TECO SELLS MOST OF SYNFUEL STAKE: TECO Energy Inc. said Monday it has agreed to sell most of its remaining interest in coal-based synthetic fuel facilities. The deal is expected to be completed June 1. Financial terms weren't available. The Tampa utility, which after the sale will retain 10 percent of its original synfuel stake, declined to identify the buyer. TECO also said it refinanced debt on its San Jose power station in Guatemala, generating net proceeds of $40-million and replacing $11-million in letters of credit.
RAYS GET BANKING SPONSORS: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays said Monday the team has signed multiyear sponsorship deals with United Bank of St. Petersburg and GTE Federal Credit Union of Tampa. Terms of the deals weren't released. The sponsorships include advertising at Tropicana Field and an agreement to provide financial services to Rays personnel. GTE will have two automatic teller machines at the Trop and United will have one. The deals replace the Rays' pact with SunTrust Banks of Atlanta, which expired at the end of 2003 and was extended as the Rays and the bank worked on a new deal. The United and GTE deals combined are worth more than the Rays' old deal with SunTrust, said John Browne, Rays marketing vice president.
Z-TEL SETTLES WITH NASHVILLE: Z-Tel Technologies Inc. of Tampa said Monday it has agreed to pay Nashville, Tenn., $1.6-million in cash and stock to settle a lawsuit filed against the company. The city had sued Z-Tel in September 2002 for $36-million in damages, saying the company had failed to send the Metropolitan Nashville Employee Benefit Board a stock certificate in a timely manner. The city alleged that the resulting delay of more than two years prevented the board from being able to sell its 519,741 shares in Z-Tel as the price of the company's stock plummeted from more than $40 a share to about $1.
KING PHARMACEUTICALS CHIEF WALKS: King Pharmaceuticals Inc. said chairman and CEO Jefferson Gregory stepped down Monday. In February, King said Gregory would retire as CEO when a successor was named but intended to remain chairman. King, of Bristol, Tenn., said it hasn't named a successor for either post. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration rejected King's application for an epilepsy treatment over concerns the medication might not be appropriate for self-diagnosis and use. Since March, King has been the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation concerning pricing practices for federal programs such as Medicaid.
XTO BUYS CHEVRONTEXACO FIELDS: XTO Energy Inc. said Monday it agreed to acquire $1.1-billion in natural gas and oil fields from ChevronTexaco Corp. The deal gives XTO, of Fort Worth, Texas, a range of North American properties from natural gas fields in Louisiana to gas and oil fields in East Texas and New Mexico. XTO had already announced about $800-million in acquisitions this year. For ChevronTexaco, the divestiture fits in with plans to shed most of its low-growth North American assets and concentrate on international explorations.
SYLVAN LEARNING BECOMES LAUREATE: Sylvan Learning Systems Inc., which offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, changed its name to Laureate Education Inc. to reflect its focus on the higher-education market. The Baltimore company will be traded, effective tomorrow, under the symbol LAUR on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the company said. The company sold its primary- and secondary-education businesses to Apollo Management LP in March 2003 for up to $300-million to focus on its online and university education business.
OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING INCREASES: New figures on offshore outsourcing suggest that American companies are sending even more white-collar jobs to low-wage countries such as India, China and Russia than researchers originally estimated. Roughly 830,000 U.S. service-sector jobs - ranging from telemarketers and accountants to software engineers and chief technology officers - will move abroad by the end of 2005, according to a report released Monday by Forrester Research Inc. The company projected in 2002 that 588,000 jobs would move overseas by the end of next year. Forrester also increased its long-term job loss prediction, estimating that 3.4-million jobs will leave the United States by 2015.
PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY RESTRICTIONS EASED: The Supreme Court made it easier Monday for financially troubled people to go to bankruptcy court to get relief from education loans or other debts. Justices sided with a former Tennessee student who claimed she could not afford payments on $4,000 in state-backed education loans. The state argued that it could not be taken to federal bankruptcy court against its wishes. Justices agreed 7-2, though, to let Pamela Hood pursue her case. The decision was one of two involving bankruptcies issued by the court Monday. In the other, the court was sharply split over how judges should determine interest rates for people on installment payment plans as they reorganize their finances.
SCRUSHY TRIAL START DELAYED: U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre has delayed the fraud trial of fired HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, set to begin Aug. 23, until Sept. 27 or, if that date proves unworkable, Jan. 10. Bowdre said she would set a final trial date by Aug. 16. Scrushy attorney Abbe Lowell had a conflict with another case, a complex judicial fraud trial set to begin in Mississippi on Aug. 16. Scrushy, who has pleaded innocent, is free on $10-million bond awaiting trial on an 85-count indictment accusing him of making millions off a scheme to inflate HealthSouth earnings for years.
GATEWAY ENDS OUTSOURCING CONTRACT: Gateway Inc., a money-losing personal computer maker, will end a $400-million outsourcing contract with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. as job cuts and store closings lessen Gateway's need for the services. Affiliated manages computers and handles benefits and payroll under the seven-year contract, announced in October. It collected about $14-million each quarter for the work, Affiliated said. The contract ends in 90 days. Gateway, which has been losing market share to rivals like Dell Inc., won't need the benefits services because it's firing two-thirds of its 6,500 workers and has closed its 188 retail stores.
SHORT-TERM T-BILL RATES MIXED: The Treasury Department sold $18-billion in three-month securities at a discount rate of 1.040 percent, down from 1.060 percent last week. An additional $15-billion was sold in six-month bills at a rate of 1.335 percent, down from 1.340 percent. Also, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills rose to 1.83 percent last week from 1.63 percent last week.
EARNINGS
Reptron Electronics Inc.: The Tampa electronics manufacturer reported a small profit in its first quarter since emerging from a prepackaged bankruptcy in February. Shortly after publishing their quarterly results, the company said it was seeking an extension for filing its report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The year-ago quarter included a $17.4-million loss from discontinued operations and $1.5-million loss from discharged debt.
Digital Lightwave: The Clearwater maker of fiber-optic testing equipment cut its losses and increased revenues by almost 175 percent in the quarter ended March 31.
Kmart Holding Corp.: The discount retailer earned $93-million in its second straight profitable quarter since emerging from bankruptcy protection but continued to show a decline in same-store sales.
Lowe's Companies Inc.: The world's second-largest home improvement retailer said Monday it drove down costs and raised profit margins to improve first-quarter earnings by 8 percent. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had expected earnings of 54 cents a share for the quarter ended April 30.
Toys "R" Us Inc.: The nation's second-biggest toy seller reported a wider-than-expected loss and lower sales for the first quarter of its fiscal year, traditionally a slow season for the company. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had expected a 1 cent loss.
