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November 30, 2007

Boston Chamber commissions casino study

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce announced today that it has commissioned an independent study to examine the potential impact of casino gambling in Massachusetts.

The chamber said it has retained the Boston office of UHY Advisors FLVS Inc., a business consulting firm, to conduct an economic analysis that considers the job-creation and the socioeconomic implications that would result from casino gambling in Massachusetts.

The chamber said it expects the study to be completed "by the first part of 2008."

Governor Deval L. Patrick has proposed legislation that would license three casinos in three regions of the state.

According to a recent Globe story about gambling, Patrick's proposal has been introduced at the State House but is not expected to get a hearing until next year; under the proposal, casino developers would bid on licenses that Patrick expects would attract 10-year licensing fees of $200 million to $300 million for each casino.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:25 PM | Comments (0)

National Amusements books Hannah Montana movie

Dedham-based movie exhibitor National Amusements Inc. said today that 54 of its theaters will show a 3D digital presentation of "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" during the first week of February.

As many young girls know, "Hannah Montana" is a TV program starring Miley Cyrus in the title role; Hannah is a young student by day and a pop star by night.

Looking to extend its Hannah Montana franchise, Walt Disney Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co. of California, recorded several recent Cyrus concerts and is turning the recordings into a 3-D movie with digital surround sound.

National Amusements said it plans to exhibit that movie is some of its Showcase Cinemas theaters, including at such Massachusetts locations as Lowell, Randolph, Revere, Seekonk, and Woburn; tickets go on sale tomorrow.

With more than 1,500 movie screens around the world, National Amusements is pursuing a strategy of trying to reinvent the movie-going experience, in part by using theaters as venues for alternative programming such as concert simulcasts and other forms of entertainment programming.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:31 PM | Comments (1)

Cape firm pleads guilty to workers' comp fraud

The president of a Hyannis construction company has pleaded guilty to workers' compensation insurance fraud, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said today.

Stephen V. Raleigh, 57, of S.V. Raleigh Corp. grossly under-reported the company's payroll to insurance auditors and defrauded the firm's insurance company and the Workers' Compensation Rating Inspection Board of more than $100,000 in workers' compensation insurance premiums, Coakley's office said.

Raleigh pleaded guilty in Barnstable Superior Court, and Judge Thomas Connon has scheduled the sentencing and a restitution hearing for Feb. 28, Coakley's office said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

TJX reaches $40m settlement with Visa over data breach

Framingham retailer TJX Cos. said this morning it has reached an agreement with payment card network Visa USA Inc. to fund up to $40.9 million for payments to certain banks following a massive breach of TJX's computer systems through last year.

Under the terms of the agreement, TJX, the parent of discount chains including TJ Maxx and Marshalls, said banks that issued Visa payment cards potentially affected by the computer breach could receive payments in return for agreeing not to sue or take other steps against TJX and banks such as Fifth Third Bancorp of Ohio that process its transactions.

Roughly 100 million credit- and debit-card accounts were compromised in the intrusion first disclosed in January, the largest in history.

Visa would also suspend certain fines, and TJX would agree "to serve as a spokesperson'' in support of new security standards, the company said.

Said TJX president and chief executive Carol Meyrowitz in a statment, "We believe this settlement agreement provides a fair resolution of these issues. ... At TJX, we have learned a great deal about the risks of cyber attacks and have responded aggressively to take our own security to even higher levels. We have also learned about the heightened security risks that exist across the entire US retail and banking industries as a result of today's high tech criminals. We believe that cooperative action is required by all banks, payment card companies and merchants to better protect customer payment card data, and we look forward to working together with Visa to further this goal.''
(By Ross Kerber, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

Study charts women-led business influence in Mass.

A study out today found that women-led businesses in Massachusetts are strong engines of economic growth, and the study's authors said the findings debunk myths about women leaders and risk-taking.

The study is from Babson College and the Commonwealth Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit organization founded by women entrepreneurs.

Titled "The Top Woman-Led Businesses in Massachusetts: 2006 Results," the study noted that over 60 percent of the state's woman-led firms grew by more than 5 percent in 2006, in contrast to the statewide average for all firms of 3.3 percent.

Contrary to the perception that women tend to run lifestyle or retail businesses, the study found woman chief executives in every sector of the state economy.

Debunking the myth that women business leaders are risk-averse, women chief executives in Massachusetts are proactive and inclined to make bold decisions, the study's authors said.

Among the largest woman-led businesses in Massachusetts are Cumberland Farms Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Axcelis Technologies, the study's authors said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

Monster.com issues holiday office party advice

Don't run amok at the holiday office party, and avoid bringing "arm-candy dates" because such behavior can "result in workplace gossip fodder for months to come."

That's a heads-up from Monster, the online careers and recruitment website with a big presence in Maynard.

"The most important thing employees should always remember regarding office holiday parties is, regardless of where the party is held, it is an extension of the workplace and you need to behave accordingly," Lori Erickson, Monster vice president of human resources, said in a statement.

Erickson added helpfully, "Getting drunk and making a spectacle of yourself can haunt you long after the holidays are over."

Some office-party tips from Monster:

Don't be a no-show - because workers who snub the holiday party "run the risk of seeming pompous."

See the party has an opportunity to "casually network with colleagues, people in other departments, and even executives."

Be sure to say "Thank you" to the party's host.

For additional tips on how to navigate this year's holiday office party, visit: http://career-advice.monster.com/business-etiquette/Office-Holiday- Party-Etiquette/home.aspx.

Monster is the flagship brand of Monster Worldwide Inc.

The New York Times Co., parent of The Boston Globe, has an alliance with Monster to sell help-wanted advertising.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

Nasdaq adds Navisite to index

Navisite Inc. announced today that it has been chosen by Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. for inclusion in Nasdaq's new Internet Index.

Andover-based Navisite is an Internet services provider for application management and managed hosting solutions.

The Internet Index is designed to track the performance of the largest and most liquid Internet stocks listed and actively traded on any of the major US stock exchanges, Navisite noted.

Companies on the index provide such services as Internet access, search engines, Web hosting, Web design, and e-commerce.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:55 AM | Comments (0)

Framingham heart study is 60

Doctors didn't know cigarettes were bad and thought high blood pressure could sometimes be good when homemaker Helen Vaughn was lured by a 1948 newspaper ad to join one of history's most important medical studies.

At the time, Vaughn's main attraction to the Framingham Heart Study was its free medical exams. Sixty years later, Vaughn is nearing 91 and the landmark study has moved well past exposing the health risks of cigarettes and high blood pressure to ambitious new work to discover the genetic factors behind health and disease.

On Thursday, researchers marked the study's 60th anniversary year by highlighting new research and thanking Vaughn and the study's three generations of participants. It's a legacy that early volunteers never anticipated.

"I'm very, very lucky to be part of this study, which is known all over the world," Vaughn said.

The federal government launched the study in 1948 amid an epidemic of heart disease. The idea was to compile reams of health data on a group of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and hope that over time links would emerge between their lifestyles and heart health.

Framingham, a town of about 67,000 about 20 miles west of Boston, was chosen for its mix of ethnic groups and blue- and white-collar workers, as well as the availability of volunteers. Its population at the time the study began was about 29,000.

About 5,200 people signed up for detailed physical exams every two years that included all manner of poking and prodding, including tests for mental dexterity. Now conducted in collaboration with Boston University, the study counts more than 14,000 participants in its three generations, and officials are already talking about recruiting a fourth generation.

The unprecedented amount of data led Framingham researchers to publish more than 1,200 scientific papers, including findings that are now basic building blocks for good health, weighing on people's minds every time they reach for an extra dessert.

Among the discoveries: Cigarette smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and diabetes raise the risk of heart disease, and physical exercise lowers the risk.

The study's importance has given participants a level of fame in the medical community. On Thursday, study participants recalled being treated with awe and respect by doctors they met in far-flung places.

"When health researchers hear the words `Framingham study,' it's like 24-carat gold," said Mike Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "The consistency and data that's come from that long period cannot be replaced."

The move into the field of genetics is a whole new horizon, said Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the study, which is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The new program, called Framingham SHARe, seeks to link data from the study to ongoing research into disease.

Scientists know just a small proportion of the genes most strongly linked with certain diseases. DNA and 60 years of clinical information from people in the Framingham study will strengthen the ability to identify new associations, and help scientists narrow down which genes go with which diseases. That can pave the way for huge advances in prevention and treatment, they say.

"When we find something in Framingham, you know you're finding something that's likely to be seen in the general population," said Dr. Christopher O'Donnell, director of SHARe. "It's a real-life laboratory if you will, of the genetics of disease." (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

Gym Street leases Wilmington property

An affiliate of VinCo Properties Inc., a Boston-based real estate development company, said that it has leased 33,500 square feet of flex space in a Wilmington building to Gym Street.

Gym Street offers gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, and martial arts for children, VinCo said.

Gym Street's lease is at 1 Jewel Drive, a two-story building with 200,000 square feet of office, manufacturing, and flex space, VinCo said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:27 AM | Comments (0)

Verizon Wireless adds new cell site in NH

Verizon Wireless said it has a new cell site in Townsend that provides new coverage and capacity along Route 13 in northern Townsend and southern Brookline, N.H.

Verizon Wireless said it is continually looking to improve its service and noted that during the first six months of the year, it invested $145 million in New England to enhance its capacity and coverage.

Verizon Wireless of New Jersey is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:22 AM | Comments (0)

ICache names McQuaid to top financial post

Cambridge's iCache Inc., a mobile payments company looking to develop a device that will be "the next evolution of your wallet," announced today that Edward McQuaid has joined the company as chief financial officer.

McQuaid was vice president and chief financial officer for Verizon International, iCache said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)

Worcester's Gateway Park wins award

Gateway Park in Worcester received an excellence award from the US Department of Commerce, the park's joint venture partners said.

The award, presented at a ceremony yesterday, recognizes the successful transformation of an underutilized 19th century industrial site into an 11-acre life-sciences and biotechnology park, the park's partners said.

Gateway Park is a joint venture of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Worcester Business Development Corp.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)

St. Louis insurance firm gets Best Doctors

Best Doctors Inc. of Boston said it has signed an agreement to provide its services to Safety National Casualty Corp., a St. Louis-based provider of excess workers' compensation insurance.

Founded by two Harvard Medical School professors, Best Doctors helps employers, insurers, health plans, and financial institutions to improve the quality of healthcare at the point of treatment for individuals with serious illnesses and injuries.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:09 AM | Comments (0)

Smyth joins NE Baptist Hospital board

New England Baptist Hospital of Boston has elected Peter H. Smyth to be a trustee.

Smyth is president and chief executive of Greater Media Inc., a Braintree company that operates radio stations in several markets including Boston.

Greater Media's Boston-area stations include WMJX Magic 106.7-FM, which airs an adult contemporary format, and WTKK-FM, which has a talk format.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:01 AM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2007

Bank awards $3.2 million for affordable housing

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston said today it has awarded $3.2 million in grants, loans, and rate subsidies to fund 252 units of affordable housing across the state.

According to its website, the bank is a bank for banks that is cooperatively owned by more than 450 New England financial institution and that provides access to wholesale credit for these members and other qualified borrowers.

Each year, the bank said it sets aside 10 percent of its net profits to provide grants and subsidized, below-market rate loans through its affordable housing program.

The $3.2 million will help fund affordable housing projects in Amherst, Boston, Haverhill, Hull, Plymouth, and Worcester, the bank said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:20 PM | Comments (0)

American Eagle sale could have Logan impact

From today's Globe-trotting travel blog....
Your eyes are bloodshot. Season is changing and you just can't wake up. You choke down your grande with shot of expresso (on second thought, make it a double, barrista). Thumb through the paper. There on page 2 of the Business section: American plans to sell its regional carrier, American Eagle. Who cares?

Shake yourself. You do. Or should.

You travel, right? At Logan, American is The Big Kahuna, with around 20 percent of the market, and American Eagle is a significant piece of that -- in fact, Eagle is responsible for nearly 40 percent of all regional flights out of Logan.

So what do we mean by regional? To begin with Eagle does 8 daily flights to LaGuardia. And then there are other high and low spots like Bangor; Columbus, Ohio; Raleigh-Durham (Go Tar Heels); Toronto; and Reagan National in D.C.

What does this all mean? Listen, if I knew that I would be making mondo bucks instead of writing blog fodder. But it's a safe bet that it will matter to you. Stay tuned.

Posted by globebusiness at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

Bank of America issues green credit card

Bank of America Corp. announced today that it will offer a credit card that helps customers reduce their contribution to climate change and invest in the development of clean, renewable energy products.

Bank of America said it is teaming up with Brighter Planet, a Vermont company that provides products and services to help build a clean energy future.

The Brighter Planet Visa credit card enables customers to earn one EarthSmart point for every $1 spent on purchases, and the points are used to help build community-based renewable energy projects across the country, said the bank, which added that the accumulation of 1,000 points is projected to offset one ton of carbon dioxide.

Based in North Carolina, Bank of America has a major presence in Massachusetts.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

Survey: Bonuses for Wall Street, not Main Street

Few workers on Main Street will see a bump in their holiday bonuses this year while Wall Street bankers are expected to enjoy record year-end bonuses, according to a new survey.

The survey is from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based outplacement consultancy.

A bright spot: Only 3 percent of the companies that responded to the survey indicated that they were canceling bonuses for 2007, the firm said.

Conducted by e-mail in October, the survey looked to contact 700 human-resource executives in a variety of industries nationwide, and about 100 responded, Challenger, Gray said.

The firm added that 28 percent of the employers surveyed said they don't award bonuses.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

Athenahealth expanding to Maine

A Massachusetts company that offers Internet-based business services for medical practices announced today that it plans to open an operations center in Belfast, Maine that could provide as many as 600 jobs within five years.

Athenahealth, of Watertown, Mass., is spending $6.1 million to buy a 130,000-square-foot building at the former MBNA headquarters left vacant after Bank of America acquired the credit card bank and cut 345 jobs at various locations around the state.

Athenahealth, a publicly traded company headed by a first cousin of President Bush, said it was attracted by the MBNA facilities, along with the availability of a trained work force and telecommunications infrastructure.

"Given athenahealth's continued growth and demand for our unique service-based offerings to medical groups, we anticipate creating hundreds of new jobs in the region in the years to come as we look to better support our growing national network of physician clients," said Jonathan Bush, chairman and CEO.

Chief Operating Officer James MacDonald said the company planned to employ up to 100 people in Belfast in the next year and could have up to 600 there within five years.

Athenahealth said it considered other sites in Maine, as well as locations in Vermont, Massachusetts, upstate New York and Rhode Island, before settling on Belfast.

