Especially now, plentiful job opportunities are key to making a great place to live. These 5 counties have experienced the most job growth over the last 10 years.
1. Rockwall County, TX
Towns include: Heath, Rockwall
Job growth (2000-2010): 97.9%
Rockwall County is rockin’ and rollin’ at the top of our list for job creation. It may be the Lone Star State’s smallest county, but it’s one of Texas’s fastest growing, with a population that’s almost doubled in the last decade.
The county borders Lake Ray Hubbard in the northeast corner of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Development there once centered on homes and recreation, but now Rockwall wants to be a place where its wealthy residents live, play — and work.
Like many of the counties on our list, Rockwall is luring businesses and jobs from nearby big cities with generous incentives and a higher quality of life. Read more…
LIVERPOOL Law firm Hill Dickinson has reported an increase in revenue to £100.1m for the year ended April 30 with profits rising by almost £1m.
The turnover increase was 14.9% better than last year’s figure of £87.1m.
Net profit rose to £14.4m from £13.5m during the 12-month period.
The firm’s Liverpool office has seen a 16.5% increase in revenue during a financial year that has seen significant investment into its teams operating out of its headquarters in St Paul’s Square in the city centre.
During the 12 months accounted for in the financial results, the firm acquired the Liverpool and Sheffield offices of Halliwells, significantly enhancing its commercial offering.
Investment continues to be made into the firm, and there have been a number of partner hires during the course of the year.
The strength of the firm’s offering and its broad range of expertise has been recognised in a series of recent awards wins, which have included accolades for its claims team, corporate team and property team.
Hill Dickinson managing partner, Peter Jackson, said: “It has been a positive year for the firm.
“We have performed well across the board and are particularly pleased to see increased activity on the corporate side, with our team having grown significantly.
“We now look forward to another year of growth and to exploiting the business development opportunities that are on offer to us as a larger firm with enhanced commercial capabilities.
“The results for Liverpool are a reflection of the weight of expertise that we are able to provide to clients in the region, from across our network of offices.”
SOARING fuel costs sent first-quarter profits sliding a surprising 82 per cent at Singapore Airlines (SIA) to $44.7 million, down from $252.5 million a year ago.
The shock result caught out market watchers who tipped earnings of $108.3 million in a Bloomberg poll.
SIA said in a statement: ‘Expenditure on fuel, excluding hedging, rose 38 per cent, or $397 million, as average jet fuel prices jumped 46 per cent year-on-year.’ The company noted that the rise was partially offset by an improvement in hedging, and that other cost items were well contained.
The increase in fuel costs outpaced the rise in group revenue, which was up 3 per cent to $3.58 billion. SIA carried more passengers despite weak travel demand to Japan over nuclear radiation concerns.
Earnings per share for the three months to Jun 30 were 3.7 cents, from 21.2 cents a year ago while net asset value per share was $11.90 at June 30, from $11.89 at March 31.
The countersuit against Great American Insurance Co. of New York comes as the building and its homeowners association are facing an increasing financial strain.
To mitigate potential shortfalls and to pay for repairs in the 117-unit tower, owners are now floating a plan to add as many as three floors of residential units on the building at 101 S. Gulfstream Ave., according to information disseminated at a resident meeting earlier this month.
But it is the countersuit that now represents the most tangible course for owners, who were forced from their homes in June 2010 after a key fourth-floor slab that holds up the tower’s residences suddenly cracked.
Association attorneys maintain that Great American breached it contract, and that the building’s “all risk” insurance policy covers the concrete decay, which will cost an estimated $8.2 million to repair and which will keep residents out of their homes until late 2012 at the earliest.
“Full payment is due and owing under the All Risk policy and is not subject to any exclusion,” association attorney Donna DeVaney wrote in a July 19 filing.
NEW YORK – US STOCKS were mixed as markets opened on Tuesday after US President Barack Obama and his Republican foes clashed again over the debt ceiling, dimming hopes of a timely resolution to the standoff.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 54.46 points (0.43 per cent) at 12,538.34 after the first five minutes of trading.
The broader S&P 500 slipped 2.25 points (0.17 per cent) to 1,335.18, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.40 points (0.05 per cent) to stand at 2,844.20.
Late on Monday, Mr Obama warned of a ‘deep economic crisis’ if Congress failed to raise the US government’s debt ceiling by Aug 2, while Republicans continued to reject his demand to raise taxes. — AFP
SPECIALIST luxury tour operator Cox & Kings has emerged as the suitor of Cheshire travel giant Holidaybreak.
The Northwich business revealed yesterday that it was in takeover talks with a potential buyer after its shares soared by more than 17%.
Initial reports speculated that TUI Travel was a likely contender.
But in a stock exchange announcement this morning Holidaybreak said: “Further to the announcement on 25 July and recent press speculation, the board of Holidaybreak confirms that it is in discussion with Cox & Kings, which may or may not lead to an offer for Holidaybreak at a price of 432.1p in cash per ordinary share.
“At this stage there can be no certainty that any offer for the company will be forthcoming.”
Holidaybreak shares closed last night at 367p per share, a 15% increase.
Cox & Kings is renowned for specialist travel to destinations such as Africa, India and Tibet.
Holidaybreak has recently focused on the education market under chief executive Martin Davies who took charge in April last year.
American Momentum Bank of Tampa, which acquired the failed LandMark Friday night, is sitting on nearly $150 million in investors’ capital, placing it among the sector’s best-capitalized banks.
Landmark, with $275 million in assets and four offices in northern Sarasota County, was the first failed bank deal for American Momentum, which also bought the collapsed Southshore Community Bank of Apollo Beach on Friday.
“We thought LandMark had a really nice banking network,” American Momentum president Sam A. Davis II said Monday in an interview. “We felt that it had a good presence, and it has basically been a good bank.
“Real estate devaluations were really the problem with the loan portfolio. It was not poor lending on the bank’s part,” he said.
American Momentum will keep open LandMark’s four offices, Davis said, since there is no overlap with the two branches it already had on Clark Road and in Lakewood Ranch.
“We certainly didn’t buy the bank to go backwards,” Davis said.
In June, we announced that we are seeking nominations from Herald-Tribune readers for the title of “prettiest house” in Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties. This “call for entries” resulted in a number of submissions, but not nearly enough.
This a reminder. There are many hundreds of pretty houses. You might live in one, or next to one. Please let us know.
Readers are encouraged to email JPEG digital photos to harold.bubil@heraldtribune.com. You can nominate your own house or someone else’s — just make sure you don’t trespass to get a photograph, and that it is not for sale. This is not intended as an advertisement.
One of the most notable houses nominated so far is the historic J.G. Whitfield House, built in 1926 on Bay Shore Road at Indian Beach Drive in Sarasota. It is pictured in this week’s Market Snapshot feature on page 6. Y