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BlackRock is P&G’slargest shareholder
One of the world’s largestinvestment firms recentlybought millions more sharesof Procter & Gamble stock,making it the largest share-holder. New York-basedBlackRock Inc. now owns141,477,482 shares, or 5.14percent of P&G, accordingto a government filing.
BlackRock is considereda “passive” investor, notseeking to manage or pushfor changes at the company.Previously, the largest P&Gshareholder was Vanguard,the Pennsylvania-basedinvestment giant.
Mazak hires builderfor Chicago center
Florence-based MazakCorp. has contracted withFort Mitchell-based PaulHemmer Co. for construc-tion of a $6.1 million expan-sion of Mazak’s Chicagotechnology center. The pro-ject is due for completionby spring. Hemmer hasmanaged more than 20 con-struction projects for Ma-zak, the machine tool manu-facturing firm with eighttechnology centers acrossNorth America. The Chi-cago expansion will add anauditorium, classroomspace and expanded demon-stration areas for machine-tool technology.
Nominate yourTop Workplace
The deadline has beenextended until Feb. 24 fornominations for this year’sEnquirer Media Top Work-places. Go to www.cincin-nati.com/ topworkplacesor call (513) 206-9789.
An organization is eligi-ble if it employs at least 50and operates in SouthwestOhio, Northern Kentucky orSoutheast Indiana. Employ-ees will be asked to ratetheir opportunities for ad-vancement and how welltheir workplaces are run.
Companies will receivefeedback from WorkplaceDynamics, our partner inthe project.
BUSINESSSUMMARY/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
COMING SUNDAYMeet 20 local Women to Watch this year, chosen for business distinction
and the impact they’ll make on this community.
MOREBUSINESS NEWS» Stay in touch withlatest news: Webring you the freshestlocal, national andinternational business news byemail at 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.Monday through Friday. Registerat Cincinnati.com/tipsheet.» Celebrate a business an-nouncement? Post recentcompany announcements andpromotions online at Cincinnati.com. Search: share
Source: Oil Price Information Service
At the furnace:cost of natural gas
FRIDAY LAST WEEK YEAR AGO
$2.48 $2.49 $4.83New York Mercantile Exchange spot priceper 1 million BTUs. Source: Bloomberg News
FIND THE CHEAPEST GAS!Search CinciNavigator atCincinnati.com. Click on buyingand selling to get real time priceswhere you shop.
CincinnatiFRIDAY
$3.35A YEAR AGO
$3.08
N. KentuckyFRIDAY
$3.49A YEAR AGO
$3.18
AT THEPUMP/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
DOW
●■▼
12,801.23Daily: -89.23
Weekly: -61.00
10-YEAR T-BONDS
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1.98%Daily: -0.06
Weekly: +0.06
GOLD
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$1,723.30Daily: -15.70
Weekly: -14.60
OIL
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$98.67Daily: -1.17
Weekly: +00.83
EURO VS. DOLLAR
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$1.3170Daily: -0.0120
Weekly: +0.0017
NASDAQ
●■▼
2,903.88Daily: -23.35
Weekly: -1.78
S&P 500
●■▼
1,324.64Daily: -9.31
Weekly: -2.26
READING — MeredithBurke, 23, of Blue Ash, madeshopping for a wedding dressa splendid affair – part bigfamily outing, part pre-nuptialparty.
“I had two of my brides-maids, my sister, my cousin,my aunt, my mom and my fu-ture mother-in-law,” she says.“We spent the whole weekendshopping for dresses.”
Burke was particularly ex-cited about newly openedSplendid Bridal. The store of-fered her and her group an ex-
perience straight out of TV’s“Say Yes to the Dress,” theTLC program that featuresreal brides and their familiesshopping at Manhattan’s up-scale bridal boutique Klein-feld.
“I wanted to feel pamperedand for someone to help guideme,” Burke says. “I couldn’thave asked for a better experi-ence.”
The owners of SplendidBridal, Mark and Donna Sny-der and Ed and Wanda Nime,say that Burke’s shopping ex-pectations are typical. Today’s
Ed and Wanda Nime, left, and Donna and Mark Snyder own Splendid Bridal in the Reading BridalDistrict. The store offers brides a luxurious gown shopping experience modeled on the “Say Yes tothe Dress” show on television. THE ENQUIRER/LEIGH TAYLOR
Wedding-dress huntbecomes an occasionStore re-creates experience from ‘Say Yes’By Val PrevishEnquirer contributor
THE READINGBRIDALDISTRICT
Proclaimed the largestbridal district in NorthAmerica, the roughlyhalf-mile stretch ofBenson Avenue be-tween Reading Roadand Interstate 75 in-cludes at least 25 bridalbusinesses from gownboutiques to photog-raphers to wedding cakeand catering suppliers.For more information,go to www.readingbridaldistrict.com.
