Thread: Business News

Big Companies Cash in on Fed Contracts
WASHINGTON - At least $12 billion in contracts the government claimed it gave to small companies last year wound up instead in the coffers of corporate giants like Microsoft and Rolls Royce, greatly inflating the Bush administration's record of help to small businesses, Democratic congressional investigators say. When small business contracts with large companies are excluded, the government missed for a sixth straight year a requirement that 23 percent of its $314 billion in annual contracts go to small businesses, House Democrats conclude in a report to be released Wednesday. There were two basic problems, the investigators said: Federal agencies miscoded thousands of contracts to big companies as small business awards. And many other companies that started small grew large or were purchased by corporate giants but continued to get small business contracts. "It's just unbelievable," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York, the top Democrat on the House Small Business Committee. "We have just got to start holding agencies accountable." Velazquez is asking the Government Accountability Office and internal watchdogs for the State, Treasury, Defense and Transportation departments to investigate their contracting procedures and see if criminal activity is involved. Under federal law, representatives of large companies that falsely claim to be small firms can be punished with 10 years in prison, $500,000 in fines, and a permanent ban from doing government business.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...725&ID=5895227

Hewlett-Packard to Buy Mercury Interactive
SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett Packard Co. is biting off its biggest acquisition in four years with a $4.5 billion purchase of Mercury Interactive Corp., the business management software maker that has been entangled in a stock options scandal. The deal, announced Tuesday by the Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer and printer maker, isn't cheap. The all-cash price works out to $52 per share -- a price that Mercury's long-slumping stock hasn't topped for more than two years. HP's offer represents a 33 percent premium above Mercury's closing price of $39 in the over-the-counter market.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...725&ID=5894880

Ford Shares Upgraded
Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy upgraded his rating on shares of Ford to "neutral" from "sell," given that the market appears to have priced in the negative results from Ford's second-quarter loss. On Thursday, Ford reported a $123 million loss in the second quarter, due mainly to weak demand for its trucks and sport utility vehicles and to rising gas prices. But Murphy said it appears that the market is pricing in most of the bad news from Ford. "The market is well aware of the company's tough competitive position and outsized cost structure in its key North American operations as well as the mounting earnings pressure at Ford Motor Credit," Ford's financing arm, he said. For now, Murphy estimated Ford's balance sheet is in good shape, with liquidity of over $30 billion and $24 billion in cash, and the company's' cash-burn rate is manageable at $4 billion. In addition, Murphy said Ford's Premier Auto Group, Ford Motor Credit and Mazda assets could further support the company's liquidity if necessary.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/07/25/for...ml?partner=msn

Heat-Related Blackouts Hurting Small Businesses
California — When a blackout hit Benny Marino's working-class block, he started to get nervous. Soon the salmon, shrimp and skate he sold at his Marino & Sons Fish Market in Queens would spoil. When it did, the smell of rotting food and stale air began to permeate the neighborhood. "We lost a lot of product," said Marino, whose grandfather opened the store in 1932. Marino, like other business owners, was still reeling Monday from the blackout, which devastated the inventories of ice cream parlors, groceries, butcher shops, fish mongers and restaurants. City officials estimated that at least 750 businesses were affected and said that the losses could reach into the millions of dollars.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205432,00.html

Motorola Unveils New, Unpronounceable Cell-Phone Models
Illinois — Motorola Inc. on Monday unveiled several new handsets, including the Krzr and the Rizr, which are narrower than its flagship Razr. The new models are part of a family of cellphones that Motorola is building around the Razr, which has helped the company revitalize its brand in the last two years. Its latest phones included phones designed for high-speed mobile Web-surfing and phones with dedicated buttons for cameras and music players as well as a new sliding format. The Krzr, a 42-millimeter-wide phone, flips open like the 54-millimeter-wide Razr but is slightly thicker as it has a camera and space for extra storage for up to 500 songs. "We think this is big," said Chief Executive Ed Zander, at the phone launch event in a Chicago suburb. He said Motorola aims to eventually sell 500 million versions of the Razr.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205484,00.html

