Global growth drives Monsanto's 2Q higher

ST. LOUIS — Monsanto's second-quarter earnings jumped 13 percent on strength from its core seeds and traits business.

The agriculture products company topped Wall Street expectations for both profit and revenue, sending shares higher before the opening bell Wednesday.

Monsanto earned $1.67 billion, or $3.15 per share, 7 cents better than what analysts polled by FactSet had projected. A year ago, the company earned $1.48 billion, or $2.73 per share.

The performance was particularly strong, given the slow start to a quarter in which winter storms delayed shipments.

Chairman and CEO Hugh Grant said that almost 80 percent of Monsanto's quarterly growth came from its core seeds and traits business.

Revenue climbed 7 percent to $5.83 billion, just edging out Wall Street projections.

The expansion of the company's global corn and soybean businesses drove sales throughout the most recent quarter.

Monsanto Co. has dominated the bioengineered-seed business for years and recently began expanding its footprint in emerging markets like Argentina, Brazil and parts of Asia.

While the vast majority of Monsanto's business comes from genetically enhanced seeds and herbicide, the company is also making investments in computerized tools for the agricultural sector.

Last quarter the company announced a new agreement with U.S agricultural distributor WinField to explore collaborations on agriculture-based information technology. And in October, it spent $930 million to acquire the Climate Corporation, a Silicon Valley startup that uses weather forecasting and data analysis to increase harvest yields.

The St. Louis company reaffirmed its 2014 forecast for earnings of $5 to $5.20 per share. Wall Street is looking for $5.24 per share.

Shares of Monsanto added 86 cents to $114.85 before the market opened.

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Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor makes offer to buy Minneapolis newspaper

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota billionaire Glen Taylor has made a formal offer to acquire the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a purchase that would add the state's largest media company to his diverse business empire.

Taylor said in an interview Tuesday that he has made a cash offer as an individual without any other investors. He declined to say how much he would pay, but emphasized that the Star Tribune is the only media company he is pursuing.

"I'm interested in this one because it's a Minnesota paper," Taylor said. "For the long run if we can continue to have a news media that's consistent, fair, broad-based … I think it's in the interest of our state. I would be proud to be part of that."

Star Tribune Publisher and CEO Mike Klingensmith said Taylor's possible purchase is an exciting prospect because it would give the company a long-term owner with deep roots in Minnesota. "I think both of those things are important," Klingensmith said.

The Star Tribune and Taylor said Tuesday they have signed a letter of intent for a possible deal, pending the outcome of a 60-day review of the company's operations. If that process goes well, both parties expect the sale to close by the end of May.

If the deal goes through, Taylor, 72, said he will not take on a managing role with the Star Tribune, although he might put a family member on its board of directors. The company's current management would remain in place, Taylor and Klingensmith said.

Star Tribune employees, in a companywide meeting after the news was announced, broke into applause when Klingensmith said he would be staying.

The sale would be a pivotal moment for the media company, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 with the challenge of reinventing itself for a digital audience while also keeping its print editions robust. Since then, the company has expanded its readership, stabilized its finances and strived journalistically, winning two Pulitzer Prizes in 2013.

"Right now, I think the Star Tribune has great leadership," said Dan Sullivan, Cowles Chair of Media Management and Economics at the University of Minnesota. "They're one of the real success stories in terms of major dailies today."

Taylor is one of several Minnesotans on the annual Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans and has an estimated net worth of about $1.8 billion. He heads North Mankato-based Taylor Corp., a printing and marketing conglomerate that he has spent decades building. It is among the country's largest privately-held companies with annual sales around $1.6 billion. He also owns scores of other companies as well as the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx.

Taylor would be the latest billionaire to buy a major U.S. newspaper if he acquires the Star Tribune. Last year, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos paid $250 million for the Washington Post, and Boston Red Sox owner John Henry paid $70 million for the Boston Globe and other media properties.

Klingensmith noted that historically most newspapers were founded by families, and the emerging trend is "kind of a return to the model." The Star Tribune was owned for six decades by the Cowles family, who sold it in 1998.

The Star Tribune has emerged as an example of how to manage the difficult transition to news reporting across digital platforms while still producing a quality print product, said Ken Doctor, a news industry analyst at Newsonomics in Santa Cruz. He described a Star Tribune-Taylor alliance as "very positive news."

"It's unusual these days to have a local wealthy owner who is talking about maintaining, sustaining and, hopefully, building a local news company — as opposed to figure out (how) to keep the lights on and doors open," Doctor said.

