Butler County FedEx facility to break ground in spring
A new FedEx Ground distribution center, on Tomlinson Drive in Jackson, Butler County, will be more than 300,000 square feet. Work is expected to start in the spring and be complete in August 2016, the company said. The new facility should add 200 full- and part-time jobs.
Gift card spending set to hit record over the holidays
Chances are at least one gift card will be showing up in your stocking this holiday season. Spending on gift cards is expected to hit a new record over the holidays of an estimated $31.74 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Spending on gift cards has shot up 83 percent since the Washington, D.C., trade group began tracking them in 2003. Shoppers this year expect to spend an average of $47.87 per card for a total of $172.74, up from $45.16 per card, or a total of $163.16, last year.
Washington Hospital joins Community Blue network
Washington Hospital has contracted with Highmark to join the insurer’s Community Blue Medicare HMO network, which does not include UPMC physicians and facilities. The insurance product has two plans: Signature, with a zero premium with medium- to high-cost sharing, and Prestige, which carries a $193 premium and low-cost sharing.
State officials took Highmark to court last month over Community Blue Medicare HMO, saying it violated an agreement signed last summer that requires the Pittsburgh insurer to continue providing seniors with access to UPMC after its contract with UPMC ends Dec. 31. The judge sided with Highmark, which argued that the agreement did not require that all of its Medicare plans include in-network access to UPMC.
Earnings woes hit Matthews fourth-quarter net income
North Side-based Matthews International reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $5.2 million, or 16 cents per share, compared to $14.5 million, or 52 cents per share last year. For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, net income was $44 million, or $1.53 per share, compared to 2013’s net income of $55 million, or $1.98 per share. Revenue for the quarter was $350 million compared to $253 million the previous year. Sales for the year totaled $1.1 billion, compared to 2013 sales of $985 million. The company said current year earnings took a hit from costs related to acquisitions and expenses related to ongoing litigation in its funeral home products segment.
Ex-Sky Capital exec gets 30 months in $140M scam
The former chief operating officer of Sky Capital LLC, the brokerage firm raided eight years ago by federal agents probing a $140 million securities-fraud scheme, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Stephen Shea, 42, who pleaded guilty in 2011 and offered to cooperate with prosecutors, asked a U.S. District judge for five years of probation. Mr. Shea and five others were charged in June 2009. The defendants misled investors, who put cash in private investments, and then used that money to enrich themselves, pay excessive fees and commissions to brokers and pay off victims of earlier schemes, the U.S. attorney’s office said in 2009.
First Published: November 14, 2014, 5:00 a.m.