In the Public Eye

Hammons receives Hilton award

Springfield developer John Q. Ham-mons, chairman and chief executive officer of Hammons Hotels Inc., received a Connie Award from the Hilton Hotels Corporation at its recent conference in San Francisco. According to a corporate announcement, the award is named for Hilton Hotels founder Conrad N. Hilton.

Hammons was honored for his commitment to development within the Embassy Suites Hotels brand he opened 18 hotels in the past 12 years, with two now under development. He also has opened two Hampton Inn & Suites and two Homewood Suites by Hilton properties.

The Connie Award also recognized Hammons' philanthropic efforts in the Springfield community, representing more than $50 million. Hammons Hotels Inc. is publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol JQH. The company owns or manages 56 hotels in 22 states.

Great Southern reports earnings

Springfield-based Great Southern Bancorp Inc., traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol GSBC, announced Ap-ril 12 preliminary earnings of 78 cents per share for the quarter which ended March 31. That amount represents a 16 percent increase in earnings compared to the previous quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2001. The most recent quarterly earnings in-cluded increases in core earnings and increases and decreases as a result of non-recurring items, such as the sale of available-for-sale investment securities and a provision for losses on foreclosed assets of $200,000 due to additional valuation allow-ances on certain properties for the quarter.

"Our income from operations continues to grow at a pace that provides good returns to our shareholders," said Joseph W. Turner, chief executive officer of Great Southern Bancorp. "Net interest income increased on a reported basis and increased substantially when considering the positive impacts that occurred in the 2001 first quarter. Strong earnings have enabled us to build our capital, providing the opportunity for continued growth in earning assets."

At March 31, stockholders' equity was $88 million, equivalent to a book value of $12.75 per share.

Great Southern Bancorp is the parent company of Great Southern Bank, which operates 29 branches and more than 120 ATMs in southwest and central Missouri.

O'Reilly family enters transactions

O'Reilly Automotive, publicly traded as ORLY, announced April 3 that some members of the O'Reilly family have entered variable prepaid forward transactions with Credit Suisse First Boston. According to the company, "the VPF transaction is essentially a tax-deferred forward sale of O'Reilly Automotive shares with the retention of substantial future upside interest by such family members, if the stock price moves up-ward, over the next three to five years."

The family chose VPF transactions in order to demonstrate its continued confidence in the company, while at the same time allowing them to diversify and monetize a portion of their investments.

O'Reilly family members involved are retirees Charlie O'Reilly and Rosalie O'Reilly Wooten, and Chief Operating Officer Larry O'Reilly and Chief Executive Officer David O'Reilly. Some of the children of those family members and beneficiaries of certain trusts also are involved. No individual family member is involving more than 200,000 shares in the transactions. The total number of shares of O'Reilly Automotive covered by these transactions is approximately 1.4 million, which represents less than 20 percent of the total number of shares owned by the participants in the aggregate.

Commerce reports 1Q earnings

Commerce Bancshares Inc., publicly traded as CBSH, announced April 16 record earnings of 71 cents per share for the three months which ended March 31. That amount represents an 8 percent increase compared to the 66 cents per share reported by the company for the first quarter of 2001.

Total earnings for the quarter that ended March 31 were $46.9 million, compared to $43.9 million for the same period a year ago. The return on average assets for the first quarter of this year was 1.55 percent, the return on equity was 15.2 percent and the efficiency ratio was 59.7 percent.

Total assets on March 31 were $12.3 billion, total loans were $7.6 billion and total deposits were $10 billion. Commerce Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David W. Kemper said, "We are pleased to report record earnings this quarter driven mainly by solid improvements to our net interest income coupled with lower credit costs."

Commerce Bancshares is the holding company for Commerce Bank. The company operates approximately 340 locations in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.

Cintas reports record sales

Cincinnati-based Cintas Corporation, which is traded on the NASDAQ as CTAS and has an operation at 4600 E. Mustard Way in Springfield, on March 14 reported $545 million in total revenue for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28.

That amount represents a 2 percent increase compared to $537 million in total revenue reported by the company for the same period in 2001. Net income was $55.6 million for the first quarter of this year, up from $55 million in net income reported for the same period a year ago.

For its fiscal third quarter this year, Cintas reported earnings of 32 cents per share.

Cintas' rental revenue for the quarter increased 6 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Revenue from sales of uniforms and other products and services declined 12 percent compared to the same quarter in 2001, which Chief Executive Officer Robert J. Kohlhepp attributed to the events of Sept. 11 and the economic downturn that followed.

Cintas' total assets at the end of the company's fiscal third quarter were $1.9 billion and shareholders' equity in-creased to $1.4 billion, compared to $1.2 billion a year ago.

"Our results again illustrate Cintas' ability to grow despite the sluggish economic environment that we are in today," Kohlhepp said. The company has 100 employees in Springfield.

3M changes legal name

3M Company is now the legal name of St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M, which has been known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, according to a recent announcement from the company. The name change was effective April 8. The company is traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange as MMM.

In a separate announcement, the company reported that it expects first-quarter earnings, excluding non-recurring items, to be at or slightly above $1.20 per share, versus a previously expected range of $1.05 to $1.20 per share. For the same quarter a year ago, the company earned $467 million, or $1.16 per share, excluding non-recurring items.

"First quarter results will be boosted by accelerating benefits from Six Sigma, indirect cost reduction and other 3M initiatives which are driving stronger operational excellence across the company and fundamentally improving our competitive position," said Patrick D. Camp-bell, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

He added that earnings also will benefit from lower employment levels resulting from a previously an-nounced restructuring plan. First-quarter results and the company's outlook for the rest of this year will be discussed in an April 22 conference call, which will be available via webcast at http://investor.3M.com.

According to Springfield Business Journal's 2002 Book of Lists, 3M has 250 employees in Springfield at its 3211 E. Chestnut Expwy. location.

Northrop Grumman earns award

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Program of Northrop Grumman Cor-poration earned the company the first Private Sector ADR Program Award from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, which is part of the Office of Management and Budget.

According to an announcement from Northrop Grumman, the company used ADR to successfully settle major claims with the U.S. Air Force and to resolve issues that surfaced following mergers and acquisitions.

Incorporating lessons learned from using ADR, Northrop Grumman modified its contract management training program to educate key contract and pricing professionals about the benefits of ADR and the importance of timely dispute resolution.

Northrop Grumman is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as NO. The company operates Litton Interconnect Technologies in Springfield, which, according to the 2002 Book of Lists, has 1,050 employees.