Briefs
‘Business Press’ hosts
financial forum
To address the current economic and credit challenges facing the Tarrant County business community, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University are hosting “Preparing For & Surviving.” The forum is designed to prepare businesses to face economic challenges caused by the current financial crisis.
Economist O. Homer Erekson will host the opening discussion addressing current situations. Erekson is the John V. Roach Dean of the Neeley School. There will be breakout sessions on real estate, financial, oil and gas, and risk management.
The forum is from 7:30-10:45 a.m. at the new Brown Lupton University Union, 2901 Stadium Drive. Attendance is free. To register, call Mary Schlegel at 817-336-8300 or send an e-mail to mschlegel@bizpress.net.
– Crystal Forester
D.R. Horton has 4Q loss
The healthier-than-most Dallas-Fort Worth housing market could not shield Fort Worth-based homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. as the company reported preliminary results for its fourth quarter to see a loss of as much as $900 million – about 18 times as much as the last quarter in 2007.
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 ended Sept. 30, D.R. Horton reported a home sales revenue of $1.5 billion on 6,961 homes closed, compared to $3.0 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2007 on 11,733 homes closed.
Analysts had forecast a loss of 58 cents a share on revenue of about $1.6 billion when D.R. Horton reports its financial results Nov. 25, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
About 32,000 lots were sold during the quarter, of which 55 percent were undeveloped, 20 percent were partially developed and 25 percent were fully developed. The company owned about 99,000 lots Sept. 30.
D.R. HortonÂ’s backlog of homes under contract for the fourth quarter was reported at 5,297 homes compared to 10,442 homes for the same period a year ago. Net sales orders for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 totaled 3,977 homes compared to 6,374 homes for the fourth quarter a year ago.
“Market conditions in the homebuilding industry deteriorated during our fourth fiscal quarter and October, characterized by rising foreclosures, high inventory levels of both new and existing homes and reduced liquidity in the mortgage markets,” said Don R. Horton, chairman of the board, in a company release. “In addition, consumer confidence has been eroded by a weakening economy, higher unemployment and record volatility in the capital markets. We remain focused on controlling our cost structure, reducing our inventory and generating cash flow from operations.”
In the year-ago period, D.R. Horton lost $50.1 million, or 16 cents a share. The company projected that revenue for the quarter would fall by half to $1.5 billion.
– Aleshia Howe
Alcon gives to UT-Arlington
Alcon has provided a $250,000 gift to the College of Business at the University of Texas at Arlington to benefit the Goolsby Leadership Academy.
The gift will be matched by funds from an existing endowment to establish the Alcon-Goolsby Endowed Chair in the Goolsby Leadership Academy. Alcon is a multibillion dollar eye-care company.
The Goolsby Leadership Academy is designed to transform a select group of business undergraduates into future leaders. The two-year program offers study in leadership development, management and decision-making, emotional competence, ethics, performance measurement and team building.
“Development of the next generation of leaders is a priority for the business community,” said Cary Rayment, Alcon’s chairman, president and CEO.
Scholars are selected for the program through competitive process. Those chosen progress through the program as a team-based unit of 30 students.
– O.K. Carter
TRTC meeting held
The Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition met Oct. 5 to review details of the Rail North Texas initiative.
The Rail North Texas initiative includes a bill that will go before the state legislature in 2009 that intends to create a 12-county transportation district in North Texas, giving counties local control over how to fund transportation projects, including 251 miles of regional commuter rail.
If the bill passes, counties will create a list of needed transportation projects and hold a vote for residents to choose from a host of funding options to pay for those projects including a gasoline tax, a property tax and a driversÂ’ license fee.
– Leslie Wimmer
Real estate book debuts
Real estate junkies will soon get their fill as THE BOOK – Dallas/Fort Worth Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame, a work that profiles local legends in commercial real estate – hits the shelves.
THE BOOK, which will benefit the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors, details and gives a behind-the-scenes look at stories of North Texas real estate icons such as David Fox, who developed many Fox and Jacobs subdivisions in Tarrant County; Peter W. Baldwin, who developed the Mark IV Industrial park in north Fort Worth; and Jack I. McJunkin, who developed the old Amon Carter Airport into CentrePort.
THE BOOK is a compilation of the 69 men and women honored in the NTCAR Hall of Fame celebration. Each recipient is profiled in a two-page spread featuring anecdotal stories, photos and a listing of the individualÂ’s birthplace, year they entered real estate, their current status and most notable contributions.
