Business Generation

LINCOLN – Personal and business accessories maker A.T. Cross Co. reported “strong” second-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

A.T. Cross said profit grew to $3.15 million, or 24 cents per diluted share, from $2.71 million, or 20 cents per diluted share in the 2010 second quarter. Sales advanced to $47.77 million from $41.75 million.

“A.T. Cross delivered an outstanding first half performance. Led by the Cross Optical Group, our business grew 15 percent and our bottom line improved substantially,” said David G. Whalen, president and CEO, in a news release.

“At investor conferences we have said time and again that in terms of growth potential and return on capital our sunglass business compares favorably with any business that investors are considering. The 2011 first half performance that our optical team just delivered only strengthens the argument,” he added. Whalen also s

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WASHINGTON – Express Scripts Inc.’s takeover of Medco Health Solutions Inc. may fuel acquisitions of specialty pharmacy benefit managers by rivals seeking to gain enough size to negotiate lower prices with drugmakers.

Once the deal closes, the number of people served by St. Louis-based Express Scripts would rise by 50 percent to 135 million, based on current data, said Art Henderson, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Nashville, Tenn. The next biggest rival, CVS Caremark Corp., serves 85 million people.

Pharmacy services companies negotiate prices with drugmakers for employers and governments and manage worker claims. More customers give them added leverage to insist on lower prices, providing savings that may be used by the companies to reduce expenses or compete for contracts. S

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Tell the truth – you resent your small business blog a little bit, don’t you? It’s OK. You’re not alone. Reading all these reports that more businesses are blogging than not and constantly watching your competitors hit it out of the ballpark is creating increased pressure. And that pressure, when added to our already busy schedules, sometimes makes us look at blogging not as an effective way to spur lead generation or market our businesses, but as a burden. The result isn’t pretty.

Actually, the result is horrible, horrible blogging.

If readers aren’t connecting with your blog posts or you simply feel like maybe you need a refresh, read these six tips to writing better blog posts. Sometimes it really is just about getting out of your own way and letting the magic happen.

1. Stop compar

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NEWPORT – The Newport Folk Festival, scheduled for July 30-31, said it has sold out of tickets in advance for the first time in its history.

Ten thousand fans will be at the festival in Fort Adams State Park from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., the organizers said in a news release on Tuesday.

“We thank all of the folk music fans for buying tickets in advance and showing their love for the great musicians that are booked on this year’s festival,” said George Wein, producer of the Newport Folk Festival and chairman of the board of the Newport Festivals Foundation.

“There’s no doubt that the fans, especially our online social network, are owed a great deal of thanks,” said Producer Jay Sweet. “Our folk can certainly share in the excitement, and each and every one of them can say he or she helped to make it happen. This includes the festival artists who should be applauded as well. It’s their will Read more…

Are you a new business looking to start out with an online storefront to save yourself some major overhead costs? Perhaps you are interested in expanding your current business to the web to take advantage of a larger market. Either way, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by getting into one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy: ecommerce. But perhaps the most essential ingredient to a successful web operation is a good method of accepting payments.

At brick and mortar stores, both cash and checks are accepted. Credit cards are swiped and transactions are taken care of right then and there. On the internet, however, things are different. Nothing is tangible. Cash isn’t accepted – credit cards rule the digital waves. So how, exactly, does an online business accept payments?

Bringing your business into the digital age is a lot easier than you might think – so relax, and take a moment to find out exactly how it works. You can

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Small businesses are predicting a bumper year for growth and jobs across Sussex.

Bosses across the county believe the health of the economy has improved so much that they are planning on expanding and taking on more staff.

Crawley MP Henry Smith, whose constituency includes the Gatwick Diamond Area, said that the improving position was being driven by the county’s pioneering companies.

He said: “We have seen 170 jobs created at Ceres Power in Horsham, one of the new green energy companies who are driving much of the economy’s growth. “We are not out of the woods but I am optimistic.”

A poll of 55 leading businesses by EMC Management Consultants revealed that 65% are targeting growth of more than 5% this year while a further 15% believe they will achieve growth of more than 20%.40% said they will be looking to take on extra staff.

Meanwhile, Sussex Enterprise, the county’s chamber of commerce, said that Sussex businesses were more confident of increasing sales over the next 12 months.

According to the Office of National Statistics, unemployment in Sussex has fallen steadily over the last three months. The total n Read more…