Lorillard seeks to prevent illegal cigarette sales

Lorillard Tobacco Co. said it had reached agreement with more than 30 states, including Massachusetts, to prevent illegal cigarette sales through the mail and Internet in a move also expected to reduce the sales of cigarettes to minors. Besides targeting minors, officials said Internet and mail-order sales can avoid sales taxes and that foreign sales can violate federal laws on labeling, contraband, money laundering, and smuggling. Lorillard said it will curtail direct shipments to customers determined to have engaged in illegal sales and suspend promotional programs for sellers who engaged in illegal sales. (AP)

Federated Department Stores Inc., which owns Macy's, said it has finalized an agreement to sell its Downtown Boston Filene's store to Vornado Realty Trust for about $100 million. The site is near a Macy's, and Federated decided to sell the property after it acquired Filene's parent company last year. With this agreement, Federated said it has buyers for 57 of the 80 duplicate locations that resulted from its acquisition. Last year, Vornado purchased the Boston Design Center. Last month, the Globe reported that Vornado was teaming with local developer John B. Hynes III to redevelop the Filene's site. Hynes said then that the team is exploring a mixed-use project with retail, including possibly a Target store, housing, and a hotel. (Chris Reidy)

Kronos Inc. shares fell $5.16, or 14.9 percent, to $29.46 after the Chelmsford-based maker of workforce management software warned that fiscal third-quarter results wouldn't meet Wall Street's, expectations due to revenue delays. Kronos said it expects earnings of 30 to 33 cents a share for the third quarter on revenue of $140 million to $141.5 million. The outlook charges of 9 cents a share related to stock-option expensing and 3 cents a share from the amortization of intangible assets. (Dow Jones)

Tandberg ASA, the world's second-largest maker of video conferencing equipment, sued StarBak Communications Inc. of Waltham, claiming it infringed patents for a system for distributing video conferences on a network. The suit, filed July 7 in federal court in Delaware, seeks a permanent injunction against closely held StarBak, as well as damages and costs. StarBak sued Tandberg on May 22 in Boston, claiming the Norwegian company is infringing a patent with its server for distributing video-conference data. Tandberg said the claims are ``without merit." A StarBak spokeswoman didn't return a phone call. (Bloomberg)

The Massachusetts Medical Society and eClinicalWorks of Westborough, disclosed an alliance to help the society doctors implement electronic medical records. Under the agreement, the society's doctors can avail themselves of eClinicalWorks software designed to streamline scheduling, billing, and medical record-keeping as well as allowing a doctor to communicate electronically with referring physicians. EClinicalWorks is a privately held firm that counts 5,500 medical providers as customers. The society publishes the New England Journal of Medicine. (Chris Reidy)

Boston ad agency Partners & Simons said it formed an alliance with W2 Group and that W2 chief executive Larry Weber will join its management team. W2 of Waltham specializes in digital marketing services, and the alliance will give Partners & Simons access to more people, ideas, and networking opportunities, said Tom Simons, the agency's president. With $100 million in annual capitalized billings, Partners & Simons has a roster of clients that includes Sovereign Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and EMC Corp. (Chris Reidy)

Lucent Technologies Inc., the largest US telephone equipment company, said third-quarter sales and profit missed analysts' estimates after a slide in demand from US customers. Revenue dropped to $2.04 billion in the period ended June 30 and per-share earnings declined to 2 cents, Lucent said, citing preliminary results. Analysts expected earnings of 4 cents and $2.34 billion. Also, Lucent and Alcatel SA say they plan to cut 9,000 jobs after combining operations, adding that they expect about 55 percent of total savings from the merger to come from job cuts. (Bloomberg)