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H-P Beats Estimates, Sees Steady Gains
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Hewlett-Packard Co. posted solid third-quarter results with its best operating margin on personal computers in years and ambitions to continue cutting costs, Chief Executive Mark Hurd said Wednesday. Speaking on a conference call with reporters, Hurd said H-P cut 1,900 jobs during the third-quarter ended July 31 and would cut several thousand more in the fourth quarter. During a question and answer period, he later acknowledged the fourth-quarter cuts could be close to 5,000 positions.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060816-000786-1724
 
Sears hints of acquisitions
CHICAGO - Sears Holdings Corp. on Thursday said it may spend some of its $3.7 billion in cash for acquisitions as it posted a better-than-expected 83 percent jump in quarterly profit. The owner of Sears and Kmart stores, headed by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, has been cutting costs and eliminating clearance sales to boost profit. The result has been strong cash flow but weak sales.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060817/bs_nm/retail_sears_earns_dc_3
 
Boeing discontinues broadband service
NEW YORK - Boeing Co. on Thursday said it will discontinue its loss-making, high-speed broadband communications service, Connexion by Boeing, resulting in charges of up to $320 million in the second half. Boeing said it will take a pretax charge of about $290 million in the third quarter and the balance in the fourth quarter. The company said the total charges, which relate to writing down assets and payments of termination fees, amount to about 26 cents a share. Last month, Boeing said the Connexion unit, which supplies high-speed Internet equipment for airlines, might take a charge of up to $350 million this year. In June, it said it was considering the sale of the unit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060817/bs_nm/transport_boeing_connexion_dc_2
 
Qantas to cut 1,000 jobs after profit tumbles
SYDNEY, Australia - Qantas Airways Ltd. said Thursday annual profit fell 30 percent on higher fuel and redundancy costs and said it planned to slash more jobs, including more than 1,000 management and support staff. Australia's biggest airline, which also owns the discount carrier Jetstar, said high fuel prices would continue to have a severe impact and it expected flat earnings this year. Shares in Qantas, which has ordered 65 Boeing 787 jets to help Jetstar expand in Asia and eventually Europe, were up 4.2 percent at A$3.26 ($2.49) by in early morning trade in a broader market up 1.7 percent, with the result a shade above the median of analysts' forecasts. The stock is down 19 percent so far this calendar year.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/17/news/international/bc.airlines.australia.qantas.reut/index.htm
 
Bush to sign massive pension overhaul
WASHINGTON - Sweeping new rules aimed at prodding companies into shoring up their pension plans and ensuring that workers get the retirement benefits they've been promised are about to become law. President Bush planned to sign the bill Thursday and has already praised it as "the most comprehensive reforms to America's pension system in over 30 years." The massive legislation reflects the evolution of workers' retirement benefits — the decline in traditional pensions that give retired employees a fixed payment each month and the rise of defined-contribution savings plans that rely on workers to build retirement assets. It could also save taxpayers from funding a multibillion-dollar bailout of the federal agency that insures pension plans.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060817/ap_on_go_pr_wh/pensions_overhaul
 
Barnes & Noble profit rises
The company, whose stock option practices are being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, said it expects a loss of 4 cents to 8 cents per share in the third quarter, including 4 cents per share in option expenses. Barnes and Noble shares fell 27 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $35.08 in premarket trading on the Inet electronic brokerage. The company posted a profit increase in the second quarter despite lower sales compared with a year before, when the latest book in the Harry Potter series generated extraordinary sales.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060817/bs_nm/retail_barnesnoble_earns_dc
 
Japan proposes 16-nation Asian trade bloc
KUALA LUMPUR - Japanese officials have proposed a sprawling 16-nation free-trade grouping with China, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc. The 16 last year formed the East Asia Summit -- seen as a precursor of a giant free-trade community embracing half the world's population. "Minister (Toshihiro) Nikai will certainly speak out about that at the lunch of the 16 ministers next week," Ramon Vicente Kabigting, a director at the Philippines' department of trade and industry told reporters Thursday. Kabigting said that economic officials from each of the countries meeting here this week would have to brief their ministers who are holding their annual dialogue in the Malaysian capital next week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060817/bs_afp/aseanjapanchinaskoreaaustraliaindianzealand
 
