Business briefing: Southwestern Illinois Business Expo today in Collinsville

The first Southwestern Illinois Business Expo will open today in Collinsville and feature seminars and opportunities for metro-east businesses to network with others.

The idea came from a similar event that is held twice a year across the river in St. Charles, Mo., where the monthly business magazine St. Louis Small Business Monthly launched the St. Louis Business Expo a decade ago. The magazine has partnered with the Midwest Business Institute in Edwardsville to create a metro-east-based business expo.

The Southwestern Illinois Business Expo will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and feature 12 seminars, including presentations covering successful branding, creating an online presence and how to grow a business and profits. A number of businesses will be in attendance to share information and literature about their services and products.

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Macy’s is blaming its 26 percent drop in second-quarter profits on weak tourist spending and delays at the West Coast port. The retailer has cut its annual sales forecast as shares have fallen by 5 percent. Read more here.

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The maker of Dr. Pepper and Snapple has invested $20 million in BodyArmor. The move will give Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. 11 percent stake in BA Sports Nutrition LLC, the company that introduced BodyArmor three years ago. Learn more here.

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Kraft Heinz is laying off 2,500 employees in the United States and Canada to help cut costs following the recent merger between Kraft Foods and Heinz. About 700 of the layoffs are coming in Northfield, Ill., where Kraft had been headquartered. The Kraft Heinz Co. had a total of about 46,600 employees before the cuts. Find out more here.

-Will Buss, BND business writer

This story was originally published August 12, 2015 at 9:14 AM with the headline "Business briefing: Southwestern Illinois Business Expo today in Collinsville."