The Greenville News du lieu suivant : Greenville, South Carolina • Page 15

SECTION Business Ghefl5rcmmlleNcus greenvilleonline.com Tuesday November 20, 2007 Business Leads Markets 3B GROWTH BUSINESS LEADS ZONING Other states want to tap local auto expertise here, discuss on high-tech research (lTI i I hi Diverse officials from regional cooperation By Rudolph Bell Business Writer dbellgreenvillenews.com Congressmen, university presidents and directors of national laboratories from South Carolina and Tennessee met in Greenville Monday to talk about collaborating on homeland security and automotive research as a way to develop the South's economy. The all-day series of talks and panel discussions was sponsored by the Tennessee Valley Corridor, an economic development organization formed in 1995 by U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of East Tennessee. 'Ultimate' car on 'Ultimate Factories' GEORGE GARDNERStaff Mutual interests: University of Tennessee president Dr.

John Peterson, standing, and Clemson University president James Barker, left, share the dais during the Tennessee Valley Corridor Southeast Partnership Event held Monday on Clemson's ICAR campus. Thompson likes Wachovia stock Bank's CEO's buying when others are selling Him 1 1 iEK I II II 1 I -rT TAX Lii II it iUlff I 11 fWaiJ i MWi By Woody White Business Editor rwwhite greenvillenews.com The head of Wachovia Corp. is bullish on his company, even though Wall Street is bearish on the big American banks right now. Ken Thompson, Wachovia chairman and chief executive officer, acquired 100,000 shares of the Charlotte-based financial services company Friday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wachovia's common shaies fell $1.03 to $38.11 Monday as stocks of big banks sold off following Goldman Sachs Group Inc's downgrade of Citigroup the country's biggest, to "sell" when its analyst said the lender's writedowns of collateralized debt obligations may total $15 billion over the next two quarters.

A trust acquired the shares for $39.19 each for a gross price of about $3.92 million, according to the SEC filing. Thompson now holds 509,376 shares of Wachovia common directly, plus about 489,000 additional shares indirectly, according to the filing. i mi mk Down day for stocks Wall Street resumed its slide Monday as investors absorbed a gloomy outlook for the banking sector as well as bleak news about housing. 3B Gas prices slip Motorists are starting to see some relief at the gas pump, with prices falling over -the weekend and following the path of crude oil as its own advance toward $100 has stalled. Gas dropped 1 .4 cents over the weekend to a national average of $3,095 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

Prices peaked at $3,112 a gallon last Thursday, and appear unlikely to rise the additional 10 to 15 many analysts predicted when oil appeared to be marching relentlessly toward $100 a barrel. Housing hurts Lowe's Lowe's Cos. cited a weak sales environment amid a 'continuing slump in the housing sector Monday as reasons for a 10.2 percent drop in third-quarter profit. 3B Xerox has dividend Xerox announced its first quarterly cash dividend in six years Monday and predicted double-digit earnings growth in the coming years, citing new products and a stronger balance sheet. A dividend of 4.25 cents per share will be payable Jan.

31 for shareholders of record on Dec. 31. HP's profits jump Hewlett-Packard Co. 's fourth-quarter profit easily exceeded Wall Street's expectations, bolstered by surging laptop sales and continued strong demand for highly profitable printer ink. HP's net income leaped 28 percent in the three months ended Oct.

31 rising from $1 .69 billion, or 60 cents per share, to $2.16 billion, or 81 cents per share. Laptop sales jumped 49 percent over last year to $5. 16 billion, the company's bighest-selling single category. Desktop computer sales rose 15 percent to $4.21 billion. Carmakers fight rules The nation's largest car on Monday sought to persuade a federal judge to toss out California's strict tailpipe emissions standards, which they say could wreck the U.S.

auto market and trigger job losses at auto plants and dealerships nationwide. The standards, which were passed into law in ,2002, force automakers to build cars and light trucks that pump out 30 percent less greenhouse gases by 201 6. More than a dozen other states have vowed to adopt them. slides The dollar slipped against euro and the yen Monday as a major investment bank I a grim outlook for 'major banks and a jl'homebuilders' group delivered bleak housing forecast. The IjJ13-nation euro bought In late New York -trading, slightly above its level of $1 .4659 Friday.

The dollar I also declined against the Japanese currency, falling to 1 09.85 yen from 1 1 0.82 yen late Friday. Post, e-mail news releases GreenvilleOnline.com and The Greenville News will publish your business i news and notices of business-related events. Go GreenvllleOnline.com 'i- publishnews. Or e-mail them 1 to businessgreenville news.com. opportunities are, and this may evolve into a southern coalition, as opposed to the Tennessee Valley," Wamp said.

