NASD CENSURES RAYMOND JAMES SUBSIDIARY: The National Association of Securities Dealers censured Raymond James Financial Services Inc. and fined the St. Petersburg company $10,000 for failing to adequately supervise a broker who represented the company in Antigo, Wis. The association said the broker set up a partnership account with one of his customers, violating NASD rules. Raymond James consented to the findings and said it has changed some of its procedures to give more attention to employee-related accounts.
FIRST ADVANTAGE MOVES TO CARILLON: First Advantage Corp. will move its headquarters from downtown St. Petersburg to the Carillon office park in April. The background screening company, which has been growing quickly through acquisitions, said it has leased about 74,000 square feet at 100 Carillon. It intends to move corporate staff as well as its employment background screening group and investigative services group to the new space. The move will allow First Advantage to consolidate its three locations in St. Petersburg, including its corporate offices on the top floor of the Bank of America tower.
SENATOR CALLS FOR SCRIPPS MEDIATION: Sen. Ron Klein, a Democrat who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties, has joined the chorus of politicians calling for mediation in the legal stalemate between Palm Beach County and environmentalists opposed to the proposed Mecca Farms site for Scripps Research Institute. On Wednesday, Klein urged all parties to compare Mecca to three alternate sites and use an outside facilitator to reach agreement within 30 days. Meanwhile, Scripps' building consultants and the county's program manager on the Scripps project spent Tuesday and Wednesday inspecting the alternate sites. Scripps, which is receiving $369-million from the state and $200-million from the county to finance its Florida campus, was supposed to break ground on the Mecca site in January. Delays caused by legal challenges and hurricanes have led to a tentative April groundbreaking.
PORT BOARD ADDITION BILL MOVES ON: The Hillsborough County legislative delegation approved a bill Thursday that would expand the Tampa Port Authority's five-member board by adding two members with maritime business experience. The bill will go to a House committee for consideration in the upcoming session of the Legislature.
BEST BUY TO DROP MAYTAG: Best Buy Co., the world's largest electronics retailer, said it will stop selling Maytag Corp.'s line of washers, dryers and ranges because of growing demand for other brands. Maytag said sales of its appliances at Best Buy represented about 1 percent of the company's total last year.
EARNINGS
eBay Inc.: Strong holiday sales caused the online auctioneer's profit to surge 44 percent from the same period last year, and optimistic executives raised their outlook for the rest of 2005. But the online auction giant failed to meet Wall Street's expectations by a penny per share. EBay shares plunged 11.7 percent, or $12.04, in after-hours trading after falling $3.32, or 3.1 percent, to $103.05 Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The results were released after the markets closed.
General Motors Corp.: The world's biggest automaker said Wednesday its net income fell 37 percent in the fourth quarter, led downward by continued struggles at its European operations and rising health-care costs. GM officials also said they expect U.S. vehicle sales to be down slightly in 2005 from robust volume last year.
Raymond James Financial Inc.: Renewed investor enthusiasm for stocks, higher interest earnings, bigger trading profits and another good quarter for investment banking combined to boost Raymond James' financial results in the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31. The St. Petersburg financial services company said the $499-million in net revenues set a new record. However, the company said continued growth depends on market conditions. "While the U.S. economy remains vibrant and the near-term outlook for corporate earnings appears benign, a combination of higher inflation and interest rates could undermine future market appreciation," chief executive Thomas James warned.
Pfizer Inc.: The world's largest drug company said Wednesday its net income for the fourth quarter more than quadrupled, driven by strong sales of cholesterol drug Lipitor and comparison with results depressed by bigger charges a year ago.
Wachovia Corp.: The financial services giant posted a 32 percent rise in fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday even as it said it plans to eliminate up to 4,000 jobs - about 4 percent of its work force - by 2007. After a November merger with SouthTrust Corp., the bank has about 96,000 workers. Spokeswoman Christy Phillips said about 20 percent of the reductions will be accomplished through attrition, the rest by layoffs.
Yahoo Inc.: Five years of stagnant online advertising ended in 2004, helping the Web giant to nearly triple its fourth-quarter profit. The 7,600-employee company ended the year with 345-million unique users, up 24 percent from the fourth quarter of 2003.
