Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Business Today

Tampa company gets first ethanol permit

By wire services
Published November 18, 2005

A Tampa company that wants to build an ethanol distillery at Port Manatee said Thursday it received the first of several permits required to begin construction. The state Department of Environmental Protection issued U.S. EnviroFuels an air quality permit that says the plant would qualify as "a minor source of air emissions," the company said. The distillery is expected to produce 40-million gallons of ethanol per year from crops such as corn.

Anchor signs deal with Anheuser-Busch

Anchor Glass Container Corp. said Thursday it reached a multiyear agreement with its biggest client, Anheuser-Busch Inc. Anchor, a Tampa company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August, will supply the beermaker with virtually all of its bottle needs in the southeastern U.S. CEO Mark Burgess called the deal "an extremely important step in our restructuring process."

Housing construction and new building permits were down sharply in October. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that construction of new homes and apartments fell by 5.6 percent last month, the biggest decline in seven months. Applications for new building permits, a good sign of future activity, fell by 6.7 percent, the biggest decline in six years. Analysts said these weaker-than-expected figures, combined with evidence homes are staying on the market longer, indicate the hot real estate market is cooling off.

Delta Air Lines Inc. needs to cut pilots' pay and benefits because it is losing $5-million each day, much of it because of high jet fuel prices, even as it works to stay afloat, the company's chief financial officer testified at a bankruptcy court hearing Thursday. Delta CFO Edward Bastian said the company's cash flow would break even for 2006 and generate $1-billion in 2007, but he argued that the airline would need to impose deep wage and benefit cuts on more than 6,000 pilots to fight volatile fuel prices, pay down debt and hedge against other unforeseen circumstances.

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged up slightly this week, posting the 10th consecutive increase and keeping rates at the highest level in more than two years. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the nationwide average for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 6.37 percent, slightly higher than last week's 6.36 percent average. Both weeks represented the highest level since 30-year mortgages were at 6.44 percent in early September 2003.

Freddie Mac has hired former Treasury Assistant Secretary Timothy Bitsberger as its treasurer.

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group was the last of the Big Three U.S. automakers to announce a new incentive program on Thursday. All three programs are scheduled to end Jan. 3:

GENERAL MOTORS CORP.

PROGRAM: "Red Tag Event"

VEHICLES: Most Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Pontiac vehicles from the 2005 and 2006 model years. Cadillac, Saturn, Saab and HUMMER aren't included but are running separate specials.

DETAILS: GM is posting a maximum price for each vehicle on red tags at dealerships.

FORD MOTOR CO.

PROGRAM: "Keep It Simple Plan"

VEHICLES: Most Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles from the 2005 and 2006 model years. Ford's new trio of sedans - the Ford Fusion, Lincoln Zephyr and Mercury Milan - and the Ford Mustang and Ford GT coupes aren't included.

DETAILS: Ford is posting a maximum price for each vehicle on window stickers at dealerships.

CHRYSLER GROUP

PROGRAM: "Miles of Freedom"

VEHICLES: Most Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles from the 2005 and 2006 model years. The Dodge Viper, Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum, Dodge Charger, Dodge Sprinter and SRT8 aren't included.

DETAILS: Chrysler will give customers a debit card for $2,400, the estimated cost of two years of free gas. It will also offer two years of free scheduled maintenance and increase the warranty on mechanical parts from three years/36,000 miles to five years/60,000 miles.

Two new buddies greeted chatters on America Online Inc.'s instant-messaging service this week, but not everyone wanted to be their friend.

Some AIM users complained that the buddies amounted to an intrusion. In a Web journal entry, Mike Masnick of Techdirt Inc. compared them to "buddy list spam."

Normally, users manually add a buddy to the list of contacts with whom they frequently chat. The new buddies - to promote AOL's movies and shopping services - are known as bots.

Users who send a message to the "MovieFone" buddy are automatically given options to check movie showtimes. The "ShoppingBuddy" offers ideas for gifts and information on deals. Sponsored by Gap Inc., products from its stores get top billing.

Users of newer versions of AIM get an alert about the additions with instructions for their removal. Information also is available at AIM's Web site.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will be the first participant in a new Salvation Army holiday fundraising program where companies and groups can put a virtual version of the charity's red kettle on their Internet site.

Individuals, civic organizations, churches and businesses can go to the Salvation Army's U.S. Web site and set up a link to their own site, which will permit credit card donations, charity spokesman Major George Hood said. For the past five years, the only way to donate online was through the Salvation Army site.

"All we're trying to do is leverage technology and make it easier for people who are doing shopping and paying bills online to make a donation to the red kettle," said Hood, 58.

Information from the Associated Press and Bloomberg News was used in this report.

Stein Mart Inc.: The Jacksonville clothing retailer said it posted a profit in the latest quarter and disclosed an accounting inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning vendor allowances and inventory valuation since Feb. 1, 2003.

Hewlett-Packard Co.: The San Jose, Calif., computer and printer company said profit fell 62 percent after it took a $1.1-billion adjustment for restructuring-related costs and other expenses.

Barnes & Noble Inc.: The nation's leading bookseller said it had a slim profit, down sharply from a year ago but beating analysts' expectations, and boosted its profit outlook for the full year. The latest results included costs of $2-million, or 3 cents per share, related to costs for a new distribution center.

Walt Disney Co.: Net income at the Burbank, Calif., media conglomerate dropped 26 percent after several charges, including the expensing of stock options.

[Last modified November 18, 2005, 01:27:15]