A key factor was Maine's Pine Tree Zone tax incentives, targeted at industries that locate in specific areas of the state with high unemployment rates, officials said.

Maine & Co., a private, nonprofit organization credited with helping to attract athenahealth, said the jobs it provides will be a step up from those at MBNA.

"If you look at what was there before, it was a call center, and that's fine," said Matt Jacobson, president and CEO of Maine & Co. "That's a certain level of work. Athena is going to put an operations center there. These are going to be higher-level kinds of positions."

Athenahealth, which made its Wall Street debut Sept. 25 with an initial public offering that netted about $81.3 million, offers Web-based software designed to help medical practices with communications and billings in areas ranging from pharmacy orders and lab results to insurance filings.

In its first quarterly report for the three months ended Sept. 30, the company posted a $500,000 profit on revenues of $26.2 million. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

New Fujifilm camera sports Kopin viewfinder

Kopin Corp. said today that its electronic viewfinder has been incorporated in a new ultra high-zoom digital camera from Fujifilm Corp.

Kopin, a Taunton-based provider of microdisplays for mobile consumer electronics, added that the FinePix S8000fd SLR-styled camera with 18x optical zoom will be the second Fujifilm model to use a Kopin electronic viewfinder.

"We are delighted about our expanded relationship with Fujifilm," John C.C. Fan, Kopin president and chief executive, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Average mortgage rate declines

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.10 percent over the last week, its lowest level in more than two years, mortgage giant Freddie Mac said today.

In its weekly mortgage market survey, Freddie Mac noted that the week's average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was down from the previous week's average of 6.20 percent and from the weekly average from a year ago of 6.14 percent.

The average for this kind of mortgage has not been lower since the week ending Oct. 13, 2005, when the average was 6.03 percent, Freddie Mac said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)

Survey tracks median chief executive pay

The national median salary for the chief executive of a small business is $233,500 - and $849,375 for the chief executive of a company with more than 5,000 employees, according to a survey released today.

The survey is from Salary.com Inc., a Waltham company that provides on-demand compensation and talent-management solutions.

According to Salary.com, its survey includes data from 2,237 organizations, representing an average company size of 92 employees and a broad range of industries, geographies, and ownership structures.

Salary.com defines a small business as one with up to 500 employees.

The national median salary for the chief executive of a mid-size company, one with between roughly 500 and 5,000 employees, is $500,000, Salary.com said.

Full survey results are available at: http://smb.salary.com
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:55 AM | Comments (0)

Raytel Cardiac settles with Mass. AG

Raytel Cardiac Services Inc. has agreed to pay $31,000 to the state as part of an agreement with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to settle allegations of excessive billing, Coakley's office said yesterday.

According to Coakley's office, Raytel of Connecticut wrongfully collected about $2,000 in fees over a roughly four-year period from members of the Group Insurance Commission, or GIC, for pacemaker and cardiac monitoring services; GIC provides and administers health insurance and other benefits to Massachusetts state employees, retirees, their dependents, and survivors.

Under an agreement filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Raytel will refund money wrongfully collected from GIC members, pay $31,000 to the attorney general's Local Consumer Aid Fund, and take corrective action to reform its policies going forward, Coakley's office said.

In a statement, Raytel said that it manages hundreds of thousands of patient interactions annually and that it had cooperated with the attorney general's office.

"Even though the number of impacted claims is quite low, given the time span, we take every incident seriously," added Raytel's statement, which noted, "Our goal is to bill each insurance claim appropriately and accurately."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)

PLC Systems concludes renal guard study

PLC Systems Inc. of Franklin announced today the successful early conclusion of a pilot safety study of its RenalGuard System.

The renal guard therapy is designed to reduce the toxic effects that contrast media can have on the kidneys for at-risk patients undergoing cardiovascular imaging procedures, said the company, which added that it has discussed data from the pilot study with the US Food and Drug Administration.

"Based upon the positive safety data already collected in the pilot study and its discussions with the FDA, PLC has stopped enrolling new patients in the pilot study and will submit a request to transition into a new pivotal trial protocol," the company said in a press release.

The results from that trial "will be used to support the regulatory approval process needed to market RenalGuard" as a prevention device for Contrast-Induced Nephropathy, company president and chief executive Mark R. Tauscher added in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:39 AM | Comments (0)

Nuance powers new auto music systems

Nuance Communications Inc. of Burlington announced that its speech solutions are being shipped in a dozen new Ford Motor Co. models as part of Sync, a technology platform that enables drivers to voice-activate their portable music players.

Sync, which was partly developed by software maker Microsoft Corp., also works with cellphones and is available in several Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brand models.

"With Nuance Automotive powering the speech capabilities of Sync, Ford drivers should never have to take their eyes off the road to dial their phone, receive text messages, or select songs from their iPod, Zune, or other MP3 player," Steve Chambers, president of mobility and consumer services at Nuance, said in a statement.

Nuance is a provider of both speech and imaging solutions.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

Server market growth slowing

Third-quarter factory revenue in the worldwide server market grew 0.5 percent to $13.1 billion on a year-to-year basis, according to the IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker.

Framingham-based IDC is a global market intelligence firm.

Although this was the sixth consecutive quarter of positive revenue growth and the highest third-quarter revenue since 2000, the third quarter of 2007 had the slowest growth rate since the first quarter of 2006, IDC said.

And while some segments of the market showed continued strength in the third quarter of 2007, other segments "cooled off," IDC said.

"Concerns about the economy, particularly in the US, are causing customers to rethink their infrastructure needs," Matt Eastwood, group vice president of enterprise platforms at IDC, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:31 AM | Comments (0)

ICloset offers travelers "virtual" packing service

Retailer Brookstone will sell holiday shoppers anti-snoring pillows, $3,995 massage chairs, and other exotica, but when it comes to unusual luxury gifts, the iCloset is right up there.

Billing itself as the world's first remote wardrobe service, iCloset is offered by FlyLite.com, a Wellesley-based website.

FlyLite.com offers gift cards, available in $500 increments, that create a personal iCloset that enables travelers to "pack virtually," fly luggage-free, and then meet their luggage at a designated destination such as a hotel or residence, the company said.

A company press release explained how iCloset works: "Simply register online and FlyLite delivers a suitcase (or three) within two business days. Fill it with the items needed for your trip - from cell chargers to dirty clothes - and request a pick-up. FlyLite will pack up your toiletries. dry-clean suits, shine shoes, and send everything to your hotel room in Vegas (or your second home in New Hampshire). When you're heading back home, leave everything with the front desk or on the porch. FlyLite will pick the luggage up and - depending on your preference - send it to a designated address or launder, store, and catalog everything in a private, secure iCloset in preparation for the next trip."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:19 AM | Comments (0)

November 28, 2007

Chamber head made $426,000

Paul H. Guzzi, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, received a 7 percent raise last year, according to documents released by the business group today. In 2006, Guzzi earned $331,258, plus $95,000 in deferred compensation and other benefits, for a total of $426,258. That's up from $400,000 the year before.

The association represents 1,700 area businesses from a broad range of industries.
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)

Tea Forte unveils dessert tea collection

Tea Forte, a Concord-based tea purveyor, today unveiled its Dolce Vita dessert tea collection.

According to the company, the collection of "all-natural teas" includes such blends as coco truffle, Belgian mint, and raspberry nectar.

The collection makes for the "perfect complement to a bountiful holiday feast," Tea Forte said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

Houghton Mifflin purchase gets regulatory nod

Boston-based publisher Houghton Mifflin Co. said today it has met a regulatory condition of its previously announced plan to acquire Harcourt Education and two other parts of Reed Elsevier PLC of London.

In July, Houghton Mifflin disclosed its intention to buy those entities for $4 billion as it looked to strengthen and diversify its educational publishing business.

Today Houghton Mifflin said it has been notified of the termination of the acquisitions waiting period required by the federal Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

No divestitures or other remedies were required in connection with the termination of the waiting period, said Houghton Mifflin, which added that the transaction is expected to close in mid December.

Best known as the publisher of the American Heritage Dictionary and the US editions of "The Lords of the Rings" books, Houghton Mifflin traces its local roots to a Boston publishing house that started in 1832.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

Arbella Insurance partners with Celtics

Arbella Insurance Group of Quincy today announced a two-year partnership with the Boston Celtics basketball team.

Most notably, the partnership will give Arbella the naming rights to the Celtics Halftime Show on radio station WEEI, Arbella said.

"With the recent change in Massachusetts auto insurance, it's more important than ever that consumers become familiar with our name and know that we are as much a home team as the Boston Celtics," Arbella president and chief executive John Donohue said in a statement.

Donohue's statement was a reference to the fact that after 30 years under a system in which state regulators set all auto insurance rates, Massachusetts is moving to what has been described as "managed competition," where insurers set their own rates subject to the regulatory approval of the Division of Insurance.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

Raytheon charges RF Micro

Defense contractor Raytheon Co has charged chip maker RF Micro Devices Inc with patent infringement and is seeking damages.

Raytheon alleges in a complaint filed last week in the U.S. District Court of Central California that RF Micro's product RF3866, known as a "two stage low noise amplifier," infringes on a patent issued to Raytheon in 1992.

Raytheon is seeking damages "adequate to compensate Raytheon for infringement" of the technology called "high electron mobility transistor."

RF Micro said today that it will defend itself against the charges.

"We feel that the claim is without merit and that it will result in a favorable disposition for RFMD," Chief Financial Officer Dean Priddy told Reuters.

RF Micro's shares rose 17 cents, or 3 percent, to $5.70 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

Spalding names director of diamond sports

Spalding, a Springfield-based provider of sports equipment, said today it has named David Coradini as director of diamond sports.

Coradini will be responsible for all marketing related and product management activities as they pertain to Spalding's baseball business and its Dudley brand softball business, said Spalding, which is a division of Russell Corp.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

United Technologies unit to build sub fuel cell

Manufacturing conglomerate United Technologies Corp.'s UTC Power unit said today that it will continue developing a fuel cell module to power the Spanish Navy's S-80 submarine.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but UTC Power, which is based in South Windsor, Connecticut, said the deal was "one of the largest single contracts it has ever received."

The deal moves the program from the design phase to the stage where hardware, including an operational fuel cell, will actually be developed. Once that phase is complete, Spanish shipbuilder Navantia S.A. and the Spanish Navy will decide whether to build additional fuel cells.

If implemented, the 300-kilowatt proton exchange membrane power source would allow the 2,500-ton S-80 submarine to stay underwater longer than diesel submarines, UTC Power said. The submarines are designed for coastal protection.

"This application represents a whole new market for our fuel cell technology," said UTC Power President Jan van Dokkum. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

Navy extends Raytheon contract

Raytheon Co. said today that it received a $52 million contract extension from the U.S. Navy for sonar mine-detecting equipment.

The extension, which calls for nine of the sonar systems, brings the total contract value to $191 million for 20 systems.

Raytheon shares rose 22 cents to $61.71 in early trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

Earnings down at Beacon Roofing

Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. said today that its fourth-quarter profit fell but met Wall Street expectations as costs from recent acquisitions increased amid a slowdown in construction.

Net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 fell to $11.3 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with $14.6 million, or 32 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.

Revenue increased to $493.8 million, from $431.3 million a year ago. That was ahead of analysts' average forecast of $480 million. Beacon attributed the increase to recent acquisitions, including North Coast Commercial Roofing Systems, which it bought in the third quarter.

However, those same acquisitions and the opening of six new branches drove operating costs 13 percent higher, Beacon said. A widespread downturn in construction activity also pressured the company's bottom line.

"There have been continued lower levels of new home construction activities in most markets this year and flat-to-declining material prices," Beacon said. "In addition, there has been a significant slowdown in reconstruction and reroofing activities in the markets that experienced damages from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

Net income fell by nearly half during fiscal 2007, sinking to $25.3 million, or 56 cents per share, compared with $49.3 million, or $1.12 per share. Revenue increased to $1.65 billion, from $1.5 billion last year.

Those figures were slightly ahead of analysts' forecast earnings of 55 cents per share and revenue of $1.64 billion.

Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Buck said the economic problems that plagued Beacon in fiscal 2007 may continue next year.

"Although fiscal 2008 may also present a challenging environment for us, we remain confident in our business model and optimistic about our future," he said in a statement.

Beacon, one of the largest U.S. roofing suppliers, operates in more than 30 states and in Canada. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

State Street Global Advisors goes green

State Street Global Advisors announced today the launch of a new strategy that aims to capture investment opportunities resulting from actions affecting climate change.

State Street Global Advisors is the investment management arm of State Street Corp., a Boston-based provider of financial services to institutional investors.

State Street Global Advisors is calling its initiative the Global Environmental Opportunities Strategy, and the plan is for GEOS to invest in companies that are capitalizing on opportunities to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

"We believe global climate change will have a significant, long-term financial impact on the capital markets, and we expect that new opportunities will arise as a result of companies responding to climate change," Bill Page, a State Street Global Advisors vice president, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

Microwave Device assets sold

Chip maker Microsemi Corp. said today that it will buy the assets of Westford, Mass.-based microwave and chip component maker Microwave Device Technology Corp. for $7.8 million.

Microsemi said the all-cash deal will enable it to enter the sensor market and expand its microwave semiconductor range.

It also hopes to expand into alarms as well as motion and speed detectors. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

Oklahoma hospital licenses EClinicalWorks software

Westborough's eClinicalWorks said today that an Oklahoma hospital group is licensing some of its software as a way for the hospital group to streamline its operations.

EClinicalWorks is a provider of ambulatory clinical systems, and the hospital group is the Norman Physician Hospital Organization in Oklahoma.

The organization has a long-term goal to create a community health record for its patients, and implementing an eClinicalWorks integration system should be a major step in achieving that goal, eClinicalWorks said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

Monotype Imaging launches fonts for iPhones

Monotype Imaging Inc. said today it has released its iPhone Compatibility Font Set for mobile device manufacturers and applications developers.

Woburn-based Monotype Imaging is a global provider of text imaging solutions, and the iPhone is a recent product from Apple Inc. of California.

"The iPhone is helping to bring PC-like experiences to users, and fonts are a big part of that," Mark Brown, director of original-equipment manufacturers sales at Monotype Imaging, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)

Analog Devices projects earnings

Semiconductor maker Analog Devices Inc. on Tuesday projected fiscal first quarter earnings of 38 cents to 42 cents per share, excluding gains from the sale of some businesses.

The company, based in Norwood, said it expects revenue to be within 2 percentage points of its fourth-quarter sales of $648.5 million. The forecast implies revenue of $635.5 million and $661.5 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast profit of 40 cents per share on revenue of $697 million. Analyst forecasts typically exclude one-time adjustments.