“One of our biggest concerns was that the incredibly colorful stories of the past 100-plus years might be forgotten as we move into the 21st century,” said Robert Grunnah, one of the three-member team who conceived and crafted THE BOOK. “These great men and women are a critical part of our community’s history. Because of their bold courage, sheer perseverance, wisdom and out-and-out guts, the Dallas-Fort Worth region is now the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.”
– Aleshia Howe
All day and into the evening
More than 40 of Arlington’s downtown business community members — perhaps calculating that they may still be the best kept secret — have decided to create their own not-so-little holiday Nov. 14 with an all-day and into-the-night open house.
“It’s a good opportunity to see what Downtown is these days, plus an opportunity to check out the new Levitt Pavilion, or UTA’s state-of-the art planetarium,” said Maggie Campbell, executive direction of The Downtown Arlington Management Corp. “People can walk the tour or drive it.”
Events range from free jazz in the courtyard of Sanford House or Irish nachos at J. Gilligans, to hot tea and pecan tassies at Collected Treasures or the pick of either music recitals or a free collegiate volleyball game at Texas Hall on the UTA campus. Or a first look at the remodeled Arlington Music Hall.
“It’s the first unified open house in the downtown/university district,” Campbell said. “Parking is free and I think most people will be surprised at how very walkable the Downtown area has become.”
Information: www.downtownarlington.org
– O.K. Carter
NRH celebrates Texas Recycles Day
The 16th annual Texas Recycles Day is Nov. 15, and in celebration of the event encouraging Texans to reduce, reuse and recycle, Keep NRH Beautiful is partnering with the Birdville Independent School District Clothes Connection and Cornerstone Assistance Network with a winter coat and blanket drive.
Gently used winter coats and blankets may be dropped off at Neighborhood Services, 7200-C Dick Fisher Drive South in North Richland Hills, during the week of Nov. 10-14 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or on Nov. 15 at the Northeast Recycles Day Flea Market from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Hills, 6357 Boulevard 26.
Sponsored by Northeast Environmental Team, this is the eighth annual flea market. The event also will feature document shredding from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
– Betty Dillard
Fiserv acquires Grapevine-based The Data Center
Wisconsin-based information technology services company Fiserv Inc., which serves the financial industry, announced today its acquisition of Grapevine-based company The Data Center from Compass Bank.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Fiserv is acquiring all of The Data CenterÂ’s assets and contracts and the CenterÂ’s employees will become employees of Fiserv, according to a release.
The Data Center was a licensee and reseller of the core banking system Fiserv ITI Premier, according to a release, which is available for either outsourced or in-house account processing.
"This acquisition allows Fiserv to extend our core footprint and increase our ITI Outsourcing presence in the Texas marketplace through new expansion in the Dallas and Rio Grande Valley areas. We can offer these clients an experienced staff of professionals who are recognized as leaders in providing quality service," said Mike Young, president of Fiserv Bank and Thrift Division, in a statement. "We began this relationship with The Data Center more than 20 years ago, and now Fiserv is pleased to have them join our team and begin directly serving these clients and other banks in the region. This direct partnership approach allows Fiserv to offer a personal relationship, along with the combined strength of the Fiserv product lines, that can help our clients achieve best-in-class results."
Compass Bank is a subsidiary of Compass Bancshares Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of BBVA , a financial services group with more than $740 billion in total assets in more than 30 countries.
– Leslie Wimmer
Circuit City closing 155 stores, nine in Texas
Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City Stores Inc. said Nov. 3 that it will close 155 stores, including nine in Texas, due to the weak economy.
The company said losses in the second quarter and the fact that its shares have lost 95 percent of their value in the past year led the electronic retailer to lay off thousands of employees and close 20 percent of its 700 U.S. stores by the end of the year.
Locally, Circuit City will close stores in Mansfield, Burleson, Dallas, Sherman and McKinney. The company will still have 15 stories in the north Texas area. The company said it would also defer future store openings and begin to “aggressively renegotiate certain leases.”
“Since late September, unprecedented events have occurred in the financial and consumer markets causing macroeconomic trends to worsen sharply,” said James A. Marcum, vice chairman and acting president and CEO of Circuit City, in a press release. “The weakened environment has resulted in a slowdown of consumer spending, further impacting our business as well as the business of our vendors. The combination of these trends has strained severely our working capital and liquidity, and so we are making a number of difficult, but necessary, decisions to address the company’s financial situation as quickly as possible.”