Despite ongoing challenges in print advertising, the Star Tribune has been "solidly profitable" in every year since its restructuring, Klingensmith said, characterizing the profits as consistently "in the eight digits." The company has reduced a significant amount of its debt, partly through the 2009 bankruptcy and more recently with the sale of five blocks it owned in downtown Minneapolis. That netted the company about $38.5 million and cleared the way for new development next to the Vikings football stadium that's under construction.

Wayzata Investment Partners and GE Capital together own about 75 percent of the Star Tribune shares. The remaining stake is owned by several dozen creditors and other investors. Taylor said his offer is for 100 percent of the shares.

Taylor is a Minnesota business legend. Raised on a dairy farm near the southern Minnesota town of Comfrey, he once aspired to be a math teacher but was sidetracked by a job in college working at Carlson Letter Service, a "job shop" printing company. He eventually bought the company from Bill Carlson in 1975 and turned it into Taylor Corp.

From 1981 to 1990, he served as a Republican senator in the Minnesota Legislature.

Today, Taylor Corp. encompasses about 50 companies employing about 9,000 people. The bulk of the company's $1.6 billion in revenue comes from printing and marketing.

Taylor also owns about 30 companies outside Taylor Corp. The largest is Rembrandt Enterprises, one of the country's largest egg operations.

More recently, he expanded into medical devices by buying a stake in Envoy Medical Corp., a White Bear Lake-based developer of an implanted hearing aid. Taylor also co-owns Northland Securities Inc., a Minneapolis brokerage.

Taylor said Star Tribune Media would remain a standalone company but that he likes to have "various companies in my organization work together."

"I understand that this is a difficult business," he said, responding to a question about the challenges that newspapers face. "I'm in a lot of printing areas and they are all difficult business areas. I have just found out that if you're the best in that area, then you can do quite well."

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©2014 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Distributed by MCT Information Services

Visit the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) at www.startribune.com

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Coke to soften marketing if unrest hits World Cup

LONDON — Coca-Cola has disclosed contingency plans to adapt its World Cup sponsorship and soften its celebratory tone in Brazil if unrest returns to the streets.

Launching their biggest World Cup marketing campaign, which aims to promote inclusivity, Coke executive vice president Joe Tripodi told The Associated Press the soft drinks giant would react rapidly to any outbreak of protests in an attempt to reflect the mood of the nation.

Demonstrations flashed across the South American country last year as the Confederations Cup started, with Brazilians angry at the high level of spending on the World Cup compared with public services. The protests outside some matches, including the Brazil-Spain final, turned violent with tear gas floating into stadiums.

"That (World Cup) spotlight can act as an opportunity to tell a story of happiness but it can also be a spotlight to tell a story of grievances and concerns that they (the public) have about the direction of the country," Tripodi, the Coca-Cola chief marketing and commercial officer, said in a telephone interview.

"There was tear gas and a little of that waved into the stadium, nothing major," Tripodi recalled of his Confederations Cup trip. "The Brazilian people are going to rise up and support this World Cup in a big way. Do I think there might be some protests? There may well be."

A litmus test of Brazil's attitude now to the World Cup could be when the trophy tour, organized by Coke, reaches its 90th country this month and begins a six-week tour across Brazil.

"We hope there is no unrest," Tripodi said from Atlanta. "But we recognize these things happen. You always have to be smart to have all kinds of Plan Bs, Plan Cs and Ds to prepare for any contingency. And if certain things happen you might have to change the tonality of your marketing or communications ... to make sure our messaging better reflected the mood in a particular country."

Coke is aware the same social media channels it harnesses to engage with consumers to enhance its market position can quickly be used to create a backlash against corporations or organizations such as FIFA.

"The worst thing is you can be complicit by silence," Tripodi said.

"The world we live in now is full of massive disruption, frequent chaos and change all the time," he added. "So as a company and as a brand if you are not prepared to respond ... then you aren't going to survive."

Coke's advertising has appeared in World Cup stadiums since the tournament was last staged in Brazil in 1950, and it has been an official FIFA sponsor since 1978.

The latest marketing campaign features fans across the world, from a Japanese region hit by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami to the West Bank, collecting cup tickets.

Rival PepsiCo is relying on the allure of soccer stars, with Argentina star Lionel Messi and Netherlands forward Robin van Persie performing tricks on the streets of Rio de Janeiro in a campaign released on Wednesday.

"Are you going to get the occasional ambush marketing? It's more of a nuisance that probably gets overhyped," Tripoldi said. "It's not something we obsess over."

