Fortune-1,000 Companies Headquartered In Georgia Increased By 11.5% in '09
Though Superior Essex did not move from its Powers Ferry location, it is no longer considered a Fortune 1,000 company headquartered in Atlanta. Superior Essex was acquired by a South Korean cable conglomerate LS Cable in August of 2008. When this happened, Superior Essex was removed from NASDAQ making it no longer eligible to be on Fortune’s list. The economic impact of Superior Essex is still in Atlanta, but its performance now gets credited to South Korean statistics.
The four new additions to the Georgia Fortune 1,000 list were Asbury Automotive Group (ABG), Beazer Homes USA (BZH), Total System Services (TSS), and Wendy’s/Arby’s Group (WEN). The only company of the four that relocated to Georgia was Asbury Automotive Group who is now enjoying lower costs than their former New York headquarters. Asbury is the parent company of Nalley Automotive Group and is now headquartered in Duluth, a Northern suburb of Atlanta.
The three companies that were already located in Georgia were not on the Fortune 1,000 list for 2008, hence no name of them until 2009. This change did not increase jobs or tax revenue for the State or the City of Atlanta. In fact, Beazer’s profit margin is currently running at -51.33%, Asbury is at -8.91%, and Wendy’s/Arby’s is at -13.45% profitability. All three Atlanta-based companies are currently not profiting, but we are still in the middle of a market correction that may last another 2-3 years.
Total System Services is headquartered in Columbus, GA and is the only new name on the list that is profiting. In fact, their current running profitability is at 12.06%. They’re focus is on providing electronic payment processing and related services to financial and non-financial institutions. The S&P 500 index price is up 11.5% over the past year. TSS’s profitability growth is in line with S&P price growth. This is the only Georgia Fortune 1,000 company that is in a healthy profit pattern.
The company that made the largest revenue growth between 2008 and 2009 was Graphic Packaging (GPK) growing from $2.5b to $4b. This 60% growth is due to an increased market share. Graphic Packaging Holding Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides paperboard packaging solutions for various products to multinational food, beverage, and other consumer products companies. The company operates in three segments: Paperboard Packaging, Multi-Wall Bag, and Specialty Packaging. Their focus on revenue growth may establish GPK as Georgia’s Safest Stock.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/states/GA.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=TSS
http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSSEO28944220080611
http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/07/28/daily81.html
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=GPK
