As the German and French leaders met to discuss how to keep Greece in the eurozone some Germans seem indifferent to its fate.

A recent opinion poll show around 60 percent of them support Angela Merkels opposition to stimulating growth in Europe through new borrowing and in a Berlin food market a commonly expressed feeling was that Germanys already given too much to Greece without getting anything back.

Flower seller Rudi Kalupa said: Im not worried about the situation in Greece. If they are not able to handle the euro, they have to leave the euro, as simple as that.

Vegetable seller Christine Neuendorf added: I think Greece should leave the eurozone. We have to work hard here.

Full article…

The Saratoga Springs Home Depot store at 3043 Route 50 is facing as much as $51,480 in proposed fines after the U.S. Labor Departments Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it found repeat and serious safety violations following an inspection by the OSHA office in Albany.

OSHA said access to circuit breakers that could have been needed in an emergency was restricted, and because similar violations had been found at two other stores the retailer operates in 2010 and earlier this year, OSHA said it  proposed a $44,000 fine for the repeat violation in Saratoga Springs.

Other alleged violations included a lack of protective eyewear for an employee operating a saw, missing circuit breakers and uncovered openings in electric panels. Home Depot has 15 days to comply or meet with OSHA.

A Home Depot spokesman said the retailer takes the safety of our associates and these claims very seriously. We look forward to discussing  these claims with OSHA. H

Full article…

PPL Corp.’s increased earnings are the direct result of the company’s far-flung acquisitions, CEO William H. Spence said Wednesday at the annual shareholders meeting in Bethlehem.

Over the past two years, the Allentown company bought two Kentucky-based utilities with a combined 1.2 million customers, plus a 5 million-customer electricity distributor in the United Kingdom.

The acquisitions lifted PPL’s revenues from $8.5 billion in 2010 to $12.7 billion in 2011, propelling the company ahead of Air Products to become the Lehigh Valley’s top-ranked Fortune 500 company.

“The bottom line: Without the additional earnings from these rate-regulated operations, your company’s earnings per share would have been significantly depressed for 2012 and the foreseeable future,” Spence told the audience of 300 at Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center.

Full article…

It is important for manufacturing companies to stay on top of all of their processes all of the time. From ensuring there is enough stock to be utilised in the manufacturing process to taking care of the payroll to make sure employees get paid on time, there is a lot to think about and so a comprehensive system to deal with this can be beneficial. ERP systems, which offer a holistic approach to information, can be very useful for medium to large manufacturing companies.

For example, one of the big benefits of ERP systems is that they help to centralise and coordinate information that is important to a manufacturing organisation. Full article…

The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominations for its annual Small Business Awards.

The awards recognize outstanding small businesses, nonprofits, veterans and advocates. Winners will be honored Oct. 4.

Nominations must be received by June 25.

For information, call 983-0700, ext. 221; email business@roanokechamber.org; or visit .

Shoe Carnival has authorized a three-for-two split on the shares of its stock, the Evansville-based retailer announced Friday.

The action means shareholders will receive a dividend in the form of one additional share of stock for every two shares they own.

The dividend will be paid April 27, to shareholders of record at the close of business April 13.

“We are pleased to take this action as a result of our strong operating results and stock performance,” Shoe Carnival President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Lemond said in a news release.

Earlier this week, Shoe Carnival reported fourth-quarter earnings of $3.3 million (24 cents per diluted share) as compared with $4.4 million (33 cents per diluted share) during the same period a year earlier. Earnings for 2011 as a whole were $26.4 million ($1.97 per diluted share), as compared with $26.8 million ($2.05 per diluted share) in 2010.

Full article…