Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Feb. 2, 2006, edition 1 / Page 24
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8C BUSINESSAT^ Oarlotte $ot Thursday, February 2, 2006 Steel City plans series of events around centennial Continued from page 7C sentiment provides an infor mal invitation to revisit home “Inclusion of the region is key,” said Irene Smith-King, Mayor Scott King's wife and chairwoman of the city’s Centennial Committee. "We want to look where we’ve been, but also where we re heading.” 'ITie city may be considered past its prime by outsiders, but the median age of its res idents is caily 33 years old, according to U S. Census data, suggesting that the majority of its people are looking ahead, not behind “I know the city’s history’ said Anthony Carter-Smith, 29, while walking nerr Fifth and Broadway earlier last week. “But I care about the city’s future, my future, and my son’s future. 1 hope he has a future here.” The Centeimial Committee, which includes more than two dozen region al leaders, has raised $635,000 for a series of events, materials and memo rials. The group’s projected budget of $1.1 million is still in need of $478,000, said TVeasurer Garry Aloia. The memorial cornerstone of the festivities will be a nearly 30-foot, granite-based sculpture dubbed The Fusion to be erected at Genesis Center Plaza, depicting the history of Gary by representing the steel industry, its workers, arts and diversified culture. The monument will fea ture three steelworkers pouring steel fiom an actual piece of U.S Steel equip ment. “From the hquid steel comes a very artistic repre sentation, in a butterfly eflTect, of the many ethnicities and cultures that came to Gary ... representing a city bom on steel and blossoming into much more,” Aloia said. “This will be a great tribute for centuries.” The sculpture, with a price tag of $470,000, wiU be creat ed by Illinois artist Omri Amrany, whose work includes the statue of Michael Jordan in front of Chicago’s United Center and other eternalized notables Also planned is a special weeklong celebration in July with original music scores, theater presentations and other Gary-specific cre ations. N.C. lottery commission to consider new gaming contracts Continued from page 7C includes a provision that doesn’t require the commis sion to pick the low bidder for each contract. Rather, the commission is allowed to choose the “responsible lot tery vendor who submits the best proposal that maxi mizes the benefits to the state.” The lottery law requires at least 35 percent of gross rev enues to be spent on public school construction projects, need-based college scholar ships and class-size reduc tion and More at Four preschool initiatives. The state projects net profits of $420 million in the 2006-07 fiscal year. LxDttery ofl&cials also were supposed to consider the criminal and ethical history of the bidders as well as reg ulatory compliance records in choosing winners. On the Net: N.C. Education lottery: http://mvwJotter\'Jic.gov GTECH Holdings: hitp:/hv\vw.gtechjcom Scientific Games: hltp://w^vwscienJificgainesx'om Exxon Mobil posts record profits for quarter, year Continued from page 7C sharply criticized oil executives appearing before U.S. Congress in November, struck again on Friday She called on the Bush Administration and the Federal TVade Commission to "put an end to gouging,” then suggested that FTU stood for "Friend to Chevron." But John Felmy chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute, a Washington- based trade group, said Monday that the polit ical rhetoric was "not a case based on fact.” “We invested somewhere in the order of $86 l^on last year,” Felmy said. “Then we have to treat investors appropriately otherwise we’d have the Eliot Spitzers of the world coming after us.” The results for Exxon’s latest quarter includ ed a $390 million gain related to a litigation settlement. Excluding special items, earnings were $10.32 billion, or $1.65 per share. The result topped Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial pre dicted earnings of $1.44 per share. Exxon shares rose $2.17 to $63.46 in after noon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. That is near the upper end of its 52-week trad ing range of $51.35 to $65.96. Quarterly revenue ballooned to $99.66 billion from $83.37 billion a year ago but came in shy of the $100.72 billion Exxon posted in the third quarter, which was the first time a U.S. public company generated more than $100 billion in sales in a single quarter. By segment, exploration and production earnings rose sharply to $7.04 billion, up $2.15 billion finm the 2004 quarter, reflecting hi^er crude oil and natural gas prices. Production decreased by 1 percent due to the lingering effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which battered the Gulf Coast in August and September. The company’s refining and marketing seg ment reported $2.39 billion in earnings, as hi^er refining and marketing margins helped offset the residual effects of the hurricanes. Eixxon’s chemicals business saw earnings, occluding special items, decline by $413 mil lion (euro341.83 million) to $835 million, as higher materials costs squeezed margins. For the full year, net income surged to $5.71 per share finm $3.89 per share in 2004. Annual revenue grew to $371 billion finm $298.04 bil lion. Tb put that into perspective, Exxon’s revenue for the year occeeded Saudi Arabia’s estimated 2005 gross domestic product of $340.5 billion, according to statistics maintained by the Central Intelligence