By Compiled from Times wires
Published June 14, 2003
PSCU LAYS OFF 102: PSCU Financial Services said the jobs of 102 workers, including 90 at its St. Petersburg headquarters, will be eliminated next Friday, a 12 percent reduction in the company's work force. PSCU provides financial services such as transaction processing to credit unions. The company said improvements in technology made the reductions possible.
TRADE DEFICIT DIPS: The U.S. trade deficit declined slightly to $42.03-billion in April, after setting an all-time high of $42.87-billion in March, as the biggest decline in crude oil prices in 13 years helped to cut America's foreign oil bill, the Commerce Department reported Friday. America's trade deficit through the first four months of this year is running at an annual rate of $491-billion, far above last year's record of $418-billion.
MAXXIM SEEKS TIME: Maxxim Medical Group of Clearwater has asked for more time to file a sole reorganization plan in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The company, which makes medical products, struggled under the debt load incurred to take the company private in 1999, and sought protection from creditors in February. Maxxim wants until Aug. 11 to file a plan and until Oct. 13 to gain creditor approval. The extension would prevent other parties from filing competing plans.
TECO COMPLETES ISSUE: TECO Energy Inc. completed a $300-million bond issue Friday. Spokeswoman Laura Plumb said all of the 7-year bonds the Tampa company offered were purchased. Several credit-rating agencies had rated the debt below investment grade, or "junk."
HONEYWELL GETS CONTRACTS: Aerospace parts maker Honeywell International has signed new contracts worth $1.3-billion to provide commercial jet parts and services. The agreements, with at least six major buyers, are for cockpit systems, engine parts, satellite communications gear, wheels, brakes and maintenance services. None of the products will come from the company's Clearwater facilities, a spokeswoman said.
FLEMING PLANS CLOSINGS: Bankrupt Fleming Cos. said Friday it may sell its wholesale grocery business, traditionally the core of its operations, and will shut down units in Geneva, Ala., Lafayette, La., and Superior, Wis. Interim chief executive Pete Willmott said the company is accepting offers for its Core-Mark subsidiary, which has continued to generate cash flow since Fleming's April 1 bankruptcy filing. Fleming paid $430-million last year for Core-Mark and a distributor in Georgia.
VERIZON DUMPS STAKE: Verizon Communications Inc. said it will unload its stake in Grupo Iusacell SA, a Mexican wireless company, to a group controlled by Ricardo Salinas Pliego for a nominal sum. Movil Access, a paging company owned by Salinas Pliego, offered to pay $10-million for Iusacell and assume debt of $815-million. Verizon invested more than $1-billion in Iusacell over a decade. It will get $3.5-million in cash for its 34.9 percent stake.
TENET CUTS 300 JOBS: Tenet Healthcare Corp. said it will reduce its billing and collection staff of 3,200 by 300 over the next three years as it streamlines operations. Tenet said it will consolidate 56 offices that handle billing and collection for its hospitals into eight regional offices, plus one to handle Medicare. It also will spend $275-million over the next three years to standardize financial technology and train employees to use it.
HALLIBURTON CONTRACT GROWS: Halliburton's contract to restart Iraq's oil production has doubled in cost over the past month, and the no-bid work may last longer than expected, the Army says. The expanded role awarded to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company cost taxpayers $184.7-million as of last week, up from $76.7-million a month ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed this week.
PEOPLESOFT SUES ORACLE: PeopleSoft Inc., trying to fend off a $5.1-billion hostile takeover bid by Oracle Corp., said it filed a lawsuit alleging Oracle is interfering with PeopleSoft's contracts with customers and engaging in unfair trade practices. PeopleSoft said Oracle is hurting business and has disparaged PeopleSoft's products. The lawsuit escalates PeopleSoft's war with Oracle, which made its offer a week ago. Yesterday, J.D. Edwards & Co., which agreed on June 2 to be bought by PeopleSoft in a stock deal valued at $1.76-billion, filed similar suits against Oracle.
XO PLANS OFFER: XO Communications Inc. said it plans to launch a tender offer for Global Crossing Ltd.'s $2.25-billion of bank debt, while repeating its offer to buy the bankrupt company for $700-million. XO, along with chairman Carl Icahn, said it will offer $210 per $1,000 of Global Crossing's debt, a total of about $472.5-million. The offer is valid only if Global Crossing cancels its agreement to be bought by Singapore Technologies Telemedia Ltd., which values Global Crossing at about $600-million.
GM DEBT RATING FALLS: Shares of General Motors Corp. slid Friday after Moody's Investors Service said it had lowered the long-term debt rating on GM to Baa1 from A3 and on General Motors Acceptance Corp. to A3 from A2. On the New York Stock Exchange, GM shares fell 92 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at $36.20. Moody's expects "that the intensifying competitive environment in North America, in combination with large pension . . .obligations, will result in the company's automotive earnings, cash generation and debt protection measures remaining weak through 2003," Moody's said in a statement.
EBAY FRAUD NETS 3 YEARS: A man accused of defrauding hundreds of thousands of dollars from eBay customers who thought they were buying computers was sentenced Friday to three years in a state facility and ordered to pay back the money. Chris Chong Kim, 28, who pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft in May, must repay nearly $600,000 to his victims, including 80 individual customers, eBay, PayPal and Bank of America.
CARTY SEVERENCE AXED: Donald J. Carty, who resigned under pressure as chief executive of American Airlines, will not receive a severance package but will get an annual pension of $79,000 and more than $8-million in benefits earned during 25 years with the carrier, the company said Friday. The board of parent AMR Corp. decided Carty will only receive pension, stock options and other benefits he earned - and "nothing special after that," said American spokesman Al Becker.
WORLDCOM CONTRACTS REVIEWED: The government is considering suspending its business with WorldCom Inc., whose $11-billion accounting scandal last year led to the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Worldcom's government contracts are valued at more than $1-billion each year. The inspector general of the General Services Administration, the government's contracting agency, has referred a review of WorldCom's federal business to an official in charge of suspensions, GSA spokeswoman Mary Alice Johnson said Friday.
SOUTHTRUST OUTLOOK UPBEAT: SouthTrust Corp., the fifth-biggest southeastern U.S. bank, should post solid earnings "for the rest of the year," helped by economic growth in the region, chief executive Wallace Malone told Bloomberg News Service. "I'm looking for a good second quarter. In fact, I'm looking for a pretty good year out of SouthTrust," Malone said.
