issue pdf:11032008 - Crain`s Cleveland Business
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issue pdf:11032008 - Crain`s Cleveland Business
CCLB 11-03-08 A 1 CCLB 10/31/2008 2:14 PM Page 1 $1.50/NOVEMBER 3 - 9, 2008 Nat City employees gloomily await fate By ARIELLE KASS [email protected] By DAN SHINGLER ■ [email protected] T he battered U.S. auto industry finds itself on its roughest road ever. And, like it or not, all of Northeast Ohio is along for the bone-rattling ride, as a critical economic sector — the region’s automotive supply industry — straps in and braces for a possible crash. After years of cutting costs to comply with the demands of major automakers and especially Detroit’s Big 3, local manufacturers are facing their toughest challenges in decades as they wait to see how the sector negotiates dangerous economic curves — and who will survive the trip. Already, many suppliers have shaken off workers as they’ve negotiated the bumps in the road, with more cuts likely to come. See AUTO Page 38 KRISTEN WILSON ILLUSTRATION The mood at National City Corp., employees say, is glum. Somber. Morose. But despite the uncertainty workers have felt since the Oct. 24 announcement of the bank’s planned sale to Pittsburgh’s PNC Financial Services Group, many employees say they’re still working hard. And that, if they can, they want to stay with the company. All employees interviewed for this article were granted anonymity so they could speak candidly about their employer as they sorted through their emotions regarding the “My résumé sale. is out there, One worker, but my a technology ultimate goal implementation specialist is to stay with who works out the bank.” of the bank’s – National City headquarters Corp. employee on East Ninth Street in downtown Cleveland, said many employees still do not have a clear understanding of why National City decided it no longer could make it, something he and others said they find “frustrating.” “There’s no one concise point where employees understand what happened,” he said. “We were getting ready to go through a tough road and the rug was pulled out from under us. My résumé is out there, but my ultimate goal is to stay with the bank.” The specialist already has had more than one job offer that could take him away from the uncertainty at National City. But it’s his respect for the CEO, Peter Raskind, that makes him want to stay and see what happens. “From where I sit, a great majority of people do still have the utmost respect for Raskind,” he said. “He’s been very open in terms of sharing with us plans for moving the organization forward.” Mr. Raskind and James Rohr, PNC’s chief executive, asked employees to give them 30 days to sort out what would happen with the merger before 44 See BANK Page 37 0 NEWSPAPER 71486 01032 6 SPECIAL SECTION REAL ESTATE Lakefront development plans require balancing public access, environmental impact ■ Page 15 PLUS: RESTORED STOREFRONTS ■ ADVISER ■ & MORE Entire contents © 2008 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 29, No. 44 CCLB 11-03-08 A 2 CCLB 2 10/31/2008 1:28 PM Page 1 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM NOVEMBER 3-9, 2008 ON MORE SOLID GROUND COMING NEXT WEEK Big companies’ pension plans are significantly better-funded now than they were five years ago, according to data from consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide. In 2007, 34% of defined-benefit plans for Fortune 1000 companies showed a surplus, while only 5% had funding levels below 70%. That’s a sharp contrast to 2002, when only 9% of plans were fully funded and 35% were below the 70%-funding mark. Small Business Many local entrepreneurs develop business expertise and experience out of state. These so-called “Buckeye Boomerangers” then return to their home turf to set up shop. Pension plan funding levels at Fortune 1000 companies Year Less than 7070% 79.9% REGULAR FEATURES Classified...........................................36 Editorial.............................................10 Going Places......................................18 Letters...............................................10 Reporters’ Notebook............................39 Stocks...............................................39 8089.9% 9099.9% 100109.9% 110120% or 119.9% more 2007 5% 11% 22% 28% 18% 8% 8% 2006 10 18 27 24 10 7 4 2005 20 22 27 19 7 2 3 2004 20 20 28 19 8 2 3 2003 22 24 23 16 8 4 3 2002 35 25 19 12 6 2 1 SOURCE: SOURCE: WATSON WYATT WORLDWIDE; WWW.WATSONWYATT.COM Do business without getting “the business” from your bank Compare our Reality Business Checking to your current business account. Then come to FirstMerit and start saving now! How does your Bank Compare? 