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Business TodayCompiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, SEC FINES TAMPA COMPANY: The chief executive of 21st Century Satellite Communications has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine in connection with charges that the Tampa company sold unregistered securities. In a consent decree reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, chief executive and president Robert Byrch and vice president Spencer Tyrrell neither admit nor deny wrongdoing. Byrch said that the company went to the SEC and has fully cooperated in the investigation. 21st Century, a provider of satellite television services to gated communities, retirement villages and mobile home parks, is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The SEC probe stems from the company's sale of $23-million in promissory notes and purchase-lease back agreements throughout the country between July 1997 and September 2000. Regulators charged that the funds were not secured and that the company used a substantial portion of investors' money to pay commissions to its sales agents and interest to other investors. FDA APPROVAL GRANTED: Smith & Nephew PLC has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale of Dermagraft, a new living human skin substitute to treat chronic diabetic foot ulcers. The product was developed in partnership with Advanced Tissue Sciences in La Jolla, Calif., and has been undergoing review by the FDA for five years. Dermagraft will be manufactured by ATS but will be marketed through Smith & Nephew's Largo office, which is wound management headquarters for the British company in the United States. Rod Skaggs, president of the division, said he expected the introduction of Dermagraft to increase employment and revenues of the Largo operations, but he was unable to say how quickly positions would be added. Smith & Nephew has 400 employees locally and the U.S. wound management business has annual sales of more than $150-million. MOODY'S LOWERS DILLARD'S RATING: Dillard's Inc.'s outlook was cut to "negative" from "stable" by Moody's Investors Service Inc. because of concern that the department store chain's profit and sales may miss expectations this year. Dillard's has about $4.4-billion in debt and bank agreements that will be affected by the outlook change, Moody's said in a statement. The retailer had a larger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter loss after it cut prices to spur demand. Dillard's shares rose 38 cents to $13.55. AMERICAN CUTS BACK GIVING: In a move that will cost area charities, arts organizations and colleges millions, American Airlines has announced that it will "largely suspend" corporate giving until 2003. "Our world changed on Sept. 11, and we are having to ask our friends in the community to understand," spokesman Tim Kincaid said. American received criticism last month when it said it would not offer severance to 20,000 employees who will be furloughed because of a decline in air travel. The airline reversed its position last week. BUSCH THANKS EMERGENCY STAFF: Busch Gardens and Sea World theme parks will give free admission to police officers, firefighters, emergency workers and their families for the rest of the year, said August Busch III, head of the beer empire that owns the parks. The offer, which includes two Florida parks, Sea World in Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa, is a reward for the sacrifices made by those who made the first responses during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Busch said. The offer starts Friday and runs through December. The police officers, firefighters and emergency workers themselves can get into the parks unlimited times through December. Their families can get into the parks one time for free and thereafter at a 25 percent discount. Those wishing to participate must present a valid photo ID and proof of their employment. COMPAQ FORECASTS LOSS: Compaq Computer Corp. said it projects a loss in the third quarter, citing difficulty in moving merchandise by air after last month's terrorist attacks. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company expects revenue to be $7.4-billion to $7.5-billion, down 12 percent from the second quarter, and expects a loss per share of 5 cents to 7 cents. IKON SCALES BACK: Ikon Office Solutions Inc. will cut about 2,600 jobs and said profit for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sunday will be lower than forecast. Ikon, the largest U.S. distributor of Canon Inc. and Ricoh Co. copiers, said profit from operations was 9 cents to 12 cents a share, less than its estimate of 14 cents. Ikon will have a loss after taking a pretax change of about $65-million. GAS PRICES TUMBLE: U.S. retail gasoline prices fell 6.9 cents to $1.416 a gallon in the week ended Monday, the biggest decline in at least 10 years, the Department of Energy said. Nationwide average pump price for regular gasoline are down 10.8 cents from this time last year as fewer motorists than normal took to the nation's highways. Prices were lowest in the Southeast, from Virginia to Florida, where regular gasoline fell 5.3 cents to an average $1.306 a gallon. Gasoline was most expensive on the West Coast, where pump prices fell 3.6 cents to $1.614. TREASURY AUCTION: Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department auctioned $13-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 2.32 percent, down from 2.380 percent last week. Another $11-billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 2.325 percent, down from 2.360 percent last week. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors: 2.364 percent for three-month bills and 2.384 percent for a six-month bill. In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills fell to 2.49 percent last week from 2.60 percent the previous week.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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