Analog Devices shares rose 78 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $32 in after-hours trading. Earlier, the stock rose 76 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $31.22. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:43 AM | Comments (0)

Protonex powers record flight

Protonex Technology Corp. said today that a small unmanned aircraft powered by its fuel-cell system flew continuously for over seven hours, a record flight time for such an unmanned aerial vehicle.

The Southborough company develops and manufactures compact, lightweight fuel-cell systems for portable power applications.

According to Protonex, its development partner, AeroVironment Inc. of California, and the US Air Force Research Laboratory have documented a successful, record flight of AeroVironment's Puma unmanned aerial vehicle, which uses a highly advanced fuel-cell system from Protonex.

The standard Puma has a reported flight time of about two hours when powered by rechargeable batteries, Protonex noted.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:40 AM | Comments (0)

Textron to acquire Columbia Aircraft

Textron Inc., maker of Cessna airplanes and Bell Helicopters, will acquire Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Co., a bankrupt manufacturer of single-engine aircraft, for $26.4 million, the company said Tuesday.

Textron, which is based in Providence, is a diversified conglomerate that operates in the aircraft, golf, turf, auto and finance markets. It made the highest bid for Columbia at an Oregon bankruptcy court on Tuesday. Textron expects the deal to close Dec. 4, after which the Bend, Ore.-based target will become part of Textron's Cessna Aircraft subsidiary.

"The Columbia models are a good fit with our existing product line," Chief Executive Jack Pelton said in a statement. He said Textron will make "significant investments" in Bend, Ore., and add Columbia's more than 400 employees to Textron's payroll.

Cessna currently has eight single-engine models. Textron intends to rename the Columbia aircraft Cessna 350 and Cessna 400. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

Shoebuy.com reports strong Cyber Monday traffic

Shoebuy.com Inc. said today that its TV ad campaign helped drive more than a quarter of million visitors to its retail website on Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday traffic was 80 percent higher than last year's Cyber Monday traffic, the Boston company added.

According to Shoebuy.com, its online store carries more than 450 brands, including Crocs, Merrell, Stride Rite, and Sperry Top-Sider.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

US mortgage applications down

Mortgage applications decreased in the latest weekly survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The association, a trade group representing the real estate finance industry, said that its market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume was 652.5 for the week ending Nov. 23; on a seasonally and holiday adjusted basis, that reading was a decrease of 4.3 percent from the previous week's reading.

The association added that its refinance index decreased 15.3 percent from the previous week.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:22 AM | Comments (0)

EnerNOC completes public offering

EnerNOC Inc. today announced the Nov. 19th closing of its follow-on public offering of 2.5 million shares of its common stock at a price of $43.00 per share.

Of those shares, Boston-based EnerNOC said it sold 500,000 shares and selling stockholders sold 2 million shares; the net proceeds to EnerNOC, before expenses, are approximately $20.5 million.

EnerNOC uses technology to automate the so-called demand response process for electricity utilities by signing up commercial and industrial companies to conservation programs; during peak demand periods, such as hot summer days, EnerNOC uses its technology to remotely curtail the electricity consumption of companies that have signed onto the program as a way to lower the likelihood of brownouts and outages.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:17 AM | Comments (0)

Implant Sciences names Meyerhoff to security post

Implant Sciences Corp. said it has appointed Richard Meyerhoff as its new vice president of sales and service in the security division.

Meyerhoff replaces Joanne Arsenault, who recently left the company, Implant Sciences said.

Headquartered in Wakefield, Implant Sciences is a developer of explosives detection products and technology.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:08 AM | Comments (0)

Cyber Monday sales top $700 million

Cyber Monday spending at Internet retailers was $733 million, the first time a single day of online retail spending has broken the $700 million threshold, reported comScore Inc., a Virginia company that specializes in measuring the digital world.

Cyber Monday online spending was 21 percent higher than last year's Cyber Monday total, comScore said.

In 2007, meanwhile, comScore predicts that "a number of shopping days during the coming weeks will surpass the Cyber Monday total, with some days potentially surpassing $800 million."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2007

Laptop foundation sued over keyboard design

A Nigerian entrepreneur based in Natick says the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, of Cambridge, stole his company’s design for a multilingual keyboard.

Ade Oyegbola, founder and CEO of Lagos Analysis Corp., or Lancor, has sued the foundation in Nigeria, where the company’s keyboard is patented.

Oyegbola said he also plans to sue in US courts.

‘‘They can either do the right thing, sit down like they sat down with other companies and negotiate a royalty,’’ said Oyegbola, ‘‘or they can just stop.’’

Robert Fadel, the foundation’s director of operations, said in a written statement that he would not comment.

‘‘OLPC has not seen any legal papers related to the alleged suit as of this time,’’ Fadel said. ‘‘OLPC has the utmost respect for the rights of intellectual property owners. To OLPC’s knowledge, all of the intellectual property used in the XO Laptop is either owned by OLPC or properly licensed.’’

Nigeria is one of several developing countries currently testing the foundation’s XO laptop. Dozens are being used at an elementary school outside the capital city of Abuja. The foundation ultimately hopes to produce the laptops for $100 or less, and sell them by the millions to Nigeria and other developing countries, which will give the laptops to poor schoolchildren.

Oyegbola said his company spent seven years developing the Konyin Nigeria Multilingual Keyboard, which can easily reproduce the unusual punctuation marks used in dozens of Nigerian languages and dialects.

Oyegbola said Nicholas Negroponte, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who set up the foundation, purchased two Konyin keyboards in August 2006. In early January 2007, the foundation displayed an early version of its laptop at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. A friend of Oyegbola who owned a Konyin keyboard saw the XO laptop and was struck by its resemblance to Lancor’s product.

Oyegbola claims that the foundation not only reverse-engineered his keyboard’s software, but published it on a website used by its software developers. ‘‘They took our code and made it open source for all the world to see,’’ Oyegbola said.
(By Hiawatha Bray, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 5:00 PM | Comments (0)

New West End apartments have formal opening

The Boston Redevelopment Authority’s new director, John Palmieri, made his first public outing in Boston today, joining Mayor Thomas M. Menino for the formal opening of Equity Residential’s 104-unit West End luxury apartment building, Vesta.

He told the mayor that at the pace he’s attending meetings and events, he will soon exceed the number he attended during his years in Providence, Charlotte, N.C., and Hartford combined.

Vesta is the first of five new buildings Equity Residential is adding to the West End Apartments, formerly known as Charles River Park. The 14-story Vesta, off Blossom Street and along Storrow Drive, will be followed by three three-story Villas, with 12 units each, opening in January, and by Asteria, an 11-story, 170-unit tower that will open in May on Emerson Place.

The redevelopment of Charles River Park, developed by Jerome L. Rappaport Sr. starting in the 1960s and owned for about a decade by Equity Residential, includes expanding the park space by more than 50 percent and adding 660 parking spaces.

Greg White, an Equity Residential vice president, said no more buildings are permitted or contemplated in the immediate future. But, he added, "Equity’s committed to increasing our presence in the city of Boston."

The building was designed by David Manfredi of Elkus Manfredi Architects, of Boston. Interiors of common areas, including halls in two shades of yellow, are the work of Kenneth E. Hurd and Associates.

One- and two-bedroom units, some with priceless views of Boston and Cambridge, are priced at $2,200 to $9,900 a month.

White said 82 of the 104 units in the first building are leased.
(By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 4:07 PM | Comments (0)

Talbots reports loss on costs and falling sales

Retailer Talbots Inc. said today that it swung to a loss in its third quarter due to costs and declining sales, particularly at its namesake store chain.

But the Hingham-based company still managed to beat Wall Street's expectations.

For the quarter ended November 3rd, the company reported a loss of $9.4 million, compared with a profit of $8.1 million in the prior-year quarter.

Talbots said sales dropped about 4 percent at its Talbots chain, but rose about 5 percent at the smaller J. Jill business. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:56 PM | Comments (0)

True Religion will open Back Bay store

True Religion Apparel Inc., a California-based clothing brand, said today it plans to open a store on Newbury Street in the spring.

The store will be the first in New England for a company that expects to begin 2008 with 15 stores and open 18 additional stores during the year, company officials said in a press release; the company added that its clothing is also available in department stores and boutiques in 50 countries.

Located at 119 Newbury St., between Clarendon and Dartmouth streets, the 1,984-square-foot Boston store will offer the entire True Religion collection for men, women, and children, including signature denim, sportswear, and a full range of licensed product, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:22 PM | Comments (0)

Beverly man pleads guilty in fraud case

A Beverly man pleaded guilty yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court in connection with fraudulently obtaining more than $9,000 in unemployment benefits, the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley said today.

Charlie L. Williams, 41, was sentenced by Judge Margaret Hinkle to five years probation and was ordered to pay nearly $10,000 in restitution to the Division of Unemployment Assistance, the agency that administers the state's unemployment program, Coakley's office said.

Williams filed for and collected unemployment benefits that he was not entitled to because he was working at the time, Coakley's office said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

"Energy on Ice" will feature Bourque, Stanley Cup

Aspen Technology Inc. announced today "Energy on Ice," a charity hockey game in Bedford Dec. 2 that is scheduled to include an appearance by the Stanley Cup.

Aspen Technology, a Burlington supplier of software and services to process industries, said it will ice a team that includes former Bruin star Ray Bourque to take on a team from Gazprom, a Russian natural gas exporter.

The company said the Hockey Hall of Fame has confirmed that the Stanley Cup will be delivered to the game and available for photo opportunities with fans.

Besides Bourque, Aspen Technology said its All-Star team will include such hockey notables as Tony Amonte, Ted Donato, and Bobby Carpenter as well as AspenTech chief executive Mark Fusco, a hockey Olympian.

In conjunction with "Energy on Ice," AspenTech said it is providing funding to the USA Hockey Foundation to benefit youth hockey programs in Eastern Massachusetts.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:39 PM | Comments (0)

Reveal Imaging aims to improve baggage screening

Reveal Imaging Technologies Inc. said it has won a contract that could be worth up to $2.5 million to research techniques that will reduce false alarms during airport baggage screenings.

The Bedford company is a developer of advanced security inspection systems.

Funded by the US Department of Homeland Security, the contract calls for identifying the optimal design for computed tomography-based explosives-detection systems, Reveal Imaging said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:06 PM | Comments (0)

Gannett selects Maven Networks

Maven Networks Inc. of Cambridge, an Internet TV platform company, said today it will provide online video advertising and player solutions to Gannett Co.

Headquartered in Virginia, Gannett is an information and publishing company known for such newspapers as USA Today.

Maven said its technology platform will "enable Gannett to efficiently monetize and deliver thousands of hours of ad-supported news video throughout its more than 150 websites," including USAToday.com.

Other Maven customers include Fox News, Sony Pictures Television, and TV Guide.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)

PI Worldwide taps Stephens to be president

PI Worldwide, a Wellesley-based management consulting firm, announced today the appointment of Nancy J. Stephens to the position of president.

Before joining PI Worldwide, Stephens was chief executive of Global Sales Alliance, a sales training and consulting firm that PI Worldwide acquired in 2006; at that time, she became a vice president of PI Worldwide.

In her new position as president, Stephens will lead the PI Worldwide organization, which includes the corporate office and 45 locations around the world, the firm said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

Video games add $163 m to Mass. economy

The computer and video-game industry in Massachusetts grew by 12.3 percent last year, more than quadruple the state's overall growth, according to a new study.

The study by the Entertainment Software Association, an industry trade group, said that the local computer and video-game industry added $162.9 million to the Massachusetts economy in 2006.

The study is titled "Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the US Entertainment Software Industry," and it found that Massachusetts ranked fifth nationally in computer and video-game personnel in 2006, with 3,192 direct and indirect employees at roughly 29 facilities across the state, the association said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:45 AM | Comments (1)

Longwood Medical Area land sale is completed

Joslin Diabetes Center said today that it has completed a sale of land it had owned in Boston's Longwood Medical Area to a joint venture of developers that plans to build a life science research building on the site.

The land is located at the intersection of Longwood and Brookline avenues, said Joslin, which did not disclose a purchase price.

The sales agreement was made public in July, and a Globe story then indicated that the purchase price was more than $100 million.

The buyer of the property is a joint venture made up of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. of California, National Development of Newton, and Charles River Realty Investors of Newton.

Referring to the sale in a statement, Joslin president and chief executive Ranch C. Kimball said: "This is an important step forward in our quest to cure diabetes. This sales allows us to plan for expansion of our world-class research programs."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

Police tip line wins award

A crime stoppers tip line that lets citizens use their mobile phones to anonymously text-message information to the Boston Police Department won an award from the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange earlier this month.

The tip line won in the "Best Use of Mobile" category of its annual awards ceremony, and the award went to the tip line's developers - Boston ad agency Hill Holliday and VeriSign Inc., a California-based provider of Internet infrastructure for the networked world.

On its website, the Cambridge-based exchange describes itself as a "professional organization where technology, marketing, and digital media intersect."

The text component augments an existing telephone tip line; from June 15 to Aug. 15, the first two months that the text-message component was operational, the Boston Police Department received 365 text and phone tips, compared with 133 tips during the same period the previous year, VeriSign said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

SEC ends stock-options probe of Sepracor

Sepracor Inc. said today that the Securities and Exchange Commission has completed its investigation of the drug developer's historical stock option granting practices, and that no enforcement action has been recommended.

The Marlborough company said in June 2006 the SEC had begun an informal inquiry into its stock option granting, prompting the company to launch its own internal probe and, later, restate financial results.

The investigation was part of the SEC's sweeping probe into whether companies backdated options. Backdating is a practice in which stock option grants are dated retroactively to match up with low points in the share price, thereby increasing profits for the grantholder. Backdating itself is not illegal, but some companies ran into accounting and disclosure issues. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

Bind Biosciences secures financing

Bind Biosciences Inc. announced today that it has secured a $16 million Series B financing.

The Cambridge biopharmaceutical company said that the proceeds of this financing will be used to advance its preclinical product pipeline to clinical trials and to expand its product development capabilities.

Bind's founding investors - Polaris Venture Partners, which has offices in Waltham, and Flagship Ventures of Cambridge - were participants in the financing round, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:41 AM | Comments (0)

Staples profit dips as same-store sales decline

Staples Inc., the world's largest office products supplier, said today its third-quarter profit dipped 5 percent on its second straight quarterly decline in sales at stores open at least a year, and costs from a legal settlement of a wage dispute.

The earnings excluding the charge for the legal settlement still beat Wall Street's expectations. Its shares climbed more than 6 percent in premarket trading.

