Business news in brief

AmerisourceBergen Corp.

, the Chesterbrook drug distributor, posted a profit in its fiscal third quarter, compared with a year earlier, when it took a loss related to the sale of its workers' compensation business. AmerisourceBergen reported a profit of $118.8 million, or 40 cents a share. Income from continuing operations was 42 cents a share. A year earlier, the company lost $108 million, or 34 cents a share. Revenue rose 2 percent, to $18.39 billion from $18 billion. Shares of AmerisourceBergen closed down 52 cents at $19.76.

- AP

Dow Chemical Co.

posted a second-quarter loss driven by charges related to the buyout of Philadelphia rival

Rohm & Haas Co.

and dismal sales for chemicals used in everything from plastic bags to cars. Yet aggressive cost cutting by the Midland, Mich., company led to a surprise profit if onetime charges were stripped from the results, and Dow said conditions improved in some areas over the last three months. Dow said it lost $486 million, or 47 cents a share, compared with earnings of $762 million, or 81 cents a share, a year earlier. Wednesday, the company announced that Pierre Brondeau, the French executive who was to lead the former Rohm & Haas chemical businesses under new owner Dow Chemical, would retire in two months.

- AP

Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc.

said second-quarter earnings were 47 percent below those for the year-earlier quarter. Earnings for the Chadds Ford maker of pain drugs were $30.0 million, or 26 cents a share, on revenue of $373.1 million, compared with earnings of $57.1 million, or 46 cents a share, on revenue of $306.2 million a year earlier. The quarter that ended June 30 saw a full earnings period after the company's acquisition of

Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc.

, which makes treatments for urinary incontinence and other disorders. Adjusted income was $85.9 million, compared with $72.7 million a year earlier. The company maintained its 2009 guidance of revenue of $1.39 billion to $1.44 billion and earnings per share of $1.26 to $1.34 (taking into account the Indevus acquisition and another deal).

- Roslyn Rudolph

Harleysville Group Inc.

said its board authorized the repurchase of 800,000 shares of the company's common stock, or about 3 percent of the total outstanding. With shares closing yesterday at $30.67 a share, the program would cost the insurance company about $25 million. With the new buyback, the insurance company will have repurchased about 20 percent of its shares in the last two years. Harleysville also raised its quarterly dividend by 2.5 cents, to 32.5 cents, a share, payable Sept. 30 to shareholders on Sept. 15.

- Paul Schweizer

Gov. Rendell said he was working on a package of state aid designed to prevent

Harley-Davidson Inc.

from closing its motorcycle assembly plant in York, Pa. The governor said a meeting Wednesday with Harley chief executive officer Keith Wandell and three other company officials convinced him that the threat to the facility was real and that a decision could be made by mid-September. The governor said Harley needed essentially a new modernized plant to stay, as well as changes in work rules. Rendell said he would meet with union officials in an attempt to work out a solution.

- AP

Maria Rodale, granddaughter of the founder of

Rodale Inc.

, will take over Sept. 1 as chief executive officer of the Emmaus company that publishes such magazines as Prevention and Men's Health. She will replace Steven Pleshette Murphy, who joined Rodale as president and chief operating officer in 2000 and was named CEO two years later.

Maria Rodale will continue as chairwoman. - Roslyn Rudolph

Fannie Mae

and

Freddie Mac

, the mortgage-finance companies, won't be able to repay all the $84.9 billion in federal aid they have received since being seized by the government last year, their regulator said. "Some assets and senior preferreds will have to be left behind as they come out of conservatorship, and that means some of those losses will never be repaid," Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart said at a speech in Washington.

- Bloomberg News

Rates for 30-year mortgages rose for the second straight week,

Freddie Mac

said. The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.25 percent this week, up from 5.20 percent last week. Last year at this time, 30-year mortgages averaged 6.52 percent, Freddie Mac said. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages increased to 4.80 percent from 4.77 percent.

- AP

The number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time claims for jobless benefits rose last week, the government said, though the increase was mostly due to seasonal distortions. The

Labor Department

said the initial claims for unemployment aid rose 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 584,000, above analysts' estimates. But the figure is below the 617,000 new claims filed in late June, before the numbers began to be distorted by a shift in the timing of temporary auto shutdowns. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, fell to 559,000, its lowest level since late January. And the number of people remaining on the jobless benefit rolls unexpectedly fell to 6.2 million from 6.25 million, the lowest level since mid-April.

- AP

The government agency that guarantees the pensions of more than 44 million Americans would be restructured under legislation introduced in the Senate. The

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s

finances and structure need revamping as "several of the country's largest automobile and manufacturing companies are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy," Sen. Herb Kohl (D., Wis.), a sponsor of the measure, said in a statement. The agency is also facing scrutiny after a report by its inspector general in May found its former director, Charles E.F. Millard, had inappropriate communication with eight of 16 Wall Street firms that bid last year to manage $2.5 billion of the agency's $48 billion.

- Bloomberg News