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Business Today

Ex-Walter CEO named to AmSouth board

By wire services
Published October 21, 2005

Don DeFosset, former chairman and chief executive of Tampa-based Walter Industries, has been elected to the AmSouth Bancorp board of directors, the Birmingham, Ala., bank said Thursday. AmSouth, which has more than $50-billion in assets, is the fifth-largest bank in Florida.

Allstate to reduce Gulf Coast coverage

Allstate Corp. will reduce its homeowners coverage in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina resulted in an "unacceptable" loss to the insurer of $1.55-billion in the third quarter, its chief executive said Thursday. Chairman and CEO Edward Liddy, while pledging the company's continued assistance to thousands of affected customers in Louisiana and the surrounding area, said Allstate must reduce its exposure in the region because of the risk of more catastrophic losses.

General Motors Corp. retirees represented by the United Auto Workers pay nothing now for their health care coverage, but most would have to pay up to $752 annually in deductibles, co-payments and monthly premiums under a tentative agreement reached this week between GM and the union, UAW officials said Thursday. GM hourly workers would contribute $1 per hour in future pay increases to a new fund to help pay for retirees' health coverage. Single retirees would pay up to $370 in deductibles and fees for their coverage. And most retirees and all active hourly workers would pay higher co-payments for their prescription drugs. The agreement would exclude about 74,000 low-income retirees whose GM pension is $8,000 a year.

China's economy grew at a blistering rate of 9.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2005 as investment surged and the country's politically volatile trade surplus more than doubled, the government said Thursday. However, the government report expressed concern about "oversized and irrational" investment in fixed assets, the relatively low level of farmers' incomes and the nation's bulging trade gap.

Dana Corp. added to cutbacks by the struggling auto parts industry, saying Thursday it will eliminate 5 percent of its salaried work force, close two plants and sell parts of its business to sharply reduce costs. The company said last month it expected changes after cutting its profit forecast for the year in half as the industry comes to grips with soaring steel and energy costs and overcapacity.

United Airlines told a bankruptcy judge Thursday that it has resolved the major objections to its disclosure statement, clearing the way for approval of a key part of its bankruptcy exit plan. Judge Eugene Wedoff is expected to sign off on the plan as soon as today at the carrier's monthly bankruptcy hearing.

[Last modified October 21, 2005, 02:15:38]