LOCAL BUSINESS
Seminars for startup firms
Two free seminars for new businesses, or those interested in starting their own businesses, will be offered this month by the Ohio Small Business Development Center that serves Summit and Medina counties. Both seminars will be at the Summit Medina Business Alliance at 526 S. Main St. in the business incubator in downtown Akron, known as the Akron Global Business Accelerator. The seminars will be in Conference Room 904 on the ninth floor of the former B.F. Goodrich complex.
Business Basics will be offered from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 9. Information on required forms, initial financial projections, ownership options, licensing, loan alternatives and other types of funding will be presented. Participants will receive an outline to help in developing a business plan. How to Write a Business Plan will be offered from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Jan. 29. This workshop will focus on writing business plans and keeping them current.
Registration is required by calling 330-375-2111 or sending an email to info@akronsbdc.org.
Saint-Gobain buys bag unit
Aurora-based Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics said it completed the purchase of a Maryland maker of polymer bags used for medical use and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Saint-Gobain said it now owns American Fluoroseal Corp. in Gaithersburg. Terms were not disclosed. Fluoroseal makes what are called fluorinated ethylene propylene bags. The acquisition complements Saint-Gobain’s performance plastic film production, the company said. American Fluoroseal will be incorporated into Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics’ Fluid Systems division. Saint Gobain Performance Plastics, with 4,500 employees in 16 countries, is part of Saint-Gobain’s overall $54 billion in revenues.
REAL ESTATE
Mortgage rates drop slightly
Average interest rates on fixed mortgages moved closer to their record lows this week, a trend that has made home buying more affordable and helped sustain a housing recovery.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the average rate on the 30-year loan slipped to 3.34 percent from 3.35 percent last week. That’s near the 3.31 percent rate reached in November, the lowest on records dating to 1971. The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 2.64 percent from 2.65 percent last week. The record low is 2.63 percent. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.66 percent in 2012, the lowest annual average in 65 years.
ACQUISITION
Hormel buys Skippy brand
Hormel Foods, primarily known for Spam and other cured, smoked and deli meats, said it will buy Skippy, the country’s No. 2 peanut butter brand, for about $700 million. Skippy competes with the Jif brand owned by J.M. Smucker Co., based in Orrville. Skippy, introduced in 1932, gives the Austin, Minn., company a path for growth overseas. Skippy is sold in about 30 countries and is the leading peanut butter brand in China, where Hormel is also looking for growth. Hormel, which also makes canned chili, sausages and pepperoni, currently gets the vast majority of its sales in the United States, with only about 4 percent of revenue coming from abroad. Although swings in peanut butter prices has made growth volatile, sales on average have increased about 4 percent annually, according to a spokesman for Unilever, which is selling the brand. In the U.S., Skippy offers 11 varieties of peanut butter, including Skippy Natural. Hormel noted that Skippy is the leading brand in the faster-growing subcategory of natural peanut butter. It estimated peanut butter as a $2 billion category. Hormel expects annual Skippy sales of about $370 million, with almost $100 million of that from outside the U.S. The deal includes Skippy manufacturing plants in Little Rock, Ark., and Weifang, China.
Compiled from staff and wire reports