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Talk of the bay

By Times wires
Published March 13, 2008

Humana shares sink on lowered profit outlook

Shares in Humana Inc. fell to their lowest point in nearly three years early Wednesday after the company slashed its earnings forecast. Humana, one of Florida's largest Medicare providers, said it made a mistake in pricing its prescription-drug-only Medicare plan, lowering copays too much. Based on members' claims for drugs through February, the Louisville, Ky., company projected earnings in the first quarter would be 44 to 46 cents a share, compared with an earlier outlook of 80 to 85 cents. Humana's shares closed at $40.95, down $6.43. The insurer's problems followed two days of turmoil in the Medicare insurance market, sparked by a lower outlook posted by WellPoint after the close of the market on Monday.

Contractors sue Progress for $43M

Contractors that built power plants for Progress Energy sued the utility last week in Tampa federal court for nearly $43-million. S&B Engineers & Constructors of Houston and Bibb and Associates built two natural gas generators at Progress Energy's Hines power station in Polk County. The companies allege that the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 and the run-up in world commodity prices caused the project to go over budget. In 2005 and again in 2006, Progress Energy was given permission by the Florida Public Service Commission to add a hurricane recovery surcharge to customers' monthly bills to recoup about $380-million in hurricane costs.

HSN fixture shops around for new gig

HSN alum Rene Aiu, 58, has been named chief executive officer of loss-ridden ShopNBC, the nation's third-largest TV shopping network. Aiu oversaw HSN's on-air presence and production until 1995, then spent a decade in Japan as president of Jupiter Shop, a TV shopping venture owned by St. Petersburg-based HSN, Liberty Media Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. Based in Eden Prairie, Minn., ShopNBC is part of ValueVision Media. GE's NBC Universal owns 30 percent of the shopping channel, which laid off 170 workers in May, ousted its chief executive officer in October and fired 10 percent of its salaried management staff in January.

Correction

Sinigual Contemporary Mexican Cuisine is under construction at Westfield Brandon Town Center The restaurant's name was misspelled in a story in Wednesday's Business section.

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[Last modified March 12, 2008, 23:54:20]