Local Biz Digest

LOCAL
United Community announces dividend
YOUNGSTOWN -- United Community Financial Corp. has declared its first-quarter dividend of 8.25 cents per share, payable March 15, to shareholders of record Feb. 28. United Community is the Holding Company for The Home Savings and Loan Co. and Butler Wick Corp., both based in Youngstown. United Community's capital management strategies over the past several years have included a special capital distribution and a self-tender offer. "This increase in our cash dividend is intended to employ yet another method of maintaining a strong return on shareholder investment," said Douglas M. McKay, president and chairman of United Community. Home Savings operates 36 full-service banking offices and five loan production offices throughout Ohio and western Pennsylvania, while Butler Wick has 14 office locations providing full-service retail brokerage, capital markets or trust services.
Bancorp dividend at 22 cents per share
CORTLAND -- Investors in Cortland Bancorp will receive a 22-cent regular quarterly dividend per share, which will be distributed April 1. The dividend was announced last week at a meeting of the company's board of directors.
Cortland's earnings for 2004 were $4.483 million, an 11.7 percent drop from its 2003 figure of $5.484 million.
Chairman Roger W. Platt attributed the earnings dip to generally difficult economic conditions. "The economic recovery has been late in reaching northeastern Ohio," Platt said. He remains confident in the company's 2004 performance, which still ranks among the best in Cortland Bancorp's 113-year history. "It was a good, solid performance. ... Not great, but certainly good in a challenging operating environment. Unemployment remains stubbornly high in northeastern Ohio, while operating margins continue to be under pressure."
'Women in Politics' scheduled for Friday
LIBERTY -- Reservations for the Friday's ATHENA Leadership Forum's "Women in Politics" program and breakfast are being accepted by the Regional Chamber. Panelists include State Rep. Sandra Stabile Harwood, Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Theresa Dellick, Boardman Township trustee Elaine Mancini and Lynn Gibson, a member of the Warren City Schools Board of Education. Helen Paes, director of community affairs at The Vindicator, will serve as moderator.
The forum will be at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex, 1620 Motor Inn Drive. To make reservations, call Jennifer Mascardine at (330) 744-2131, Ext. 12.
NATIONAL
Ebbers refutes charges
NEW YORK -- Former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers took the witness stand Monday and flatly denied he was ever made aware that accountants were cooking the books at the company. Under questioning from his top lawyer, Ebbers explicitly refuted the testimony of former finance chief Scott Sullivan, who claimed earlier in the trial that Ebbers pressured him to falsify company financial statements. The matter-of-fact denial was perhaps the most dramatic moment in the five-week-old trial of Ebbers, who is accused by the government of orchestrating the $11 billion fraud that sank WorldCom in 2002.
GM, Ford shares down
DETROIT -- Shares of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the nation's two biggest automakers, declined Monday amid signs of disappointing February sales, high gasoline prices and downgrades by a Wall Street investment bank. GM shares fell $1.24, or 3.4 percent, to close at $35.65, its lowest close since mid-2003, while Ford lost 35 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $12.65 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Vindicator staff/wire reports