– Robert Francis
Briefs‘Business Press’ hosts
financial forum
To address the current economic and credit challenges facing the Tarrant County business community, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University are hosting “Preparing For & Surviving.” The forum is designed to prepare businesses to face economic challenges caused by the current financial crisis.
Economist O. Homer Erekson will host the opening discussion addressing current situations. Erekson is the John V. Roach Dean of the Neeley School. There will be breakout sessions on real estate, financial, oil and gas, and risk management.
The forum is from 7:30-10:45 a.m. at the new Brown Lupton University Union, 2901 Stadium Drive. Attendance is free. To register, call Mary Schlegel at 817-336-8300 or send an e-mail to mschlegel@bizpress.net.
– Crystal Forester
D.R. Horton has 4Q loss
The healthier-than-most Dallas-Fort Worth housing market could not shield Fort Worth-based homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. as the company reported preliminary results for its fourth quarter to see a loss of as much as $900 million – about 18 times as much as the last quarter in 2007.
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 ended Sept. 30, D.R. Horton reported a home sales revenue of $1.5 billion on 6,961 homes closed, compared to $3.0 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2007 on 11,733 homes closed.
Analysts had forecast a loss of 58 cents a share on revenue of about $1.6 billion when D.R. Horton reports its financial results Nov. 25, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
About 32,000 lots were sold during the quarter, of which 55 percent were undeveloped, 20 percent were partially developed and 25 percent were fully developed. The company owned about 99,000 lots Sept. 30.
D.R. HortonÂ’s backlog of homes under contract for the fourth quarter was reported at 5,297 homes compared to 10,442 homes for the same period a year ago. Net sales orders for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 totaled 3,977 homes compared to 6,374 homes for the fourth quarter a year ago.
“Market conditions in the homebuilding industry deteriorated during our fourth fiscal quarter and October, characterized by rising foreclosures, high inventory levels of both new and existing homes and reduced liquidity in the mortgage markets,” said Don R. Horton, chairman of the board, in a company release. “In addition, consumer confidence has been eroded by a weakening economy, higher unemployment and record volatility in the capital markets. We remain focused on controlling our cost structure, reducing our inventory and generating cash flow from operations.”
In the year-ago period, D.R. Horton lost $50.1 million, or 16 cents a share. The company projected that revenue for the quarter would fall by half to $1.5 billion.
– Aleshia Howe
Alcon gives to UT-Arlington
Alcon has provided a $250,000 gift to the College of Business at the University of Texas at Arlington to benefit the Goolsby Leadership Academy.
The gift will be matched by funds from an existing endowment to establish the Alcon-Goolsby Endowed Chair in the Goolsby Leadership Academy. Alcon is a multibillion dollar eye-care company.
The Goolsby Leadership Academy is designed to transform a select group of business undergraduates into future leaders. The two-year program offers study in leadership development, management and decision-making, emotional competence, ethics, performance measurement and team building.
“Development of the next generation of leaders is a priority for the business community,” said Cary Rayment, Alcon’s chairman, president and CEO.
Scholars are selected for the program through competitive process. Those chosen progress through the program as a team-based unit of 30 students.
– O.K. Carter
TRTC meeting held
The Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition met Oct. 5 to review details of the Rail North Texas initiative.
The Rail North Texas initiative includes a bill that will go before the state legislature in 2009 that intends to create a 12-county transportation district in North Texas, giving counties local control over how to fund transportation projects, including 251 miles of regional commuter rail.
If the bill passes, counties will create a list of needed transportation projects and hold a vote for residents to choose from a host of funding options to pay for those projects including a gasoline tax, a property tax and a driversÂ’ license fee.
– Leslie Wimmer
Real estate book debuts
Real estate junkies will soon get their fill as THE BOOK – Dallas/Fort Worth Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame, a work that profiles local legends in commercial real estate – hits the shelves.
THE BOOK, which will benefit the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors, details and gives a behind-the-scenes look at stories of North Texas real estate icons such as David Fox, who developed many Fox and Jacobs subdivisions in Tarrant County; Peter W. Baldwin, who developed the Mark IV Industrial park in north Fort Worth; and Jack I. McJunkin, who developed the old Amon Carter Airport into CentrePort.
THE BOOK is a compilation of the 69 men and women honored in the NTCAR Hall of Fame celebration. Each recipient is profiled in a two-page spread featuring anecdotal stories, photos and a listing of the individualÂ’s birthplace, year they entered real estate, their current status and most notable contributions.
