Business news in brief
In the Region
Area jobless rate rises to 5.9 percent
The Philadelphia area's jobless rate rose three-tenths of a percentage point in October to 5.9 percent, the
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry
reported today. A year ago, the area's unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. The area consists of Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and parts of Delaware and northern Maryland. In the city of Philadelphia, the October jobless rate rose two-tenths of a percentage point to 7.7 percent.
- Paul Schweizer
Radian sees fewer mortgage claims
Mortgage insurer
Radian Group Inc.
, Philadelphia, paid out fewer claims in October than expected, suggesting that programs to prevent home foreclosures were working, chief financial officer Robert Quint said. Radian isn't yet sure whether the claims are being delayed or will be eliminated by efforts to alter mortgage requirements to help owners keep their houses, he said. Mortgage insurance pays lenders when homeowners default.
- Bloomberg News
Reverse split approved for Rite Aid
Rite Aid Corp.
shareholders approved a reverse split of the common stock as the Camp Hill, Pa., company sought to regain New York Stock Exchange compliance by boosting its share price above $1. The options would be 1-for-10, 1-for-15 or 1-for-20. The board expects to select the split ratio and put it into effect by Feb. 28. Rite Aid has until April 16 to regain compliance; it continues to be listed on the exchange.
- Roslyn Rudolph
Tyco Electronics combining units
Tyco Electronics Ltd.
, the world's largest maker of electronic connectors, with operating headquarters in Berwyn, is combining two of its connector businesses a year ahead of schedule to help trim costs. The combination is part of the company's efforts to save about $100 million a year, chief executive officer
Tom Lynch said.
- Bloomberg News
Europe approval sought for vaccine
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
, in Collegeville, said the successor drug to its childhood meningitis vaccine, Prevnar, had been filed with the European Medicines Agency for the prevention of pneumococcal disease, which covers illnesses including meningitis, sepsis and pneumonia. The new vaccine, PCV13, offers broad protection because it involves 13 bacteria strains, Wyeth said.
- Linda Loyd
MedQuist pays overbilling settlement
Medical-transcription-service provider
MedQuist Inc.
, Mount Laurel, paid $6.6 million to settle allegations that it overbilled federal agencies, the U.S. Justice Department said. MedQuist did not admit any wrongdoing. The government had accused it of overbilling for work done for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and the Public Health Service between 1998 and 2004.
- Reid Kanaley
Financing likely for Pilgrim's Pride
Meat-processing giant
Pilgrim's Pride Corp.
received preliminary bankruptcy- court approval to borrow $365 million. The Pittsburg, Texas, firm has 100 workers at its Franconia plant. A final hearing on financing, arranged by Bank of Montreal, will be Dec. 17. The company filed Monday for Chapter 11 reorganization. The firm also said trading in its stock had been suspended by the New York Stock Exchange. Shares are now listed on the Pink Sheets, where they rose 14 cents yesterday, to 28 cents.
- Roslyn Rudolph
Elsewhere
Glaxo cuts jobs in U.K.
London-based
GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C.
, which has large operations in Philadelphia, will cut 200 jobs at a plant in northern England as generic competition slashes demand for the British drugmaker's products.
- Bloomberg News
Employees buy Lehman Bros. unit
A group of managers and employees has won an auction to buy
Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.'s
prized investment-management unit, which includes the
Neuberger Berman Management Inc.
money-management business. The bid by the Neuberger Berman group beat out two other competing bidders, one of which included private-equity firms
Bain Capital Partners L.L.C.
and
Hellman & Friedman L.L.C.
, which had proposed paying $2.15 billion. Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection Sept. 15. A new firm,
Neuberger Investment Management
, will comprise businesses that managed about $160 billion of assets.
- AP
State Street cutting up to 1,800 jobs
State Street Corp.
, Boston, said it would cut 1,600 to 1,800 jobs, or 6 percent of its global workforce, between now and the end of the 2009 first quarter, in an effort to reduce operating costs. The investment- services company will reduce its staff mostly by consolidating middle- and senior-management ranks, it said.
- AP
FCC to vote on speedy settlements
Chairman Kevin Martin is urging the
Federal Communications Commission
to adopt rules to speed the resolution of disputes between TV programmers and cable and satellite systems. Martin has asked fellow commissioners to vote Dec. 18 to require an agency ruling within six months of complaints such as those by NFL Network and WealthTV that they were unfairly denied space on cable and satellite.
- Bloomberg News
Falling prices hit mining company
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.
said it would suspend operations and lay off the bulk of its workers at a New Mexico mine, cut production estimates through 2010, and curb other costs as it struggles to cope with plummeting copper prices. The layoffs come on top of about 800 jobs cut last month at its Western copper and molybdenum mines. Shares fell to a record low.
- AP
Fed entity takes $46.1B in AIG debt
American International Group Inc.
said a financing entity, funded by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the insurer, purchased $46.1 billion in complex debt securities insured by AIG. As part of the deal, the insurance-type contracts, called credit default swaps, were terminated.
- AP
Yields down on money market funds
The average seven-day yield on taxable money market funds was 1.04 percent this week, down from 1.12 percent last week,
iMoneyNet Inc.
said. A seven-day yield is an annual yield based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average yield on tax-free funds was 0.79 percent this week, down from 0.84 percent last week.
- Paul Schweizer