Tween Brands revisits first strategy
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Stung by slumping profits and what it called fashion missteps just a few years ago, the girls' retailer formerly known as Too Inc. has rejuvenated its bottom line by putting its focus back where it began.
Tween Brands, which changed its name last month, attributes the turnaround to re-emphasizing its core customer — girls 7 to 14, often called "tweens" — especially through its 2-year-old discount chain, Justice. The brand's success has been a key factor in driving the company's sales growth and stock price, which set records in spring. Tween Brands reported Wednesday that it earned $6 million, or 18 cents a share, in the quarter ended July 29, up from $4 million, or 12 cents, in the year-ago period. The company abandoned an earlier line of stores that catered to teenagers in favor of launching Justice, a chain that targets the same age group as its flagship Limited Too stores but with lower prices to better compete with retailers such as Target and Old Navy. Tween Brands has announced plans to open hundreds of new Justice stores over the next five years.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2006-08-17-tween_x.htm
 
Disposable respirator demand on rise
The threat of a flu pandemic has boosted demand for disposable respirators, and companies or governments stockpiling them face longer waits. "All manufacturers have gone from shipping instantly to taking a week, a month, 90 days or longer," says Kurt Braun, general manager of distributor Edwards Medical Supply of Illinois. The respirators, also called N95 masks, are harder to get for corporate stockpiles than Tamiflu, the No. 1 antiviral, he adds. N95s cost 50 cents to $1 each and are used in industries from health care to construction. Unlike surgical masks, they fit snugly around the wearer's mouth and nose. When properly fitted, they prevent inhalation of 95% of microscopic particles down to a certain size. N95s haven't been tested against flu viruses, but the hope is they'll protect wearers from viruses traveling via cough or sneeze. The Health Ministry of Quebec wants to stockpile 2.5 million masks. One maker, Inovel of California, has said full delivery will take about eight months. Before stockpiling started, delivery would have taken weeks, says Jim Hornstein, Inovel president.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2006-08-17-n95-masks-usat_x.htm
 
She stood by her man — until now
Karen Mayo Kozlowski, the wife of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and the woman whose $2 million birthday party in Sardinia came to represent an era of executive excess, wants a divorce. Her husband is serving a sentence of 8 1/2 to 25 years in prison after being convicted last year of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from Tyco.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2006-08-16-kozlowski-divorce_x.htm
 
Immigrant hotel workers in New Orleans sue Decatur, Astor Crowne Plaza
NEW ORLEANS — Immigrant workers recruited from South America and the Dominican Republic after Hurricane Katrina sued a prominent hotelier Wednesday, saying they are being exploited. More than 80 workers from Peru, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic have joined the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against Decatur Hotels and CEO F. Patrick Quinn III. The workers are employed in housekeeping, maintenance and other hotel support jobs in New Orleans. Mary Bauer, a Southern Poverty Law Center attorney who helped file the lawsuit, said workers were lured by recruiters in their home countries with promises of high wages and steady work. The lawsuit against Decatur, which operates luxury hotels including the Astor Crowne Plaza, says the company abused the H-2B visa program to bring in foreign workers. Such visas can be obtained by employers who certify that no one in the USA can do the work. LeBlanc said Decatur used the visa program for the first time after Hurricane Katrina because of difficulty finding hourly workers. The visas, which typically are good for less than a year, tie workers to the employer, so a worker may not take employment elsewhere even if working conditions are not as expected, a provision Bauer says effectively indentures immigrant workers.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2006-08-17-katrina-immigrants_x.htm
 
