Business news digest

REGION

First Niles Financial declares dividends

NILES — First Niles Financial has declared a dividend of 16 cents a share on common stock and 17 cents a share on preferred class A stock. The dividend is payable on June 20 to shareholders of record on June 6. First Niles is the parent company of Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Niles.

NATION

Windsor, Ontario, factory to close by mid-2010

DETROIT — General Motors Corp. plans to close its Windsor, Ontario, transmission factory in the second quarter of 2010, the automaker said Monday. Company spokesman Stew Low said about 1,400 hourly and salaried employees work at the facility making four-speed automatic transmissions for front-wheel-drive vehicles.

But GM and other automakers are shifting from four-speed automatic transmissions to more fuel efficient six-speed gearboxes. The strong Canadian dollar and higher labor costs in Canada also contributed to GM’s decision, Low said.

But in the end, Low said GM just didn’t have a new product for the plant, which supplies transmissions to vehicles such as the Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G5, Chevrolet HHR and Saturn Vue and to three mid-sized hybrids, the Saturn Aura and Vue and the Chevrolet Malibu.

From Vindicator staff and wire reports