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A look around the world of business

By Times Staff Writer
Published June 1, 2005

TAMPA BAY

Excess water seepage will shut down Walter Industries' least-productive coal mine for two to three months, the Tampa company said Tuesday, idling roughly 250 workers. Partly because the mine was ahead of schedule for the year, however, Walter said it will not lower its 2005 production or earnings projections.

Tampa investment bank Hyde Park Capital said Tuesday that Sykes Enterprises founder John Sykes had joined its advisory board. Senior managing director John Hill Jr. said he served for many years as financial adviser and investment banker to Sykes and Sykes Enterprises. Former Holland & Knight managing partner Bill McBride joined Hyde Park's advisory board in March.

FLORIDA

Bank of America has committed to spending $36-billion on community development initiatives in Florida in the next five years. The figure includes $18-billion toward affordable housing, $11-billion on small business and farming, $6-billion on consumer projects and $1-billion toward economic development. The funding pledge stems from a 10-year commitment the Charlotte, N.C., bank made last year to spend $750-billion nationwide on community development loans, partnerships, programs and services.

Home Depot Inc., plans to be aggressive about getting its share of hurricane-protection related sales in Florida. On the eve of a sales tax holiday, the company said it will match the savings on any merchandise that qualifies for the tax exemption. That means all 128 Home Depot stores in Florida will offer an added price discount of 7.5 percent regardless of the sales tax savings, which varies from 6 to 7.5 percent depending on the county. The tax holiday runs from today through June 12.

Today is the first day Floridians and residents of other southern states are eligible to request free annual credit reports from the three major credit bureaus. They're available online at www.annualcreditreport.com by calling toll-free 1-877-322-8228 or by mailing in a form that can be printed from the Web site. You can request all three reports at once or one at a time, spreading your requests over the year. A big rush is expected, so if you have difficulty getting through, you might want to wait a few days for the volume of requests to subside.

The Florida Insurance Council on Tuesday ushered in the hurricane season with the launch of a new Web site geared toward the tropical theme. "Hurricane Central" includes tips on saving money for homeowners' insurance, hurricane fact sheets and checklists and links to related sites. To get to the Web site, click on the insurance council's site (www.flains.org) and then click on the icon for Hurricane Central.

ELSEWHERE

The retail price of gasoline fell by nearly 3 cents last week to average $2.10 a gallon nationwide, the Energy Department reported Tuesday. The weekly government survey said the average price nationwide of regular-grade gasoline fell 2.8 cents to $2.097 per gallon, or 4.6 cents a gallon higher than the same time a year ago. Pump prices were highest on the West Coast, averaging $2.357 a gallon, and cheapest in the Gulf Coast, averaging $1.996 a gallon. In the Tampa Bay area, regular unleaded sold for an average of $2.07, down 13.9 cents from last month and up 8.3 cents from the same time last year.

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Tuesday's auction with rates on three-month bills rising to the highest level since September 2001. The Treasury Department auctioned $17-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 2.935 percent, up from 2.895 percent last week. An additional $15-billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 3.080 percent, down from 3.110 percent last week.

[Last modified June 1, 2005, 08:57:02]