Kansas firm wins $1.1b Air Force-Navy plane pact
THE REGION
Raytheon Aircraft Co. of Wichita, Kan., said it won a 10-year contract worth $1.1 billion to manage the supply chain for the T-6A training aircraft used by the Air Force and the Navy. The company, a unit of Waltham defense and aerospace giant Raytheon Co., has delivered 283 training aircraft to the services, and is slated to deliver more than 500 others, under the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System known as JPATS. Under the current contract, Raytheon will be the prime contractor and subcontract to the Vertex Aerospace division of L-3 Communications the handling of parts and support. (Robert Weisman)
Temp agency agrees to pay $250,000 in back wages
Labor Ready Northeast, a large provider of temporary workers, has agreed to pay $250,000 in back wages and penalties for charging its workers fees to cash paychecks, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said. Labor Ready, which pays workers daily, has cash machines where workers can cash paychecks after fees of $1.01 to $1.99 are deducted to cover processing costs. Reilly's office found that from 2000 to early 2001, Labor Ready failed to comply with a state law requiring employers to provide employees with a bank or other facility where paychecks could be cashed for full face value. A Labor Ready spokeswoman said, ''We are cooperating with the attorney general and addressed the problem as soon as it was brought to our attention." (Chris Reidy)
Eaton Vance to settle suit on incorrect fund pricing
Investment manager Eaton Vance Corp. agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged it had incorrectly priced one of its mutual funds for about two years. Terms weren't disclosed. Two shareholders of the Classic Senior Floating-Rate fund filed the suit in 2001, alleging the Boston company had incorrectly valued assets for about two years before March 2000. Eaton Vance denied any liability or wrongdoing and said insurance will cover the settlement. Separately, Eaton Vance said chief executive James Hawkes earned $5.59 million in salary and bonus in the year ended Oct. 31, up 9.2 percent from the previous year. The amount included $636,500 in salary and a $4.95 million bonus. (Bloomberg)
Merck unit challenges Sepracor asthma patents
Sepracor Inc.'s patents on the asthma drug Xopenex are being challenged by Dey LP, which filed an abbreviated new-drug application for its version of the treatment. Marlborough-based Sepracor said Dey's application to the Food and Drug Administration includes a Paragraph IV certification alleging Sepracor's patents are invalid, unenforceable, or not infringed by Dey's product. Sepracor owns five US patents on methods of treating patients with levalbuterol, with patent terms expiring between 2010 and 2013. Its sixth patent, covering stable levalbuterol formulas, expires in 2021. Dey is a unit of Germany's Merck. (Dow Jones)
Shoemaker posts loss after Saucony acquisition
Stride Rite Corp. posted a fourth-quarter loss, reflecting costs tied to its September acquisition of Saucony Inc. For the quarter ended Dec. 2, the Lexington company posted a loss of $3.06 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with earnings of $51,000, or less than a penny a share, a year earlier. Excluding acquisition-related costs, Stride Rite would have earned 1 cent a share. Revenue climbed 13 percent, to $131.7 million from $116.8 million, boosted by the inclusion of Saucony sales.(Dow Jones)
THE NATION
Microsoft to launch own ad-sales service in June
Microsoft Corp. plans to launch its system for selling advertising alongside regular search results by June in the United States. Microsoft has been testing its new platform for selling all kinds of online advertising, called adCenter, since last spring. The company said about 25 percent of the sponsored links that accompany regular search results on its MSN Search site now are from adCenter, but that will grow to 100 percent by the time the company's fiscal year ends in June. Microsoft currently outsources the job of providing such sponsored links to a Yahoo subsidiary, Overture Services. The contract expires in June. (AP)
UBS Financial Services fined for market timing
UBS Financial Services Inc. was fined $49.5 million by the New York Stock Exchange and state regulators in New Jersey for improperly trading mutual funds on behalf of hedge funds and other clients. According to NYSE Regulation, brokers in at least seven UBS branch offices allegedly used deceptive trading practices on behalf of clients so they could trade shares of mutual funds ahead of the close of stock trading -- a practice called market timing. UBS AG, the parent company of UBS Financial Services, confirmed the settlement with regulators, and noted that it settled the matter without admitting or denying guilt. (AP)
