Biz bits

Goodwill Industries plans May 13 job fair

Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA will hold a job fair May 13 at its career center, 3120 Peach Orchard Road.

Participating employers include T-Mobile, Sitel, Medical College of Georgia, Food Lion, Spherion, Sprint Food Stores, Dollar General and Augusta Technical College.

The job fair will start at 9 a.m.

Goodwill is also offering two days of free career services. They will include workshops on job-search and résumé-writing techniques on May 11 and interview tips and meeting employer expectations on May 12.

The workshops also will be held at the Goodwill career center.

Local companies were clients of seized bank

Two Augusta banking companies were clients of the failed Silverton Bank of Atlanta that was seized last weekend by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Officials of Georgia-Carolina Bancshares, which runs First Bank of Georgia, and Southeastern Financial Corp., which runs Georgia Bank contracts; pace slows

WASHINGTON --- A private measure of the U.S. services sector contracted for the seventh consecutive month in April but at a slower pace, the latest sign the economic downturn could be moderating.

The services index from the Institute for Supply Management, a Tempe, Ariz.-based trade group of purchasing executives, came in at 43.7 in April compared with 40.8 in March. Any reading below 50 indicates the service sector, where most Americans work, is contracting.

Still, Tuesday's reading was higher than economists expected.

General Motors plans reverse stock split

DETROIT --- General Motors Corp. notified shareholders Tuesday it is planning a reverse stock split that would give them one share of new stock for every 100 shares they currently own.

The automaker said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the deal would be part of an agreement with the Treasury Department in which the government would assume at least half of GM's debt in exchange for company shares.

GM will send the information to shareholders currently holding a total of 610.5 million outstanding shares.

Kraft plans to shift focus as profit rises

MILWAUKEE --- Kraft Foods Inc. said Tuesday its first-quarter profit rose 10 percent even as sales took a hit from the stronger dollar.

CEO Irene Rosenfeld said the nation's largest food and beverage maker is cutting unprofitable product lines as it tries to sell more of its higher-margin products, such as Kool-Aid and macaroni and cheese.