Business Journal Local News

The president of Hunter Creek Homes, a manufactured home dealership in Smithfield, has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of conspiring to defraud Southern Bank and Trust Co. of Mount Olive, according the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Cary-based building products maker Ply Gem Holdings is back in growth mode, having added more than 300 employees to its roster of 4,500 across North America in the second quarter of 2010.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. has a new toothpaste coming out and doesn’t want GlaxoSmithKline to prevent it from marketing its “triple action.” (CL) (GSK)

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion improved its share of the mobile phone market to 3.5 percent in the second quarter, according to figures released Friday by research firm IDC. (NOK)

Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) has struck a deal with Anacor Pharmaceuticals to license the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company’s antibiotic candidate. (GSK)

Gov. Beverly Perdue is expected to announce today that Caterpillar has chosen Winston-Salem as the site of its new manufacturing plant and more than 500 jobs. (CAT)

Drug maker Merck said Friday that its profit fell by 52 percent during the second quarter on charges related to the company’s acquisition of Schering-Plough. (MRK)

Four Oaks Fincorp, the holding company for Four Oaks Bank, swung to a second quarter profit of $289,000 from a loss of $705,000 in the same period a year ago, the bank reported Friday.

Shares of Capital Bank plummeted Friday after the Raleigh-based bank posted a second quarter loss and filed with securities regulators to raise as much as $116.6 million in a sale of common stock.

Germany-based Bayer Group reported a profit of 525 million euros ($686.1 million) in the second quarter, down 1.3 percent from 532 million euros ($695.2 million) in the year-ago quarter. Results included charges of 255 million euros ($333.2 million) related to litigation in the HealthCare and CropSciences segments and a partial write-down for the cancer drug Zevalin.

Raleigh-based TeleHealth Services is partnering with Samsung to deliver health care information through new Samsung television sets designed specifically for the hospital market, TeleHealth announced Thursday.

While businesses in the Carolinas saw business activity remain flat in July, they still expect to see modest improvements in the coming months, according to a survey of business activity released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have received a $3.3 million grant to study the best treatment options for prostate cancer.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit against Charlotte-based Belk Inc, claiming that the company’s Crabtree Valley Mall store discriminated against an employee based on her religion.

An affiliate of Inland American Real Estate Trust has sold a portolio of five hotels, including three in the Raleigh-Durham region.

Icagen has earned a $3 million milestone payment from collaborative partner Pfizer – money that gives the cash-strapped Durham drug developer a welcome dose of financial relief. (PFE)

The Triangle’s two metropolitan regions rank among the bottom third of U.S. metros for construction growth, according to a new report from the Associated General Contractors of America.

Airlines may have been pounded financially for the past decade, but changes to their business models over the past couple of years helped make the second quarter one of the best earnings seasons in the industry’s history. (DAL) (AMR)