64 new businesses opened late last summer

The slowing national economy during the late summer last year appears to have had little impact on individuals and companies intent on opening new businesses in Southeast Missouri.

That's according to the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission's third-quarter business bulletin.

A total of 64 business starts were reported in the region during July, August and September, while five business closings were reported, resulting in a net gain of 59 businesses for the area, the report said.

Bollinger County saw four new businesses in that time frame while Cape Girardeau County saw 29 new businesses; Perry saw four new businesses; and Ste. Genevieve got one.

Retailing and service industry growth accounted for most of the new business expansion. Of the 64 new businesses reported, 26 were retail operations and 35 provided services of some kind. About 238 jobs were created in the region during the quarter as a result of new business starts.

Restaurant group adds seafood and root beer

The owner of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC restaurants is adding seafood and root beer floats to its corporate pantry of fast-food chains.

Tricon Global Restaurants announced last week that it is buying Long John Silver's, the leader in fast-food seafood, and A&W All American Food Restaurants, which serves A&W root beer along with burgers and hot dogs, for $320 million in cash from Yorkshire Global Restaurants.

Tricon also announced Tuesday that it is also proposing to change its corporate name to Yum! Brands Inc., which matches its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol YUM.

The name change will be submitted for shareholders approval at the annual meeting in May.

Socket announces partnership with Activis

Socket, one of the largest Internet providers in Missouri, has embarked on a strategic partnership with Activis, a worldwide provider of managed security services.

The partnership will allow Socket, which is based in Columbia, Mo., but also offers Internet service to Southeast Missouri, to offer its customers security and filtering solutions that would otherwise be impossible for Socket without committing to the burden of more equipment and time spent on product development.

With this new emphasis on security management, Socket wanted to be able to meet the demands of their customers. Socket customers can now have a wide array of security options such as fully managed e-mail, web content and filtering solutions, all the way to complete management and monitoring of firewalls. A business using these solutions can then scan e-mail for viruses, bulk mailings, offensive messages or inappropriate attachments.

Activis currently has offices established in North America, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

February spending boosts nation's retailers

Consumers spent more freely in February and provided a modest boost for the nation's retailers.

Though the 0.3 percent rise in sales reported by the Commerce Department Wednesday wasn't as big as many economists had anticipated, the advance still was the largest in four months. And the increase came after shoppers sharply cut back spending on cars in January, contributing to a 0.3 percent drop in overall retail sales that month.

The fact that consumers didn't close their pocketbooks and wallets in February and instead spent solidly -- though not lavishly -- on big-ticket items, including cars, furniture and appliances, was considered encouraging.

-- From staff, wire reports