NO BID FROM GLAZERS FOR NOW: The family of Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer said Tuesday it "has no current intention to make an offer" to buy the British soccer club Manchester United. A future bid is still possible because Manchester United did not impose what the British newspaper Financial Times described as the traditional "put up or shut up" rule that demands companies make a firm offer or relinquish the right to bid for six months. The Glazers have about a 17 percent stake in Manchester United, compared to a 30 percent stake by two Irish businessmen.
ECKERD WORTH $4.37-BILLION: In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, J.C. Penney Co. has disclosed that the net fair value of its investment in the Eckerd drugstore chain is $4.37-billion. The drugstore chain with headquarters in Largo is for sale, and that amount is in the high end of the $3.5-billion to $4.5-billion range Wall Street analysts have estimated Eckerd could fetch. Penney disclosed that the full asset value of Eckerd was $6.8-billion before subtracting its expenses. A Penney spokeswoman said nothing should be read into the timing of the filing - the company released the information Monday along with other fiscal 2003 information because it had become available.
TAMPA ELECTRIC TOLD TO PAY: The Florida Public Service Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to uphold its order last year requiring Tampa Electric Co. to pass on to ratepayers 80 percent of the estimated $10.5-million cost savings it reaped in 2003 from closing four coal-fired generating units at its Bayside power station in Tampa. The utility had asked the PSC to reconsider its decision, arguing that it was entitled to keep the money. The PSC also unanimously rejected the Office of Public Counsel's request to require Tampa Electric to pass on all of its cost savings from 2003 and 2004.
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES SHARES SKY: Medical Technology Systems Inc. of Clearwater said Tuesday it does not know why its stock has risen more than 40 percent in the last 10 trading days. The company, which makes a drug packaging machine, said there have been no changes in its business that would have sparked the buying binge. There was record trading volume in Medical Technology shares on Monday, when the stock closed at an all-time high of $13.85. Medical Technology's shares closed Tuesday at $12.25, down $1.60.
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX STATIC: Consumer confidence barely budged this month amid lingering worries about the job market. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index slipped to 88.3 this month from a revised 88.5 in February. The February figure was sharply lower than the revised 97.7 reading in January. The March reading - the lowest since October when it reached 81.7 - was higher than the 86 analysts had expected, given that the survey period included the terrorist bombing in Madrid and the subsequent selloff on Wall Street.
HALL TO LEAD ORLANDO NEWSROOM: Charlotte H. Hall was named Tuesday to lead the Orlando Sentinel newsroom as editor and vice president. Hall had been vice president for planning at Long Island's Newsday. Both the Sentinel and Newsday are owned by the Tribune Co. Hall, 58, replaced Tim Franklin, who was named in January editor and senior vice president of the Baltimore Sun, also a Tribune paper. Franklin replaced Bill Marimow, who was forced out of the job. Marimow was named managing editor at National Public Radio earlier this month.
NYSE FIRMS TO PAY $241.8-MILLION: Five New York Stock Exchange specialist firms will pay $241.8-million to settle charges that they profited from illegal trading practices on the floor of the exchange, NYSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. The five - Bear Stearns subsidiary Bear Wagner Specialists, FleetBoston subsidiary Fleet Specialist Inc., LaBranche & Co., Van der Moolen Specialists, and Goldman Sachs subsidiary Spear, Leeds & Kellogg - violated securities laws by executing their own orders for the shares they managed ahead of customers' orders, depriving clients of fair trades and better prices, the regulators said.
4-WEEK T-BILLS TICK UP: The Treasury sold $19-billion in four-week securities Tuesday at a discount rate of 0.95 percent, up from 0.945 percent the previous week, for the highest since 0.96 percent March 16. The return to investors was 0.965 percent for the bills, with a $10,000 Treasury bill selling for $9,992.60.
KRAFT CEO HOSPITALIZED: Kraft Foods CEO Roger Deromedi, who took sole control of the company in December, has been hospitalized with an undisclosed ailment and his staff has been told to report to the company chairman, Louis Camilleri, Kraft announced Tuesday. Deromedi, 50, was hospitalized with an "undiagnosed medical condition" over the weekend, a spokesman said. Deromedi was given sole control of the food company in December after co-CEO Betsy Holden was removed. The two had been co-CEO's since 2001.