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Rob Harris can be followed at www.twitter.com/RobHarris

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Greece: Talks on debt relief could start in May

ATHENS, Greece — A senior official in the Greek government says long-awaited negotiations with creditors to try and make the country's national debt sustainable could start as early as next month and would likely last to the fall or beyond.

The official spoke Wednesday after a meeting of European finance ministers in Athens and asked not to be identified because the two sides are still awaiting the official publication of Greece's 2013 budget deficit figures later this month.

Experts say Greece could, among other things, get more time to repay its bailout loans or lower interest rates.

Greece said Tuesday it plans to return to bond markets in the first half of the year, while eurozone countries backed the payment of a delayed rescue loan installment worth 8.3 billion euros ($11.4 billion).

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Survey: US companies add 191K jobs in March

WASHINGTON — A private survey shows that U.S. companies increased hiring at a healthy pace last month, suggesting that the jobs market is recovering from a brutal winter.

Payroll processer ADP says private employers added 191,000 jobs in March. ADP also revised February's job creation up to 153,000 from an originally reported 139,000.

The construction industry added 20,000 jobs in March, up from an average 16,000 the previous three months. Financial firms added 5,000 jobs, the most since November. Hiring was healthy across most industries and businesses of different sizes.

The numbers suggest that the government's jobs report for March, to be released Friday, will show stronger hiring. Economists forecast the government will report that employers added 195,000 jobs last month. That would be the strongest one-month gain since November.

The ADP numbers cover only private businesses and often diverge from the government's more comprehensive report.

The economy appears to be gaining some momentum after an unusually cold and snowy winter. On Tuesday, the Institute for Supply Management, a group of purchasing managers, reported that U.S. manufacturing grew at a slightly faster pace last month as factory output bounced back from disruptions caused by severe winter weather.

U.S. auto sales rose 6 percent to 1.5 million vehicles last month, far outpacing analysts' expectations. The sales pace was the fastest since November, according to Autodata Corp.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, which prepares the ADP numbers, said the hiring last month was "very consistent with the kind of job growth we were getting before the winter months and is suggestive of economic growth of somewhere around 3 percent" at an annual rate. The economy grew a sluggish 1.9 percent last year.

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Monday is the deadline to sign up for health law

Monday is the deadline to sign up for private health insurance in the new online markets created by President Barack Obama's health care law. So far, about 4 out of every 5 people enrolling have qualified for tax credits to reduce the cost of their premiums.

Here's what you need to know:

— The sign-up website stumbled on deadline day. Visitors to HealthCare.gov on Monday morning saw messages that the site was down for maintenance. At times the visitors were also directed to a virtual waiting room — a feature designed to ease the strain on the site during periods of heavy use. Officials attributed the problem to a software bug.

— The deadline is at midnight EDT for the states where the federal government is running the sign-up website; states running their own exchanges set their own deadlines.

— You can sign up online by going to HealthCare.gov or your state insurance exchange. If you don't know what your state marketplace is called, HealthCare.gov will direct you.

—You can call 1-800-318-2596 to sign up by phone or get help from an enrollment specialist.

—Check online for sign-up centers that may be open locally, offering in-person assistance.

—If you started an application by Monday but didn't finish, perhaps because of errors, missing information or website glitches, you can take advantage of a grace period. The government says it will accept paper applications until April 7 and take as much time as necessary to handle unfinished cases on HealthCare.gov.

—Be prepared for the possibility of long wait times.

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Couple who paid off $127,000 in debt explains their strategy

Six years ago, Cherie and Brian Lowe decided they'd had enough with being in debt. The couple, who live in Greenwood, Ind., owed more than $127,000 in student loans, credit card bills, auto loans and more. With a second child on the way, they worried about how they would make ends meet.

"I knew what we were doing wasn't going to work with another child," Cherie Lowe said.

So in April 2008, the Lowes added up everything they owed and devised a plan for how to chip away at the debt.

The couple is not unlike many young people who find themselves deep in debt early in adult life — even when you have a college degree and a good-paying job.

According to a recent study that looked at the personal finances of college-educated millennials, 81 percent of these young adults have some form of long-term debt, such as student loans, a mortgage or car loan.

Managing that debt is a big concern. In the study, 47 percent of those with student loans are worried about their ability to pay off the balance, according to TIAA-CREF Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, which published the findings in February. (Millennials are defined as those ages 23 to 35.)