Framingham-based Staples said net income for the three-month period ended Nov. 3 was $274.5 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with a profit of $289.9 million, or 39 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Sales grew 9 percent to $5.17 billion from $4.76 billion a year ago, just short of the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who had expected sales of $5.18 billion in the latest period.

The latest quarter's profit was hurt by a $38 million charge from a settlement of a employee class-action by assistant store managers in California, who made claims seeking $150 million in an eight-year-old lawsuit alleging they were misclassified as exempt from overtime pay. The settlement, which Staples disclosed Nov. 3, shaved 4 cents per share from Staples' profit.

Not counting that expense, the latest quarter's profit was 42 cents per share, beating analysts' consensus forecast for a profit of 40 cents per share.

Staples shares rose $1.30, or 6.6 percent, to $21.06 in premarket trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

North American sales at stores open for at least a year fell 3 percent compared with a year ago, after declining 2 percent compared with the year-ago period in the second quarter -- a performance that broke a long string of quarterly same-store sales gains for Staples. Staples' North American delivery business grew 15 percent in the latest quarter. International sales rose 8 percent in local currency and 18 percent measured by U.S. dollars.

Framingham, Mass.-based Staples said the same-store sales decline was driven by lower sales of business machines, office furniture and computers, partially offset by sales gains at Staples' copy and print centers and basic office supplies.

Staples is among many retailers recently hurt by U.S. consumer worries about the housing slump, credit market troubles, and rising energy and food prices.

"While the economic environment in North America remains challenging, we are pleased to deliver profitable growth." said Ron Sargent, Staples' chairman and chief executive officer.

For the full year, the chain of more than 2,000 stores and 74,000 employees expects to record earnings growth of 15 percent -- in line with analysts expectations for a full-year profit of $1.41 per share, excluding one-time gains and expenses, for 11 percent earnings growth.

In the fourth quarter, Staples expects low double-digit sales growth overall, with flat to slightly negative same-store sales, and faster growth for its delivery and international businesses.

In its next fiscal year, Staples expects a high single-digit sales increase in percentage terms, and a low single-digit same-store sales increase in North America. Earnings growth is expected to be in the low teens. Analysts forecast 15 percent profit growth next year, with a profit of $1.63 per share, and sales growth of 9 percent, to $21.27 billion. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)

Talbots replaces Arnold with new ad agency

Clothing retailer Talbots Inc. of Hingham said today that it awarded the Talbots brand advertising account to Publicis after a two-month review process, replacing Boston-based Arnold Worldwide, which had served as Talbots agency of record since 1997.

"We are pleased to be working with Publicis, as we believe they will provide a new and innovative approach to marketing Talbots strong classic brand image," said Andrea McKenna, senior vice president of marketing and catalog development at Talbots. "Publicis has a significant track record in marketing to the baby boomer customer, which will be instrumental in helping us build on our legacy as the retail destination for the 35+ customer."

Talbots Inc. currently operates 1,428 stores in 47 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and the U.K., with 1,157 stores under the Talbots brand name and 271 stores under the J. Jill brand name. Both brands target the age 35-plus customer population. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:28 AM | Comments (0)

Will "pugnacious" be the word of the year?

Merriam-Webster OnLine, the Web unit of the Springfield-based dictionary folks, is ginning up its annual search for the word that best sums up the year about to end.

Visitors to the Merriam-Webster website can help make the choice for 2007 by voting on the site, Merriam-Webster said, and last year, the overwhelming majority of voters chose "truthiness," a word made popular by talk-show host Stephen Colbert. (Click to this link to see Merriam-Webster's entry on "truthiness.")

This year, visitors to Merriam-Webster OnLine may choose from a list culled from 2007's most frequently look-up words on Merriam-Webster OnLine and and from Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary, Merriam-Webster said.

One candidate for the 2007 word of the year is "pugnacious," which former President Gerald R. Ford used to describe Vice President Dick Cheney, Merriam-Webster said.

Click on this link for more information about 2007 candidates.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)

Cyber Monday traffic up

An afternoon traffic report for Cyber Monday gave preliminary indications that online shoppers were out in full force yesterday.

The report was issued by Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, a trade group of retailers.

Preliminary data suggest that traffic on CyberMonday.com, a website that offers promotions and special deals from more than 550 online retailers, was running three times higher than traffic on Cyber Monday 2006, Shop.org said.

"Online retailers stepped up their promotions on Cyber Monday this year, and millions of consumers responded," Shop.org executive director Scott Silverman said in a statement. "If there was any doubt before, this year it is certain: Cyber Monday is a permanent fixture on the retail calendar."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:54 AM | Comments (0)

Verizon's FiOS coming to Waltham

Waltham Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy has granted Verizon Communications Inc. a cable franchise for its FiOS TV service, Verizon said.

As a result of McCarthy's action, the FiOS TV will become available to about 15,000 additional households, Verizon said.

According to Verizon, its FiOS TV is superior to TV services offered by rivals.

Waltham brings to 62 the total number of Massachusetts communities where FiOS TV is or will soon be available, Verizon said.

According to a filing with state regulators, FiOS TV had fewer than 12,000 Massachusetts customers at the end of 2006. Verizon has said that FiOS TV has seen much growth in the Bay State since, but it is not disclosing the current number of Massachusetts subscribers for "competitive reasons."

Headquartered in New York, Verizon delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless services to mass market, business, government, and wholesale customers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:49 AM | Comments (0)

Sovereign re-opens South Boston branch

Sovereign Bank plans to celebrate the "grand re-opening" of its South Boston community banking office today.

As part of the festivities, Sovereign said it will present a donation to the South Boston Neighborhood House.

Sovereign's parent is Sovereign Bancorp Inc. of Pennsylvania.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)

Mass. housing slide deepens

The median price for a single-family house in Massachusetts slumped 6.5 percent in October, the biggest percentage decline this year, according to a report today on the state's housing market.

The Warren Group, a Boston real estate publishing firm, said the median house price last month was $290,000, down from $310,000 in October 2006.

The Warren Group also calculated price changes for property sales, excluding sales of foreclosed properties: The median house price for these properties fell just 0.6 percent.

A separate report on the state's housing market was issued also issued today, the second report coming from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which uses a different set of data to take its monthly snapshot of sales.

According to the realtors group, the median selling price for a detached single-family home in October was $330,000, down 3.2 percent from a year ago, and the volume of single-family homes sold was 3,048 in October, down 11.4 percent from October 2006.

The price declines continued in the wake of the severe credit crunch last summer, when mortgages became more difficult for many buyers to obtain and uncertainty about the housing market mushroomed. According to the Warren Group, house sales plunged 17.1 percent, to 3,646 in October compared with a year ago. In September, sales declined 18.7 percent sales.

Warren's chief executive, Timothy Warren Jr., said the credit crunch is still plaguing the financial industry. Prices, he said, are "relatively steady" -- the 6.5 percent price drop last month is slightly higher than drops in the 4 percent range in previous months. "But that could change if sales don't bounce back in the coming months," he said.

For the year, through October, single-family sales volume is 7 percent below sales in the first 10 months of 2006, the Warren Group said.

Condominium sales statewide fell 16 percent, to 1,874 units in October, and the median price declined 1.5 percent, to $257,100.

Excluding foreclosed properties, condo prices gained 3 percent, the Warren Group said.

As for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, it said the October median selling price for a Bay State condo was $279,950, up 7.3 percent from October 2006, and the volume of Bay State condos sold in October was 1,309 units, down 13.2 percent from October 2006.

"While sales were down last month, it is important to note that year-to-date residential sales activity is off only 2 percent from this time last year," Doug Azarian, president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said in a statement. "In addition, residential inventory continues to decline from a year ago, and mortgage rates have come down in recent months. For qualified buyers, this remains a good time to buy."
(By Chris Reidy and Kimberly Blanton, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:20 AM | Comments (0)

November 26, 2007

Mass. AG asks auto insurers to lower rates

Attorney General Martha Coakley is urging the state's automobile insurers to lower their 2008 rates, saying their initial filings last week included more than $200 million in extra profits and payments to agents that wouldn't have been allowed by regulators in previous years.

Coakley said the state's average premium would have fallen 11 percent if the extra profit and agent commissions were removed from the company filings.

The attorney general said the initial company rate plans filed last Monday would have driven down the state's average premium 6 percent, not the 7.7 percent announced by Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes. Coakley said Burnes lumped group discounts in her calculation, resulting in an apples-to-oranges comparison with previous years.

Insurers have until noon Tuesday to amend their initial filings, which cover policies renewing April 1. Some companies have already said they plan to adjust their rates downward.

Coakley was traveling and unavailable for comment yesterday, but her office issued a statement in which she said she was asking questions to make sure that information is available to all parties as the state transitions from a system where state regulators set all auto insurance rates to one where companies set their own rates subject to regulatory approval. The Patrick administration calls the new system "managed competition."

"At this stage, it is too early to make a determination about whether managed competition will advantage or disadvantage consumers," Coakley said in her statement.
(By Bruce Mohl, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)

Idera moving to Nasdaq market

The Cambridge drug developer Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc. will move its listing to the Nasdaq Global Market.

Its stock has been approved to be listed on the Nasdaq, and the company today said it expects to begin trading under the new symbol, IDRA, on Dec. 10. It has been trading under the symbol IDP on the American Stock Exchange.
(AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

Sullivan Tire signs up Dustin Pedroia

Sullivan Tire & Auto Service said today that it has signed Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia to a promotional contract for the 2008 baseball season.

Plans call for Pedroia to appear in Sullivan Tire television commercials on local TV stations starting next spring, said the Norwell-based company, which operates 46 retail locations and 15 commercial truck tire centers in much of New England.

The company noted that Pedroia follows a long line of local sports figures to be featured in its ads including Dennis Eckersley, Cam Neely, Marvin Hagler, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, and Terry Francona.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)

Mass. farmers harvest federal grants

Programs to promote Massachusetts-grown flowers and highlight the health benefits of cranberries were among those funded by a federal grant, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources said.

Money from the grant also included $20,000 for an Internet marketing program for local apple growers and $42,096 for developing a new culinary tourism initiative that will promote farmers and chefs utilizing local specialty crops, the department said.

The projects were among those funded by the department through a federal Specialty Crop Block Grant, the department said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

Survey: Mass. gas prices top $3 a gallon

Gasoline prices are up another 2 cents per gallon in Massachusetts, topping the $3 per gallon mark for the first time in six months.

Prices are up for the sixth consecutive week in a statewide survey by AAA of Southern New England. The survey found an average price of $3.01 for a gallon of regular, self-serve gasoline. That compares with $2.99 one week ago.

The current average is just below this year's peak price in Massachusetts, set in late May when the average reached $3.04 per gallon.

Massachusetts' average price is seven cents below the national average of $3.08 per gallon.

Prices at the pump are rising after a recent spike in crude oil prices on the global market. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

Arnold lands Bahamas ad account

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation has awarded its advertising account to Boston ad agency Arnold Worldwide.

A ministry press release did not indicate the budget for its advertising account, but noted that it awarded its account to Arnold's office in Washington, D.C., after an ad agency search.

Among other clients on Arnold's roster are such brands as Fidelity Investments, Timberland Co., and Volvo.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

Enterasys debuts secure network for virtual centers

Enterasys Networks Inc., an Andover company that makes routers and switches for corporate networks, announced today that it is now offering secure networks for virtual data centers.

As more organizations adopt virtualization technologies to reduce equipment and energy costs in their data centers, Enterasys said it is looking for new solutions to address the security, management, and operations challenges that new data-center technologies have introduced.

To that end, the company has introduced the Enterasys Secure Networks for Virtual Data Centers solution.

Software for virtualization technology enables the server computers used by businesses and other enterprises to run multiple operating systems, in effect transforming themselves into "virtual servers" that let organizations add computing power at low cost.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

Texterity delivers to iPhone, iPod touch

Texterity Inc., a Southborough provider of digital publishing solutions, announced that 52 digital magazines are now available to consumers with the iPhone and the iPod touch, two products from Apple Inc.

Among the publishing companies participating in the Texterity program are Hearst Corp., Time Inc., and Ziff Davis Media, Texterity said.

"Mobile delivery is one more way we help publishers attract new subscribers and generate results for their advertisers," Cimarron Buser, Texterity's vice president of marketing, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

Alnylam lands German gene-silencing patent

Biotechnology company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. said German officials granted the company a patent that covers 52 claims for small interfering RNA's.

The goal of RNAi-based treatments is to target the gene at the root of a disease or condition and "silence" or switch it off without affecting other genes or cells. The patent granted to Alnylam, called '607,' is part of the Kreutzer-Limmer I patent series.

The patent series has been licensed to the company's development and research partners. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

Cyber Monday sales could top $700 million

Online spending today - Cyber Monday - could surpass $700 million, a record one-day amount, according to comScore Inc.

The Virginia company said it partly based its Cyber Monday estimate on spending patterns between Nov. 1 and Nov. 23; during that period, online shoppers shelled out $9.3 billion, or 17 percent more than they did during the comparable period last year.

Online retail spending last Friday - so-called Black Friday - was $531 million, up 22 percent from a year ago, comScore reported.

"Based on the growth rates we've seen so far this season and historical consumer behavior patterns, we would expect Cyber Monday sales to be even stronger than Black Friday's and to exceed $700 million," comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. "While this would make it the heaviest online shopping day on record, we can expect to see even stronger days ahead as the 2007 shopping season progresses into December."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)

Oxfam offers earth-friendly gifts

When it comes to holiday shopping, there may be no higher gift than the lowly worm.

That's the message from Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization that is headquartered in Boston.

The organization has set up a website at www.OxfamAmericaUnwrapped.com where interested consumers can buy earth-friendly gifts for people in need, including farmers and school children.

One recommendation: An $18 can of worms that farmers can use as an "indispensable tool for cultivating their land," Oxfam America said.

For do-gooders with a larger budget, a $30 gift should lead to the planting of 50 trees, and $45 will fetch a sheep, Oxfam America said.

"Oxfam America Unwrapped is a truly unique way to support the fight against global poverty," Stephanie Kurzina, an Oxfam America vice president, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)

Handcycle designers use SolidWorks tech

SolidWorks Corp. of Concord said today that its 3-D computer-aided design software has been used to develop a handcycle that can morph into a high-rider position that offers some of the benefits of a wheelchair.

Handcycles are popular with some people with disabled legs, but handcycles have a drawback: They're too unwieldy to maneuver in stores, so a handcyclist who's just logged 50 miles is out of luck if he or she wants to buy some water or freshen up at a rest stop along the way.

Move With Freedom, a nonprofit Cambridge group, used SolidWorks software to design a more versatile handcycle, SolidWorks said.

