WASHINGTON, D.C. ó Cliff Ritchie, president and CEO of Salisbury-based Carolina Beverage Corp., has been appointed to the American Beverage Association board of directors.
“I am proud to welcome Cliff to the ABA board of directors and am grateful for his commitment to our industry,” said Larry D. Young, chair of the association’s board of directors and president and chief executive officer of Dr Pepper Snapple Group. “As we develop initiatives and confront challenges, Cliff’s unique perspective will help to further strengthen our industry’s leadership.”
Association President and CEO Susan K. Neely said, “We are pleased to have Cliff serving among our association’s leadership and welcome him to our team.”
“I am honored to join the ABA Board of Directors,” Ritchie said. “I look forward to playing an active role in helping shape the future course for our industry.”
For more than 30 years, Ritchie has held various positions within the family-run business whose products include Cheerwine.
A descendant of L.D. Peeler, the man who founded Cheerwine more than 90 years ago, Ritchie joined the company in 1978 as warehouse manager. In 1992, he was named president and CEO of Cheerwine Bottling Co., the company’s production and distribution arm.
He then also assumed the role of president and chief executive officer of Carolina Beverage, the parent company that handles the marketing and licensing for Cheerwine. Ritchie is currently president of the N.C. Beverage Association.
Members of the American Beverage Association board of directors are appointed for four-year terms.
The American Beverage Association is the trade organization representing the broad spectrum of companies that manufacture and distribute non-alcoholic beverages in the United States.
CommunityOne helps teach children to save
ASHEBORO ó Employees from CommunityOne Bank gave local students tools to build a positive financial future by participating in the 13th annual National Teach Children to Save Day.
The day is a nationwide event to teach students in grades K-12 their financial ABCs.
The day was observed this year on April 21, although presentations were made to students throughout the month of April.
“CommunityOne highly values this unique effort to teach children the value of saving and the basics of money management,” said Michael C. Miller, bank president and chief executive officer.
“We think National Teach Children to Save Day is an opportunity to make a powerful, positive difference in all of our communities by investing in the future of children.”
This year CommunityOne reached more than 2,700 pre-K, elementary, middle and high school students across North Carolina. Fifty-eight bank volunteers visited 51 public, private and charter schools in both city and county school systems.
Lessons included creating a budget, saving for an emergency and making money grow with interest. Students practiced these concepts through games and other activities.
For more information about saving and National Teach Children to Save Day, visit the American Bankers Association’s Web site at www.aba.com.
PGT donates to World Vision Storehouse
VENICE, Fla. ó PGT Industries, a wholly owned subsidiary of PGT Inc. and one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of custom windows and doors, donated surplus product to the World Vision Storehouse in support of children and families in need across America.
The PGT Windows, among other donated building products, were used to rebuild the home of a West Virginia family, the Boylards, after it was destroyed by fire.
PGT has been working with World Vision since last year, donating Kevin Jones/World Vision product from its aluminum and vinyl residential product lines.
The Boylards are one of many families in West Virginia who have improved their lives through PGT’s donation. Appalachia is an area of the country where poverty is magnified, due to many factors, including fewer employment opportunities and lower income potential.
World Vision’s Storehouse network partners with manufacturers, retailers and other corporate donors who supply daily essentials, school and office supplies, medical and health-care items, and building materials ó all aimed at improving the quality of life for families battling the damaging effects of poverty.
Donated items are organized and managed in nine warehouses located across the United States.
PGT pioneered the U.S. impact-resistant window and door industry and today is the nation’s leading manufacturer and supplier of residential impact-resistant windows and doors. The company employs approximately 1,250 at its manufacturing, glass laminating and tempering plants in Florida and North Carolina, including a plant in Salisbury.
QuickBooks Pro class offered by RCCC
Small business owners can learn how to use QuickBooks Pro 2009 in a week through a day class offered by the Small Business Center at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
The SBC will offer the “QuickBooks Pro Level I” class May 11, 12, 14 and 15 from 8 a.m. to noon at RCCC’s Cabarrus Business & Technology Center in Concord.
The course tuition is $79 and is designed for small business owners who are pressed for time or simply want to learn the accounting software program quickly.
To register or get more information, call the SBC at 704-216-3512, send e-mail to sbc@rowancabarrus.edu, or see the SBC website at www.rowancabarrus.edu/sbc/.
The Cabarrus Business & Technology Center is located at 660 Concord Parkway North.
The one-week course covers the same amount of material as the SBC’s normal 15-hour class. The class also will be good for people wanting a refresher course or to acquaint themselves with the new 2009 version.
QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting software programs. Students will learn how to chart accounts, receive payments, pay bills, create lists, track cash sales, enter bills, create invoices, make deposits, reconcile bank accounts and write checks using the software.
Comfort Keepers honors Lori Eberly
Lori Eberly, owner of three area Comfort Keepers locations, provides in-home care services to local families and was recently honored by CK Franchising Inc. for her team’s performance as a Comfort Keepers franchise.
