PremierWest to address investors at Chicago conference this month

PremierWest Bancorp has regularly made its pitch to investors along the West Coast.

Feb. 26, the Medford-based bank holding company, which trades on the NASDAQ, will present its case to investors at the Wunderlich Securities West Coast Community Bank Conference in Chicago.

"It's more exposure for PremierWest to the investment community and a chance for us to get our story out there," says Tom Anderson, chief financial officer. "When you talk about strategy and building the bank, all sort of questions come up."

PremierWest will be one of 17 banks, including four from Oregon, represented at the conference. The other Oregon institutions are West Coast Bancorp, Pacific Continental Corporation, West Coast Bancorp and Columbia Bancorp.

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Anderson says the management team for PremierWest Bank's parent company attends such sessions four or five times a year.

"You'll find some mutual funds, institutional investors and even some private investors such as insurance companies," he says. "Our institutional investor base is less than 10 percent; a lot of public companies have quite a bit more."

The presentation may be accessed live via www.premierwestbank.com online.

Freight load down in January at Medford's airport, officials note

The airport in Medford saw a slight decline in the amount of cargo passing through its gates in January.

The Airport Authority of Jackson County reported Tuesday that 581,193 pounds of freight was handled, down 2 percent from January 2006.