AG Reilly seeks 6.2% car insurance cut
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly urged state regulators to cut auto insurance rates 6.2 percent next year, a sharp contrast with the 9.2 percent rate hike being sought by insurers and agents. Reilly said his proposal would shave about $60 off the existing statewide average premium of $1,082, while the industry proposal would increase the average premium by $101. A third of the industry increase is being sought by insurance agents and two-thirds by insurance companies. Insurance Commissioner Julianne M. Bowler is expected to rule on next year's rate by mid-December. (Bruce Mohl)
Wachovia to acquire Tanager Financial
Wachovia Corp., the fifth-largest US bank, said it agreed to buy Tanager Financial Services Inc. of Waltham, adding about $2 billion in assets to its money management business for wealthy families. Terms of the purchase weren't released. Buying Tanager will boost the assets in the Wachovia business to more than $12 billion the North Carolina-based bank said. Families it serves typically have more than $25 million to invest. Wachovia said it will take on Tanager's 47 employees when the acquisition is completed in the fourth quarter. The business is part of the bank's wealth management unit, which earned $52 million, or 4 percent, of its profit in the second quarter. (Bloomberg)
Marlborough company fires executive
3Com Corp., the maker of switches that run corporate data networks, fired its head of global sales and marketing after revenue last quarter fell below forecasts. Nick Ganio, executive vice president, was ''asked to leave," spokesman Joseph Vukson said. Chief executive Bruce Claflin will assume Ganio's responsibilities for now, the Marlborough-based company said. Ganio's exit follows others in June, including the chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and head of US sales. Claflin said he was ''disappointed" with revenue in recent quarters. On Sept. 16, 3Com reported first-quarter sales were little changed at $162.3 million, compared with a forecast of at least $183 million. (Bloomberg)
2 N.E. hydroelectric systems are sold
TransCanada Corp., Canada's biggest pipeline company, said it agreed to acquire two hydroelectric generating systems from USGen New England Inc. for $505 million in cash. The assets include generating systems on two rivers in New England: the 484 MW Connecticut River system in New Hampshire and Vermont and the 83 MW Deerfield River system in Massachusetts and Vermont. The systems include 13 dams with 41 hydroelectric generating units. USGen New England, a subsidiary of closely held National Energy & Gas Transmission Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2003, and the transaction is subject to approval by the US Bankruptcy Court. (Bloomberg)
Advanced Cell plans Calif. stem cell lab
Advanced Cell Technology Inc., which conducts embryonic stem cell research, plans to open a laboratory in California because the state supports the work, the company's chief medical officer said. California residents will vote in November on an initiative that would guarantee $3 billion in state funding over 10 years for the research including experiments using material from human embryos. The federal government is spending $24.8 million on embryonic stem cell research this year. ''I think you are going to see a massive movement West," if the California measure passes," said Robert Lanza, vice president of medical and scientific development at Worcester-based Advanced Cell. (Bloomberg)
Underperforming Eckerd stores to close
CVS Corp., the number two US drugstore chain by revenue, plans to close 160 Eckerd stores this year, or about one-eighth of the locations it acquired from J.C. Penney Co., to eliminate the least profitable outlets. The company expects to complete converting 1,100 Eckerd stores to CVS locations by July, chief executive Tom Ryan said at a meeting with analysts and investors in New York. He didn't say how many jobs would be lost because of the closings. CVS said before completing the $2.15 billion Eckerd purchase in July that it might close as many as 225 locations where sales lag. The company bought about half the Eckerd chain, mainly to expand in Florida and Texas, and Eckerd's mail-order prescription business. (Bloomberg)
Hingham retailer cuts sales forecast
Talbots Inc., a clothing retailer, cut its third-quarter forecast amid weaker-than-expected sales in September. Shares fell as much as 11 percent in after-hours trading. Profit in the quarter ending Oct. 30 is expected to be 45 to 50 cents a share, including a tax benefit of about 8 cents a share, the Hingham-based company said. Talbots earned 60 cents a share a year earlier. Excluding the tax benefit, Talbots was expected to earn 66 cents a share, the average estimate of 16 analysts in a Thomson Financial survey. (Bloomberg)
Bankruptcy court finds overstatements
A Lunenberg plastics manufacturer seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was overstating its revenues by tens of millions of dollars by logging fictitious sales on its books, according to court documents. Thomas Doherty, who was appointed to oversee Gitto/Global Corp.'s restructuring after it shut down Sept. 17, said in an affidavit filed with the US Bankruptcy Court in Worcester that he found the business was generating annual sales of $30 million to $40 million, far less than the $100 million the company had claimed to its lenders. David M. Nickless, who represents company founder and chief executive Gary C. Gitto, declined to comment, saying he had not yet discussed the allegations with his client, the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester reported. (AP)
THE NATION
Report rips electric industry on blackout
A year after the nation's worst blackout, federal regulators issued a scathing review of the electricity industry's voluntary efforts to make their power grids more reliable. Industry audits play down shortcomings of the grid system, rely on ambiguous standards that often are ignored, and reflect ''vast differences between the best and the worst" performers, according to staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agency's chairman cited improvements since the blackout that started Aug. 14, 2003, with power line problems in Ohio and affected eight states from Michigan to New York as well as parts of Canada. Pat Wood also said many of the concerns from that time have not been addressed. For example, confusion remains among the operators of some transmission systems about responsibility for curtailing the availability of power, monitoring the system, and responding to emergencies. (AP)
. . .Etc.
Staples Inc. said per-share profit next year will rise as much as 18 percent as it adds more of its own products and enters the Chicago market. Per-share profit next year will rise between 15 and 18 percent, Framingham-based Staples said, in line with analysts' estimates for a rise to $1.62 from this year's estimated $1.39 . . . State Street Corp. won contracts to provide investment services for two London public pension funds that together oversee $1.35 billion of assets. The London Borough of Havering named State Street to provide custody services for about $450 million, the Boston-based company said. The London Borough of Greenwich picked State Street to provide accounting for about $900 million. State Street already provided custody for the Greenwich borough plan . . . William H. Swanson, chairman and chief executive of Raytheon Co., the Waltham defense contractor, has been named to the 11-member board of directors of Sprint Corp., the fourth-largest US wireless and long distance carrier. (Globe staff and wire services)