Eberly and her team were recognized during the April 18 celebration dinner and awards ceremony at the Comfort Keepers Annual Conference in Louisville, Ky.
Eberly’s Comfort Keepers offices were recognized for hitting weekly operational milestones for hours of service provided to clients.
Recipients received engraved awards honoring their milestone achievements. Eberly’s Comfort Keepers offices also consistently rank in the top 25 offices in the Southeast Region.
“To be recognized for continuing to grow our business year after year, despite the current economy, is a great honor,” she said. “I am thrilled to own a business that works with seniors because it truly is my passion and the passion of my entire team. An award such as this recognizes our dedication to the seniors in our community.”
Comfort Keepers provides in-home care services on an hourly, daily or weekly basis with tailored packages customized to an individual’s needs.
Packages include companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, grocery shopping, incidental transportation, laundry, recreational activities and more. All Comfort Keeper caregivers are employees and have criminal and driving background checks that ensure dependability and reliability.
Eberly has been in business since 2001.
Citizens South lowers mortgage rates in TARP-funded program
GASTONIA ó Citizens South Bank, which has banking offices in Rowan County, has reduced the interest rates for its new 30-year mortgage program, which is being funded through federal Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds under the Capital Purchase Program.
The rate has been lowered from 3.5 percent to 2.875 percent fixed for the first 24 months and from 5.5 percent to 4.875 percent fixed starting during the 25th month and fixed for the remaining 28 years of the loan.
The bank says the program has been an effective tool for homebuilders at a time when many homebuyers are motivated by historically low mortgage interest rates and competitive home prices.
Participating builders and developers, which are Citizen South commercial customers, pay the closing costs on the mortgages as a form of assistance to qualified homebuyers.
“Citizen South’s low mortgage interest rates program made the difference on the first home we sold when the program started in February, and we expect the new rates will continue to attract people’s attention,” said Peter Harakas, president of Colony Custom Homes, which builds homes in Gaston County and York County, S.C.
“People are naturally skeptical and begin looking for the catch, but with this program’s low interest rates that lock in at a predetermined level and no closing costs there are no catches.”
The program requires buyers to make a down payment of 20 percent for standard loans, 25 percent for jumbo loans or 10 percent if mortgage insurance is included. The program applies only to owner-occupied homes and excludes second homes and investment properties.
“As interest rates have dropped further, we saw an opportunity to offer even more attractive rates,” said Kim S. Price, president and CEO of Citizens South Bank. “Our goal is to help stimulate the housing market, while assisting our area builders and developers.”
When Citizens South launched the TARP-funded program in February it received extensive national news media coverage because Citizens South was among the first banks to target these funds specifically to stimulate home buying as Congress intended.
The program was profiled in the Washington Post and also on NBC Nightly News, which included Price in its “Hometown Heroes” segment.
BNC Bancorp nets $1.4M in first quarter
THOMASVILLE ó BNC Bancorp, parent of Bank of North Carolina, reported net income for the first quarter of $1.4 million, an increase of 118.4 percent from the $626,000 earned in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The first-quarter net income declined by 19.6 percent compared to the $1.7 million reported for the first quarter of 2008.
For the first quarter, net income available to common shareholders totaled $872,000, or 12 cents per diluted common share, a 48.7 percent decline when compared with the $1.7 million, or 23 cents per diluted common share, earned in the first quarter of 2008.
The $872,000 is an 80.5 percent increase in net income available to common shareholders when compared to the $483,000, or 7 cents per diluted share earned in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Total assets as of March 31 were $1.59 billion, an increase of 34.1 percent compared with $1.19 billion as of March 31, 2008. Total loans on March 31, 2009 were $1 billion, an increase of 2.2 percent from the $983.1 million reported as of March 31, 2008.
Investment securities increased $372.8 million, or 420.8 percent, when compared to the $88.6 million outstanding at March 31, 2008. Deposits increased 38.6 percent over the same one-year period.
During the first quarter, management negotiated a $250 million money market funding arrangement which carries a fixed effective cost of 2.95 percent over the five-year period.
W. Swope Montgomery, Jr., president and chief executive officer, said, “Given the challenging operating environment for our industry, we are very pleased with the direction of our performance in the first quarter, both in our credit quality and earnings performance.”
The provision for credit losses was $3 million in the first quarter of 2009, compared with $750,000 and $2.7 million in the first and fourth quarters of 2008, respectively. Net charge-offs of loans during the recent quarter were $1.7 million, an improvement from the $3.3 million reported in the final quarter of 2008.
Net charge-offs were $312,000 in the initial 2008 quarter. Expressed as an annualized percentage of average loans outstanding, net charge-offs were .70 percent and .13 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and 2008, respectively, and 1.31 percent in 2008’s fourth quarter.
Non-performing assets as a percentage of total assets at March 31 were at 1.12 percent, down from the 1.17 percent at Dec. 31, 2008.