Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • B5

Richmond Times-Dispatch Friday, Aprl 2, 2010 B5 CarMax to open 3 new stores BUSINESS BRIEFS while total used-unit sales rose 13 percent. Analysts were expecting adjusted profit of 25 cents per share on revenue of $1.76 trillion, according to Thomson Reuters. CarMax said its gross profit per used vehicle sold increased 1.3 percent to $2,067. Total gross profit increased 15 percent primarily because it sold more cars. The company's auto financing arm reported income of $58.9 milUon, compared with $28 million a year earlier.

For the year, the company earned $281.7 milHon, or $1.26 per share, compared with $59.2 million, or 27 cents per share, in the previous year. Revenue for the year increased 7 percent to $7.47 billion. CarMax shares rose 96 cents, or 3.82 percent, to close yesterday at $26.08. Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 646348 or IXLoviogtimesdspatctLcom. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

said in a conference call with investors. The first stores to open are in Augusta, Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio. The stores were already built when Car-Max announced it was holding off on growth in the nridst of the recession. FolKard said the chain would open three to five additional stores next year and five to 10 more the year after that. The company has yet to identify where those stores will be.

The Augusta store is scheduled to open May 19. The Dayton store is to open June 16 and the Cincinnati location the next day. In all, about 155 people will be hired to staff the stores. CarMax said it earned $75.4 milUon, or 33 cents per share, in the three months that ended Feb. 28, up from $37.5 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

The company said revenue rose about 25 percent to $1.83 billion. Used-unit sales at comparable stores open at least a year rose 12 percent, One site in two in Ohio to open in May and June, says CarMax chief BY LOUIS LLOVK) Times-Dispatch Staff Writer CarMax Inc. will open three new stores in the next two months after putting a hold on all its expansion plans in December 2008. The Goochland County-based automobile retailer also said fourth-quarter earnings doubled from the BREAKMG same period a year earlier. NEWS "While sales are not ojfljjy back to pre-recession lev-els, the positive trends that we've seen in our strong profitability have convinced us that moving forward with a measured plan for store growth over the next few years is the appropriate strategy," Tom FolKard, CarMax's president and CEO, RICHMOND METHOPOUTAN CONVWT10N AND VBITDRS BUREAU Visitor center opens at airport The Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau has opened its relocated and revamped visitor center at Rkliinond International A cated in the baggage daim area on the airport's lower leveL Open seven days a week, the center is equipped with a large four-panel, flat-screen display providing travelers with Richmond-region information.

The visitor center also has increased space to display visitor guides, as well as attraction and restaurant brochures. The bureau's travel counselors are available to answer questions, give directions, make hotel reservations and offer travel, dining and entertainment tips about the metropolitan region. VIRGINIA THE NATION Community Bankers Output, layoff reports tardy with report hearten economists worst sales months in nearly 30 years. Incentives this March rose $100 from February. The big change last month was Toyota, which normally limits sales promotions but resorted to them after recalls of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for problems involving brakes and accelerator pedals.

Toyota's incentives hit $2,256 per vehicle, their highest level ever, up nearly $700 from the year before. Toyota's incentives averaged $1,700 before the crisis began last fall, said Jesse Toprak of auto pricing site TrueCar.com. Deals From Page B3 Ford, which has fared well in recent months, had a strong month in the region. Sales of Ford vehicles in the Washington region, which includes Richmond and most of the state, rose 52.1 percent when compared with March 2008. Industry incentives averaged $2,742 per vehicle last month, according to Edmunds, com.

That was down $423 from record-high levels a year earlier, when the economy was faltering and automakers saw one of the Leasing may be April's incentive battleground. Honda recently added a $250-per-month lease on an Accord with nothing down. Toyota is offering $169 per month on Camrys for three years with $1,999 down. Toprak said the sweet lease deals are likely to continue for many months because automakers have access to inexpensive money. High demand for used cars also has driven up resale values, so automakers can afford better deals.

GM reported a 21 percent jump in new-vehicle sales for the month. Without the four brands GM is shedding Pontiac, Saab, Hummer and Saturn Toyota would have beaten GM for the month. Ford's sales climbed nearly 40 percent on strong demand for the Fusion and Taurus sedans, while Honda's rose 23 percent. GM, however, recaptured the top spot from Ford, which outsold GM in February. Sales at Subaru shot up 46 percent, while Nissan Motor sales rose 43 percent.