The new vehicle is a traditional handcycle when in its "stretched out low-rider position," but when "morphed into high-rider position, it has a wheelchair's agility for navigating doorways and aisles," said SolidWorks, which added that the vehicle "also puts the user at eye-level with standing persons - optimal for picking items from store shelves."

SolidWorks is part of Dassault Systemes S.A., a French company that develops and markets software for design, analysis, and product data management.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)

Inverness buys ParadigmHealth

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., a Waltham medical diagnostics company, said today it has agreed to buy ParadigmHealth Inc. in all cash deal for $230 million.

New Jersey-based ParadigmHealth is a provider and integrator of care and disease-management services for acutely ill and clinically complex patients, said Inverness, which has disclosed about a dozen acquisitions so far this year.

"The acquisition is a significant step in our strategy to become a leader in disease and health management services," Inverness chief executive Ron Zwanziger said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:59 AM | Comments (0)

Brookstone launches 3-D online store

Brookstone Inc., a New Hampshire-based retailer known for massage products and unusual gifts, announced today the launch of a 3-D online store.

Brookstone said it worked with Kinset Inc., a Marlborough technology company, on the project and added that online shoppers will enter the 3-D store and use their mouse to navigate inside the store, browse aisles, view product images and details, and make purchases.

"The Brookstone Kinset 3-D store has transformed e-commerce from a two-dimensional task of searching and viewing texts and images to a deeper, more robust and interactive journey of browsing and discovery," Brookstone vice president Greg Sweeney said in a statement. "This new technology allows our online customers to enjoy Brookstone's dynamic store experience from the comfort of their own homes."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:57 AM | Comments (0)

Survey indicates strong Cyber Monday sales

This is Cyber Monday, a red-letter day for the online holiday shopping season, and one survey estimates that 72 million consumers plan to shop online from home or at work today.

That number would be up from 60.7 million last year and 59 million in 2005, said the author of the survey, Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, a trade group of retailers.

In those benighted days of yesteryear - a.k.a. 1999 - most consumers had a slow, dial-up modems for accessing the Internet from home, and so the theory was that after several days of window-shopping at the malls over Thanksgiving weekend, they would show up at work on Monday and use the boss's high-speed Internet connections to do some online shopping.

Even though many consumers now have high-speed Internet connections at home, the traditiion of Cyber Monday remains, in part because many online retailers key their promotions to the day.

"Retailers will be unveiling a variety of incredible one-day sales on Cyber Monday to bring consumers to their websites," Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:40 AM | Comments (0)

Study: 46% of US will shop online today

Natick retailer BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. said that a study it commissioned found that 46 percent of working Americans said they expect to shop online today - Cyber Monday - while they are at work.

Looking to lure such online shoppers, BJ's said its redesigned online store at www.bjs.com features such specials as a three-person spa for $2,499.99, after $1,000 off.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:34 AM | Comments (0)

Hub weighs in last on obesity list

When it comes to wolfing down Thanksgiving dinner - and everything else from gourmet fare to fast-food and Fenway franks - Hub chowhounds may be lightweights, or so proclaims an article posted on Yahoo! Real Estate.

The article, written by a reporter from Forbes.com, noted that Boston ranked last on a list of America's 50 most obese cities.

Weighing in at number one? Memphis, Tenn., a venue known for fried cooking, barbecues sauces, and the impressive appetite of the late Elvis Presley.

The list of most obese cities was drawn up using 2006 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the Forbes.com article noted, and cities at the top of the list tended to have concentrations of poverty and fast-food outlets.

Overall, 32 percent of the nation is obese, according to CDC benchmarks, as are 34 percent of the people in Memphis, which also qualifies as the country's most sedentary city.

Despite being overly fond of ice cream, fried clams, and milk-based chowders, Boston ranked last on the obesity list, with only 19 percent of its population meeting the obesity standard.
(By David Beard and Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)

November 21, 2007

Attorney general offers holiday shopping tips

As consumers prepare for Friday, traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley offered some shopping advice.

What follows is a sampling of pointers and facts that Coakley's office thinks shoppers should be aware of.

Under state law, a gift certificate or merchandise credit must be redeemable for seven years, and once a consumer redeems the gift certificate or gift card for 90 percent of its value, the balance is redeemable in cash.

A Massachusetts retailer can have any refund, return, or cancellation policy it wants, but that policy must be disclosed to the consumer before the transaction is started.

When shopping online, do business only with companies you know.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:56 PM | Comments (0)

Gray, Gray & Gray gives $5,000 for river clean-up

The Westwood-based accounting firm of Gray, Gray & Gray LLP said today it has donated $5,000 to a nonprofit group dedicated to keeping the Charles River pristine.

Gray, Gray & Gray said its donation was from the proceeds of the firm's annual year-end seminar, which covers a wide range of topics of interest to both business and individual taxpayers.

The donation was made to the Charles River Clean Up Boat, a nonprofit group, the firm said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:57 PM | Comments (0)

Sycamore gets SEC notice over stock-option probe

Sycamore Networks Inc. said today that it received a Wells Notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the agency's investigation into its stock-option granting practices and related accounting.

In a filing with the SEC, the Chelmsford optical-network company said that the SEC staff has preliminarily decided to recommend that the agency bring a civil action against the firm for possible violations of the securities laws.

Under the SEC rules, Sycamore can respond in writing before the agency's staff makes any formal recommendation, and the company said it plans to do that.

"The staff may seek remedies, including, among other things, a permanent injunction and a civil penalty," said Sycamore, which received the notice Monday.

The company disclosed last year that the SEC has begun a formal investigation of the company over its stock-option grants for the years 1999 to 2001, which Sycamore said were "erroneously accounted for" and led to financial restatements.

Also last year, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts issued a grand jury subpoena to the company seeking documents related to its stock-option grants.

Sycamore has said that its audit committee found instances of backdating of stock options.

On the Nasdaq Stock Market, Sycamore shares traded this afternoon at $3.96, down 1 percent. (Dow Jones)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:39 PM | Comments (0)

Interest in outdoor wood boilers grows

HAMPDEN -- Rob and Lynne Wallace jumped at the chance to install an outdoor wood boiler two years ago to heat their home and water supply.

For a year, they were immune to fluctuating fuel oil prices. Their family-owned tree service provided more than enough wood, stacked under a canopy near the furnace about 50 paces from their back patio.

But earlier this year, their small western Massachusetts town set limits on the outdoor boilers that forced the Wallaces to shut theirs down.

Concerned about air quality and neighborhood disputes, Hampden joined a growing number of communities nationwide setting their own rules on the increasingly popular wood boilers, which are not federally regulated. The US Environmental Protection Agency recommends emissions and air quality standards, but does not regulate where and when the wood-fired burners can be installed or used.

Rules are patchy on the state level, too.

Some states, including Connecticut and Maine, have regulations and let their municipalities adopt even stricter limits or ban the boilers altogether. Massachusetts has considered statewide rules but has not enacted them, while Michigan offers a model ordinance that local governments can adopt in the absence of statewide standards.

The Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, a government coalition, estimates more than 155,000 wood boilers have been sold since 1990 in the Northeast, upper Midwest states and other areas prone to cold winters.

For those with easy access to wood, the boilers could make their homes among the few that are not vulnerable to swings in fuel oil and natural gas prices.

A recent Energy Department report says the cost of natural gas, used by 58 percent of American households, could rise 10 percent this winter. Heating oil, used by 7 percent of the country's homes, could jump 22 percent. Those who use electricity and propane will also see increases, with the prices of those sources estimated to rise 4 percent and 16 percent, respectively, this winter.

The Wallaces and others say wood boilers are an economical heat source that uses a renewable resource rather than dwindling foreign fuels.

"We're not hillbillies or trashy people. We're educated people who did our homework before we made our purchase, and we made it a point to operate it very conscientiously," said Lynne Wallace, whose unit would comply with the new town rules only if they spend thousands to move it elsewhere on their land.

The boilers resemble small sheds and burn wood to heat water, which is piped underground to the nearby home or other structure to provide heat and hot water. Some owners also use them for hot tubs, greenhouses, and businesses such as dairy barns.

Depending on their size, their purchase price can range from about $5,000 to $15,000. That does not include pouring the foundation on which they sit, installing underground piping, extending the unit's smoke stack to exceed the height of any nearby roof, and other costs.

Their proliferation has prompted disputes over where they can be operated, the amount and smell of smoke emitted and other neighborhood issues. Many of those conflicts are being played out in town meetings and the offices of selectmen, mayors and health boards.

"You don't realize what you're dealing with until you get this haze all around your house and your back yard," said Chris Anderson, who bought his home in East Longmeadow, Mass., last year before learning that his neighbor had one of the boilers.

That 13-square-mile town, surrounded on all sides by communities with limits on the units, is considering its own rules. Emotions have been running high, however, about whether the limits should include existing units -- as in neighboring Hampden -- or apply only to newly installed boilers.

"My wife and I saved up for our dream house and this is the biggest investment of my life, and we can't enjoy it," Anderson said. "I'm not saying they should be banned everywhere, if they're put up in a good place away from other houses, but why should we be smoked out?"

Advocates of the boilers say irresponsible users -- those who burn trash, chemically treated wood and other unacceptable substances -- are ruining it for others who stick to the clean, seasoned wood recommended by manufacturers.

"We beg our customers to extend their chimneys higher up so the smoke disperses where their neighbors aren't affected, and we beg our customers to burn only the right wood," said Scott Bradley, owner of Mainline Heating & Supply of Ashford, Conn.

"We tell them you have the right to use a wood burner and stop using foreign oil, but you never have the right to smoke out your neighbor," he said.

In an attempt to avert such problems, Connecticut requires the boilers to be at least 200 feet from the nearest home not served by the unit, and also mandates chimney heights and the quality of the wood to be burned.

But those rules apply only to burners installed after July 2005, and towns can set stricter regulations or refuse to "grandfather in" older units if they wish. Some communities have banned the outdoor boilers altogether, including several in western Massachusetts and the eastern Connecticut towns of Hebron and Tolland.

Robert Girard, assistant director of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's air enforcement division, said the department urges potential buyers to research whether their site is suitable before they make the purchase.

"Sometimes they're just not put in the right place because of the topography, the closeness of neighbors, things like that," he said. "There have been a number of cases where people have had to remove the units after they've spent a lot of money to put them in."

The Wallace family, which has returned to oil heat for their Hampden home, is still pondering what to do about the wood-fired boiler that sits cold and empty outside their house.

"It would have paid for itself in a few years," Lynne Wallace said, peering into the unit's firebox on a chilly recent morning. "And here it sits, off." (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:09 PM | Comments (0)

Inverness said it has closed a public offering

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., a Waltham medical diagnostics company, said today that it closed its previously announced public offering yesterday.

The company said it sold a total of 13,634,302 shares in the offering at a public offering price of $61.49 per share. The total number of shares sold by the company included 1,800,000 shares sold to the underwriters upon their exercise of their over-allotment option in full. Certain selling stockholders of the company also sold 165,698 shares of common stock in the offering. The net proceeds to the company from the offering were approximately $806.4 million, Inverness said.

UBS Investment Bank, Jefferies & Co. Inc., and Merrill Lynch & Co. are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering, Inverness said.

Leerink Swann LLC and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc. are acting as co-managers for the offering, Inverness said.

Inverness has made a series of acquisitions this year as it looks to expand its portfolio of products that enable individuals to take charge of their health.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

Alkermes expects $174 million from Reliant stake

Cambridge biotechnology company Alkermes Inc. said today it will receive up to $174 million in cash after GlaxoSmithKline buys out Reliant Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Alkermes owns a stake in Reliant. U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline is buying privately held Reliant for $1.65 billion.

After that deal closes, Alkermes will receive $166.3 million and then up to an additional $7.7 million subject to the terms of an escrow agreement that will remain in effect for 15 months.

Alkermes said it plans to use the proceeds and existing cash to buy back shares of common stock. The company's board of directors previously authorized the buyback of $175 million worth of stock.

Shares of Alkermes rose 69 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $13.45 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded between $12.30 and $18.78 over the past 52 weeks.

On the New York Stock Exchange, shares of GlaxoSmithKline fell 7 cents to $48.14 in morning trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

Mortgage rates continue to decline

Mortgage rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to their lowest point since May, according to the weekly survey from Freddie Mac.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage this week was 6.20 percent, down from the 6.24 percent average for the previous week, and up slightly from the 6.18 percent average rate for the same week a year ago, Freddie Mac said.

This week's rate was the lowest since mid May when it averaged 6.15 percent.

"The housing market remains weak, continuing to be a drag on the economy," Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft said in a statement.

Freddie Mac is the informal name for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., a stockholder owned company chartered by Congress to create a flow of funds to mortgage lenders.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

College students job-hunting for winter break

According to a recent survey, 53 percent of college students looking for jobs during their winter break had yet to find jobs as of Nov. 15.

The survey is from Experience Inc., a Boston-based career network that seeks to bridge the gap between college and the working world.

"Since 40 percent of students reported that they don't even start looking for a job until November, there is still time for employers to recruit," Jennifer Floren, founder and chief executive of Experience, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:59 AM | Comments (0)

Meredith & Grew will lease Pappas Center

Meredith & Grew said it has been appointed as the exclusive leasing agent for the Pappas Commerce Center in Boston's Seaport District.

Encompassing about 50 acres of commercial land, the Pappas Commerce Center contains more than 800,000 square feet of office, retail and industrial space; current tenants include W.B. Mason, Emerson College, and UPS, Meredith & Grew said.

Meredith & Grew is a Boston-based commercial real estate company.

The landlord of the Pappas Commerce Center is Pappas Enterprises Inc., a Boston-based real estate company and developer.

Posted by globebusiness at 9:43 AM | Comments (0)

Mortgage applications fell in weekly survey

Mortgage applications decreased in its latest weekly survey, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.

For the week ending Nov. 16, the survey's Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 681.7, a decrease of 3.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week's reading, said the association, which represents the real estate finance community.

On an unadjusted basis, this week's reading was up 9.8 percent when compared with the reading for the same week a year earlier, the association said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:26 AM | Comments (0)

AT&T expands upgraded wireless network

AT&T Inc. said today that its third-generation high-speed wireless network in now available in the Worcester and Springfield markets.

The upgrade allows commuters access to the third-generation network along the Massachusetts Turnpike from Worcester to Boston, Texas-based AT&T added.

Future expansion plans call for the third-generation network to come to New Bedford and other parts of southeastern Massachusetts, AT&T said.

According to the company, customers realize faster speeds while on the third-generation network; they can download, access the Internet, and use a number of different multimedia services at broadband-type speeds.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)

Crocs shoe store is coming to the Hub

There's grand news for fashion-forward folks who think Crocs are the last word in tony footwear.

