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TAMPA ELECTRIC WORKERS SAY NO: The union representing 928 of Tampa Electric Co.'s workers overwhelmingly rejected the company's final offer on a new three-year contract. Members of Local 108 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers voted 620-54 Monday to follow the recommendation of the Tampa union's negotiating committee, Local 108 business manager Floyd Suggs said. "We're willing to continue negotiating on the items we couldn't recommend," Suggs said, including a sharp drop in the company's contributions to the employee savings plan and its refusal to define a full-time work week as 40 hours. The current labor pact doesn't expire until March 31.
MANUFACTURING, CONSTRUCTION RISE: The Institute for Supply Management reported Monday that its manufacturing index rose to 57 last month from 53.7 in September. It was the fourth consecutive monthly gain and pushed the index to its highest level since January 2000, when it last registered 57. In Washington, the Commerce Department said the total value of building projects under way came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $910.6-billion in September, a 1.3 percent rise from August. The reading was an all-time monthly high, as was the figure for spending by private builders on housing projects, which rose to a rate of $471.4-billion.
SAVINGS BONDS RATES FALL: The government announced lower interest rates for the next six months for series I and EE savings bonds. The rate for I bonds issued from November through April is 2.19 percent, down from 4.66 percent. The rate for EE bonds issued on or after May 1, 1997, is 2.61 percent, down from 2.66 percent. More information, including earnings on bonds issued earlier, is available on the Internet (www.treasurydirect.gov)
TECO GETS IRS OKAY: TECO Energy Inc. said Monday the Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that its coal-based synthetic fuel operations comply with IRS requirements and are still eligible to collect federal tax credits. As a result, the Tampa utility said it has completed plans to sell a 49.5 percent stake in its synfuels operations for about $68-million in cash, although it withheld the name of the buyer. TECO spokeswoman Laura Plumb said TECO believes the IRS determination also will help in its plans to sell an additional 40 percent interest in the synfuels operations.
PARADYNE SETTLES SUIT: Paradyne Networks Inc. of Largo said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has agreed to pay $3-million to settle a lawsuit filed by shareholders that accused top Paradyne officers of artificially inflating the company's stock price by misrepresenting its performance. Under the settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Court in Tampa, the defendants admitted no liability. The $3-million will be paid by Paradyne's insurance company.
PUBLIX STOCK CLIMBS: Publix Super Markets' stock price shot up 10 percent Friday, from $42.25 to $46.50. The figures, announced on the employee stock line voice mail, weren't made public until Monday. Publix stock is not traded publicly and is sold only to employees and board members. It is evaluated quarterly by Raymond James Financial of St. Petersburg. The stock has not been priced above $46.50 since August 2001, when it was set at $47.50.
GM, FORD SALES DROP: The world's two largest automakers - General Motors and Ford Motor Co. - said their U.S. sales declined more than predicted last month as a late-summer sales frenzy caused more of an industry backlash than expected. GM sales fell 7.7 percent, while Ford's dropped nearly 3 percent. But the slack in business was not felt uniformly. DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said Monday it had an 11 percent sales increase over a year ago. Toyota and Nissan also reported double-digit sales growth in October in the United States on the strength of a variety of new or revamped vehicles.
RAYTHEON AVERTS STRIKE: Raytheon Co. averted a strike by its employees at a Tomahawk cruise-missile plant in Tucson, Ariz., after union workers accepted a revised three-year labor contract that scales back proposed increases in their health-care costs. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 933, which represents 2,100 of the 10,000 people at the plant, had planned to strike Monday. Employees won minor concessions, and retirees will have to begin paying for their own health insurance, union spokesman Kevin Cummings said.
ARDEN DROPS 100 JOBS: Fragrance and skin-care company Elizabeth Arden Inc. said Monday it will consolidate its U.S. distribution operations into a single facility by March and cut about 10 percent of its U.S. work force, or roughly 100 jobs. The distribution center in Miami Lakes will close. Corporate offices, also in Miami Lakes, will move to a nearby location, Arden said. Arden's domestic distribution and warehouse operations will move to Roanoke, Va.
VIVENDI LAWSUIT GOES ON: Vivendi Universal SA, the world's fifth-largest media company, must defend a lawsuit accusing it and former chief executive officer Jean-Marie Messier of defrauding investors, a judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Harold Baer in Manhattan said in a 40-page opinion Monday that investors had made enough allegations to sustain their securities fraud suit. He cited, for instance, a note sent to Messier by Vivendi's former chief financial officer, Guillaume Hannezo, imploring the CEO to reduce debt, even as Messier was telling investors the company was strong.
SCRUSHY INDICTMENT EXPECTED: The former chief executive of HealthSouth Corp. is being indicted on charges stemming from what federal prosecutors contend was massive fraud aimed at propping up the medical care company's stock price, the Associated Press has learned. The grand jury indictment against former CEO and chairman Richard Scrushy will be unsealed today in Birmingham, Ala., the AP said it was told by a federal official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The government contends that Scrushy and HealthSouth inflated company earnings by at least $2.5-billion to make it appear the company was meeting expectations of Wall Street analysts.
MURDOCH SON IS CEO: Defying investor opposition, British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC said Monday it had appointed James Murdoch, younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, as the company's new chief executive. The board of the London satellite broadcaster confirmed that Murdoch, 30, would replace Tony Ball, who announced in September he was stepping down. Murdoch will officially replace Ball today. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. holds a 35.4 percent stake in BSkyB, and the senior Murdoch is chairman of the broadcaster.
T-BILL RATES BARELY UP: The Treasury Department sold $17-billion in three-month bills Monday at a discount rate of 0.940 percent, unchanged from last week. An additional $17-billion was sold in six-month bills at a rate of 1.025 percent, up from 1.020 percent the previous week. Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills was 1.30 percent last week, unchanged from the week before.
EarningsAnchor Glass Container Corp.: The Tampa bottle-maker took a loss in the quarter ended Sept. 30 despite a 7 percent increase in sales. During the quarter, Anchor completed its initial public offering of stock and issued an additional $50-million of notes.