LOCAL BUSINESS
Executive named at Acme
Katie Swartz has been promoted to the new position of director of marketing at Acme Fresh Market.
Swartz is the daughter of Acme President Steve Albrecht and one of several children working for the family business.
Swartz, who has been with Acme for three years, will manage promotional communications. She will be in charge of print and social media, market analytics, consumer research, loyalty, mobile applications and community relations.
She will report to Jim Trout, executive vice president, and will lead Acme’s team of advertising and special event associates.
Swartz has a law degree and MBA from the University of Akron.
Companies to offer program
Fifth Third Bancorp and NextJob, a nationwide re-employment solutions company, said they will team up to offer a program aimed at giving unemployed mortgage borrowers job search assistance, including coaching, weekly webinars and online job search software.
The two companies piloted the program throughout 2012 with unemployed Fifth Third customers at risk of mortgage default. On average, the individuals had been out of work for 22 months. In the pilot, nearly 40 percent were fully employed after six months and, as a result, the pilot was expanded.
Bank branch acquired
Premier Bank & Trust and First National Bank announced an agreement for Premier, a subsidiary of Ohio Legacy Corp. headquartered in North Canton, to acquire First National’s Fairlawn office. The Orrville-based bank said it has opened the Fairlawn office at 3085 West Market St. in 2011.
Premier President and CEO Rick L. Hull said he hopes the conversion would take place around May 1.
Hull said the transaction fulfills a strategic objective for the bank, which has a significant client and shareholder base in the Akron/Fairlawn market.
Premier will acquire First National’s Fairlawn loans of approximately $10 million and will assume total deposits of approximately $16 million. The five employees will become Premier employees. Premier has two branches in North Canton and one in St. Clairsville and has 61 employees. The bank has $175 million in assets.
WALL STREET
Dow ends day up 7 points
Stocks eked out modest gains Wednesday after earnings from Time Warner Inc., Wyndham Worldwide Corp. and others reinforced a theme of steady improvement for consumer companies.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended a choppy trading day up 7.22 points, or 0.1 percent, at 13,986.52. The S&P 500 index ended up 0.83 point, or 0.1 percent, at 1,512.12. The Nasdaq composite index ended down 3.1 points, or 0.1 percent, at 3,168.48.
“It’s still an earnings-driven story,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG. “Based on investor reaction to consumer stocks, the consumer isn’t doing all that bad.”
Shares of Wyndham Worldwide Corp. gained 6.8 percent, making it the second-best on the S&P 500, after the hotel operator showed a 45 percent improvement in profit for the fourth quarter.
Time Warner Inc. shares gained 4.1 percent after the media giant reported a surge in fourth-quarter earnings. Time Warner said it plans to dramatically boost the amount of original programming on its TBS and TNT cable channels. Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said TBS and TNT would increase the number of episodes for its original shows by more than 40 percent.
The move comes as Time Warner prepares to ask pay-TV distributors for hefty increases in license fees to continue carrying the two channels. Bewkes has said he expects double-digit growth in subscription fees from the Turner channels, which also include CNN.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. shares rose 5.7 percent after the company’s earnings late Tuesday.
EARNINGS
CVS results beat estimates
Drug store chain CVS, which is based in Woonsocket, R.I., said it earned $1.13 billion, or 90 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That compares with earnings of $1.06 billion, or 81 cents per share, in the same period in 2011.
Adjusted earnings totaled $1.14 per share, when excluding a loss for the early retirement of some debt. Results beat Wall Street estimates. Analysts expected, on average, earnings of $1.10 per share on $31.14 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
For the full year, CVS Caremark earned $3.88 billion, or $3.03 per share, on $123.13 billion in revenue.
Compiled from staff and wire reports