Clayton-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car earns a positive mention in a Wall Street Journal story about profit warnings at two rivals, Avis and Dollar Thrifty. Those two companies are suffering from a decline in air travel, but Enterprise relies mostly on neighborhood locations, not…

Sarah Steelman’s about-face on ethanol makes this a good time to look at the costs and benefits of the E-10 mandate that Missouuri enacted in 2006. As it happens, both the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and the Show-Me Institute have studied the…

In presenting a higher earnings projection last week, Anheuser-Busch Chief Financial Officer Randy Baker emphasized how conservative the new number was.  ”While increasing market share continues to be our objective, our strategic plan does not rely on increased market share and assumes level…

InBev’s lawsuit over a possible hostile takeover strategy seemed to have August Busch IV a little flustered on Friday. When asked about the main point of the suit — whether shareholders, by written consent, can seek to remove all of A-B’s directors…

Solar Night Industries, a quirky St. Louis outfit that touted itself as a “national modern energy company,” apparently has been unplugged. The company issued a terse statement Friday saying that ”a foreclosure of all of the assets by the Company’s lenders has…

One of the more interesting questions on this morning’s Anheuser-Busch conference call was about the company’s existing arrangement with InBev in the United States. A-B distributes many InBev brands, including Stella Artois and Beck’s, and they’ve been doing well. Both…

I said this morning that Anheuser-Busch would need more than a just-say-no defense to retain shareholders’ loyalties, and today’s conference call with analysts did contain some promising pieces of news. (Check out our Business News blog for my colleague Tim Logan’s live account…

InBev has been silky smooth in all of its communications with the Anheuser-Busch board, but a legal action today is a strong signal that it’s willing to commence a hostile takeover. InBev says in a press release that it has filed a case…

If you think we’re in an energy crisis now, coal executive Steve Leer told a business audience recently, just wait until the U.S. starts seeing electricity shortages. Leer, chief executive of Arch Coal, told the local Association for Corporate Growth…

Alternative Energy Systems, a Kansas City company that was building ethanol plants in Boone County, Iowa, and Kankakee, Ill., told the SEC today that it plans to go out of business. It is the latest of several biofuel firms damaged…