See BRIDAL, Page B4
NEW YORK — Stocks had theirworst day of the year Friday af-ter Greece hit a roadblock on itsway to a critical bailout.
The Dow Jones industrial av-erage closed down 89.23 points,or 0.7 percent, at 12,801.23. Thebroader Standard & Poor’s 500finished down 9.31 points to1,342.64. It was the first losingweek for S&P this year.
Just a day earlier, investorshad bought stocks after GreekPrime Minister Lucas Papade-mos and the heads of the threeparties backing his governmentagreed to slash wages, lay offcivil service workers and cutgovernment spending.
That was seen as a step to-ward Greece’s securing a 130billion euro international bail-out that it must have to avoid de-faulting on its debt next monthand sending a shock through theworld financial system.
On Friday, European financeministers insisted Greece agreeto deeper cuts in wages andspending. More than15,000 peo-ple swarmed the streets of Ath-ens, some hurling paving stonesat police. Four cabinet minis-ters resigned over the cuts.
“The economy in Greece isdeteriorating faster than antici-pated, and the austerity mea-sures aren’t particularly popu-lar,” said Mark Luschini, chiefinvestment analyst at JanneyMontgomery Scott. “Therecould be a disorderly default.”
The decline in U.S. stockswas broad, with all 10 industrycategories in the S&P 500 down.The Nasdaq composite closeddown 23.35 points at 2,903.88.
Stocksfall onGreeceworriesMinisters: Debt dealneeds deeper cutsBy Bernard CondonAssociated Press
Ohio National Financial Ser-vices on Friday announced rec-ord earnings, sales and capitalgrowth in 2011. It cited a focuson growing distributors and keyproduct lines including variableannuities and individual life in-surance sales.
The company, with head-quarters in Montgomery, re-ported core earnings of $205.6million in 2011, up 5.6 percentfrom $194.7 million in 2010. To-tal assets under managementreached $30.6 billion, up 3.3 per-
cent.“Despite the volatile and un-
certain economy, Ohio Nationalexperienced a strong year in2011,” Gary “Doc” Huffman,Ohio National’s chief executiveofficer, said in a statement.“The volatile equity marketsand protracted low interest rateenvironment created signifi-cant challenges for our entireindustry.”
Huffman, who has been CEOjust more than a year, has con-tinued the approach embracedby his predecessor, DavidO’Maley, who grew Ohio Na-tional from $4.1 billion in assetsin1993 to $24.9 billion at the endof 2010.
In an April 2011 interview
with The Enquir-er, Huffman saidhe was confidentthe companycould boost mar-ket share in itslife insuranceand variable an-nuities business,
because the financial crisis wasforcing some rivals to retrench.
The company delivered.Highlights include:
» A record-breaking $118.8million of new annual premiumfor individual life insurance, up4.7 percent from 2010.
» » Variable annuity sales in-creased 8.5 percent to $1.6 bil-lion.
» Equity capital including
FAS115grew17.3percent to$2.1billion; equity capital excludingFAS 115 – a measure of equitycapital that excludes the valueof bonds – grew 15.6 percent to$1.9 billion. Equity capital is animportant measure of policyholder protection.
» For the 88th straight year,Ohio National paid dividends toall participating whole life pol-icies. A total of $40.7 million waspaid out to participating policyholders.
Ohio National markets insur-ance and financial products in47 states, the District of Colum-bia, Puerto Rico and subsidiaryoperations in Santiago, Chile.The mutual holding company isowned by policy holders.
Ohio National prosperingRecord year for itsfinancial servicesThe Enquirer
Huffman
If you’re a typical consumer,you’ve probably never heard ofPro Mach Inc. in Miami Town-ship.
But there’s a good chanceyour refrigerator or cupboardhas food, beverages or house-hold products in boxes or pack-ages made with one of the com-pany’spackagingmachines.ProMach, ranked 34th on the 2010
Deloitte Cincinnati USA 100 listof largest private companies, isone of North America’s largestsuppliers of packaging machin-ery. It provides primary pack-aging machines, end of line pal-letizing and shrink wrap ma-chines, and tracking and identi-fication equipment for some ofthe largest consumer goodscompanies in the world.
The company had revenueslast year of $289 million and em-ploys just over 1,000 in NorthAmerica, including about 10 atits corporate office.
Pro Mach putting more into its packageCompany has beenactive in acquisitionsBy Mike [email protected]
Mark Anderson, CEO of Pro Mach Inc., said he expects business todouble over the next four or five years. THE ENQUIRER/AMANDA DAVIDSONSee PRO MACH, Page B4
