And former US Fed Chair Ben Bernanke was raised in Dillon, South Carolina and will be delivering a key economic presentation at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana on March 23, 2015. It is open to the public and free of charge.
Thus, as a backdrop for both this upcoming Presidential visit and the start of a much deserved tribute to Bernanke's key role in helping the US avoid a Deep, Prolonged Financial Depression, I think it would be helpful to update just what has been going on with South Carolina businesses and the overall economy there.
From a very thorough review of SEC filings and Google's excellent financial website, I found 18 Companies headquartered in South Carolina with Stock Market Capitalizations now or when they were recently sold of at least $100 mil.
Of these 18 Companies, 13 of them have now filed financial statements with the SEC which included earnings disclosures for all fiscal years from 2007 through the current year 2014.
So just how have these 13 largest South Carolina Companies done on the earnings front since the 2008 financial meltdown? Just incredibly well.
The Total Audited Net Income from Continuing Operations of these 13 largest South Carolina Companies was $607 mil in their Most Recent fiscal Years Ending in 2014, an increase of a very impressive 551% generated by these same 13 Companies in 2009.
Further, these 2014 Earnings of $607 mil were a spectacular 67% increase over that of just one year ago in 2013.
There has been something really positive happening with South Carolina Companies Earnings since 2009 and among others, President Obama, Ben Bernanke, James Clyburn and Lindsay Graham have all undoubtedly helped here.
Below here are the Earnings for 2014, 2013 and 2009 for each of these 13 South Carolina Companies:
| 2014 | 2013 | 2009 | |||
| Audited | Audited | Audited | |||
| Net | Net | Net | |||
| City | 2014 | Income | Income | Income | |
| South Carolina Company | HQs | FYE | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) |
| mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | |||
| Sonoco Products | Hartsville | Dec | 240 | 220 | 155 |
| AVX Corp | Fountain Inn | Mar | 127 | (64) | 81 |
| World Acceptance | Greenville | Mar | 107 | 104 | 56 |
| ScanSource | Greenville | Jun | 82 | 35 | 48 |
| South State Corp | Columbia | Dec | 75 | 49 | 14 |
| Denny's | Spartanburg | Dec | 33 | 25 | 42 |
| Blackbaud | Charleston | Dec | 28 | 30 | 28 |
| Synalloy | Spartanburg | Dec | 13 | 2 | 0 |
| 3D Systems Corp | Rock Hill | Dec | 12 | 44 | 1 |
| Palmetto Bancshares | Greenville | Dec | 9 | 28 | (40) |
| Southern First Bancshares | Greenville | Dec | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Oconee Federal Financial | Seneca | Jun | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| KEMET | Greenville | Mar | (65) | (79) | (285) |
| Total all 13 | 672 | 403 | 103 | ||
| Annual % Earnings Increase: | |||||
| …..2014 Over 2009 | 551% | ||||
| …..2014 Over 2013 | 67% |
