Article Number : 2024 |
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| Date | 5/31/2007 8:34:41 AM |
| Written By | LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services |
| View this article at: | //floorbiz.com/BizResources/NPViewArticle.asp?ArticleID=2024 |
| Abstract | PARTNERS: Coverings exhibitors have joined with Tile Partners for Humanity (TPFH), donating tons of excessive tile, stone, adhesive and other materials that will benefit Habitat for Humanity projects... |
| Article | PARTNERS: Coverings exhibitors have joined with Tile Partners for Humanity (TPFH), donating tons of excessive tile, stone, adhesive and other materials that will benefit Habitat for Humanity projects. This is the fourth consecutive year the Coverings exhibitors contributed to TPFH, loading three trailer trucks with 50 pallets of goods that left McCormick Convention Center destined for installations in Chicago projects as well as for sale in the Northern Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity ReStore, where it will generate revenue directly funding Habitat. It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been contributed and scores of families now have a permanent, well-constructed home. Since 1976, Habitat has built more than 200,000 houses in 100 countries, providing shelter for more than one million people. Bravo for Coverings and for Habitat. GO SOUTH: If you’re selling floor coverings, go to Atlanta, the fastest growing metropolitan area in the nation since 2000. According to cnnmoney.com, Atlanta added 900,000 residents in the period to bring its total to 5.1 million. Right now there are 31 large-scale commercial and residential projects under way or in the development stage, including eight new boutique hotels situated downtown and many new upscale restaurants—all within walking distance of AmericasMart Atlanta. The Mart itself is completing Phase I of what will become its fourth building—AmericasMart 2W—slated for a January 2009 grand opening. It will add 1.5 million square feet of exhibit and showroom space. Think about it, y’all, ain’t no recession in Atlanta. HEIR STRIKE: Warren Buffett isn’t ready to give up his job as chief investment officer of Berkshire Hathaway, not anytime soon, but he is preparing for the eventuality. The 76-year-old billionaire has not divulged many details but he did say he planned to hire one or more candidates for that position soon on a trial basis. At the conclusion of a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting earlier this month, Buffett held a news conference and explained whomever he hires would be paid on how well their investments performed. He said he would give them a small salary and “a percentage based on how they outperformed the S&P on a five-year average.” When he returned to his Omaha office the following day, he was inundated with 600 to 700 applications already received and the hundreds more likely to come. Of the three or four investment managers he hires, one, or maybe two, would eventually become Berkshire’s chief investment officer. That’s one of the three jobs he’s dividing his duties into as part of his succession plan. Buffett’s function as chairman will be assumed upon his death by his son, Howard, who is already on the board. It will be a long training period for the newcomers; young Buffett is only 76. HARBINGER: Omnova Solutions will increase the price of styrene butadiene latex for carpet and related markets by five cents per dry pound, effective June 4. The company said the increase was necessary because of “continued inflation in raw materials and transportation costs.” At the same time, BASF announced it will increase its prices five cents per dry pound in the United States and Canada on all Butonal high solids styrene butadiene polymers sold to the carpet industry. The higher prices, which will take effect June 1, were “the result of increases that BASF has experienced in raw materials, feedstock, freight and energy costs.” I guess you don’t have to be clairvoyant to see what’s coming down the road—an increase in carpet prices, 5%, maybe 6%, before the end of the month. This, of course, brings the usual moaning and migraines and misdirected anger. Simple solution: Retailers, don’t absorb the increase—pass it on to the consumer, she can afford it better than you can, or she wouldn’t be in your store. |