FUNDING FOR FLORIDA ACQUISITIONS: Capital Environmental Resources Inc. of Ontario said Monday it has completed $374-million in financing, part of which will go toward its Florida acquisitions. The financing includes a $160-million line of credit, an offering of $160-million in senior subordinated notes and a private placement of 13.4-million shares. About $98.5-million will be used to complete its acquisition of Florida Recycling Services in central Florida, including Tampa. An undisclosed amount will go toward its purchase of the remaining assets of Allied Waste Industries in northern and central Florida, including the Tampa Bay area.
DISNEY CRUISES TO CALIFORNIA: The Walt Disney Co. will dock one of its two cruise ships in California for 12 weeks next year as part of the celebration for the 50th anniversary of its Disneyland theme park, the company said. The decision to offer 12 seven-night cruises beginning next May also will test the waters for a possible expansion of the cruise line, which has been quite successful since it began operations in Florida in 1998.
US AIRWAYS NAMES NEW CFO: US Airways Group promoted Dave Davis to CFO, replacing Neal Cohen. Cohen is leaving the company, the airline said. Davis, 37, who was senior vice president of finance, has played a key role in the airline's bankruptcy reorganization, including development of a business plan that raised $1.24-billion, the company said. The appointment is effective immediately. Cohen, 44, is leaving after the resignation in April of CEO David Siegel, who was replaced by Bruce Lakefield.
HEALTHSOUTH HIRES A CEO: Jay Grinney, an executive with HCA Inc., has been elected president and CEO of HealthSouth Corp., the health care giant trying to recover from a massive accounting fraud scandal. HealthSouth announced Monday that its board had selected Grinney, 53, who has been president since 1996 of HCA's Eastern Group of about 100 hospitals. He succeeds Robert May, who has been interim CEO at HealthSouth since Richard Scrushy was fired from the post more than a year ago.
GATES FINED $800,000: The world's richest man is out $800,000 for violating federal rules by making a large investment in a pharmaceutical company. Bill Gates, the billionaire chairman of Microsoft Corp., agreed to the civil penalty for the violation arising from his 2002 acquisition of more than $50-million in Icos Corp. securities. The agreement settles a Justice Department lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington contending Gates should have complied with investment notification rules because he intended to participate in the company's business decisions.
GLITCH GROUNDS DELTA FLIGHTS: A computer glitch that grounded Delta Air Lines flights to and from Atlanta for about 61/2 hours and caused delays over the weekend has been solved, and the airline was trying to determine the cause of the malfunction. "We are still investigating that and we don't have information yet as to the exact nature of the problem," Liza Caceres, a spokeswoman for the nation's third-largest airline, said. Delays related to the glitch began Saturday at airports nationwide and were cleared by mid Sunday morning, she said.
SPRINT OFFERS OVERTIME PLAN: Sprint Corp. is launching a new plan to address wireless customers' criticisms about how much they're charged for extra time they spend on cell phones. The plan, introduced Monday, allows customers who exceed their 300 so-called "anytime minutes" to pay $2.50 for 25-minute blocks until they reach about 650 minutes. Then, that $2.50 will buy them 50-minute blocks up to 1,250 minutes, after which they must pay 7 cents a minute for more time.
NURSERY'S DuPONT SUIT ENDED: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Green Leaf Nursery Inc. of Florida that said it was duped into accepting a settlement in 1994 with DuPont Co. over its Benlate fungicide. Green Leaf was one of 43 growers who said they would have demanded more in their settlements had DuPont not hid evidence of Benlate's defects. The growers contend the product, designed to kill fungus on plants, damaged their crops. The Supreme Court's order left intact a federal appellate decision that barred Green Leaf from pressing a new lawsuit against DuPont, which has faced hundreds of lawsuits over Benlate since 1991.
CRACKER BARREL SETTLES: Black customers at many Cracker Barrel restaurants were seated in areas segregated from white patrons, frequently received inferior service and often were made to wait longer for tables, according to a Justice Department civil rights settlement announced Monday. Cracker Barrel agreed to end discriminatory practices although it did not admit wrongdoing and will pay no fines or penalties, the company said, but the chain's employees must undergo diversity training and procedures for investigating patrons' complaints will be improved. The company also will hire an outside firm to send agents acting as customers into restaurants to check on Cracker Barrel employees.
ADELPHIA TRIAL PUT ON HOLD: The judge adjourned the trial of four former top Adelphia Communications Corp. executives Monday until further notice after one of the defendants reportedly became ill over the weekend. Former Adelphia executive vice president Michael Rigas, 50, was hospitalized for a short time in Coudersport, Pa., where Adelphia was based and where the Rigas family lives, the Associated Press said, citing sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. The AP said Rigas was disoriented and has returned to New York, where he has been referred to a physician. He was expected to be able to attend court Tuesday.
IBM SHUFFLES MANAGERS: IBM Corp. replaced its CFO and head of global sales Monday but described the moves as a regular reshuffling of responsibilities within the technology giant. John Joyce, 50, CFO since 1999, is becoming head of the services division, which accounts for half of IBM's revenue. He replaces Doug Elix, 55, who is taking over as the head of sales, replacing Michael Lawrie, 50, who left Big Blue to become CEO at Siebel Systems Inc. IBM's new CFO is Mark Loughridge, 50, who had been senior vice president for global financing and previously was IBM's controller.
GLOBAL CROSSING FIGHTS DELISTING: Global Crossing Ltd., the network operator that exited bankruptcy in December, said its shares may be delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market following the withdrawal of three years of audits by the company's former accountant. Global Crossing said it requested a hearing with Nasdaq officials to prevent the delisting and retained Deloitte & Touche LLP to make an independent accounting review. Former auditor Grant Thornton LLP was asked to evaluate a planned revision of 2003 results, Global Crossing said. Grant Thornton withdrew its audits Wednesday, a day after the company revealed it had underestimated liabilities related to its usage of other carriers' networks.
ADOBE ACQUIRES TAMPA COMPANY: Adobe Systems Inc., the maker of Photoshop, acquired privately held Q-Link Technologies Inc., a Tampa maker of management software, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition isn't expected to be material to Adobe's earnings, the company said.
WORLDCOM BANKS ON NOTICE: Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and other banks who underwrote WorldCom bonds in 2000 and 2001 have until this afternoon to decide whether to defend themselves at trial by saying they acted on legal advice. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York said that unless the banks tell WorldCom's lead plaintiff, the New York Common Retirement Fund, that they do not intend to assert the defense, fund attorneys can reinterview witnesses and bank lawyers to see what advice may have been provided. Cote said the defendants have repeatedly said during pretrial interviews that they relied on their lawyers in helping WorldCom issue $10.1-billion in bonds.
SHORT-TERM T-BILLS RISE: The Treasury Department sold $18-billion in three-month securities at a discount rate of 0.985 percent, up from 0.970 percent last week. An additional $15-billion was sold in six-month bills at a rate of 1.175 percent, up from 1.165 percent. Also, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills rose to 1.55 percent last week from 1.50 percent the week before.
EARNINGS
Pulix Super Markets Inc.: The Lakeland supermarket chain said first-quarter net income rose 9 percent while sales in stores open more than a year, a sign of a retailer's grip on customers, increased 3 percent. Shares of privately traded Publix stock, available only to insiders and company employees, were priced by an independent appraiser at $52.25, up $1.50.