It took nearly four years, but Cherie and Brian Lowe, now 37, are debt-free. Cherie Lowe, who has given herself the nickname "the Queen of Free," documented the couple's quest on her website, QueenOfFree.net, and is writing a book, "Slaying the Debt Dragon," to be published this fall. For millennials struggling to get out of the red, Lowe talked about some of the strategies that worked for her family.

START SMALL: To get started, the first thing the Lowes did was adjust the tax withholding from Brian Lowe's paycheck. In doing so, the couple gave up the possibility of collecting a refund when they filed a tax return in April, but it gave the couple an extra $100 per month to apply toward debt.

The Lowes started small, using the newly found cash to pay off a store credit card. Financial advisers often recommend putting extra money toward the highest interest-rate debt first, but Cherie Lowe said eliminating one balance right away helped the couple to build momentum.

"It gave us the first little boost of confidence," she said.

Once the store card was gone, the couple turned to the next-largest balance and added $100 to the monthly bill. They repeated the process again and again, rolling over the sum of their monthly payments plus the extra cash as each balance was eliminated.

"Eventually the amount snowballs and you start to take big chunks out of the more sizable debt," Lowe said.

Their progress became infectious. "The more success we had, the more excited we were and the more sacrifices we were willing to make," she said.

BUILD A SAFETY NET: At the same time, the Lowes were determined to scrape together $1,000 for an emergency savings fund.

"It's never a question of 'if' your water heater blows up or if the brakes on your car go, but 'when,' " Cherie Lowe said. To pay for those costs without having to use credit cards, the Lowes decided they needed to build some savings, which they accumulated by selling jewelry, books and other items, as well as banking small windfalls, such as birthday money.

It was a smart move. Young adults with big liabilities may be more likely to rely on credit cards to cover day-to-day bills. According to the TIAA-CREF and GFLEC study, 53 percent of millennials who have both a credit card and long-term debt carry a balance on their credit card.

Adding debt on top of debt will not help you get out of the red. "Saving that $1,000 was one of the first things we did," Lowe said. "It was key."

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©2014 Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

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Appeal against Salem power plant dropped

SALEM, Mass. — Two Salem residents have dropped their legal appeals to a proposed $800 million natural gas-fired power plant in the city, leaving just one lawsuit in place.

Footprint Power has proposed a 692-megawatt plant at the site of the defunct Salem Harbor Station.

Salem residents Michael Furlong and William Dearstyne, who had appealed decisions by the Salem Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals allowing the project to move forward, said in a Land Court filing last week that they do not oppose Footprint's motion to dismiss the case.

That, in effect, ends those appeals.

The Salem News (http://bit.ly/1fFE9TQ ) reports that Footprint must resolve a federal appeal filed by four other Salem and area residents with the Environmental Appeals Board of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington.

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Information from: The Salem (Mass.) News, http://www.salemnews.com

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Panel to hold meeting on Springfield casino plan

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The state gambling commission is headed to Springfield to hear from residents and local officials about MGM Resorts' plan to build an $800 million resort casino.

The hearing on Tuesday comes just weeks before the panel is expected to award the sole western Massachusetts casino license.

The Springfield proposal is the only one vying for the regional license.

The commission says the meeting at the MassMutual Center will allow members of the community to express concerns or ask questions. The project is slated for an area of downtown Springfield heavily damaged in a June 2011 tornado.

A host community agreement with MGM approved by Springfield voters promises the city annual payments of $25 million if the casino is built.

Residents of surrounding communities also are invited to offer comments at the hearing.

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Health care website stumbles on last day

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's health care website stumbled, falling out of service for nearly four hours on deadline day for new sign-ups.

Visitors to HealthCare.gov on Monday morning saw messages that the site was down for maintenance. At times the visitors were also directed to a virtual waiting room — a feature designed to ease the strain on the site during periods of heavy use.

Administration spokesman Aaron Albright said the website undergoes "regular nightly maintenance" during off-peak hours and that period was extended because of a "technical problem." He did not say what the problem was, but a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services called it "a software bug" unrelated to application volume.

Albright said consumers seeking to sign up will be able to leave their email were to be "invited back" when the system got up and running again.

Officials said the website wasn't hacked. The site, which was receiving 1.5 million visitors a day last week, received about 2 million a day over the weekend.

Albright said the website is typically down for maintenance during the period from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. EDT, and that as a result of the technical problems the site was down for close to four additional hours before returning to full strength Monday morning.

The sign-up website had been taken down briefly Friday, with consumer interest surging. Lately the site has been getting about 1.5 million visits a day.

A recent analysis for The Associated Press by the performance-measurement firm Compuware found that the government site runs slow compared with health insurance industry peers.

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