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Business briefs

Briefs and news of note.

By Times Staff
Published May 6, 2006

Superior anticipates sales on hotel deals

Superior Uniform Group Inc. in Seminole said it expects to generate sales this year on contracts signed late in 2005 that made it the approved uniform vendor for the Holiday Inn and Hilton hotel chains. After its annual meeting Friday, Superior Uniform Group declared a quarterly divided of 13.5 cents per share. The company's board authorized repurchasing 750,000 shares of stock. Superior is near completion of a similar repurchase program of 750,000 shares initiated last year.

700 Polk phosphate workers to lose jobs

Competition from China is costing more than 700 Polk County phosphate workers their jobs. Minnesota-based Mosaic Co. said it plans to shut down three "high-cost" local operations this month, including its Fort Green mine and Green Bay and South Pierce fertilizer plants. A Mosaic mine in Hillsborough County and fertilizer plants in Riverview and Bartow will not be affected.

Consumer borrowing growth scales back

Americans increased their borrowing in March at the slowest pace in four months as people cut back on their credit card charges. The Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer borrowing rose at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in March. That was down from a 2.5 percent pace in February and represented the smallest increase since November when consumers sliced their borrowing.

Pixar shareholders approve sale to Disney

Shareholders of Pixar Animation Studios Inc. Friday voted to approve the company's acquisition by the Walt Disney Co. for $7.4-billion in stock. The vote makes Pixar a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney and makes former Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs Disney's single largest shareholder with about a 7 percent stake. The deal is aimed at restoring Disney as a leader in the animated film business. Disney's efforts have faltered over the past 10 years while Pixar's films have been huge successes.

NOTE TO READERS

The Times' weekend financial pages will have a different look next Saturday and Sunday that we hope will serve readers better. The weekly mutual fund listings will move from Sunday to Saturday, a day earlier, where they will appear along with the weekly stock listings. A new weekly income report will make its debut in Sunday's business section. That report will include money market mutual fund listings, high-yielding bank CDs and money market accounts, New York and American Stock Exchange bonds and the weekly Florida bond fund report.

[Last modified May 6, 2006, 08:08:02]