Daily Report

While much of the country remains in the tank as far as the construction industry goes, Louisiana has become a destination for out-of-state contractors who are desperate for work. The number of licensed contractors in Louisiana hit a five-year high in 2011—21,741—according to a new annual report from the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors. In 2010, there were 21,182 total licensed contractors in Louisiana—about 2.6% fewer than at the end of last year. While the industry in Louisiana was not hit as hard as it was in most other states during the recession and there remains a relatively high amount of work here, says LSLBC Executive Director Michael McDuff, migrating out-of-state contractors are definitely responsible for part of the increase. "Louisiana is really one the hot spots right now," McDuff says. "I think of it as parallel to the 1980s, when we were in a big, big economic downturn here and we lost a lot of good contractors to Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and elsewhere. Today, they're coming here." Roughly 25% of all licensed contractors are domiciled outside Louisiana, McDuff says. According to the LSLBC 2011 annual report, the number of commercial licensed contractors rose 3% to 15,455 last year, while the residential market saw a 2% decline in contractors and the home improvement sector increased about 1.5%. "I'm very optimistic," McDuff says of 2012. "We expected the residential numbers to decrease some, but we're very excited to see the commercial numbers up. That's very encouraging. You know, there's really a lot more development going on than people think." —Steve Sanoski

Sparkhound Inc. is taking over a portion of I.T. by Design's business pertaining to custom software development, network infrastructure and learning solutions, Sparkhound President and CEO Shawn Usher says. The move will free up I.T. by Design to focus solely on its core business of mobile and Web application development, Usher says. "We're bringing some of their employees to our staff, and we're going to provide them some of our office space," he says. "Rather than trying to be all things to all people, it allows them to focus on their greatest strengths; and it helps us because we're able to take on some more business in an area we're already strong in." Both firms are headquartered in Baton Rouge, and Sparkhound also has offices in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. Sparkhound has been around since 1998, and I.T. by Design was established in 2003. —Steve Sanoski

Lamar Advertising Co. turned a fourth-quarter profit that easily exceeded analysts' forecasts as an improving economy increased demand for the Baton Rouge-based company's billboards, logo signs and transit advertising. For the three months ending Dec. 31, Lamar earned $6.3 million, or 7 cents per share, on revenue of $288.2 million. That's pretty much a reversal of the fourth quarter of 2010, when the company lost $7.2 million, or 8 cents per share, on revenue of $275.5 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Lamar would post a 1-cent-per-share loss and revenue of $284.1 million for the latest quarter. Lamar says it expected first-quarter revenue of about $264 million, a 3% increase over the first quarter of 2011. For 2011, Lamar earned $8.2 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with a 2010 loss of $40.5 million, or 44 cents per share. Revenue rose to $1.13 billion in 2011, from $1.09 billion the year prior. In morning trading, Lamar shares rose $1.47, or 4.6%, to $32.96. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $16.49 to $40.

With 63% of customers giving the chicken finger chain an "excellent" rating, Raising Cane's is tied with two other quick-service restaurant companies as the No. 2 chain in the country when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to the annual Sandelman & Associates Quick-Track study. The other chains with a 63% "excellent" rating are Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out Burger. Salt Lake City-based Café Rio Mexican Grill got the top rating from customers. It's the fifth straight year Baton Rouge-based Raising Cane's has placed among the top chains in the Quick-Track study, which looks at approximately 150 companies in 85 U.S. markets. Raising Cane's was the highest-rated restaurant chain for temperature of food, accuracy in filling orders, and cleanliness of restaurants. "At Raising Cane's, this is one of the highest honors we can receive," says Todd Graves, founder and CEO of Raising Cane's, in a statement. "Serving our customers high-quality meals at a fast pace from immaculately clean restaurants is what we do every day. Having our customers recognize it is the ultimate reward." Sandelman & Associates is a San Clemente, Calif.-based market research firm tracking attitudes, awareness and usage in the restaurant industry. See its complete Quick-Track survey results here.