Hyundai Motor sales rose 15 percent. Chrysler Group LLC, which has few new products, continued to struggle, with sales down 8 percent Staff writer Louis Llovio contributed to this report. i Trust the holding company Rising factory output and a decline in the pace of layoffs are giving economists confidence that the recovery has staying power. Economists expect the labor DapartMrt will report today that employers added 190,000 jobs last month. That would mark on the second month of jobs growth since the recession began in December 2007.

Still, job creation is likely to remain weak for years to come, in part because U.S. factories have become more efficient, producing more goods with fewer workers. Geithner concedes outrage over bailout for ElSflX Bsak, said it has been unable to file its 2009 annual report by March 31, as it had expected. The Henrico County-based company has been addressing disclosures with re-spect to its 2008 annual report and three quarterly reports that it filed last year, based on comments that it received from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Community Bankers said it continues to finalize these disclosures and is working diligently to complete and file the annual report as soon as possible.

Essex Bank is a Virginia state bank with 25 full-service offices, 14 of which are in Virginia, seven in Maryland and four in Georgia. Ex-WTVR manager takes post in Denver Treasury Secretary 1 thy GattBJMT said yesterday it's "deeply unfair" that some financial institutions that got has headed taxpayer-paid bailouts are emerging in better shape from the recession than millions of Americans. Heac- Coaster From Page B3 the coaster despite mounting pressure. "I must admit, I am a bit of a roller-coaster wimp," said Boiling, who had offered up his wife last summer when the ride was announced. She didn't attend yesterday.

Del. John A. Cox, R-Hanover, was among the first to experience it. "It was intimidating that's quite a drop but the worst thing about it was that it really messed up my hairdo." Cox called the giga-coaster a "great thing for Hanover and Virginia" for the tourism dollars it will bring. The coaster also should help boost attendance and sales at the park, said Richard L.

Kinzel, chairman, president and CEO of Cedar Fair LP, the Ohio-based company that owns Kings Dominion, 10 other amusement parks and six outdoor water parks. "It gets people talking about it, and gives them a reason to come out. We think we have added that thrill element to the park," Kinzel said. "Hopefully our timing is right." Cedar Fair needs a boost this season, he said, after a difficult 2009. Overall revenue at its parks fell 8 percent last year.

Sales of food, souvenirs and other merchandise declined 11 percent. Per capita spending, a key indicator of how a theme park operator is per- west. The former general manager of WTVR (GBS8) is now overseeing Denver stations Galthmr UNDY KEAST R00MAWT1MES-DBMTCH Giving the thumbs-up on the Intlmldator 305 are (front, left to right) Dale Earnhardt Jeff Stelner and Richard Kinzel of Cedar Fair. KDVRand KWGNand has been named Denver market president. The sta- tirma am Hi summer will have confidence that maybe the worst is over and says, 1 held back last year, and I made it through the worst part of it, and now I am going to spend some Kinzel said.

"And we hope they are going to get out and spend some family time and be a little more liberal with their money." Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 648-6976 or whesterStimesdispatctLcom. Deputy Business Editor Gregory IGllligan contributed to this report. forming, fell 1.4 percent the first time since 1972, he said. Attendance at Cedar Fair's parks dropped 7 percent.

The company does not break out figures for its individual parks, but Kinzel said all of its parks, including Kings Dominion, saw a decline in 2009. "We went through a rough patch last year," Kinzel said. "But now might be the right time for us. Maybe the guy who was working last Maronfly Fox and CW affiliates for the market and owned by Fort Wright, Local TV LLC, which also owns WTVR. General Sales Manager Stephen Hayes is the acting general manager at WTVR.

A successor is expected to be officially named this month. King William to get natural gas line King William County is getting its first natural gas pipeline. Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov.

Bill Boiling and others broke ground for the project yesterday. The state is help Sledd: Administration working on jobs plan knowledged public outrage over that and said people watched with disdain as Washington protected the banks and investment houses whose risky bets caused the crisis, even as the national unemployment rate was soaring to double-digit levels for the first time in a generation. Elsewhere California's sole auto plant shut down yesterday. A red Toyota Corolla was the last of nearly 8 milUon vehicles that have been made by Now IMted Motor MaMfac-tvbt The plant, established in 1984 as a joint venture between GM and Toyota, employed 4,700 workers. The Treasury Department has appointed DflMld Laytoo and RoMflld BfttBO Myar to the board of insurance giant American International Group Inc.

