Corpus Christi Caller-Times from Corpus Christi, Texas • 17

B5 Business fax: 886-3732 E-mail questionscomments to: nbusinesscallerconi BUSINESS NEWSLETTER: Have the top business news sent to your e-mailbox every Wednesday It's business intelligence for busy people Sign up at callercom Keyword: digest Corpus Christi Caller-Times Thursday March 27 2003 Page Designer Clay Carpenter 886-3600 A MOST ACTIVE Mariachi mnsidae Martin Silva browses through the automotive forming in the grand opening ceremony Tire retailer now has supply aectioe of a Wal-Mart in Mexico Oty last October after per- 1270 stores outside the many of them ie Mexico Wal-Mart worldwide Forty percent of firm's 1270 foreign stores are in Mexico Permit allowed to lapse but may be sought again By Alison Zielenbach Caller-Times The question of lapsed permits at the Port of Corpus Christi has been raised once again and answered Port commissioner Yolanda Olivarez wrote a letter on March 14 to port executive director John LaRue asking him to address the that we know talking about environmental permits like to answer that Olivarez said Judge Terry Shamsie sent letters to the county-appointed port commissioners on Feb 12 asking whether offloading permits had been eliminated forfeited or lost by the port LaRue replied Feb 14 asking for clarification on what was meant by offloading permits Shamsie then called Olivarez and described them as environmental permits my duty as a port commissioner to address this more specific request to John she said LaRue has not seen letter because he has been out of town However he said he was aware of the environmental permits in question Texas Commission of Environmental Quality spokesperson Terry Clauson said Wednesday that an environmental permit held by the port lapsed within the last year The permit Please see P0RTB9 growth Wal-Mart which opened its first store in Rogers Ark in 1962 grew into the world's largest retailer (and the largest corporation) by concentrating first on small rural towns where it had little competition Its trademark yellow smiley face low prices and focus on customer service were later introduced to larger US cities and then abroad to Mexico Canada Puerto Rico Argentina Brazil Britain Germany South Korea Japan and China The formula of low prices and good service works in other countries as it does in the United States majority of what I look for is here They have specials and the prices in general are more accessi- Plene see WAL-MARTB9 International success story Wal-Mart's first foreign store was a Sam's Club opened in 1991 outside Mexico City In Mexico the company has 597 stores and restaurants in 58 cities Forty percent of Wal-Mart's 1270 foreign stores are in Mexico The international operations generated $41 billion in sales or 17 percent of the company's total income during the fiscal year that ended in January for Thomson First Call they need to expand into foreign markets to generate the ongoing By Traci Carl Associated Press MEXICO CITY A Wal-Mart store bustles as customers roam the aisles in search of bargains and snap up free samples of tequila before bundling their purchases into waiting taxis The activity is proof that Wal-Mart Stores Inc has learned how to achieve the same kind of success in its international ventures as it has in thousands of stores across the United States Wal-Mart which grew up in smalltown America is increasingly dependent on foreign expansion as it faces slowing growth at home US market is pretty said Ken Perkins retail analyst The race is close between Kill KRIS news Kill led 6 pm time slot KRIS drew the most viewers at 10 pm KZTV won noon category Local ratings 10 PAL NEWSCAST rating Kill: 31 share178 rating KZTV: 5 share27 rating 6 PJVL NEWSCAST Kill: 29 share174 rating KRIS: 27 share164 rating KZTV: 2 share14 rating By Jeremy Brown Caller-Times The local ABC and NBC affiliates Kill and KRIS continued their close race in the latest Nielsen ratings February figures show that KRIS drew more viewers to its 10 pm weekday newscasts But Kill led the 6 pm time slot CBS affiliate KZTV lagged behind in both but won in the noon weekday category For the 10 pm weekday newscasts KRIS scored a 35 share199 rating Kill had a 31 share178 rating and KZTV drew a five share27 rating A share is the percentage of all viewers watching television at that time Ratings reflect the audience percentage of the total population PRODUCT TEST PREV Natural Gaa Harry Hub par mmbtu 493 506 Wad Tau Manned par bd lot) 2833 3038 Saudi Arabian ight Spar HUM) 2409 3438 Ughi LA Sweat! par bbl fob 2835 3135 Norib Saa Brant par bd lob 2593 2678 Alaaka Na Slope dd WM Coaat 2638 2532 GaadM uni pram RVP NY hbr bg gl fob 3230 3737 GaadM uni RVP NY hbr bg gl fob gggn no FudolNa2NYhbrbggfd 7554 7512 Local conventions Texas Education Association 1 -Foreign Language Association Spring Convention today through Saturday attendance: 400 Low Vision Networit of Texas Conference Friday through Saturday attendance: 200 Texas Shrine Association: Texas State Provost Guard 1 Association Friday through Sunday attendance: 200 Diamond Results Seminars By the Sea Friday through Sunday attendance: 30 1 Water Environmental Association of Texas Annual Joint Conference Saturday through April 6 attendance 1200 Rist Baptist Church Senior Choir Festival Monday through Tuesday attendance: 200 American Society of Civfl Engineers Texas State Section Meeting Wednesday through April 6 attendance: 500 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Annual Convention Wednesday through April 6 attendance: 450 American Society of CMI Engineers Annual Spring Meeting Wednesday through April 5 attendance: 300 USS Inchon Association Inaugural Reunion April 3 through April 8 attendance: 350 Texas Department of Human Resources Long Term Cara Volunteer Conference Thursday through April 11 attendance: 250 think the important thing is that Channel 3 dominated the market in news for 25 years and not doing that said KRIS general manager Jim Smith just any one thing You Please sm RATINGS7B9 A Monitor costs promptly pass them on to customers Nasdaq delists Corpus Christi dental firm American Medical did not meet Ihe minimum bid price By Naomi Snyder Caller-Times American Medical Technologies a Corpus Christi-based company that makes dental equipment was delisted from the Nasdaq SmallCap Market on Wednesday The company said in a news release that the determination was made because it failed to meet the minimum bid price for its common stock of $1 per share It also didn't have the minimum market value of publicly held shares of $1 million and hold an annual shareholders meeting last year according to a statement A company representative could not be reached late Wednesday American Medical Technologies formerly known as American Dental Technologies started trading on the OTC Bulletin Board on Wednesday under the same symbol ADLI The stock fell 7 cents Wednesday to 20 cents per share Nasdaq's latest move came after a series of events last year as the company tried to resurrect its bottom line The chief executive offi- PImm set DEUSTEIVB9 Texas businesses were bit with sharp increases in workers comp and insurance Your spreadsheet should list all of your wage rates for each type of service in the first column Include an additional column for each cost that is directly related to the hourly rate Include a final column for all other costs to be passed through proportionally to all wage rates You should have a prior agreement with your customers that allows you to pass through increased cost with advance notice Your customers will expect you to control cost wherever you can Promptly passing through cost is essential to avoid large retroactive losses Ralph Coker is a volunteer with the load chapter of SCORE counselors to small business Contact SCORE at 879-001 7 ext 22 My small temporary servidb business employing about 30 people only broke even last year because of much higher workers compensation and other insurance costs How can I avoid a loss this year? A Workers compensation and other insurance costs increased sharply last year for businesses in Texas The way to avoid losses when costs increase is to monitor cost each week and promptly pass increased cost through to your customers A good system to monitor and pass through cost is to prepare a personal computer spreadsheet that shows how your cost increases should be distributed fairly to your customers in your service or product prices Costs for a temporary service normally should be passed through to customers based on the hourly wage rate for each type of service Your other costs should be passed through proportionally to all wage rates.