QUOTE OF THE DAY “The van represents freedom. It has a magic and charm lacking in other vehicles. It’s about the open road, about bringing smiles
to peoples’ faces when they see an old VW van rolling along.” Damon Ristau, director of the documentary The Bus, on Volkswagen’s iconic van Article, 1D
Mississippi casinos report slight gains
JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi casino revenue rose slightly in August compared with the same month last year.
Mississippi Department of Revenue figures show casinos took in about $179.1 million in August, compared with about $178.4 million a year ago.
The 12 casinos in coastal counties took about $90 million - a 4.3 percent increase over last August’s $86.3 million. The 18 riverboat casinos from Tunica to Natchez took about $89 million, down 3.3 percent from $92.1 million last year.
Casino revenue increased for only the second month this year in Mississippi, thanks to the strong month on the coast. Still, it wasn’t enough to reverse the overall statewide downward trend.
The numbers exclude casinos operated by the Choctaw Indian tribe, which aren’t required to report winnings to the state.
Casino revenue peaked in Mississippi in 2007 and has fallen each year since. There was a brief improvement in early 2012, but the downward trend resumed.
Industry leaders have said that along the Mississippi River, Tunica and Lula casinos have suffered from competition from the expansion of gambling in Arkansas.
The nation’s economic downturn also has been cited as a negative factor for the casinos.
Microsoft unveils latest Surface tablets
Microsoft Corp. introduced two new versions of its Surface tablet Monday, the software maker’s latest bid to challenge Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in the hardware market after its first devices fell flat.
The new Surface Pro, powered by an Intel Corp. chip, is 20 percent faster and features an all-day battery with 75 percent more life, Panos Panay, the company’s Surface vice president, said at an event in New York. The Surface 2 has a high-definition screen and 25 percent better battery life, and runs on a Nvidia Corp. chip based on ARM Holdings Plc technology.
Microsoft jumped into the touch-screen tablet market, dominated by Apple’s iPad and models running Google Inc.’s Android software, in June 2012 with the announcement of its first Surface. Designed to keep its Windows software relevant as consumers shift to tablets from personal computers and laptops, the Surface instead generated such little demand that Microsoft took a $900 million inventory write down last quarter.
Microsoft “bet the farm on touch and tablet,” said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash.-based research firm. They’ve “got to move some serious tablets,” he said.
Microsoft said the devices will go on sale Oct. 22.
GM’s debt restored to investment grade
DETROIT - Moody’s Investors Service restored General Motors’ debt to investment-grade status Monday, eight years after the company lost the rating as it spiraled toward bankruptcy protection.
The upgrade came shortly after GM announced plans to buy back high-interest preferred stock from a union retiree health-care trust fund for $3.2 billion.
Moody’s raised GM’s corporate debt from Ba1, which is junk status, to Baa3, the lowest investment-grade rating.
Two other ratings agencies, Fitch and Standard & Poors, still have GM at junk status. The upgrade likely means GM will get lower interest rates when it borrows money in the future.
GM’s credit ratings have been in junk territory since 2005, when the company was struggling with huge debts, falling U.S. market share and factories cranking out more cars than people were buying. GM closed plants and erased much of its debt with a 2009 bankruptcy. It has made an annual profit every year since 2010.
- The Associated Press
Airline profit forecast cut to $11.7 billion
NEW YORK - Airline profits worldwide in 2013 will be 7.9 percent smaller than estimated at $11.7 billion amid sluggish travel demand and high oil prices, the International Air Transport Association said.
The forecast released Monday compares with the association’s projection in June for 2013 profit of $12.7 billion.
The new figure would be a 58 percent jump from 2012’s $7.4 billion, according to an update from the Montreal-based industry group, whose members account for 84 percent of global air traffic.
The economy is “not improving as quickly as we expected,” the association Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler said in a conference call with reporters. The International Air Transport Association predicts global gross domestic product to expand 2 percent in 2013, down from 2.2 percent last year.
Slowing demand for travel in countries such as Brazil is damping revenue while fuel costs rise. Fuel costs will be 31 percent of airline expenses this year, the association said.
Passenger growth will be 5 percent this year, short of the 5.3 percent expansion in the previous forecast, the association said. That’s also short of last year’s 5.3 percent increase. Cargo will grow 0.9 percent, down from a forecast of 1.5 percent.
- The Associated Press
Auto suppliers to create 350 Alabama jobs
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said two affiliated companies in the automotive-supply field will build their first U.S. production facility in Tuscaloosa, creating at least 350 new jobs by 2016.
Bentley announced the plans during a Monday morning news conference at the Tuscaloosa River Market in Tuscaloosa.
Bentley said in a statement that Purico Group and Bolta Werke GmbH, which the governor described as sister companies, will invest $39.5 million into the facility.
Once built, the Bolta Werke GmbH facility will produce parts for automotive manufacturers. The governor said those manufacturers are primarily Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance, near Tuscaloosa, and a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Bolta Werke GmbH is based in Germany and has been part of the Purico Group of the United Kingdom for nearly 30 years.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 22 on 09/24/2013