New positions are posted with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services office and first quarter earnings are reported on several companies in today’s business viewpoint.

Tuesday, August 03, 1999

New positions are posted with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services office and first quarter earnings are reported on several companies in today’s business viewpoint.

The following positions are posted with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services office at 120 N. Third St., Ironton: Credit clerk, mechanic, fast food workers, EMT, inventory clerk, nurse’s aides, physical therapist, registered nurses, security officers, telemarketing, over-the-road truck drivers, clerical workers, warehouse workers, general laborers, experienced commercial roofers, licensed practical nurses, heating and air-conditioning repairman, pizza deliver driver, carpenter’s helpers, chemical applicators, tree-trimmers, job specialist, miscellaneous sales, meter reader and waitress.

First Federal Financial Bancorp earned $63,331 and $158,771 for the three and nine months ended June 30, respectively, as compared to $94,892 and $197,901 earned during the three and nine months ended June 30, 1998.

The company earned 12 cents per share and 30 cents per share for the three and nine months ended June 30, respectively, as compared to 16 cents per share and 34 cents per share for the three and nine months ended June 30, 1998, respectively.

A regularly quarterly dividend was paid of 7 cents per share each quarter of fiscal 1998 and ’99.

Net interest income increased $23,387, or 5.7 percent, from $413,558 for the 1998 quarter to $436 for the 1999 quarter. Interest income increased $27,051, or 2.5 percent, offset by a $3,664, or .6 percent, increase in interest expense. The increase in interest income was primarily due to increased interest earned on loans receivable due to the growth in the loan portfolio for the period, partially offset by a decline in interest earned on investment securities and mortgage-backed securities caused by lower volumes of these portfolios during the 1999 quarter as compared to the 1998 quarter. The increase in interest expense resulted primarily from an increase in the volume of interest-bearing liabilities during the 1999 quarter as compared to the ’98 quarter.

The company provided $4,500 for loan losses during the ’99 quarter to correspond with the growth in the loan portfolio, which increased $6 million during the quarter.

At June 30, First Federal Bancorp had $65.1 million of total assets, $55.8 million of total liabilities and $9.3 million of total stockholders’ equity. The bank is the company’s only subsidiary, with offices in downtown Ironton and Proctorville.

James Regan has been named general manager of the Cedar Knoll Galleria in Ashland, Ky. His background is in the sales, management and leasing areas of real estate, and he is relocating to the Tri-State from Orange Blossom Mall in Ft. Pierce, Fla.

Regan has served with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve and has a management/leasing background for properties ranging from 80,000 to 1.6 million square feet.

Justice/Shamrock Glass of Lexington, Ky., recently purchased Fannin & Ross Auto Glass in Ashland, Ky.

Justice/Shamrock Glass is an affiliated company of Justice Glass & Supply of Huntington, W.Va., and is owned by T. Carroll Justice of Inez, Ky., and is managed by David Justice.

The firm is located at 1512 Front St. in Ashland.

Patton Construction Co. of Ashland, Ky., recently received a national architectural roofing award for design and installation excellent of the roofing at the new central fire station in Ashland, Ky.

The building has a Loc Seam metal standing seam roof system featuring multiple hips and valleys and a gabled dormer over the entryway. The 19,754 sq. ft., 6:12 pitched roof is finished in a terra cotta color with Premium 70 Plus Kynar finish.

Special Metals Corp. has announced a 5 percent across-the-board price increase for all nickel alloys. The increase is the result of higher raw materials costs.

Huntington, W.Va., is the site of one of the firm’s primary manufacturing facilities.

American Electric Power reports net income for the second quarter of 1999 of $87.8 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with $118.1 million, or 62 cents a share in 1998.

Earnings for the year-to-date period were $239 million, or $1.24 per share, compared with $268.7 million, or $1.41 per share, for 1998.

For the 12 months ended June 30, net income increased to $506.5 million, or $2.64 a share, compared with $485.9 million, or $2.56 per share, for the same period a year earlier after a 1998 extraordinary tax item. Net income for the 12 months ended June 30 before the extraordinary item was $595.4 million, or $3.14 a share.

The extraordinary item recorded in the third quarter of 1997 was the United Kingdom’s one-time windfall tax on privatized utilities, which reduced AEP’s share of Yorkshire Electricity Group’s earnings for the 12 months ended June 30, 1998, by $109.4 million. The windfall tax was based on a retroactive revaluation of the original privatization price.

In related AEP news, the utility’s board has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 60 cents a share on the company’s common stock. The dividend is payable Sept. 10 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 10 and is the company’s 357-th consecutive quarterly common stock cash dividend.

Shareholders of Firstar Corp. have voted in favor of merging with mercantile Bancorporation. Banks in the merger are in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky and Illinois.

In April, Firstar announced it had signed an agreement to acquire Mercantile through an exchange of shares valued at $10.6 billion.

This transaction makes Firstar the second largest banking franchise in deposits in the Midwest. Firstar is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis.

Jennifer Allen is publisher of The Ironton Tribune.