Boise Wants Vegas' Boxing Business
Sports promoters in Boise are looking to take on the West's boxing heavyweight, Las Vegas, to get a share of lucrative professional title bouts between big-name fighters. A first step is Saturday's title fight at the 6,400-seat arena, where Roy Jones Jr. will end a 10-month layoff and try to take "Prince" Badi Ajamu's North American Boxing Organization light heavyweight title. The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds and will be shown live in about 40 countries on pay-per-view outlets. "It's pretty hard to rival Nevada," said Ritch Danner, vice president and director of Sports and Entertainment Media Inc., the company promoting the Jones-Ajamu fight. "But it (Boise) could on a show-by-show basis. We're kind of blazing a trail here and introducing a concept that probably hasn't been in Boise before that will allow for worldwide exposure." Whether boxing will return to Boise after the fight depends on ticket sales, Danner said. To help fill Qwest Arena on Saturday, 38-year-old local fighter Kenny Keene, 51-3, is on the card. Keene rarely fights outside the state and has lost only once in it. About 2,000 tickets had been sold early this week, with ticket prices ranging from $50 to $350. The pay-per-view price is $25, and those sales won't be known until the night of the fights.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/cat...ICATORS&iSub=3

GM's Earnings Report to Put Spotlight on Turnaround Efforts
DETROIT - General Motors Corp. will have a chance to show its turnaround efforts are working when the world's biggest automaker releases its second-quarter financial results Wednesday. The earnings report comes as the beleagured American icon is facing pressure to join an alliance with Japan's Nissan and France's Renault and less than a week after rival Ford Motor Co. conceded that its own restructuring was moving too slowly.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060725/gm_outlook.html?.v=7

UPDATE 3-Lawmakers try to nail down pension deal
WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers said they were nailing down final details of legislation to overhaul the corporate pension system, but differences over airline aid and other issues kept them from clinching a deal on Tuesday. "We're close but we haven't got the language on a number of different provisions," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, after a closed-door negotiating session involving a key group of House and Senate lawmakers. "And many of us are not going to (agree) until we have the specific language," Kennedy said. Lawmakers discussed giving bankrupt airlines Delta Air Lines Inc and Northwest Airlines Corp 17 years each to make up funding gaps in their pension plans. That would be 10 years more than other companies would get in the bill, business lobbyists and congressional aides said. Northwest and Delta could also get to use a different, presumably more favorable interest rate to calculate pension liabilities, said the lobbyists and aides who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity and late stage of talks. Haggling continued over how two other carriers, American Airlines and Continental Airlines would be affected.
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articl...mktNews&rpc=44

Altria Beats Wall Street Expectations, Raises Full-Year Outlook; Stock Hits New 52-Week High
NEW YORK - Shares of Altria hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after the world's biggest cigarette maker reported stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings and predicted profit would continue to rise as international sales expand. Analysts said if a civil racketeering case goes in its favor, Altria would be free to pursue a break-up plan that could unlock value for shareholders. Altria Group Inc., which is also a majority owner of Kraft Foods, said its net profit grew 1.6 percent on strong growth in international tobacco and food sales. The maker of Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes also raised its full-year guidance. Chief Financial Officer Dinyar Devitre projected further growth for Philip Morris International Inc., which saw improvement in markets in Western Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060725/earns_altria.html?.v=18

JetBlue Says Second-Quarter Profit Rose Modestly, While Alaska Air Says 2Q Profit Tripled
NEW YORK - JetBlue Airways Corp. said Tuesday its second-quarter profit rose modestly, beating Wall Street's expectations, and that it is willing to fly more empty seats in exchange for passengers paying higher fares. But the carrier said it foresees the rest of the year being close to break even, as continued high fuel prices drag on results. The outlook helped send its stock more than 5 percent lower. Seattle-based Alaska Air Group Inc., meanwhile, reported its second-quarter profit tripled, as revenue growth more than offset its higher fuel costs. The company, which operates Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, saw its shares rise. Higher revenue and fuel costs have been the key themes of the industry's earnings season. Carriers have been pulling available seats out of the market, giving the industry more pricing power to raise fares and offset higher fuel prices. With improved revenue, analysts are expecting the industry to post some of its best results since before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060725/earns_airlines.html?.v=8

Honda to Enter Aircraft Business With Small Jet
OSHKOSH, Wis. — Honda Motor Co. announced plans Tuesday to start accepting sales orders this fall for the small jet it debuted last year. The company also said it has formed a business alliance with Piper Aircraft. "Aviation has been an important dream of Honda for more than four decades," said Satoshi Toshida, Honda's senior managing director, in a statement announcing the move at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture 2006 convention in Oshkosh. "Our goal is consistent with the philosophy of other Honda products — to provide convenient and efficient transportation that will make people's lives better." The company said it will set up a new U.S. company to hold Federal Aviation Administration type certification and production certification for its HondaJet, with the goal of completing type certification in about three to four years, followed by the start of production in the United States. Honda said HondaJet's patented over-the-wing engine-mount configuration helps eliminate the need for a structure to mount the engines to the rear fuselage, maximizing space in the fuselage for passengers and luggage. It said the over-the-wing mount also reduces drag at high speed to improve fuel efficiency.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205477,00.html