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St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 Phone: (216) 522-1383 Fax: (216) 694-4264 www.crainscleveland.com V isi t : A n y br an ch *ATM owner may assess a fee when using a non-FirstMerit ATM and fees may apply on transactions made internationally. **Clients must request to have cancelled checks returned. Audit Bureau of Circulation CCLB 11-03-08 A 3 CCLB 10/31/2008 3:35 PM Page 1 NOVEMBER 3-9, 2008 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM 3 Once-robust Rysar facing a ‘nightmare’ Mounting legal woes, shrunken payroll lead builder back to home rehab By STAN BULLARD [email protected] Facing a fresh, $2.7 million foreclosure filing over his mostly empty, 91-home subdivision at the old Miles Drive-In site in Warrensville Heights, homebuilder Ken Lurie sums up the impact of the credit crunch on his business in a single phrase. “It’s a nightmare,” said Mr. Lurie, CEO of Rysar Properties. Financial and legal woes faced by the Cleveland-based concern that has built 2,000 homes since 1991 have FORTHERECORD HEARINGS SLATED ON PNC-NAT CITY DEAL ■ U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette said the House Committee on Financial Services will hold hearings Nov. 12 and Nov. 18 into what he characterized as “the potential misuse of bailout funds, including the purchase of National City Bank in Cleveland.” Rep. LaTourette, a Republican from Bainbridge Township and a senior member of the committee, said he spoke with committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and “urged an investigation after it was revealed that $7.7 billion in federal bailout money was used to help Pittsburgh-based PNC (Financial Services Group Inc.) buy National City at a fire sale price.” Rep. LaTourette reiterated his belief that the Comptroller of the Currency, John Dugan, helped orchestrate the sale of National City to PNC and pushed for a quick sale. PNC was a client of Mr. Dugan, a lawyer, before he became Comptroller in 2005. Mr. Dugan has denied that his relationship with PNC was a factor in the sale. Rep. LaTourette said he has submitted a “sweeping public records request” to the Treasury and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about the National City sale. — Scott Suttell RETIRED COP ACCUSED OF STOCK SCHEME ■ A retired police officer allegedly preyed on his former co-workers by raising at least $620,000 to buy stocks on their behalf but that he instead used for his own benefit. Painesville resident Raymond Thomas, 47, acted as an unregistered investment adviser for police officers, firefighters and family members, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It alleges that Mr. Thomas used his company, Strictly Stocks Investment Co., to bilk customers out of money that he instead used for his own limousine and title companies. — Arielle Kass THINSOLUTIONS BUYS O-WEB DIVISION ■ Information technology services company Thinsolutions of Lakewood has acquired the web development division of O-Web Technologies Ltd. of Cleveland. O-Web sold the division so it could focus on its online food ordering software, Onosys, said O-Web senior sales manager Stan Garber. — Chuck Soder put Mr. Lurie back in his car scouting for inner-city homes to fix up. A Rysar staff that once numbered 45 is down to four. The 11th-largest builder by home starts in 2004 now does not make Atwell-Hicks Development Consultants’ list of the largest Northeast Ohio builders — and that’s even though the list isn’t what it once was. A builder with just 28 starts was one of the seven most active builders in the region as of mid-2008, according to Atwell-Hicks. Mr. Lurie’s focus no longer is on counting housing starts, except at his Bluestone condominium project in Cleveland Heights. He’s worrying about selling what he has finished. “If we have buyers who can finance a $100,000 house, we’ll work with them,” Mr. Lurie said. “If they can’t, we’ll work on a lease-toown arrangement, which can be very attractive.” In the meantime, he said, “I’m back where I started — rehabbing houses.” Rysar’s biggest legal woe, among many legal actions, is a lawsuit Citizens Bank of Flint, Mich., filed Sept. 11 in the U.S. District Court in See RYSAR Page 33 STAN BULLARD Rysar Properties’ Cinema Park is the subject of a $2.7 million foreclosure lawsuit filed by Citizens Bank in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. A. Schulman praised for reaction to market swing INSIGHT CEO plans emphasis on healthy packaging sector By DAN SHINGLER [email protected] MARC GOLUB Ohio Technical College has dramatically increased its