The number of small-business owners across the country who say they plan to increase their company's capital spending over the next 12 months—28%—has reached its highest level in four years, according to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index released today. In addition, 24% of those same small-business owners say they've increased capital spending over the past year. That's up from the 19% who said the same back in October, and it's also the most positive response since April 2008. Nonetheless, more small-business owners—35%—say they've reduced capital spending over the past year, though that figure is down from 43% in October. Views about the ease of obtaining credit have also become less negative, according to the survey. While 38% of respondents still feel it will be "somewhat or very difficult" to get credit, that percentage is down from 43% in the index last quarter. Twenty-seven percent feel it will be "somewhat or very easy" to get credit in the coming year. See all the index results here.

By dawn this morning, stately St. Charles Avenue—where tens of thousands spent Mardi Gras feasting, drinking and scrambling for beads—was cleared of mountains of trash left behind by revelers. New Orleans' iconic green streetcars once more clattered along the tracks, and in the French Quarter stragglers mustered what energy they could as the exodus of visitors began. Later, churches in the largely Catholic city filled with the faithful as Ash Wednesday ushered in the season of Lent. At the Louis Armstrong International Airport, officials reported a steady outflow of visitors, many draped in beads they'd snatched at the stream of parades that reached its peak on Fat Tuesday. Spokeswoman Michelle Wilcut says the trinkets were a headache for TSA security officers, but passengers were moving along nicely to waiting aircraft. Bourbon Street, meanwhile, was in rare and immaculate shape with debris removed and streets washed down. It was mostly deserted except for a long line of beer and liquor delivery trucks restocking depleted bars. In Jackson Square, tarot card readers and artists read books or dozed at their stands outside St. Louis Cathedral. Among the few people who wandered through the area were some with black ash smudges on their foreheads, signs of Lenten repentance. Colin Tyler, who takes visitors on tours of the French Quarter in his mule-drawn carriage, says the trade during the Carnival season was tremendous. "It was really great business-wise, but it's not always easy for us," Tyler says. "Ninety percent of our customers were drunk."

Zucking it up: More fireworks are going off today in the case of the New York man who's suing for half of Mark Zuckerberg's multibillion-stake in Facebook, this time by the social media giant, The Los Angeles Times reports. Last week Facebook prevailed in getting a judge to force the man, Paul Ceglia, to pay Facebook $75,766 in legal bills. Now Facebook's digital forensics experts have uncovered a relevant email account, getzuck@gmail.com. According to Facebook, Ceglia created the account to use in connection with his lawsuit. Facebook wants the federal court in Buffalo to grant subpoenas that would let the company examine the "Get Zuck" email account and the three others it says Ceglia hid from the company.

Remotely appealing: The country's largest cable TV companies are shutting down the bulk of a venture that lets viewers interact with TV ads, and says it's laying off 120 employees. Four-year-old Canoe Ventures in New York made it possible for viewers of eight cable networks—including AMC, Bravo and Discovery—to request information by mail from advertisers by pressing a button on the remote while viewing an ad. However, the technology didn't catch on with advertisers. The firm will keep 30 employees to work on advertising systems for video-on-demand services. Canoe was set up by Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc., Charter Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp. and Bright House Networks.

The shoe's on the other foot: To most global consumers, the iPad is practically synonymous with American electronics titan Apple. But one debt-ridden company in China, Proview, is alleging that it is the rightful owner of the trademark for the name of one of Apple's signature devices. The claim has resulted in government officials' yanking the tablet from store shelves in some Chinese cities, despite high demand for the product. As The Washington Post reports, the case is a strange twist on a pervasive problem: American and other global firms often accuse Chinese entities of unfairly copying their intellectual property, but now a Chinese company is pointing a finger at a U.S. corporation in a copyright dispute. And so far, a lower Chinese court has ruled in Proview's favor, though Apple has produced documents it claims prove the company legally bought the iPad trademark in 2009. Zoom into the full story on the dispute here.