Crocs Inc. of Colorado announced today that it will open retail stores in Boston and New York on Friday.

The stores will be the company's first East Coast locations, and the Boston store is setting up shop in the historic Haymarket area at Faneuil Hall, Crocs said.

According to the company, all Crocs brand shoes feature Crocs' proprietary closed-cell resin, Croslite, a material that enables its pioneering cobblers to craft "soft, comfortable, lightweight, superior-gripping, non-marking, and odor-resistant shoes."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

Converse line will be sold in Target stores

Sneaker brand Converse Inc. said it has reached an agreement with Target Corp., the giant discount retailer, to offer an exclusive lineup of vintage athletic apparel and footwear at Target stores starting in February.

The product lineup is called the One Star collection, and it will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign, North Andover-based Converse said.

Minnesota-based Target will offer One Star exclusive lifestyle and "vintage inspired contemporary sportswear collections for men and women," said Converse, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Oregon sneaker behemoth Nike Inc.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)

Extech agrees to be sold to FLIR

Extech Instruments of Waltham said that it has agreed to be acquired by FLIR Systems Inc. of Oregon for $40 million in cash.

Extech is a supplier of test and measurement equipment, and FLIR designs, manufactures, and markets thermal imaging and infrared camera systems. Extech employs 90 workers, nearly all of them in Massachusetts

No layoffs at Extech are planned, and the expectation is that Extech will be looking to hire new people, Extech president and owner Jerry Blakeley said through a spokeswoman.

With this acquisition, Extech's product portfolio will increase, bringing the addition of thermal imagers and infrared cameras to its current lineup of 15 product categories, Extech said.

The addition of Extech will also expand FLIR's access to key distribution channels for its emerging low-price thermography products and provide access to low cost manufacturing in Asia, Extech said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:53 AM | Comments (0)

Westwood Station wins key approval

The Westwood Planning Board voted unanimously last night to approve the master plan special permit for Westwood Station, a $1.5 billion mixed-use project, the project's development team said.

The project's developers envision a 4.5-million square-foot development of Class A office buildings, retail shops and restaurants, luxury condominiums, two hotels, and landscaped public parks adjacent to the Route 128 Amtrak/MBTA commuter rail station in Westwood.

The local approval concludes three years of planning and permitting by developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes and its joint-venture partners, Commonfund Realty Inc. and New England Development, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes said.

The development team noted that the project received state approval earlier this month when the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency issued a Final Environmental Impact Report.

The first phase of Westwood Station, which includes about 90 retail shops and restaurants, a 125,000-square-foot office building, and 500 residential units, is expected to open in the fall of 2009, the development team said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:37 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

Nursing home settles with attorney general

The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said today that it has reached an agreement with a nursing home owner to settle allegations that it failed to properly take care of one of its patients.

Under the agreement, Pennsylvania-based Genesis HealthCare Corp., the operator of Wachusett Manor in Gardner, will pay $75,000 to the state to settle allegations of neglect, said Coakley's office, which added that in agreeing to the settlement, Genesis did not admit to liability.

The settlement stems from a case in which a 44-year-old resident of Wachusett Manor developed "pressure ulcers" that required hospitalization, Coakley's office said.

In an e-mailed statement, a Genesis spokeswoman wrote: "The care of our residents is our foremost concern, and Wachusett Manor will continue to focus its resources on the best interests of the residents in most complex and challenging of circumstances. The settlement with Wachusett Manor reflects the intentions of both the attorney general's office and Wachusett Manor to avoid the cost and burden of further proceedings and to reach an agreement on allegations that are very much in dispute."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:50 PM | Comments (0)

AGs say sale won't help TJX data-breach victims

Ten state attorneys general are objecting to a three-day ‘‘customer appreciation’’ sale planned by TJX Cos. to help pay back customers hurt by a massive data breach, saying the biggest benefit would go to the retailer’s bottom line.

The 15 percent off event, which TJX described when it announced a class-action settlement in September, ‘‘is nothing more than a retail sale, which would primarily benefit the defendant, TJX Companies,’’ Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a letter to the Boston-based judge considering whether to approve the pact.

Coakley, who is leading a multistate probe of the data theft, wrote on behalf of nine other attorneys general.

She asked US District Judge William Young to reject counting the sale as a settlement benefit, or ‘‘at the very least, subject the Special Event to heightened scrutiny before approval.’’

TJX said in March that at least 45.7 million cards were exposed to possible fraud in a breach of its computer systems that began in July 2005, but wasn’t detected until December 2006. Recent court filings by banks that also are suing TJX estimate the total number of cards affected at more than 100 million.

A spokeswoman for Framingham-based TJX declined to comment.

Coakley said it’s unclear what benefit a sale would have for class-action members harmed by the breach, either because they had credit cards replaced as a precaution or were targets of identity theft.

In addition to requiring the sale, the proposed settlement specifies that TJX offer vouchers to customers who show they shopped at TJX stores in the United States and Canada, including Puerto Rico (except Bob’s Stores) during the breach and incurred related costs.

TJX also would provide three years of credit monitoring and identity theft insurance to certain customers who returned merchandise without a receipt and were sent letters notifying them that their driver’s license or other identification information may have been compromised.

Some of those customers also will be reimbursed for the cost of replacing drivers’ licenses.
(AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:42 PM | Comments (0)

SEC distributes $31.5m to injured investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today said it has distributed $31.5 million in Fair Funds to more than 150,000 Massachusetts Financial Services Co. investors who were injured by past market timing.

This is the first in a series of disbursements that will return about $306 million to affected Massachusetts Financial account holders, the SEC said.

The Fair Fund resulted from an SEC enforcement action charging unlawful conduct by Massachusetts Financial Services and two of its former officers by allowing widespread market-timing trading in certain of its mutual funds, contrary to those funds’ public disclosures.
(Dow Jones)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:16 PM | Comments (0)

Candela names Caplan chief operating officer

Candela Corp. announced today it has appointed Jay D. Caplan in the newly created position of chief operating officer.

Wayland-based Candela manufactures and distributes solutions that enable doctors and personal care practitioners to treat certain cosmetic and medical conditions using lasers and other technologies.

Most recently, Caplan was chief technology officer at InfraReDX, a Burlington-based medical device company focused on treatments for problems with coronary arteries, Candela said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

Poll: Boston #2 online shopping city

Boston is projected to be the number two online shopping city this holiday season, behind only Philadelphia, according to a poll out today.

The AOL Shopping/Zogby Interactive poll surveyed Internet users in 20 US markets, and it found that, nationwide, 74 percent of consumers who participated in the survey said they plan to do at least some holiday shopping online.

Those numbers climb to 78.6 percent for Boston and to 79.3 percent for Philadelphia, AOL/Zogby said.

Meanwhile, a second, separate survey noted that Americans plan to spend a quarter of their holiday gift-giving budgets on gift cards this year, up from 18 percent in 2006.

The second survey is from American Express and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Shoppers will buy six gift cards on average, that survey said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

Index: Global investor confidence fell in November

An index that measures global investor confidence fell by 7.7 points to a November reading of 74.3 from a revised October reading of 82, with North American investors as the key drivers in the decline.

The index is from State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corp. Boston-based State Street Corp. provides financial services to institutional investors.

The investor confidence index for North America fell from 90.4 in October to 78.9 in November, its second lowest reading since the index began in 2003, State Street Global Markets said.

The index was developed by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates director Paul O'Connell.

"This month's decline in investor confidence takes place against a backdrop of deteriorating fundamentals, including a diminished outlook for consumer spending and global growth and some acute credit pressures on the financial sector," Froot said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

Mass. Sec. of State obtains cease-and-desist order against Winthrop man

Secretary of State William F. Galvin has obtained an immediate cease-and-desist order against a Winthrop man for continuing to resell life insurance policies and dissipating the asset of investors, Galvin's office said today.

The Winthrop man, Joseph Gennaco, denied any wrongdoing.

In May, Galvin charged Gennaco with fraudulently selling insurance-related investment schemes that targeted the elderly, and today's motion stated that he has continued the practice with new investors, while continuing to operate as an unregistered investment adviser selling unregistered securities.

During a telephone interview today, Gennaco said, "I didn't target anybody."

He added: "The words 'schemes' and 'fraud' are used very loosely. We're selling people things they want."

According to Galvin's office, Gennaco can request a hearing on the cease-and-desist order.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:44 AM | Comments (0)

Report: Mass. foreclosure problems are continuing

Massachusetts foreclosure deeds fell in September, and auction announcements held steady, but a rise in petitions - the first step in the foreclosure process - indicated that the state's problems with rising foreclosures are not finished.

So stated a report on statewide foreclosure activity out today from the Warren Group of Boston, the publisher of Banker & Tradesman and a provider of New England real estate data; the report included data from September and August.

Foreclosure deeds, which are the final step in the foreclosure process, rose 143.8 percent in September from 276 in the same month a year ago to 673, but that number was a decline from August 2007 when the number of foreclosure deeds was 1,018.

Foreclosure announcements rose 57.3 percent in September, from 599 during that month last year to 1,214 this year.

Petition data for August is the latest full month data available from Massachusetts Land Court, the Warren Group noted.

There were 3,115 petitions to foreclose filed in Land Court in August, the highest number of petitions filed in one month since the Warren Group began collecting foreclosure data in January 2005, the firm said. That August number rose 75.5 percent from the number in August 2006, and it was also up 25.3 percent from the number in July 2007, the Warren Group said.

"It's interesting that foreclosure deeds are falling off slightly, given the ever increasing number of petitions to foreclose we've been seeing," Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive of the Warren Group, said in a statement. "It could be that lenders are holding off on letting the ax fall."

Timothy Warren added of lenders, "Or they could be heeding Governor Deval Patrick's plea to slow down the process. Whatever the reason is, we can be sure more foreclosures are coming down the pike, as petitions don't seem to be letting up."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)

Wreck diver orders Hydroid submarine

A company headed by a hunter of sunken World War II U-boats has awarded a contract to Hydroid LLC for a two-person submarine, Bourne-based Hydroid said today.

Hydroid makes a line of products called Remus, which it describes as low-cost autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs.

Hydroid said that the contract is from Underwater Archaeology and Exploration Corp., and that the contract with UAEC calls for a Remus 100 AUV; plans call for this Remus to be fitted with an Edge Tech 2200S Side Scan Sonar System to enhance its functionality for underwater exploration missions.

UAEC's president is wreck-diver John Chatterton, whose six-year search to identify a sunken U-boat off the coast of New Jersey was chronicled in a book titled "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson, Hydroid noted.

Hydroid added that Chatterton's company is currently investigating the possibility of purchasing a second Remus 100 unit.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:01 AM | Comments (0)

SeaChange names McGrath to top marketing spot

SeaChange International Inc. announced today the appointment of Simon McGrath as chief marketing officer.

McGrath currently serves as the director of strategy and development at a SeaChange subsidiary, the company said.

Acton-based SeaChange is a provider of software applications, services, and integrated solutions for companies specializing in such fields as video-on-demand, digital advertising, and content-acquisition monetization and management.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:59 AM | Comments (0)

Eaton Vance reports higher quarterly profit

Money manager Eaton Vance Corp today posted a higher quarterly profit, as assets under management grew.

Eaton Vance said fourth-quarter net profit rose to $61.4 million, or 47 cents a share, from $38.5 million, or 29 cents, in the year-ago quarter.

The firm said one-time items reduced earnings per share in the fourth quarter ended Oct. 31 by 5 cents, while a one-time expense cut earnings in the year-ago quarter by 6 cents a share. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:51 AM | Comments (0)

BJ's profit up 24 percent

BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. said today that its third-quarter profit rose 24 percent, slightly beating Wall Street expectations.

The nation's No. 3 retail warehouse club reported net income of $22.7 million, or 35 cents per share, for the three-month period ended Nov. 3. That compared with a profit of $18.3 million, or 28 cents per share, in the same period a year ago, when BJ's profit was reduced 2 cents a share by costs from the closure of restaurant supply locations.

The latest quarter's profit narrowly beat the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who forecast a profit of 33 cents per share.

Revenue rose 8 percent to $2.17 billion from $2.01 billion in last year's third quarter.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 3.4 percent, and were up 4 percent excluding gasoline sales and pharmacy closures.

Natick, Mass.-based BJ's expects earnings for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2009 of $1.85 to $1.95 per share, a forecast that assumes same-store sales to rise 4 percent to 6 percent, absent any impact from gasoline sales.

That forecast is in line with analysts' expectations for a fiscal 2008 profit of $1.93 per share.

BJ's also said today that its board had authorized plans to buy back an additional $250 million of the company's shares. BJ's shares have risen about 19 percent since falling below $29 in mid-August, but they're still below the stock's 52-week high of $39.15 set in mid-July. Shares closed Monday at $34.22.

For the first nine months of the current fiscal year, BJ's earned $72.6 million, or $1.11 per share, up from $60.2 million, or 90 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue through this year's first nine months was $6.53 billion, up 8 percent from $6.05 billion a year ago.

BJ's recent results have been driven by strong sales of perishable foods under Chief Executive Herb Zarkin, who has sought to reinvigorate BJ's product mix and merchandise presentation after he replaced previous CEO Mike Wedge amid slow sales heading into last year's holiday shopping season. In recent months, BJ's has posted generally better sales results than other retailers, especially department stores.

BJ's currently operates 175 clubs in 16 states, stretching from Maine to Florida, with the heaviest concentration in the Northeast. BJ's is dwarfed by larger rivals Costco Wholesale Corp. and Wal-Mart Inc.'s Sam's Club. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:46 AM | Comments (0)

Biogen, Neurimmune in Alzheimer's collaboration

Biogen Idec partners with Neurimmune to develop Alzheimer's disease treatments

Biotechnology company Biogen Idec Inc. said today that it is partnering with Switzerland-based Neurimmune Therapeutics AG to develop and market treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

The collaboration will focus on developing antibodies that bind to a molecule thought to cause the condition. Neurimmune will conduct research to identify potential antibodies and could receive up to $380 million in milestone payments, as well as future royalties.

Biogen Idec, which is based in Cambridge, will be responsible for the development and commercialization of all products. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

Dyax partners with MorphoSys

Dyax Corp. of Cambridge and MorphoSys AG announced today the signing of a licensing agreement covering a broad patent portfolio relating to antibodies and protein.