"From the very start, it was designed to make the South more competitive." Speakers during meetings at the Embassy Suites hotel and Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research included two university presidents: Jim Barker of Clemson and John Petersen of the University of Tennessee. "I think it's a realization that the Southeast is emerging as a major force in automotive and transportation and that if we are to be successful we need to work together," Barker said. See STATES on page 2B ft i it novations, such as the piping and conversion of methane gas from a landfill 9 miles away from the plant to electricity that provides about 63 percent of all the plant's power. The project reduces greenhouse gas emissions in South Carolina by 60,000 tons a year the equivalent of 4,300 cars driving around the equator every year. Hitt said that BMW Manufacturing gave the crew pretty much free run of the plant, ensuring only that vehicle production was not affected by the filming.

The plant has 4,500 employees and up to 1,000 contract workers as well as nearly 500 robots producing about 600 vehicles, including the Z4 and its variants and the X5 sports activity vehicle. A Z4 can be built in just a little less than 40 hours from the body shop to the paint shop and then assembly. PA He created the organization to leverage research activities in four states Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia into high-tech, high-paying jobs. The group met in South Carolina for the first time Monday because South Carolina has become the South's leader in advanced transportation research, Wamp said. Also, he said, the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken is working with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, on homeland security research.

"We are going wherever the nies," said Licet Ariza, public relations spokeswoman for the channel. "I think they're looking at a slice of Americana." Anyone who wonders how a BMW is made.will get the answer by watching the program, Hitt said. "How do you make a BMW? What an exciting concept," he said. "What I like is that there are not really any bosses talking. It is people making the cars talking," Hitt said of the BMW program.

The name of the series, "Ultimate Factories," fit with BMW's advertising slogan of "the ultimate driving machine" very well, he said. After scouting for a couple of days, the National Geographic crew began its behind-the-scenes tour of the high-tech birth of a Z4 roadster. The crew did more than film in Greer. It filmed in Landshut, Germany, where the company's lightest 6-cylinder crankcase is made, and in Munich, where BMW workers assemble 1,200 engines a day, according to National Geographic Channel. Shooting covered seven days of production at the Greer facility, where every Z4 roadster and variant is created.

The program also will highlight BMW's environmental in- mm File photo Car stars: The National Geographic Channel will follow the assembly of a BMW Z4 during the Nov. 29 episode of "Ultimate Factories." National Geographic has Greer plant in its sights Donut shop going, but not for long Wade Hampton outlet to be razed, rebuilt Cable television program to detail BMW's operations in the Upstate By Lark Reynolds Staff Writer Ireynolds greenvillenews.com The Dunkin' Donuts shop on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greenville's Eastside will soon receive a facelift. Bart Thorne, president and chief financial officer of Kainos Partners, said the doughnut shop will close Jan. 1 for about three months while a new store similar in design to the one in Greer is built on the "We are going to do a complete scrape and rebuild on the site," Thorne said. The work is expected to take about 90 days.

Thorne said he hopes the new store would open at the end of March. One feature the new restaurant will offer that was not previously available at that location is a drive-through window. Thorne said about 40 percent of Dunkin' Donuts' business nationwide is with drive-through customers. Ambassador visits By Jenny Munro Business Writer jmunro greenvillenews.com Greer's BMW Manufacturing Co. is going to join the ranks of "Ultimate Factories," as it; two BMW plants in Germany and facilities of the Lear a major BMW supplier, are teaturea on the National Geo-graphic Channel's television series.

"It was a very neat thing." said Bobby Hitt, BMW's manager of public relations. "We were approached by National Geographic about six months ago." Hitt said the company has seen a draft of the hour-long TV program, which will run Nov. 29 at 9 p.m. Immediately following the BMW program, National Geographic Channel will run "Ultimate Factories: Corvette" Other programs in the series examine manufacturing plants operated by Peterbilt, Bud-weiser, M-l Tank, Ferrari, John Deere, Harley Davidson and Apache Helicopter plants, according to National Geographic Channel. "They're all iconic compa I Hitt CINDY HOSEAStaff Special visit: Belgian Ambassador Dominique Struye de Swie-lande, left, dines at Larkin's on the River in downtown Greenville during his visit Friday with Greenville business people, government representatives and Clemson officials.

The ambassador's visit was part of the ongoing international education activities of Clemson's Brussels Center. At right is Jim Cross, Clemson's vice provost for international affairs. The Greenville News incorrectly identified the Belgian Ambassador in Saturday's 'T'The Palmetto Bank www.palmettobank.com full.