enrollment in the past few years, from 350 in 2004 to more than 1,000 today. At the school’s Automotive Restoration School, Jeremy Yrek (from left) of Richmond, Mich., instructor Owen Hamrick, Michael Hildenbrandt of Booneville, N.Y., and Steve Johnson of Rockford, Ill., work on a car. NEED FOR SPEED Rapid enrollment rise allows Ohio Technical College to feed growing demand for its trained technicians By DAN SHINGLER [email protected] O hio Technical College is running on all cylinders these days. The school teaches students how to repair just about anything on a car, motorcycle, snowmobile, ATV or other personal vehicle, as well as diesel trucks and generators. With trained technicians hard to come by, it’s seeing increased demand for its students and its curriculum, both of which are powering its growth on Cleveland’s East Side. Ohio Technical has raised its enrollment to more than 1,000 students today from 350 in 2004. Along the way, the school has increased its staff to 170 from 70, bought up See OTC Page 35 A. Schulman Inc. CEO Joseph Gingo has his work cut out for him, including the less-than-pleasant task of downsizing the business in reaction to slumping auto sales. But analysts who follow the Akronbased company are applauding his direct and fastGingo paced approach to restructuring the 80-year-old supplier of plastic resins. A. Schulman’s plans will result in job losses at its automotive-related operations, including in Bellevue, Ohio, about 10 miles south of Sandusky. But the company plans to increase its employment in Northeast Ohio, where its plant in Akron is focused on the more profitable and stable business of providing plastics used in packaging food and other consumer goods. “Nothing is recession-proof, but some things, like packaging, are recession-resistant,” Mr. Gingo said. A. Schulman plans to increase the number of production lines in Akron to four from two, boosting its employment to as many as 60 jobs from the current 20 by the time the expansion is done. A. Schulman in total employs about 2,200 people, including 353 in Ohio and 90 in the rest of the United States. The bulk of its employees are in Europe. Mr. Gingo, who became CEO at the start of 2008 after a 40-year career at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., said A. Schulman will trim operations that provide the auto industry with specialty plastics through its engineered products division. The CEO said the company would communicate soon with workers about the downsizing, possibly as early as See SCHULMAN Page 8 CCLB 11-03-08 A 4 CCLB 4 10/31/2008 1:44 PM CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS Page 1 WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM NOVEMBER 3-9, 2008 Despite public airing of struggles, Rego’s confident in future By JOHN BOOTH [email protected] Locally owned Rego’s grocery stores may bear visible bruises of the tough economy, but there’s still a determined optimism within the family ownership. “We’re not going out of business,” said Jim Rego, part-owner of four of the six Rego’s markets. “Things will pick up in the next couple weeks and things will get better. There are no plans to close anything or to go out of business.” Sal Rego, who owns two stores outright and has a stake in two others, said in an e-mail that Rego’s “main goal in this very difficult economic situation is to continue to keep and create new jobs in the local market and help support the community.” Evidence of Rego’s struggles has come into the public eye over the past ighly ranked. Again. Consistently ranked a Small Business Administration National Top 20 Lender, Huntington is proud to announce that we recently ranked number one for lending the most money through SBA loans in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. We are equally proud of also making the most SBA loans in Ohio and West Virginia. While being recognized for our achievements is always an honor, it pales in comparison to the honor it is to have the trust of small businesses nationwide banking with us for their financial needs. 