The agreement grants MorphoSys a fully paid up license to a variety of phage display-related patents from Dyax as well as other patents, said the two companies, which did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

In any case, Dyax chairman, chief executive, and president Henry E. Blair said in a statement, "This agreement with MorphoSys recognizes the true value of our intellectual property portfolio as our powerful proprietary display technologies continue to be attractive to many companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:32 AM | Comments (0)

Convention Center, Aramark donate turkeys

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and convention center food-provider Aramark said they will donate 150 Thanksgiving dinners to needy families.

The donations will go to the Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses Inc., an organization dedicated to providing such services as youth and educational programming.

Included in the donation are whole turkeys and enough corn, green beans, cranberries, stuffing, potatoes, and pies to feed 150 families of four, the authority and Aramark said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)

Survey: Many gadgets on boomer holiday wish lists

Aging baby boomers crave gadgets, too.

Or so proclaims a new survey that asked more than 2,000 middle-age consumers to list the most sought-after gadgets for the holiday season; the survey is from Boston-based Eons.com, a social networking site that bills its audience as "adults lovin' life on the flip side of 50" and that was founded by Jeff Taylor of Monster.com fame.

On the holiday wish list for this demographic are such items as flat-screen televisions, iPhones, digital video recorders, digital cameras, and PDA's, the Eons.com survey found.

According to Eons, the boomer generation collectively has disposable income of $2 trillion.

"Boomers are a driving force in the technology revolution," said Taylor in a statement, adding, "It's no wonder, then, that gadgets are on the top of their holiday wish lists."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)

Amazon chooses E Ink for its eBook

E Ink Corp. said that its Vizplex Imaging Film-based electronic paper display has been chosen by Amazon.com Inc. for use in Amazon's newly released eBook, which is called Kindle.

According to a Globe story from March, Cambridge-based E Ink holds more than 100 patents on its "electrophoretic" ink technology - which literally means "the movement of particles by an electrical field." Electric charges sent along a grid embedded in the paper cause tiny black and white particles to move up and down, creating text and images.

Seattle-based Amazon's website notes that Kindle is a $399 wireless reading device. The description makes it sound somewhat similar to Apple Inc.'s iPod music player. Kindle users can go to Kindle store and choose among more than 88,000 book titles, many of which sell for about $10, Amazon said.

"Buy a book, and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute," Amazon.com says on its website.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:05 AM | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007

Smith & Nephew sells vascular business

Smith & Nephew's endoscopy unit, based in Andover, said it sold its vascular business to InaVein LLC, a Boston area investor group led by Jonathan Donaldson and Patrick Maley. The sale price was not disclosed.

Smith & Nephew spokesman Joe Metzger said the product line, which includes a system for minimally invasive removal of varicose veins, generates less than $5 million in annual sales and involves fewer than 20 employees. Metzger said no job cuts are planned as part of the deal.
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)

Tips to avoid lawsuits from holiday office parties

Holiday office parties can be a potential minefield for lawsuits so the international law firm Bryan Cave LLP is offering some helpful hints to employers who want to celebrate the season without ending up in litigation.

Herewith are some of Bryan Cave's tips:

Avoid salty foods such as chicken wings because they may result in excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Consider having adequate security.

Make employee attendance voluntary.

Check relevant insurance policies for possible coverage.

Set the tone with a series of pre-party memos. Memos should note that the party is a business-related function, and they should also remind everyone of the company's anti-harrassment policies. Pre-party memos should suggest that everyone should give gag gifts and provocative decorations a good leaving-alone.

If party plans call for music, tell the band or DJ, "No slow dances."

And after the party, investigate all harrassment complaints.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:42 PM | Comments (1)

Raytheon gets $36.1 million Air Force contract

Raytheon Co. said today it won a $36.1 million deal from the US Air Force to deliver parts for a precision-guided weapons system.

The Waltham-based defense contractor will provide the Air Force with computer-controlled laser-guided bombs and airfoil groups that can transform conventional bombs into precision-guided munitions.

The Air Force has awarded Raytheon the majority of contracts related to laser-guided bomb production for fiscal year 2006 and 2007, the company said.

On the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Raytheon fell 32 cents to $61.75 in midday trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:52 PM | Comments (0)

Hess still eyes Fall River terminal despite setback

The company hoping to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall River is forging ahead even after the U.S. Coast Guard rejected the proposal last month.

Opponents called that decision a near-death blow, but Hess LNG President Gordon Shearer says the company will appeal the Coast Guard ruling.

If the appeal is ultimately rejected, Shearer says company will head to federal court.

At the same time, Shearer says the company will submit a new proposal designed to address the concerns raised by the Coast Guard.

That proposal will automatically trigger a new review by the Coast Guard.

Opponents have fought against the proposed LNG terminal, saying a terrorist attack or accident would be devastating to residents in the densely populated area.

Hess LNG is a joint venture between Hess Corp. and Poten & Partners. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:40 PM | Comments (0)

Proteus unveils reduced-fat fried chicken

Proteus Industries officially unveiled today a reduced-fat fried chicken line that features Nutrilean, the company's fat-blocking protein technology.

Gloucester-based Proteus describes itself as a protein applications company that specializes in reducing fat content in food at a time when obesity is an increasing health problem for Americans, including children.

According to Proteus, its Healthy Crossings line of chicken features popcorn chicken, boneless wings, filets, and tenders that maintain the moisture and taste of fried chicken but with less than half the fat of comparable products.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)

Gas prices rise 2 cents in Mass.

Gasoline prices are up another 2 cents in Massachusetts to just under $3 a gallon.

Prices are up for the fifth consecutive week in a statewide survey by AAA of Southern New England. During that span, prices have risen a total 35 cents a gallon, and are within a nickel of the high price for the year, set in late May.

The survey found an average price of $2.99 for a gallon of regular, self-serve gasoline. That compares with $2.97 one week ago.

Massachusetts' average price is 10 cents below the current national average of $3.09 per gallon.

Prices at the pump are rising after a recent spike in crude oil prices on the global market. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

Mirriam-Webster offers visual dictionary

Merriam-Webster Inc. of Springfield said today that it has teamed up with QA International to offer an online visual dictionary with "a new point of view."

Visitors to a website at www.visualdictionaryonline.com may either search ideas within organized subject fields to locate more than 20,000 terms with full definitions, or they may consult more than 6,000 illustrations of a wide variety of objects from all aspects of life, the two companies said.

QA International is a publisher and a creator of visual reference works; according to the company's website, it has offices in Montreal.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)

ULocate awards Where GPS widget contest winners

For geeks interested in building mobile GPS applications, it was sort on an "American Idol" type of competition.

Only instead of a song-and-dance talent search, this contest sought out the best GPS applications, and instead of record contracts, winners were promised audiences with venture capital firms.

Sponsoring the so-called "Where Developer" contest was uLocate Communications, a Boston company that has developed a service called Where based on its mobile platform for GPS widgets. (Widgets are interactive items that can be embedded in someone else's mobile Web page.)

Among the contest's winners were applications called Yokel and Cell Soul.

Yokel is a location-enabled shopping portal that helps consumers find products and their prices in nearby retail stores based on the consumers' locations, uLocate said.

Cell Soul, meanwhile, calculates the precise timing of five daily Muslim prayers based on a user's current GPS coordinates, uLocate said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

Commerce Group declares dividend

Commerce Group Inc. declared a regular quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share.

The property and casualty insurer, which is based in Webster, Mass., said on Friday the dividend is payable Dec. 10 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 26.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)

Reveal Imaging ships system to Middle East

Reveal Imaging Technologies Inc. said today that it has shipped its first Mobile CT-80 automated explosives-detection system to a government customer in the Middle East.

The Bedford company develops advanced security inspection systems, and it said its Mobile CT-80 system can automatically detect explosives in items from small personal effects to large bags, packages, and break-bulk cargo.

The system is designed to withstand harsh environments using self-contained power generation, and it can operate for up to three days without external power, the company added.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

China firms chooses Parametric technology

Parametric Technology Corp. announced today that China's leading tobacco machinery manufacturer has selected the company's Windchill solution as the corporate standard for product data management.

Parametric, a Needham company that goes by the name of PTC, said that Changde Tobacco Machinery Co. Ltd. will use its Windchill content and process management solution.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

Iron Mountain buys Xepa Digital

Information storage company Iron Mountain Inc. said today that it has purchased Xepa Digital LLP, which transfers outmoded audio and video tapes to high-resolution digital files.

Iron Mountain said the deal would give entertainment customers peace of mind, knowing that their valuable assets will never have to leave the Iron Mountain facility for digital transfer, reducing the chance of loss or damage.

Iron Mountain said it preserves more than 6 million analog audio tapes, including priceless master copies. Onsite digital conversion will allow it to record the material into new digital formats.

It said it will keep Xepa Digital employees on staff. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Iron Mountain shares were priced at $35.86 in premarket trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

Inverness completes Alere purchase

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. said today it has completed its $302-million acquisition of Alere Medical Inc., a Nevada-based provider of health and care management services.

Inverness of Waltham has made a series of acquisitions this year as it looks to broaden its portfolio of medical devices, diagnostic tests, including tests that consumer can do themselves at home, and, now, health care services.

Earlier this year, for example, Inverness purchased Biosite Inc., a California company that makes a test for heart failure, for $1.6 billion.

When Inverness announced plans to buy Alere last month, Inverness chief executive Ron Zwanziger said in a statement, "The acquisition of Alere Medical is an exciting opportunity to enter the disease management industry, a move which fits naturally with our goal of enabling individuals to take charge of their health."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

Hanover submits new insurance rates

Auto, home and business insurer Hanover Insurance Group Inc. said today that it asked Massachusetts regulators for approval of new car insurance products that could cut rates for some customers by up to 30 percent.

The move comes a month after the state's insurance regulator approved a switch to a so-called "managed competition" market that aims to make the insurance market more competitive.

Hanover, which is based in Worcester, said it asked the Massachusetts Division of Insurance for approval to reduce state-mandated penalties for at-fault accidents and to cut rates by 20 percent for 25 percent of its roughly 160,000 customers.

The company said the moves will improve competitive pricing in the state. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)

Boston Scientific settlement costs rise to $240 million

Boston Scientific Corp. said today that it has agreed to increase the amount it will pay to settle thousands of heart patients' legal claims involving potentially faulty defibrillators by $45 million.

The increase means the medical device maker will pay as much as $240 million, instead of the $195 million from a settlement announced July 13 that didn't cover additional litigation included under the new total.

The previous settlement involved a least 4,000 patients' claims involving Guidant Corp. defbrillators that were subject to recalls and safety warnings in 2005 and 2006, before Boston Scientific Corp. acquired Guidant in April 2006 for $27 billion. The expanded settlement covers 8,500 claims, including claims that had been consolidated into a case in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, and other claims nationwide.

Proceedings in state court in Minnesota have been stayed because of the expanded settlement, reached in mediation conducted before a federal magistrate judge in Minneapolis.

Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific said it believes the expanded agreement covers "substantially all" U.S. cases arising from the recalls and warnings.

Charles Zimmerman, an attorney for a steering committee representing plaintiffs, called the amended agreement "great news" that will provide plaintiffs "with substantial relief."

Boston Scientific shares rose 5 cents to $12.15 in morning trading Monday.

The plaintiffs claimed Guidant knowingly sold defibrillators with potentially life-threatening defects over a three-year period. Some of the problems involved wiring flaws that could prevent a defibrillator from delivering a shock to jump-start a suddenly failing heart and restore a healthy rhythm.

The company was criticized for dragging its feet in notifying doctors, patients and regulators about the problems.

Many of the plaintiffs' devices never malfunctioned, but they sought compensation for medical monitoring and anxiety.

In a March 31 regulatory filing, Boston Scientific said it had set aside $732 million to cover expenses in the cases -- about three times the amended settlement amount.

The new settlement total is in addition to $16.75 million that Boston Scientific said in August it would pay to settle investigations into the defibrillator problems by attorneys general in 35 states and Washington D.C. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)

Madison Parker funds beRecruited

Madison Parker Capital, a Boston-based investment firm, has led a first round of financing for beRecruited Inc., beRecruited announced today.

Georgia-based beRecruited.com describes itself as an online networking destination for high school athletes seeking recruitment from colleges and universities; to date, the site has more than 135,000 registered users, including nearly 8,000 college coaches and more than 3,000 high school coaches, the company said.

A press release from beRecruited did not specify the amount of the financing round, saying only that it was "significant."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)

Xerox announces first dividend in 6 years

Xerox announced its first quarterly cash dividend in six years today, a sign that the business is again healthy, the company said.

A dividend of 4.25 cents per share will be payable Jan. 31 for shareholders of record on Dec. 31.

"Declaring a dividend and our continued share repurchase initiatives reflect the health of our business and our belief in the long-term value we're creating for Xerox shareholders," Anne M. Mulcahy, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer said today.

At an investor conference later today, Stamford-based Xerox Corp. is expected to also outline expectations for 2008. Earnings per share are expected to grow to the range of $1.31 to $1.35, and double-digit earnings expansion continuing in 2009 to the range of $1.45 to $1.50.

Xerox said again it is on track to deliver full-year 2007 earnings per share in the range of $1.18 to $1.20. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:33 AM | Comments (0)

Avant starts Phase I study

Avant Immunotherapeutics Inc. of Needham announced today the start of a Phase I study of a potential vaccine for E. coli and cholera.

Avant said the study will be funded by a division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Heath.

The Phase I study will focus on Avant's investigational single-dose oral vaccine designed to offer combined protection against both enterotoxigenic Escherichichia coli and cholera, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

RCN launches NFL Network in HD

RCN Boston, a provider of cable, high-speed Internet, and phone services, said that it has launched NFL Network in high definition and that the football channel will now carry live National Football League games.

RCN Boston said it previously carried the channel only in digital format.

RCN Boston said its subscribers will now enjoy access to 2,000 hours of original programming as well as countless hours of NFL action in high definition - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:21 AM | Comments (0)

Online retailers plan deals for "Cyber Monday"

A Shop.org survey issued today said that 72.2 percent of online retailers are planning a special promotion for Cyber Monday - the Monday that follows Thanksgiving - up from 42.7 percent from two years ago.

As energy prices rise and the housing slump continues, many economists fret that consumers may cut back on holiday spending this year.

To help get consumers into a free-spending holiday mood, online retailers are planning a raft of promotions; in fact, the Shop.org survey found that 24.7 percent of online retailers surveyed plan to offer free shipping on all purchases that day, said Shop.org, the division of the National Retail Federation, a trade group.

In the days of slow dial-up modems, Cyber Monday emerged as a key day for online retailers; many consumers would window-shop the malls over Thanksgiving weekend, the traditional start of the holiday retail season; then these consumers would return to work on Monday and use their employer's high-speed Internet connection to place orders with online retailers.

