DEAL SPARKS DIGITAL STOCK: Shares of Digital Lightwave Inc. leaped 50 percent Tuesday after Telecom Italia SpA agreed to use Digital's network information computer in its fiber-optic network. Shares of the Clearwater company closed at $3.05, up $1.01, on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The Italian company is the first major international telecom to use Digital Lightwave's product, Digital said. Terms of the deal weren't provided. In the third quarter last year, the latest period for which results are available, Digital Lightwave's sales slumped to less than $2.6-million from almost $4.6-million. However, its loss narrowed to $4.7-million, or 15 cents a share, from $7.1-million, or 23 cents a share.
SEC MAKES INVESTIGATION FORMAL: The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a formal inquiry into accounting issues raised at the Health Resources unit of Catalina Marketing Corp. The St. Petersburg electronic coupon distributor, which changed auditors last fall, is cooperating with the investigation that began informally last summer. At issue is when certain revenues were recognized on Catalina's books. The company has not filed financial statements with the SEC for the past four quarters pending reaudits of its financial results in fiscal 2001 and 2002, and an audit of its results for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2003.
CRAIG TO LEAD PINELLAS BofA: Bernadette "Bernie" Craig has been named Bank of America's Pinellas County president, the Charlotte, N.C., megabank said Tuesday. Craig, 49, will oversee the the biggest bank in Pinellas, with 55 branches and 105 ATMs countywide. Craig began her career with Bank of America predecessor Barnett Bank in 1987 as a branch manager in Pinellas County. She replaces Katie Pemble, who left to become chief operating officer of the Bank of St. Petersburg.
MICROSOFT ISSUES A PATCH: Microsoft Corp. issued a fix for its e-mail program to correct a flaw that hackers could use to take over a personal computer. A problem in the way Microsoft's Internet Explorer program displays Web pages means that a hacker can run any command on the machine by sending a message to users of its Outlook e-mail software, Microsoft said. E-mail-borne computer viruses such as Netsky, Mydoom and Beagle infected more than 1-million computers in January and February by persuading users to view attachments that took over their machines. The latest flaw doesn't require a user to click on attachments, only to view a message, said Craig Schmugar, a virus researcher with Network Associates Inc.
VW PLANS TO CUT 5,000 JOBS: German automaker Volkswagen warned Tuesday that sluggish auto markets would lead to "miserable" earnings in the current quarter and announced a cost-cutting program to eliminate 5,000 jobs. Volkswagen's earnings have been battered by intense price competition and a weaker dollar in the key North American market, as well as soft consumer demand in its home market, Germany, where sales fell for the fourth straight year last year. The company's recent European launch of its new version of its Golf hatchback sputtered. About 2,000 to 2,500 of the job losses would come in Germany, the company said. Volkswagen has some 335,000 workers worldwide.
DOLLY'S CLONER NEAR BANKRUPTCY: PPL Therapeutics PLC, the British biotechnology company that created Dolly the cloned sheep, is on the verge of declaring itself bankrupt after a last-ditch deal to take the company private fell through. PPL, which has been struggling since losing support last year for major projects, had planned to delist from the London Stock Exchange and give ownership to its executive directors in a bid to stay afloat. But the company said this week that a key shareholder - believed to be London investment firm Metage Capital - had declined to support the plan.