“One of our biggest concerns was that the incredibly colorful stories of the past 100-plus years might be forgotten as we move into the 21st century,” said Robert Grunnah, one of the three-member team who conceived and crafted THE BOOK. “These great men and women are a critical part of our community’s history. Because of their bold courage, sheer perseverance, wisdom and out-and-out guts, the Dallas-Fort Worth region is now the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.”
– Aleshia Howe
All day and into the evening
More than 40 of Arlington’s downtown business community members — perhaps calculating that they may still be the best kept secret — have decided to create their own not-so-little holiday Nov. 14 with an all-day and into-the-night open house.
“It’s a good opportunity to see what Downtown is these days, plus an opportunity to check out the new Levitt Pavilion, or UTA’s state-of-the art planetarium,” said Maggie Campbell, executive direction of The Downtown Arlington Management Corp. “People can walk the tour or drive it.”
Events range from free jazz in the courtyard of Sanford House or Irish nachos at J. Gilligans, to hot tea and pecan tassies at Collected Treasures or the pick of either music recitals or a free collegiate volleyball game at Texas Hall on the UTA campus. Or a first look at the remodeled Arlington Music Hall.
“It’s the first unified open house in the downtown/university district,” Campbell said. “Parking is free and I think most people will be surprised at how very walkable the Downtown area has become.”
Information: www.downtownarlington.org
– O.K. Carter
NRH celebrates Texas Recycles Day
The 16th annual Texas Recycles Day is Nov. 15, and in celebration of the event encouraging Texans to reduce, reuse and recycle, Keep NRH Beautiful is partnering with the Birdville Independent School District Clothes Connection and Cornerstone Assistance Network with a winter coat and blanket drive.
Gently used winter coats and blankets may be dropped off at Neighborhood Services, 7200-C Dick Fisher Drive South in North Richland Hills, during the week of Nov. 10-14 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or on Nov. 15 at the Northeast Recycles Day Flea Market from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Hills, 6357 Boulevard 26.
Sponsored by Northeast Environmental Team, this is the eighth annual flea market. The event also will feature document shredding from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
– Betty Dillard
Fiserv acquires Grapevine-based The Data Center
Wisconsin-based information technology services company Fiserv Inc., which serves the financial industry, announced today its acquisition of Grapevine-based company The Data Center from Compass Bank.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Fiserv is acquiring all of The Data CenterÂ’s assets and contracts and the CenterÂ’s employees will become employees of Fiserv, according to a release.
The Data Center was a licensee and reseller of the core banking system Fiserv ITI Premier, according to a release, which is available for either outsourced or in-house account processing.
"This acquisition allows Fiserv to extend our core footprint and increase our ITI Outsourcing presence in the Texas marketplace through new expansion in the Dallas and Rio Grande Valley areas. We can offer these clients an experienced staff of professionals who are recognized as leaders in providing quality service," said Mike Young, president of Fiserv Bank and Thrift Division, in a statement. "We began this relationship with The Data Center more than 20 years ago, and now Fiserv is pleased to have them join our team and begin directly serving these clients and other banks in the region. This direct partnership approach allows Fiserv to offer a personal relationship, along with the combined strength of the Fiserv product lines, that can help our clients achieve best-in-class results."
Compass Bank is a subsidiary of Compass Bancshares Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of BBVA , a financial services group with more than $740 billion in total assets in more than 30 countries.
– Leslie Wimmer
Circuit City closing 155 stores, nine in Texas
Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City Stores Inc. said Nov. 3 that it will close 155 stores, including nine in Texas, due to the weak economy.
The company said losses in the second quarter and the fact that its shares have lost 95 percent of their value in the past year led the electronic retailer to lay off thousands of employees and close 20 percent of its 700 U.S. stores by the end of the year.
Locally, Circuit City will close stores in Mansfield, Burleson, Dallas, Sherman and McKinney. The company will still have 15 stories in the north Texas area. The company said it would also defer future store openings and begin to “aggressively renegotiate certain leases.”
“Since late September, unprecedented events have occurred in the financial and consumer markets causing macroeconomic trends to worsen sharply,” said James A. Marcum, vice chairman and acting president and CEO of Circuit City, in a press release. “The weakened environment has resulted in a slowdown of consumer spending, further impacting our business as well as the business of our vendors. The combination of these trends has strained severely our working capital and liquidity, and so we are making a number of difficult, but necessary, decisions to address the company’s financial situation as quickly as possible.”
– Robert Francis