Layton is a former JPMorgan Chase Co. vice chairman who served as chairman and CEO of ETrade Financial Corp. Rittenmeyer is former chairman, president and CEO of the technology systems firm Electronic Data Systems Inc. PrfeMrica hKL, a unit of Citigroup had one of the best-performing initial public offerings so far this year. Shares surged $4.65, or 31 percent, to close at $19.65 after the deal raised $320.4 million by selling 21.4 million ing finance the $6.5 million project along with 1 I and I Energy From Page B3 nonprofit research organization.

"Things are really changing, and time is not an ally." Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, UR law professor Joel B. Eisen said. Though climate issues are transforming energy utilities' business and regulatory models, industry will reduce carbon emissions only "if we put a price on carbon," Eisen said. That's a bad idea, said former U.S. Sen.

George Allen, R-Va. "For base electrical load, the two most logical sources are coal and nuclear," said Allen, chairman of the American Energy Freedom Center. "We're the Saudi Arabia when it comes to coal." But with scores of proposed coal-fired power stations canceled in the past decade, "coal is looking more and more Eke a bad investment," said senior attorney Cale Jaffe with the Southern Environmental Law Center. A consensus seems to be emerging backing noncarbon technologies, said David A. Christian, CEO of Dominion Generation, a division of Dominion Resources Inc.

Dominion, which operates four nuclear power plants, is considering building a fifth, at the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County. W. Thomas Hudson, the Virginia Coal Association's president he described himself as "the designated piflata" said more than 90 percent of the coal consumed in the U.S. produces electricity. "It creates jobs, not 'green real jobs." Coal is the source of about half of America's energy, McGuireWoods attorney John M.

Lain said. "Every time you turn on a light switch, you're turning on coal. and that's not an easy thing to switch off." Switching to a low-carbon economy will be demanding, but "we have solved great challenges before," said Aimee Christensen, CEO of Christensen Global Strategies. The clean-energy industry is ready for dramatic growth, she said: "There are $20 bills lying on the floor, and no one's picking them up." Attended by about 200, the event at the Jepson Alumni Center was sponsored by the Law School's Merhige Center for Environmental Studies, the UR Law Review and the Virginia State Bar's Environmental Law Section. Contact Peter Bacqufi at (804) 648-6813 or pbacqueStimesdspatclLcom.

shares for $15 apiece. Top adviser says aim is job creation, investment return BY DAVID RESS Times-Dispatch Staff Writer The McDonnell administration will be working on a strategic plan for economic development, aiming to complete it in time for the next session of the legislature, Robert Sledd, the governor's BREAKING senior economic unus advispr said "LHO aaviser, saia vfcMAM yesterday. nnoiwittusoni The aim is for a focused program that sets priorities for spending state funds, in order to generate the most jobs, Sledd told the Greater Richmond Chamber's quarterly "Vision Check" meeting at Chesterfield Towne Center. A key part of the process will be working with state agency heads, so that they became "champions" for the elements of the plan, Sledd said. The administration team developing the plan will work with findings and suggestions from the task force on job creation that McDonnell established with his first ex ecutive order as governor, he said.

"There are lots of opportunities," he said. Sledd, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Performance Food Group, said another key element of the planning will be to focus on what he called return on investment basically, the projected number of jobs created for each dollar spent on a program or to bring in a specific business. "We're the No. 1 business-friendly environment, but all of you in business know when you're No. 1, you have to run just to stay in place," Sledd said.

But, he added, "we've got some dollars now to tell our story," because the legislature approved most of McDonnell's funding requests for economic development. Sledd was McDonnell's first choice to be his Cabinet secretary of commerce and trade, but McDonnell didn't name him after Democrats raised conflict-of-interest concerns when Sledd said he intended to keep his position on corporate boards. Contact David Ress at (804) 646061 or dresstimesdlspatctu)om. One of the big beneficiaries will be Nestle, which operates a Tidy Cats cat litter plant in the county. The company is expected to invest in new equipment that will reduce emissions.

Work on the project is expected to start in May and be finished by the end of 2010. Bedford to close hospital birthing unit Expectant mothers living in Bedford will soon have to travel outside the county to deliver their babies in a hospital. With deliveries at Bedford Msssortai Hospital dwindling to fewer than a dozen a month, the hospital board derided to close its birthing unit. New patients will no longer be accepted. However, deliveries will continue until Oct 1, giving women already pregnant a chance to remain at Bedford.

AvwngH print tar rsgjsnr, Mif-Mrve based on about 500 stations hi Richmond and 13 surrounding tocaJttJes. lb find real-time prices for your neighborhood, click on www.aaamidatlantic.com I in Lexington also will close its birthing center and stop delivering babies at the end of the month..