Business Briefs for Oct. 18, 2012

Pool Corp. posts lower earnings

Covington-based Pool Corp., the largest wholesale distributor of swimming pools, reported third-quarter earnings slipped to $21.4 million, or 45 cents per share, down from $24.2 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier.

Third-quarter results were lowered by a paper loss of $6.9 million, or 14 cents per share, relating to Pool’s United Kingdom unit. Without the non-cash charge, Pool’s per-share earnings would have increased 18 percent, the company said.

As a result of the on-paper charge Pool lowered its 2012 earnings guidance to a range of $1.75 to $1.82 per share, President and Chief Executive Officer Manuel Perez de la Mesa said in a news release..

Greyhound adding express service

Greyhound Express, the bus company’s premium non-stop service between major cities, will expand to Baton Rouge, New Orleans and five other new markets beginning Oct. 31.

The other new markets are Mobile and Montgomery, Ala.; Beaumont, Texas; Erie, Pa.; Buffalo, N.Y., and Oklahoma City, Okla. Baton Rouge and New Orleans are part of the Atlanta-to-Houston route.

Steelworkers ratify mining labor pact

PITTSBURGH — The United Steelworkers say that workers have ratified a three-year contract with ArcelorMittal USA that negotiators agreed to last month.

The contract covers nearly 14,000 workers at ArcelorMittal USA’s flat carbon, long carbon and iron ore mining locations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Louisiana and South Carolina.

Compiled from Advocate staff and Associated Press reports