Sunday, June 14, 1998
Small businesses have a new place to go for a bank loan: a brokerage firm.
St. Louis-based Edward Jones has announced a nationwide small-business loan program through Mercantile Bank, also of St. Louis.
S. Christian Wilks, local investment representative of Edward Jones, said the loans are available to businesses with less than $5 million in sales. Credit lines or term loans range from $25,000 to $200,000.
He said Edward Jones decided to get into small-business lending because many of the firm's customers are small businesses.
Incomes soar at small firms
Small Midwestern companies recorded a booming 56.7 percent increase in operating income in the first quarter this year, but business owners predict stagnant second-quarter sales, a national survey shows.
The survey, part of a regular quarterly report by Padgett Business Services, showed that sales rose in all four regions of the United States, driving operating income. But the Midwest outpaced the nation, with a 7.2 percent increase compared with a 7.1 percent rise.
National operating income in the first quarter rose 10.4 percent compared with the same period last year.
But business owners expect a flat second quarter and predict low job growth in that period.
SCORE develops online resources
The Service Corps of Retired Executives has developed a Web site for administering small-business counseling and mentoring. The site atwww.score.org offers success profiles from throughout the country, e-mail counseling, guest features and corporate and economic statistics.
It also provides "Biz Hotlinks," a list of top business sites on the Internet.
Retirement plan options on Web
Here's a Web site for business owners wanting to start an employee-retirement program.
The U.S. Department of Labor this month unveiled the Small Business Retirement Savings Advisor that allows owners to explore retirement plan options. It can be accessed at the department's Web site atwww.dol.gov/dol/pwba
According to the Department of Labor, only one-fifth of the nation's 5 million small businesses offers some sort of employee pension plan.
Computer bookshelf
ProRate Software (Pelouze; $49.95). Software program, which comes in a Windows 95 PC version, locates postal updates and compares mailing and shipping rates from five carriers.
Pelouze, based in Bridgeview, Ill., is a brand of postal scales. -- Lisa Biank Fasig