1-866-921-4990 | huntington.com Small Business Administration ranking is based on the 2008 Coleman Report 500 for Top 50 7(a) Lenders by Number of Loans and Loan Volume. The Huntington National Bank is an Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC. ,® Huntington® and A bank invested in people® are federally registered service marks of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. ©2008 Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. few months. Gaps widened on the shelves as inventory levels dropped; the Lakewood Heights Boulevard store in Cleveland closed in July; the trustee in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy for State Fish Inc. has filed suit against Rego’s for unpaid bills; and a dire-sounding e-mail regarding Rego’s future spread across the area. Though the half-dozen stores all bear the Rego family name, they’re run by three separate ownership groups. The Rocky River Lake Road Market and Strongsville stores are owned by Alan Rego Sr., Jim Rego and Sal Rego. The Kamm’s Corners and Westlake locations are run by Rego’s Fresh Markets, which is owned by Alan Rego Sr., Alan Rego Jr., Chuck Rego Sr. and Jim Rego. Sal Rego is the sole owner of the Rego’s stores in Brunswick and North Royalton. Regarding lower inventory levels, Jim Rego said they’re largely a result of managing things more closely. “The cost of doing business is going up and business is flat, so it’s a challenging time,” he said. “But we’ll work through it.” Asked in a brief telephone conversation about the state of Rego’s, Sal Rego responded, “I am fighting my way through the myriad of financial disasters out there in the world and trying to get a business loan.” An Oct. 2 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court lists all six Rego’s stores as defendants in an adversary proceeding related to the bankruptcy of State Fish and seeks a total of $23,349.93. More than half that amount is owed by two stores: Rego’s West Valley Market Place in Brunswick ($6,882.15) and Rego’s Strongsville Market ($6,929.76). Last month, Candace Rego Caterna, the former deli and seafood supervisor for some of the Rego’s locations and the daughter of Sal Rego, composed an e-mail seeking support for the stores. In it, she wrote that the economic situation “is a danger that could bring us to an end very, very shortly.” In a phone call, Ms. Caterna said her e-mail “wasn’t meant to be a campaign,” but it spread virally and turned up in a Sept. 29 Plain Dealer column. Ms. Caterna shared with Crain’s Cleveland Business an Oct. 7 e-mail written by Sal Rego as a response to that newspaper piece. In addition to the statement about the company seeking to keep and create jobs, Mr. Rego’s note says the company spent $750,000 upgrading the North Royalton store this year, and that “with the help of the city of North Royalton, we are trying to bring more traffic to the corner and add to the city’s tax base.” North Royalton development director Tom Jordan said the city isn’t planning to put municipal funds into the store, though it has offered to help find financing. “The city did contact Sal and make offers of the quasi- or governmentrelated financing options available to provide an alternative to more restrictive private financing,” he said. A spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 880, which represents meat and grocery employees at the Kamm’s Corners and Westlake stores, said the union has not been advised of any store closings or received any recent complaints about reductions in hours or job cuts. ■ Volume 29, Number 44 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 441131230. Copyright © 2008 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $1.50. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48207-2912. (888)909-9111. REPRINT INFORMATION: 800-290-5460 Ext. 136 CCLB 11-03-08 A 5 CCLB 10/31/2008 1:31 PM Page 1 NOVEMBER 3-9, 2008 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM 5 CWRU-based fuel cell developer loses momentum, files for Chap. 11 HydroGen had deal with Samsung, among others By CHUCK SODER [email protected] A Cleveland fuel cell company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors because of its inability to find money to continue developing its technology. The nine remaining employees of HydroGen LLC, which employed 61 people in May, are focused on finding someone to buy the company and are preparing for the possibility it might need to liquidate its assets. Among those employees is HydroGen’s new CEO, Scott Schecter, who replaced John Freeh on Oct. 17, when the publicly traded company’s board cut three top executives to conserve cash. “We had some positive milestones behind us.” – Scott Schecter, CEO, HydroGen Many potential investors said they would not back the company because of the economy, according to Mr. Schecter, who had been HydroGen’s chief financial officer. He stopped short of saying most of them gave that reason. “A lot of it had to do with the state of the capital markets,” Mr. Schecter said in a phone interview from a HydroGen office in New York. The company, which has received more than $2 million from the state of Ohio, has been cutting costs since May to stay afloat while searching for more money or a buyer. The phosphoric acid fuel cell developer had expected to receive financing this past spring. When the money didn’t come, it cut more than 20 people from its staff of 61, Mr. Schecter said. Since then it has made two more rounds of cuts, which eliminated the rest of its research-and-development staff, including more than a dozen employees based out of its headquarters at Case Western Reserve University. In September, it shut down its pilot fuel cell system at Ashta Chemicals Inc.’s chlor-alkali plant in Ashtabula. The system was converting byproduct hydrogen gas into electricity, heat and water for the plant. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection Oct. 22 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, was “quite optimistic” at the start of the year and expected it to be easier to find financing, Mr. Schecter said. The company last January struck a deal with Samsung Corp. in which the Korean conglomerate agreed to distribute its fuel cells in Asia, the Middle East and other regions. It also was preparing to install the pilot fuel cell system at the Ashta Chemicals plant in February. “We had some positive milestones behind us,” Mr. Schecter said. Schuyler Carroll, a lawyer with New York-based Arent Fox LLP who is representing a few hundred companies and organizations to which HydroGen owes money, said the company has been missing various payments for a few months, and in some cases longer. “They didn’t pay people for a long time,” Mr. Carroll said. Documents filed by Mr. Carroll show the seven companies that sit on the committee representing the creditors are owed more than $660,000 in total. They are among the companies that are owed the most, he said. Another creditor, the Federated Kaufman Fund of Pittsburgh, is representing itself separately. The state’s investment in the technology may not go to waste: Tom Zawodzinski, a CWRU professor who worked closely with HydroGen, said groups in Ohio that he would not identify have been discussing the idea of continuing on with the technology. Should they do so, the university might still provide them assistance, he said. “We’re open to it,” he said. ■ Wherever your business leads, our health insurance follows. our busıness is growing yours by leveraging your technology investment 1-800-ASK-CBIZ (275-2249) www.cbiz.com Across Ohio or the nation, SummaCare has you covered. Our expanded network includes hundreds of top hospitals and thousands of providers. And, with unexpectedly personal customer service, consider SummaCare this enrollment season. To learn more, call your agent or visit www.summacare.com. CCLB 11-03-08 A 6 CCLB 6 10/31/2008 3:33 PM Page 1 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM CWRU economics prof: Financing incubators provides little stimulus Who’s Behind the Power of RSM McGladrey? Future Fund better off recruiting qualified entrepreneurs, he says We’re Real Estate Deal Makers. We Help You Get It Done. By CHUCK SODER [email protected] Ron DeGrandis One might not guess that Scott Shane teaches entrepreneurship, judging by his study that suggests the Fund for Our Economic Future should not finance business incubators and entrepreneurship education programs because they’d do little for Northeast Ohio’s economy. Dr. Shane conducted the study on behalf of the Fund, a coalition of area philanthropic groups aiming to grow Northeast Ohio’s economy. The Fund has not financed incubators or entrepreneurship education programs in the past, but it’s considering putting money into the region’s TechLift incubator program, and some of its individual members fund entrepreneurship education. Not everyone who was present when the Case Western Reserve University professor unveiled the study agreed with it, but it will be taken into account as the Fund decides how to spend its money in the future, said Deborah Hoover, co-chair of the Fund’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Action Team. “It’s certainly going to be one factor,” said Ms. Hoover, who also is president of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, which promotes entrepreneurship. The study, available at advance northeastohio.org as an attachment to an Oct. 20 blog post titled “Strengthening Entrepreneurship,” suggested the Fund spend its money recruiting experienced entrepreneurs Larry Hirsh We’ve grown our careers in Northeast Ohio with a host of client success stories that speak for themselves. Whether you’re a real estate investor, developer or property manager we offer financial forecasts, valuations, cost segregation, complex structuring, tax incentive transactions along with everyday accounting & auditing. Ron DeGrandis 216-522-1080 | Larry Hirsh 216-522-1337 rsmmcgladrey.com Cleveland 216-523-1900 Akron 330-670-6515 Canton 330-455-1120 Columbus 614-224-7722 RSM McGladrey, Inc. and McGladrey & Pullen LLP are two separate and independent legal entities. They operate in an alternative practice structure that enables them to work together to service clients’ business needs. Experience our Experience W E A T H E R H E A D E X E C U T I V E NOVEMBER 3-9, 2008 and increasing the amount of venture capital in the region. However, it was the exclusion of incubators and entrepreneurship education that generated discussion during his Oct. 24 presentation to Fund members and community leaders at Corporate College East in Warrensville Heights. “It was pretty lively,” said Dr. Shane, the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at CWRU. On incubators — which provide inexpensive rent, advisers and other services to young companies — Dr. Shane cites research from studies conducted in Israel, Italy and Pennsylvania that he said show few differences in performance between similar incubated and non-incubated businesses. The “handful” of studies showing any increase in performance note that incubators might just select better companies to begin with, his study said. Wayne Zeman, director of the Northeast Ohio Incubator Collaborative, disagrees. Mr. Zeman said most centers of research use some sort of incubator to help launch young companies. Plus, he has heard too many stories about how incubators helped companies to believe they don’t work. “There’s so much anecdotal information that says incubators are good for the economy,” Mr. Zeman said. Tracy Kitts, vice president of the National Business Incubation Association in Athens, Ohio, said there needs to be a national study on the effectiveness of incubation. Anecdo- tally, however, Mr. Kitts said he has seen companies grow, change their business plans and build connections in their communities because of relationships with incubators. Dr. Shane supports entrepreneurship education, but not as an economic development tool. Too many students leave the region after they’re educated, he said, and the remaining few who display the potential to produce high-growth companies may not do so for decades. Phil Rea, director of the Center for Innovation and Growth at BaldwinWallace College, countered that point, saying that the center’s students have shown more interest in staying in Northeast Ohio because of the region’s growing focus on entrepreneurship. Plus, students don’t need to start high-growth companies to have an impact; programs like those at the center also teach people to innovate within existing companies, he said. The Fund should not discount incubator and entrepreneurship education based on one study alone, said Dan Berglund, CEO of the State Science and Technology Institute, a nonprofit in Westerville, Ohio, that serves organizations involved in technology-based economic development. Mr. Berglund said he believes incubators improve the survival rates of young companies, and that the region won’t have enough entrepreneurs if it focuses only on recruiting them from elsewhere. “You want to balance it out by recruiting your own,” he said. ■ WE ARE PLE ASED TO A NNOUNCE T H AT E D U C A T I O N what you learn in a single day can change everything Wellborn Jack III Upcoming programs include: For Managers… For Healthcare Professionals… Financial Decision-Making for Non-Financial Managers Basic Finance in Healthcare Organizations November 13, 2008 Learn the financial tools essential to all managers Business and Market Strategy: Creating Actionable Plans November 14, 2008 Translate the lofty concepts of your strategy to a realistic plan Manage by Designing: Approaches for Everyday Innovation November 21, 2008 Acquire a powerful skill set for flexible thinking and creativity with Dr. Fred Collopy November 17, 2008 Make sense out of financial information for better decision-making and organizational improvement Basic Marketing in Healthcare Organizations November 18, 2008 Establish your competitive advantage in consumer and provider markets using a market-based planning approach Creating Value in Healthcare for a Consumer Driven World For executives, change agents and experienced consultants… Foundations and Frontiers in Appreciative Inquiry (AI) December 1-4, 2008 Develop your capability as a leader for positive change in any setting with Dr. David Cooperrider, professor of Organizational Behavior and founding thought leader of Appreciative Inquiry The Financial Times has consistently ranked Weatherhead’s Department of Organizational Behavior as one of the top in the world. 