Business Notebook

SUMTER Continental Tire is planning to double the capacity of its Sumter plant to eight million tires annually over the next six years and will hire 200 people by the end of the year.

The Sumter Item reported Wednesday that plant manager Craig Baartman told the Sumter Rotary Club that hiring has been moving ahead at what he called a fast and furious pace.

The plant employs 625 people now and produced more than 700,000 tires in 2014.

The manager says the German firm has worldwide sales in excess of $37 billion. It has nearly 200,000 workers around the world.

He says the company also makes automotive interior and power train parts as well as industrial hoses and belts.

Florida water bottler buying Calhoun company

CALHOUN COUNTY Silver Springs Bottled Water Co. is acquiring and expanding Hickory Springs Bottling, Inc.’s current operation through a $16.3 million investment that is expected to generate 37 new jobs over the next five years.

Silver Springs was purchased in 1991 by the Richmond family and was headquartered in Marion County, Fla. It has become that state’s largest privately-held bottled water firm. In an effort to continue to expand its footprint beyond the Sunshine State, Silver Springs is buying the existing Hickory Springs operations in Calhoun County.

More than 300 to lose jobs in Florence

FLORENCE A company that makes cabs for truck and other vehicles is closing down its plant in Florence, leaving 310 people without jobs.

Worthington Industries, based in Columbus, Ohio, announced on Tuesday that it is closing the plant this September. Less than two years ago, the company announced it was creating 55 new jobs and investing $13 million in the Florence plant that it had just acquired.

Worthington said it was closing the Florence plant because of weak demand for the cabs and will consolidate the work at its Greeneville, Tenn., facility.

The company also said it was eliminating 245 jobs at oil and gas equipment plants in Kansas, Oklahoma and Ohio.

IN BRIEF

▪  The city of Charleston is opposed to drilling for oil and gas off the Atlantic City council voted 7-5 on Tuesday to oppose both drilling and seismic testing to survey for oil, according to media reports. Charleston is now the 20th community in the Carolinas - and the largest in South Carolina - opposing drilling.

▪  Montana revenue officials say one-time billionaire and Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth owes almost $74 million in back taxes, penalties and interest, primarily on a $375 million loan to the luxury resort near Big Sky that he diverted for personal use.

▪  More than 9,000 Maine residents have been removed from the state’s food stamp program since Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration began enforcing work and volunteer requirements late last year, officials said. The number of people that have been dropped from the program has exceeded even the administration’s expectations.

From Staff and Wire Reports.

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 12:43 AM with the headline "Business Notebook."