Merck held negligent in federal Vioxx case
NEW ORLEANS - A federal jury in New Orleans on Thursday found that Merck & Co. Inc. was negligent and knowingly made misrepresentations about its withdrawn pain medicine Vioxx. It said adequate compensation would be $50 million to plaintiff Gerald Barnett, a retired FBI agent who suffered a heart attack in 2002 after taking Vioxx for 31 months for pain caused by a car accident. The jury, which said that doctors in the case and the 62-year-old plaintiff himself were not at fault, said that Merck had knowingly misrepresented or failed to disclose a material fact to Barnett's physicians. The jury has not yet decided on punitive damages in the case.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060817/bs_nm/vioxx_dc_6
 
Delphi to see exodus of union workers
CHICAGO - Bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi Corp. said on Friday that 6,300 IUE-CWA union U.S. hourly workers at Delphi took retirement or buyout options under a deal reached in June, or 83 percent of those eligible. The International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America represents about one-quarter of Delphi's U.S. blue collar work force, the second largest representation behind the United Auto Workers. Delphi did not disclose how many workers took retirement or early retirement offers and how many accepted buyouts.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060818/bs_nm/autos_delphi_dc_2
 
Ford to cut production
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. on Friday said it would cut fourth-quarter production by 21 percent and also reduce third-quarter production to accelerate its turnaround plan. The automaker said it would cut North American production in the fourth quarter by 168,000 units and reduce third-quarter production by 20,000 vehicles.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060818/bs_nm/autos_ford_dc_2
 
Microsoft buys back $3.8 billion in shares
NEW YORK - Microsoft Corp. on Friday said it will have purchased nearly $3.8 billion worth of its shares in a tender offer this week as part of a larger share repurchase program. Microsoft said it expected to acquire about 155 million shares at $24.75 per share, or 1.5 percent of its outstanding stock, according to preliminary results from a tender offer that expired on Thursday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060818/bs_nm/microsoft_auction_dc_1
 
Profit Falls by Half at Dell
Three days after its announcement of a vast safety recall, Dell reported little but bad news yesterday: profits down by half, and an informal Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting. Michael S. Dell, the company’s founder and chairman, said, “We are not satisfied with our performance, and we will do better.” While the company has told analysts for more than a year that it will do better, it has not been able to follow through. In a changing market, Dell has been unable to gain traction against competitors as it has in the past, when it has cut prices to gain market share.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/b...rss&adxnnlx=1155909842-vgFPxEmem1d6zti93Yoovg
 
Gap Profit Tumbles, Forecast Fades
CHICAGO - Apparel giant Gap Inc. said second-quarter earnings tumbled 53%, blaming aggressive markdowns that slammed margins, and pared its full-year forecast. Shares were down 7.1% at $16.07 in Friday premarket trading on Inet. On a late-afternoon conference call on Thursday, executives repeated their disappointment with consumers' first takes on new apparel lines and accessories at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic outlets, but insisted it was just the beginning of a long-term strategy.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060818-000552-0838
 
Ann Taylor Profit Soars as Sales Jump
NEW YORK - AnnTaylor Stores Corp. on Friday said second-quarter profit rose more than sixfold, helped by more full-priced selling and tighter inventories at its Ann Taylor and Loft stores, and raised its forecast for the year. Shares were up 6.6% at $43.30 in premarket trading on Inet. The New York-based retailer said net income rose to $43.2 million, or 59 cents a share, from $7.1 million, or 10 cents a share.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060818-000553-0838
 
Chip Maker Marvell Sees Slowdown Ahead
SAN FRANCISCO - Marvell Technology Group Ltd. late Thursday said its sales rose 47% from a year ago, but it offered a soft financial forecast during a slowdown for its PC-storage and wireless Internet router chips. Shares sank more than 8% in late trading. Marvell Tech said its second-quarter sales climbed to $574 million from $390.5 million in last year's same period. The results fell short of Wall Street's expectations, which called for sales of $583 million.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060817-000993-2313
 
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