Agency. U.S. Financial Alliance consultants offers alternate retirement planning Continued from page 7C established insurance firm or a nationwide brokerage. He seeks both aggressive and inherently conservative clients, believing most will move toward a healthy a^yessiveness as they build trust in his firm. “Very few companies take the time to explain alterna tives,” McDougal said. “We v>ill. We show people how theii* mortgage ties into wealth management, and how investments and insur ance should tie in. We don’t sell them; we advise them.” USFAC works with 43 insurance companies, McDougal said. Prominent among them are easily recog nizable names such as Allianz, AIG and Shenandoah. McDougal’s firm has no proprietary arrangement. with mutual funds, making it fi?ee to rec ommend literally any fund on the market, he said. McDougal took a circuitous route to giving investment advice. A Detroit native, he attended Ohio Institute of Tfechnology but left to j oin the U.S. Air Force. While sta tioned near Sumter, SC, he studied engineering at S.C. State University Before com pleting his degree, he started a real estate career in Columbia, S.C. He joined Primerica in 1985 and opened an office in Charlotte in 1991. He left Primerica m May 2005 to start USFAC at 600 North Church Street. Though he dedicated much of 2005 to logistics, McDougal said, his client list is growing steadily Aiding that growth is his more accessible presence in 1,500 square feet in Ivey’s, directly across firom Bank of America Corporate Center. McDougal plans to gaierate at least $5 million in revenue for 2006. By year end, he hopes to open sateUite offices in Ballantyne, SouthPark and University City Another part of McDougal’s business is advising and teaching investment brokers, with current clients in Greensboro, Spartanburg, S.C., and Atlanta. ‘We make brokers better,” he said. ‘We teach them how to serve their clients.” Helping make this pxMsible is accessibility USFAC enjoys to the 55,000-square-foot sup port facility of Tlie Financial Independence Group, on West Catawba Avenue in Cornelius, near Lake Norman. U.S. Financial has an arrangement to use the facility’s training rooms and technical systems. McDougal said he has designed his firm to do what he enjoys most: Giving finan cial advice to clients, both directly and through affiliat ed brokers. “The most gratifying thing for me,” he said, “is sedng people leave my office feeling they’ve accomplished what they wanted to. They’ve put together a sensible dnd viable plan for a secure financial future. And they know how to make younger generations accountable for whatever they leave behind.” McDonald’s promises kick Point your mouse onto the latest news. www.thecharlottepost.coni Continued from page 7C Chicken has since gone finm $2.7 billion in annual sales for McDonald’s to $4.4 billion, accounting for 35 percent of U.S. entree sales. The compa ny sells more than 600 million pounds of chicken a year. “The growth in chicken has not been at the expense of our hamburger sales, it’s be«i in addition to them,” Alvarez said. “Hamburger sales are up slightly over that period, too.” . Two big winners from the trend; Tyson Foods Inc. and Keystone Foods LLC, McDonald’s primary chicken suppliers. On the Net: wwwjncdonaldsrom -Say Yes To Success! “Dr. Arrington shows home-based business owners how to add 20-30 people per week, week in and week out without fail, to their businesses. Dv, Cad Avdn^ton^ Director of Market Expansion Even When It Seems Hopeless As we travel the road to success, more than likely, there will be times when we will be faced with situations that do not turn out as we would wish. It may seem that no matter how well we may have tried to anticipate possible troubles along the way, something that we had not planned for may come along. It could be something as simple as an order not coming in on the day that you may need it. This could leave you with unsatisfied and very disappointed customers. You may have underestimated the cost of a special promotion you had planned and at the last minute you had to cancel it, losing out on the customers your were counting on for new business. It could be that a trusted friend that you were depending on is offered an opportunity to advance in his career. He decides that he will take the promotion and relocate to another part of the country. I am sure that you could think of other examples that you may have encountered as you worked to create the kind of life you have always wanted. Sometimes the disappointments can come so fast and frequently that you may feel like there is just no point in trying to make your dreams come true. However, in order to be successful you carmot give up on yourself or your dreams. To be successful, you have to courageous when all around seems hopeless. You must be willing to go on, even when all seems lost. Although some of the obstacles we may encounter during our journey to success may cause us to think our situations are hopeless, stay determined that you will not give up. Resolve that you will have the courage to keep on pursing your dreams until your dreams come true! Create the Success You Want! be you Contact Dr. Arrington for details 704-591-1988 • claCq maximumsuccess.com Maximum TotentiaL Inc... /Tappity into the Tcrwer of you! Nan)C_ Qtv LNF0RM.\T1Q.N REQUEST FOR MORE DETAILS ■ FAX: 704-568-3497 Street .^ddress _Staie Zip Code_ Home Phxic Work Phone E-mail Don’t Delay, Call Todbiyl
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 2, 2006, edition 1
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