gorman, who will keep a seat on the board but will back away from day-to-day operations. Chris McCormick, the first chief executive officer from outside the family, retains his position.
“Leon is a walking legend around here,” Shawn Gorman said, referring to his uncle. “He made this business what it is. I’m here to make sure it continues for the next 100 years.”
L.L. Bean, with more than $1.5 billion in annual sales, got its start in 1912, when L.L. Bean obtained the state’s list of out-of-state hunters and sent out mailings touting his rubber-soled hunting boots. The first store opened five years later.
- The Associated PressTakeout-service companies to merge
NEW YORK - Rival online takeout services Seamless North America and GrubHub on Monday announced plans to combine and create a new company covering more than 20,000 restaurants in 500 cities across the U.S.
Financial terms were not disclosed, and it’s unclear what the combined company will be called. GrubHub Chief Executive Officer Matt Maloney will become CEO, and Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky will serve as president, the companies said in a joint statement.
Brian McAndrews, an independent director on the Seamless board, will serve as chairman. Both New Yorkbased Seamless and Chicago-based GrubHub will have significant representation on the new company’s board.
The company’s name and marketing brands will be determined after regulatory approval, the companies said.
Online takeout-ordering services work by contracting with restaurants, mostly in large metropolitan areas, to list themselves on the websites. Diners can search the menus, along with reviews posted by diners, to find the food they want and then order and pay online.
- The Associated PressChesapeake Energy names new CEO
Chesapeake Energy Corp., the second-largest U.S.
natural-gas producer, said former Anadarko Petroleum Corp. executive Robert Douglas Lawler will become chief executive officer effective June 17.
Lawler, 46, will also join the board, the Oklahoma Citybased company said in a statement Monday. Lawler was senior vice president of international and deep-water operations at Anadarko. Upon his arrival, the company will discontinue the office of the chairman, a three-man unit set up while Chesapeake searched for a new CEO.
Lawler will be expected to spend money carefully and keep costs from escalating, strengths demonstrated by Anadarko, investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.
said in a note to clients.
“We believe there is a substantial wall to climb given the balance sheet leverage and need to materially sell assets” into a weak market, the note said.
Chesapeake is seeking to raise as much as $7 billion this year from asset sales to cover a cash-flow shortfall and reduce debt.
Business, Pages 26 on 05/21/2013