Business Today

ALLTEL TO SELL UNIT: Alltel Corp. is selling its financial services business to Fidelity National Financial Inc. of Irvine, Calif., for $775-million in cash and $275-million in Fidelity National common stock. Alltel, based in Little Rock, Ark., said it would keep the telecom segment of its information services division. Alltel also said its fourth-quarter earnings were up 11 percent.

PLANVISTA EXPECTS ACQUISITION: PlanVista Corp. of Tampa said it suspects an unnamed private equity firm is seeking to purchase substantially all shares of the company's convertible preferred stock held by senior lenders and half of its outstanding debt for a total of about $22-million. PlanVista said it expects the acquisition would close in February. PlanVista operates preferred provider networks and provides network access, electronic claims repricing and data management services to health care payers. PlanVista's stock, which trades on the Over-The-Counter bulletin board, closed Wednesday at $1.02 a share.

UNITED PILOTS OPPOSE PLAN: United Airlines pilots oppose a plan by the carrier's parent, UAL Corp., to break off routes, aircraft and other assets and create a separate low-fare unit with its own work force and managers. United has said that it wants to start a low-cost airline to compete with discount carriers. Such airline units typically have work forces that are paid less than employees at the main carrier.

NORTHWEST FURLOUGHS PILOTS: Northwest Airlines told its pilots union that it plans to furlough 60 additional pilots this spring, while Continental Express said it would recall four dozen pilots in April who were let go last year. The Northwest cuts bring the total number of its pilots on furlough to 693. Continental Express, a regional carrier for Houston-based Continental Airlines, will recall 48 furloughed pilots in April and will bring others back monthly through next year.

ADELPHIA MOVE: Bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp. is moving to Denver, hoping to forge a fresh start far from the rural Pennsylvania town where the cable television company was established 50 years ago. Adelphia's board members called the relocation to Colorado essential to rebuilding the company, which has been tainted by the indictment of founder John J. Rigas, his sons and company executives.

Earnings

Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. The Jacksonville supermarket chain reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings thanks to severance payments from a Canadian bank that is closing its branches inside Winn-Dixie stores. Otherwise, the company reported earnings of 42 cents a share, which was close to a 41 cents per share consensus estimate by analysts.

Verizon Communications: Strength in the wireless phone business contributed to a profit in the quarter ended Dec. 31.

Media General Inc.: Earnings more than doubled in the quarter ended Dec. 29 for the owner of television stations and newspapers, including WFLA-Ch. 8 and the Tampa Tribune.

Shells Seafood Restaurants Inc.: The struggling 28-store Tampa restaurant chain, with one fewer location than a year ago, increased sales in stores open more than a year by 3 percent in the quarter ended Dec. 29. The year-ago quarter was bolstered by an $850,000 income tax benefit.

-- Compiled from Times staff, wire and Bloomberg News reports.

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