TIRE & RUBBER
Cooper sets meeting date
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) said it filed a statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and scheduled a special meeting of stockholders for 10 a.m., Sept. 30 for a vote on the previously announced merger with a subsidiary of Apollo Tyres Ltd. of India.
Cooper stockholders of record as of Aug. 30 are entitled to vote. The meeting will be at the Jones Day law offices in Cleveland at 901 Lakeside Ave., North Point.
In a statement, Cooper chairman, CEO and president Roy Armes noted that U.S. and foreign regulatory clearance has been received. He said the acquisition would result in a tire company with a “comprehensive portfolio of products and brands” in the world’s largest tire market, North America, as well as China and India.
STATE BUSINESS
Bank shrinks in Ohio
Bank of America Corp. will lay off more than 1,100 employees as it closes two suburban Cleveland offices and one in Cincinnati while shrinking its mortgage operations.
About 1,000 people will lose jobs when a mortgage and consumer banking office in Beachwood closes Oct. 31. Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden says those facilities are owned by the Cleveland Clinic, and the city hopes to explore whether the clinic’s operations could expand to the affected spaces and employ some of the laid-off workers.
Workers will receive severance packages. The Plain Dealer reported transfer opportunities for them are limited because North Carolina-based Bank of America has no similar operations in the Cleveland area.
An Independence office with 55 employees and a Cincinnati office with 100 workers also will close Oct. 31.
Profit drop at Big Lots
Big Lots’ fiscal second-quarter net income fell 18 percent, hurt by lower sales at its U.S. stores and some higher expenses. Its adjusted results topped analysts’ estimates, however. The discount retailer lowered its forecast for full-year adjusted earnings from continuing operations.
For the period ended Aug. 3, the Columbus company said it earned $18.1 million, or 32 cents per share. That compares with $22.1 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier.
Taking out a tax benefit of a penny per share, earnings from continuing operations were 31 cents per share. Analysts, on average, predicted earnings of 25 cents per share, according to a FactSet survey. Revenue increased 1 percent to $1.23 billion from $1.22 billion, meeting Wall Street’s expectations.
Revenue at stores open at least a year declined 1.9 percent, but was slightly better than Big Lots’ forecast for a 2 percent to 4 percent drop.
Big Lots foresees full-year adjusted earnings from continuing operations in a range of $2.80 to $3.05 per share. Its prior guidance was for $2.87 to $3.12 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $2.96 per share.
Big Lots Inc. had 1,514 stores in 48 states at the quarter’s end. It also had 3 Big Lots stores and 76 Liquidation World and LW stores in Canada.
Dillard’s Outlet to close
Discount deals and clearance buys will no longer be found at the Dillard’s Outlet at Euclid Square Mall near Cleveland. It was announced that the store will close after 25 years by the end of September.
Store associates were notified of the closure at a meeting with a Dillard’s representative and have been told they could continue their employment at one of the other four stores in the Cleveland area. Other area stores include Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, Beachwood Place in Beachwood, Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted, and SouthPark Mall in Strongsville. In total, 36 employees are affected by the decision.
This clearance store was one of Dillard’s 18 clearance store locations, which offer marked down merchandise from other area stores. The Euclid location is the only clearance store in Ohio.
WALL STREET
Dow falls 30 points
August was tough on the stock market. Now, investors face an even scarier September. Disappointing news on consumer spending helped pull stocks lower Friday in a quiet end to the market’s worst month in more than a year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed August with a loss of 3.1 percent while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 4.4 percent. Both had their biggest one-month drop since May 2012.
The major indexes headed lower from the opening bell on Friday and never recovered. The S&P dropped 5.20 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 1,632.97. Retail stores and other consumer-discretionary companies led eight of the index’s 10 industry groups to slight losses. The Dow Jones industrial fell 30.64 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 14,810.31, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 30.43 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,589.87.
Many investors say the recent slide is hardly a surprise after the stock market had such a strong run. The S&P 500 is still up 14.5 percent this year.
Compiled from staff and wire reports