The CEO of Bob Evans Farms Inc. is stepping down by mutual agreement after more than eight years in the post as the restaurant operator works on improving its performance. Steve Davis is also giving up his position as a board member.
Bob Evans Farms said that it has created an interim Office of the CEO while it looks for a permanent replacement as CEO. It named Chief Financial Officer Mark Hood and Mike Townsley, president of the Bob Evans Foods division, to the office.
The office is meant to provide ongoing leadership and oversight of the day-to-day operations of the company while the CEO search is performed.
“The independent directors unanimously concluded that as the company strives to improve performance, it would benefit from new leadership and enhanced execution,” Mary Kay Haben, non-executive chair, said in a statement.
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Apache sells LNG stakes
Apache is selling its stake in two liquefied natural gas projects to Woodside Petroleum Ltd. for $2.75 billion.
The Houston-based oil and gas exploration and production company is selling its ownership in Australian subsidiary Apache Julimar Pty. Ltd. — which owns a 13 percent stake in the Wheatstone LNG project and a 65 percent interest in the area that includes the Julimar/Brunello offshore gas fields and the Balnaves oil development. The deal also includes Apache’s 50 percent stake in the Kitimat LNG project and related upstream acreage in the Horn River and Liard natural gas basins in Canada.
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Home builder sentiment slips
U.S. homebuilders are feeling slightly less confident in their sales prospects heading into next year, even as their sales outlook remains favorable.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday slipped this month to 57, down one point from 58 in November.
Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.
Builders’ view of current sales conditions and their outlook for sales over the next six months also declined slightly. A measure of traffic by prospective buyers held steady.
The index also found sentiment had improved in the West and Northeast, but took a step back in the Midwest and South, which accounts for half of the new-home market.
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Foreigners cut U.S. securities
Foreign buyers of U.S. Treasury securities trimmed their holdings by a small amount for the second straight month in October.
The Treasury Department said Monday in its monthly report that foreign holdings dropped 0.1 percent to $6.06 trillion, a decline of $7.5 billion. That followed a drop of $200 million in September, which came after holdings had climbed to a record high of $6.07 trillion in August.
China, the top foreign buyer of U.S. Treasury debt, reduced its holdings by 1.1 percent to $1.25 trillion in October after a reduction of 0.3 percent in September.