Regional Digest

LELAND

Andy's opens

new area location

Andy's Cheesesteaks and Cheeseburgers has expanded in the Wilmington area, opening its second Leland restaurant at 1114-20 New Pointe Blvd. in the Wal-Mart shopping center, the chain announced.

"We have recently opened many new locations across eastern North Carolina," Andy's president and founder, Kenney Moore, said in a statement. "These openings are setting the pace for what Andy's will be in the future as we expand into central and western North Carolina."

Andy's, which describes itself as "one of the Southeast's fastest growing 'fast casual' restaurants," operates more than 100 locations in the state, most of them in eastern North Carolina and including three locations in Wilmington. The restaurant serves made-to-order cheesesteaks and burgers in a '50s atmosphere. The first Andy's opened in Goldsboro in 1991. The company's headquarters are in Mount Olive.

NORTH CAROLINA

First South net income up a bit

First South Bancorp Inc. reported Tuesday that unaudited net income for the quarter ended June 30 rose to $4.311 million from $4.286 million in the year-earlier period. Diluted earnings per share were unchanged at 43 cents.

The share and per-share data in the 2006 period have been adjusted to reflect a three-for-two stock split, paid in the form of a 50 percent stock dividend on May 25, 2006.

Total deposits and borrowings slipped to $806.1 million as of June 30. Total assets were essentially unchanged at $910.6 million.

Last month, the parent of First South Bank, based in Washington, N.C., opened a new loan production office in Wilmington.

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH

Opportunity Conference leaders announced

UNCW professor Stephen C. Harper and David Jones of Southern Capitol Ventures have been named co-chairmen of the fifth annual Opportunity Conference scheduled for Sept. 10 and 11 in Wrightsville Beach, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development announced.

Harper is the Progress Energy/Betty Cameron Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Jones is a principal at the Raleigh-based venture capital firm.

Opportunity 2007, to be held at the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort, will offer expert speakers and hands-on workshops focusing on starting and expanding a business, according to CED.

The private, nonprofit organization formed in 1984 to identify, enable and promote high-growth, high-impact entrepreneurial companies. With headquarters in the Research Triangle, it has a divisional office in Wilmington.

WILMINGTON

King to continue Ford marketing

Capital Ford and Capital Group have re-signed The King Partnership as agency of record for marketing and sales of their automotive products, the dealership announced Tuesday.

King's Automotive Division will handle all marketing and advertising for Capital Group locations in Wilmington, Raleigh and Cary.

- From staff reports