By Compiled from Times wires
Published August 19, 2003
RAY-JAY EX-EXEC PLEADS: A former Raymond James & Associates branch manager in Indianapolis pled guilty to seven criminal charges, including theft, corrupt business influence and fraud, and is likely to serve 10 years in jail, Indiana prosecutors and regulators said. David Shaw, 49, was selling unregistered securities from his unlicensed firm, Capital Investments Inc., said Cam Savage, a spokesman for Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita. Raymond James, of St. Petersburg, was one of the victims of the fraud, according to Roger Rayl, a spokesman for the Marion County prosecutor. Shaw swindled Raymond James out of $685,000, in addition to cheating a charity, a church group and his own father, Rayl said.
1ST FLORIDIAN OFFERS DISCOUNT: First Floridian Insurance began offering a homeowners insurance discount of up to 10 percent Monday for new homes in the state built under new standards. The standards were created by the Institute for Business & Home Safety, a disaster safety organization based in Tampa. The homes must be built with noncombustible roof materials and impact-resistant glass and use landscaping that reduces vulnerability to wildfires and flooding, among other features. First Floridian, a subsidiary of Travelers Property Casualty, sponsored the construction of Pasco County's first "fortified" home two years ago.
IBM LAYS OFF 600: Weakness in the worldwide computer chip industry cost 600 IBM workers their jobs Monday, and 3,000 others will have to forego a week's wages in September. The world's largest provider of computer hardware laid off 500 workers at its Essex Junction, Vt., plant, about three dozen at a factory in Endicott, N.Y., and others in Rochester, Minn.; Austin, Texas; and Raleigh, N.C. IBM spokesman Jeffrey Couture said, "Essentially we're doing this because we have not seen a turnaround in our industry."
PALM CHANGES ITS NAME: Palm Inc. will change its name to bolster its brand after the company completes a spin off of a software unit and purchases Handspring Inc. The new name will be "palmOne Inc." to convey to people that the company is a pioneer and focused on customers, Palm said in a statement. Palm has agreed to buy smaller competitor Handspring to gain a line of mobile phones that double as hand-held organizers. It is spinning off a software unit called PalmSource to attract more computer makers to its operating system as Microsoft Corp. tries to do the same with its software.
SYMANTEC PAYS $62.5-MILLION: Symantec Corp., the world's largest maker of software that protects against computer viruses, will buy security-software patents from Hilgraeve Inc. as part of a settlement reached last week in a 1997 lawsuit. The cost will be $62.5-million, Symantec said. That will lower net income for the quarter ended July 4 to $59-million, or 36 cents a share, from $68.2-million, or 41 cents a share, the company said. The patent covers searching for viruses in data in transit between two computers or from the Internet to a computer. Hilgraeve had said Symantec used the technology and failed to respond to offers to license it in 1996.
T-BILL RATES UP A TICK: The Treasury Department auctioned $16-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.945 percent. An additional $16-billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 1.035 percent. The three-month rate was up from 0.940 percent last week and the six-month rate was up from 1.030 percent last week.
ODYSSEY STOCK RISES: Odyssey Marine Exploration's stock soared Monday, a day after the Tampa company said it might have found a Civil War-era steamship wreck believed to have roughly $150-million in gold coins on board. Nearly 2-million shares of Odyssey stock changed hands, driving the price up 44 percent, or $1.30, to close at $4.25.
FORD PUTS OFF GEORGIA: Reports that Ford Motor Co. will start building its Futura line in Mexico and Canada have people worried about plans for a new assembly plant in Georgia. Ford told workers in its Hapeville, Ga., plant it would delay a new 2,500-employee assembly plant in Georgia that would have built the Futura, a midsize sedan scheduled for initial production in 2005, said Mitchell Smith, shop chairman of United Auto Workers Local 882 in Atlanta. "They will continue to study it, but they will not build one at this time," he said. "You never know what world Ford is going to wake up in tomorrow."
Earnings
Lowe's Cos. Inc.: The nation's second-largest home improvement chain reported a nearly 28 percent gain in its second-quarter earnings Monday as homeowners caught up on spring projects delayed by cold and wet weather. The shares gained more than 6 percent to close at $51.96 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Toys "R" Us Inc.: The giant toy retailer said Monday it cut its second-quarter loss by a third as higher sales for its Internet, international and baby products divisions helped offset rising overhead expenses and slumping sales at its U.S. toy and children's apparel stores. Its stock jumped 7 percent on the news, closing at $12.71 on the New York Stock Exchange.
