Business Today

BANK PULLING OUT OF WINN-DIXIE: Winn-Dixie is being paid a $60-million termination fee by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which is closing the Marketplace Bank branches it has operated inside 184 supermarkets in Florida. Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. had been getting $13.1-million a year in rent for the mini-banks. The Jacksonville chain has similar branch bank deals with other financial services companies but has not decided whether to seek replacements for Marketplace Banks.

BUYER INTERESTED IN IMSG: Insurance Management Solutions Group is considering an alternative to selling itself back to its private parent company, Bankers Insurance Group of St. Petersburg. The insurance outsourcing company, which has struggled as a public company, said it was contacted in late October by an interested buyer it did not name. The ongoing talks were disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing also detailed IMSG's financial woes. The company lost $796,000, or 6 cents a share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with net income of $1.78-million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Sales dropped 64 percent, from $19.9-million to $7.1-million. Executives with IMSG could not be reached for comment.

EX-ADELPHIA EXEC PLEADS GUILTY: Former Adelphia executive James Brown pleaded guilty to securities fraud, naming his Rigas family co-defendants as members of a conspiracy to plunder the now-bankrupt cable company. Brown, Adelphia's former vice president of finance, promised to testify against the family members. Any testimony and continuing cooperation could bring leniency for Brown, who had faced up to 30 years in prison for the most serious charge, bank fraud. Officials think the executives looted Adelphia of hundreds of millions of dollars. The scandal cost investors more than $60-billion.

HE'S IN, THEN OUT FOR SEC: Michael Chertoff, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division who has helped spearhead the corporate-fraud crackdown, emerged as a leading candidate Thursday to become chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. But then he joined administration officials in dousing the idea. Officials said Chertoff would not be moving to the SEC and no decision on Pitt's replacement would be imminent. What happened to take Chertoff out of the running wasn't clear.

SKYTEAM ALLIANCE TO EXPAND: Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines plan to join the Air France and Delta Air Lines-led SkyTeam alliance to help create the world's biggest airline grouping. SkyTeam carriers have also asked KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to join. Admission of the carriers will depend on regulators' approval. Airlines are seeking alliance partners to share revenue and costs and extend route networks amid wavering demand for air travel. The other main airline groupings are the Star Alliance, dominated by Lufthansa and United Airlines, and Oneworld, led by British Airways and American Airlines.

SPRINT PLANS LAYOFFS: Sprint Corp.'s wireless division will lay off about 1,600 workers, or 6 percent of the division's work force, by year-end and release about 500 contractors as the company reorganizes by shedding management and cutting costs. About 660 of the job cuts will be in the Kansas City area, and the rest will be spread across the country. Sprint PCS said most of the affected employees work in marketing, information technology, network operations and finance.

UNITED WANTS OVERHAUL PLAN BY DEC. 2: United Airlines chief executive Glenn Tilton said the airline must pull together its plan to overhaul the company by Dec. 2, including a federal loan guarantee package, to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection. The deadline is linked to the date United must make a $375-million debt payment on loans backed by aircraft. UAL, which is losing more than $7-million a day, is trying to overcome its financial woes by slashing labor and other costs and seeking the government's backing for 90 percent of a needed $2-billion private bank loan.

MORTGAGE RATES HIT NEW LOW: Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped to a new low this week. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 5.94 percent, down from 6.11 percent last week, Freddie Mac reported in its nationwide survey. This week's rate was the lowest since the mortgage giant began tracking 30-year mortgage rates in 1971. It was the seventh time this year that rates set a record low.

BLAME SHARED IN PORT SLOWDOWN: A federal prosecutor said dockworkers and shipping companies shared the blame for a productivity drop at West Coast ports during a contract dispute and that workers should not be punished. The government's decision not to single out the dockworkers' union was a blow to the association of shipping companies, which asked the Justice Department to intervene based on allegations that longshoremen deliberately slowed work to retaliate after a 10-day lockout this fall. Union officials say they feel vindicated. A federal judge has broad discretion to sanction either side if he determines they are violating his order to resume work at a normal pace.

Earnings

Target Corp.: Earnings for the quarter ended Nov. 2 jumped 50 percent as the No. 2 U.S. discount retailer boosted full-price sales and increased revenue from its credit-card operations.

Dell Computer Corp.: Sales and profits surged in the quarter ended Nov. 1 despite the sluggish market for personal computers and other equipment.

Kreisler Manufacturing Corp.: The St. Petersburg manufacturer of aircraft components blamed the downturn in air traffic since Sept. 11 for a 31 percent drop in revenues for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

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