Company sees credit default increases

The economy has shown good signs of recovery since the Great Recession and another example — good or bad depending at how you look at it — was announced last week by a large financial company with Kettering ties.

Synchrony Financial, which has a Kettering office with more than 1,700 employees, warned investors last week that the credit-card issuer was seeing rising defaults.

Synchrony oversees “private label” credit cards for some 300,000 merchant and retail businesses in some 400,000 locations, including companies like H.H. Gregg, Walmart, Amazon and your local Morris Furniture and Tire Discounters dealers, among many others.

Consumer spending is a positive indicator for the economy, which has increased over the past few years. The downside is the amount consumers are spending on debt.

Synchrony officials told analysts the problem with defaults could go beyond their company. Consumers seem to have generally suffered a decline in their ability to pay debts, the company said.

The news had an immediate impact on the stock for Synchrony. On Friday, Synchrony’s stock was trading at $25.70 a share, down from $30.45 on Tuesday when the announcement was made.

Chinese fare coming

Fans of authentic Chinese cuisine will be excited to know a new restaurant is coming to the Dayton area. Reporter Thomas Gnau reported Fuyao Glass America will soon produce more than glass at its Moraine plant.

The company is opening a restaurant that will offer authentic Chinese. The restaurant will serve Chinese fare to public diners, and it will offer global cuisine for Fuyao workers, who will be able to order Chinese food, American dishes and more, Dave Burrows, Fuyao vice president, facilities told Gnau.

The company is negotiating with a local couple — who already owns a local Chinese restaurant — to manage the site, Burrows said.

About $1 million will be invested into the restaurant at Encrete Lane and Fuyao Avenue (the former Hoyle Place), near one of the plant entrances, by the company’s owner.

Companies continue hiring

Fuyao and a number of other companies continue to hire in the Dayton area. In fact, employers expect to hire at an active pace during the third quarter, according to a Manpower employment outlook survey released last week.

Among employers surveyed, 27 percent plan to hire more employees from July through September. This number is offset by the 5 percent that plan to reduce payrolls, while 67 percent of employers expect to maintain current staff levels and one percent indicate they are not sure of their hiring plans.

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in durable goods manufacturing, nondurable goods manufacturing, information, financial activities, education and health services, leisure and hospitality and other services.

Rich Gillette is the Dayton Daily News business editor. He can be reached at 937-225-0623 or rich.gillette@coxinc.com. Follow him on Twitter @richgillette.

About the Author