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Offer may be withdrawn at any time. .ATIONAL#ITY"ANK-EMBER&$)#sÚ.ATIONAL#ITY#ORPORATION® Business Banking Special introductory effective yield on balances of $10,000 or more Personal Banking CCLB 11-03-08 A 7 CCLB CCLB 11-03-08 A 8 CCLB 8 10/31/2008 3:08 PM Page 1 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM NOVEMBER 3-9, 2008 Schulman: Downturn forces shift away from most of auto work continued from PAGE 3 last Friday, Oct. 31, but certainly by the first week of November. Mr. Gingo said workers will be told to expect downsizing generally, though they likely won’t be told of specific cuts. He predicted the news would not come as a surprise to workers, who are in tune with the ill fortunes of the domestic auto industry that they serve. “They already know they’re working less hours. These guys read the newspapers. They’re smart and they know what’s happening,” Mr. Gingo said. The cuts are unavoidable if A. Schulman is to operate successfully, said Mr. Gingo, who termed them “fundamental management.” “They’re struggling,” Mr. Gingo said of his two remaining U.S. plants, in Bellevue and Nashville, that serve the automotive industry and Detroit’s automakers specifically. “This business is down 30% to 35%. It’s not a minor downturn. It’s a major downturn.” The Bellevue plant employs 107, while the Nashville plant employs 65. The number of workers who will be affected by the cutbacks has not been determined, Mr. Gingo said, but the company likely will need to eliminate several production lines from the two plants. “If you figure demand is down by a third, it’s not going to be minor,” Mr. Gingo said. In addition, he said he wants to steer the company away from automotive generally — though not completely, because the business drives technological developments within A. Schulman as a whole. The cuts are difficult to make, Mr. Gingo said, but he knew coming in that he would need to make tough decisions at Schulman. Analysts show some love After he sold an auto-related plant in Canada and shut down another in Texas, Mr. Gingo was able to improve the company’s core earnings for fiscal 2008, which ended Aug. 31. Analysts generally have supported his efforts and were happy with the company’s fiscal 2008 net income of $37.1 million after unusual items, up from $23.8 million the prior year and more than the $36 million many analysts were expecting. “Schulman will prove to have been in rare company this year as it exceeded its beginning of the year profit forecast for fiscal year 2008,” KeyBanc analysts Saul Ludwig, Ivan Marcuse and Eric Swanson wrote in an Oct. 23 report. Rob Felice, who follows A. Schulman for Gabelli & Co. in Rye, N.Y., The payroll deduction benefit that makes dreams come true. gives credit to Mr. Gingo personally for reinvigorating the company. “Over the last several quarters, we have repeatedly stated that we felt positive change was taking place at Schulman and that new CEO Joe Gingo brought with him the expertise needed to improve performance,” Mr. Felice wrote in an Oct. 22 research note. “To this end, Schulman has moved swiftly over the last 12 months (for those who don’t know Schulman, ‘swift’ is a word we wouldn’t have historically used to describe the company’s actions).” A singular goal While there seems to be consensus that Mr. Gingo is taking appropriate actions to improve A. Schulman’s performance, it still remains to be seen whether the company will remain independent. In its fiscal 2008 earnings release on Oct. 21, A. Schulman noted that the company had rejected one firm buyout offer that its board of directors deemed inadequate. The company says it’s still exploring a possible sale, and analysts say a sale remains a possibility. Mr. Gingo said he can’t concern himself with whether the board will sell the company, as he instead must concentrate on the actions over which he has control as CEO. Management decisions, he said, are aimed at one goal: “We end up with a more viable, long-term company, whether it would be sold, go on its own, or be merged.” ■ Offer your employees Ohio’s 529 plan. Saving for college is a big concern for many families. Fortunately, as an employer, you can help when you offer CollegeAdvantage, Ohio’s 529 plan, as a payroll deduction benefit. CollegeAdvantage gives your employees an easy, affordable, tax-free way to save for college, which means more of their money goes towards their children’s education. It doesn’t take much for families to start saving. In fact, they can invest as little as $25 at a time. Payroll deduction makes it easy for your employees to save. 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