Even though many consumers now have high-speed Internet connections at home, both consumers and retailers have become conditioned into making Cyber Monday a big day for online shopping and promotions.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:15 AM | Comments (0)

Former Dunkin' HQ leased to May Institute

Space in a Randolph building that once housed the headquarters of Dunkin' Donuts has been leased by the May Institute, a broker involved in the transaction said.

The broker was the Boston office of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., and it said that the May Institute, which provides behavioral healthcare services to people with autism, other developmental disabilities, and brain injuries, leased just over 48,000 square feet of space from the building's landlord, Equity Industrial.

The space is located at 14 Pacella Park Dr., and it's a two-story brick building that sits on 5.5 acres of land, Cushman & Wakefield said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:08 AM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2007

Howie Carr returns, and Imus looms

Welcomed by a red carpet, donuts, and a clip from a Perry Como song, bombastic radio host Howie Carr blasted back onto the airwaves after abandoning a four-month long legal battle to leave his afternoon show on WRKO, even as the station that he wanted to jump to welcomed controversial host Don Imus back to their morning line-up.

That means that after months of turmoil that started when "Imus in the Morning" was pulled off the air when its host made derogatory remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team, the Boston talk radio scene will be completely unchanged.

Yesterday at 3 p.m., with an "I'm baaaack," Carr returned to his old slot on WRKO. He told listeners he had spent his time off at jury duty in Dedham, visiting his 102-year-old father in North Carolina, renewing his passport, and going to the dentist.

WRKO heralded Carr's return by changing its homepage to a photo of Howie, and posting a countdown to his show.

Listeners called to welcome Carr back, honking their horns on-air or just telling him, "Thank God, I'll make it through another Maine winter."

While Carr was basking in the warm welcome back, WTKK announced that starting on Dec. 3 at 6 a.m., Imus' syndicated show will return to its morning drive-time slot -- which WTKK had been holding open for Carr. After its return, Imus will normally run from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays.

"We wanted [Howie] very very much to be our morning guy," but supported his decision to do what was best for him, said Phil Redo, vice president and market manager of Greater Media Boston, the parent company of WTKK. "We're counting on Imus to live up to what he himself has said he is going to do -- change the show and make the show better."

At WRKO, there seemed to be no hard feelings.

"They've welcomed me back with open arms," Carr said. "They must have spent 69 cents getting this red carpet behind me -- I'm getting the red carpet treatment."

It didn't take the radio host and Boston Herald columnist long to get back into his groove, calling the Cambridge City Council a "motley crew of moonbats" within his first hour on the air.

Imus' return may be more controversial, depending on how much his new show resembles the old one, which mixed political commentary with offensive banter.

"We in the church are in the business of redemption," said Reverend Martin McLee of the Union United Methodist Church in the South End. "I hope that he has in some way been renewed and hope that he comes back with some intelligence and maybe even a program that is helpful and not hurtful and harmful, like his previous programs were."
(By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 5:31 PM | Comments (0)

Sansone heads up Downtown Crossing Assoc.

The board of the Downtown Crossing Association said today it has appointed former Boston City Councilor Rosemarie E. Sansone as its new president.

Sansone replaces Anne Meyers, who had served as president for eight years, said the association, which describes itself on its website as a partnership of the neighborhood's businesspeople and residents.

Sansone takes over as a big chunk of Downtown Crossing is undergoing massive redevelopment - plans call for the site of the former Filene's department store to be turned into a 38-story tower of condos and hotel, office, and retail space.

Filene's Basement flagship store, long one of the neighborhood's retail magnets, temporarily closed in September, with plans to reopen in the spring of 2009 after the redevelopment project is farther along.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)

Jury finds executive liable for securities fraud

A federal jury found an executive of a now-defunct Boston-based equipment-leasing company liable for securities fraud, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said today.

The SEC alleged in a complaint that Brian M. Adley, former chairman, chief executive, and controlling shareholder of Chancellor Corp., used fabricated documents and fraudulent accounting from 1998 through 2000 to orchestrate a scheme that inflated Chancellor's reported assets, revenue, and income and paid unwarranted fees to entities he controlled.

After a three-week trial in Boston before US Diistrict Court Judge Patti B. Saris, a jury found Adley liable for violating the antifraud and record-keeping provisions of federal securities laws, the SEC said.

"The SEC will continue to vigorously pursue corporate officials who participate in the deception of investors and who attempt to unfairly benefit themselves at the expense of corporate shareholders," David Bergers, regional director of the SEC's Boston office, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:19 PM | Comments (0)

Redemptions hit Hancock's Pzena-run fund

John Hancock Funds LLC's flagship stock mutual fund -- the $8 billion Classic Value Fund, managed by Pzena Investment Management Inc. -- is seeing significant net redemptions and sharply lower sales due to poor performance, Hancock Funds' chief executive said today.

"What was our No. 1 selling fund last year has stumbled a bit in performance this year. And as a result, sales in that fund have slowed dramatically," Keith Hartstein, president and chief executive of Boston-based John Hancock Funds, told Reuters in an interview.

"In fact, that fund is running $2 billion less in sales this year than it did last year. And we reopened it October 1 because the fund had fallen into net redemptions. The net redemptions have continued, and in fact have picked up pace in the month of November," Hartstein said.

John Hancock Funds, the U.S. mutual fund unit of Canadian life insurer Manulife Financial Corp., is a key client for Pzena, which went public last month. John Hancock owns and markets the Classic Value Fund, which was closed to new investors last year but was reopened in October.

"Reopening has helped a little. Sales have picked up a little bit but it's still in significant net redemptions," Hartstein said.

"Actually, since October 1, it has been running at about $20 million a day in redemptions," he said. "So it's disappointing."

Hartstein, however, threw his weight behind Pzena, saying the fund has been hurt because the manager is "big in finance stocks" and it will be proven correct long-term. And despite the redemptions, he expects the John Hancock board to renew its annual sub-adviser agreement with Pzena in May.

"There's no doubt they will renew it again," he said.

Pzena shares sank $1.43 or 9.3 percent to $13.88 in Friday afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, in a generally strong market. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)

Stop & Shop donates turkeys to food bank

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. has delivered 7,000 turkeys to the Greater Boston Food Bank, the food bank said today.

The food bank said it was the largest single donation of turkeys in its history and added that the supermarket chain's gift gives it a big boost in its goal to distribute 36,000 turkeys this holiday season to needy people and families.

Quincy-based Stop & Shop, which operates about 575 stores in many New England and Mid-Atlantic states, said it is also running its annual Food for Friends program, which is projected to raise more than $1 million for hunger relief organizations throughout the Northeast.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)

Coley shares surge on planned Pfizer purchase

Shares of Coley Pharmaceutical Group rocketed upward in midday trading after drug giant Pfizer Inc. said it had agreed to buy the Wellesley company.

Under the agreement, New York-based Pfizer said it will make a cash tender offer for all of Coley's outstanding common stock for $8 per share, representing an enterprise value of $164 million.

On the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday, Coley shares closed at $3, but in trading today, Coley shares surged $4.77, or 159 percent, to $7.77 in mid-day activity.

Coley specializes in vaccine adjuvant technology and a new class of immunomodulatory drug candidates.

The transaction is subject to the customary closing conditions and the acquisition by Pfizer of a majority of Coley's shares, said Pfizer, which added that shareholders holding about 27 percent of the Coley shares have entered into agreements to tender their shares in the offer.

"This acquisition is an important component of Pfizer's vaccine strategy and reflects our commitment to research new and more effective vaccines to prevent infectious diseases and to treat cancers and other debilitating conditions," Pfizer chairman and chief executive Jeffrey B. Kindler said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)

Babson picks Schlesinger as new president

Babson College, a Wellesley school with a focus on business entrepreneurship, said today that Leonard A. Schlesinger has been named its 12th president.

Schlesinger comes to Babson from Limited Brands Inc., the Ohio-based operator of such chains as the Limited, where he served most recently as vice chairman and chief operating officer.

Schlesinger's acadamic career includes 20 years at the Harvard Business School, said Babson, which cited Schlesinger's "unique blend of business and academic leadership."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

Connector website recognized for innovation

A website that helps Massachusetts residents learn about and enroll in health insurance plans has been recognized for being among the top 100 "most innovative corporate IT solutions for 2007."

That announcement was made by the group behind the website - the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, which is playing the lead role in implementing the Massachusetts Healthcare Reform Law that seeks to extend healthcare coverage to everyone in the state.

The connector said it received the award from InfoWorld, whose parent company is International Data Corp., a Framingham-based provider of market intelligence.

Since the website was launched May 4, it has had nearly 600,000 visits and 5.6 million page views, the connector said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

Celtics game attracts high TV ratings

Comcast SportsNet, a division of cable operator Comcast Corp., said the Wednesday telecast of the Boston Celtics basketball game delivered a 5.4 local household rating, making it the highest rated regular-season Celtics game in a decade.

At 7-0, the Celtics are the National Basketball Association's sole remaining undefeated team, and the Wednesday Celtics game against the New Jersey Nets was viewed in 124,200 area households, Burlington-based Comcast SportsNet said.

The game rating peaked at 7.7, or 177,100 households, in the final quarter hour of the telecast, Comcast SportsNet said.

Comcast SportsNet said the previous high for a regular-season Celtics game was a 4.9 household rating set on Dec. 23, 1997, in a game against the Charlotte Hornets.

Comcast SportsNet said it reaches more than 3.7 million New England households.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

Biogen suffers setback in Europe

Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp., the makers of the drug Tysabri, said today that they experienced a setback when a committee advising European regulators recommended that Tysabri not be marketed as a treatment for Crohn's disease.

Biogen Idec of Cambridge and Elan of Dublin have previously won approval for Tysabri to be marketed in the United States and the European Union to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis.

Looking to widen the market for Tysabri, the marketing name of a drug called natalizumab, the companies have been seeking approval of the European Medicines Agency to market their drug in many European countries as a treatment for Crohn's disease, an inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract.

But a committee of the European Medicines Agency "has adopted a negative opinion on the marketing authorization for natalizumab as a treatment of Crohn's disease," the companies said in a statement today.

This decision is on the appeal the companies filed following a previous negative opinion adopted by the committee earlier this year, the companies said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

Coley Pharmaceutical bought by Pfizer

Drug giant Pfizer Inc. said today it has agreed to buy Coley Pharmaceutical Group, a Wellesley-based company specializing in vaccine adjuvant technology and a new class of immunomodulatory drug candidates.

Under the agreement, New York-based Pfizer said it will make a cash tender offer for all of Coley's outstanding common stock for $8 per share, representing an enterprise value of $164 million.

On the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday, Coley shares closed at $3.

The transaction is subject to the customary closing conditions and the acquisition by Pfizer of a majority of Coley's shares, said Pfizer, which added that shareholders holding about 27 percent of the Coley shares have entered into agreements to tender their shares in the offer.

"This acquisition is an important component of Pfizer's vaccine strategy and reflects our commitment to research new and more effective vaccines to prevent infectious diseases and to treat cancers and other debilitating conditions," Pfizer chairman and chief executive Jeffrey B. Kindler said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

Job firm updates interview tips: tattoos OK

It's OK to show off non-offensive tattoos, but keep the cellphones stowed and leave the baggy pants at home.

That's important job-interview advice from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based global outplacement firm that just released a list of handy tips for those eager to land a new job.

Tattoos are now so prevalent that companies that refuse to hire tattooed workers "risk talent drain" if they don't loosen up hidebound notions about body art, said Challenger Gray, which cited a 2006 Pew Research Center survey that found that 36 percent of people in the 18-to-25-year-old demographic "sport" at least one tattoo.

In a statement, firm chief executive John A. Challenger added: "A decade ago, showing off tattoos and body piercings would be a sure-fire way to get your resume placed in the 'No Way!' pile. Times have changed."

But the firm is adamant on two points: "Cellphones have no place in the job interview. They should be turned off and stashed away."

Another no-no: Wearing baggy pants or pants that ride below the waistline to expose undergarments.

And beware of body piercings, the firm adds helpfully, "With increased security at many corporate offices, too much bling could set off metal detectors."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:46 AM | Comments (0)

Study links women's income, housework

Money may not buy love, but it might get some working wives a reprieve from the vacuum or overflowing laundry baskets.

A new University of Massachusetts Amherst study finds married women do about one less hour of housework per week for every $7,500 they earn as full-time workers outside the home, regardless of the husband's income.

Married women who work full time may be looking largely at their own salaries -- not those of their husbands -- when deciding which routine chores can or should get done in their home, says sociology researcher Sanjiv Gupta.

"I think many of us have this idea of a household in which we share the resources and plan together to divide the labor, but that may not be how it works," said Gupta, whose study was published recently in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

He hesitated, however, to speculate on why the wives' higher income translated into less time on housework and whether husbands, children or others are picking up the slack.

They reasons could include the financial freedom to hire a housekeeper; the time demands of some higher-paying jobs; different standards of tidiness; more outside activities and therefore less wear and tear to clean up in the house; or other factors.

Gupta's research compared data from two-income couples as reported in the National Survey of Family and Households, and removed what he considered the distorting factor of comparing a wife's housework level to her husband's income.

The data in Gupta's study factored in equal numbers of children and other specifics, leaving married women's full-time employment incomes as the main point of comparison, he said.

"The cause and effect of the statistical relationship is hard to determine, but it does seem that a woman's money is an important part of the equation," he said. "If you have your own money, you get to decide what to do with it."

Harriet Rogers of Northampton had a different theory Thursday when learning of the study: A busy workload means less time at home and therefore less time for housework, regardless of income.

"It's not about the paycheck for me and I'm guessing it never would be," said Rogers, who co-owns Skera Gallery and Cool Rides Taxi Service with her husband, Steve.

They once hired a housekeeper, she said, but reversed course after the woman broke the vacuum cleaner and polished the kitchen table so heavily that their napkins sprouted oily spots, she said.

"Income and housework don't have any connection at all in my mind," Rogers said.

Wendy Mazza, Northampton's city clerk, also did not see her life reflected in Gupta's study. She said she does as much housework as a $57,000-per-year city clerk as when she was a subordinate to earlier clerks, earning much less.

The key, she says, is the level of cleanliness she expects in her home and the neatnik tendencies she says her mother "drilled into" her from childhood.

"No matter how much money I make, nothing is going to change the responsibilities I have waiting for me at home," she said. "Even if I made $100,000 a year, I wouldn't change what I think needs to get done." (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:39 AM | Comments (0)

Cambridge firm delivers Arabic Web

Cambridge Internet start-up Language Analytics LLC has unveiled Yamli.com, a Web-based tool that the company says empowers users to easily access the Arabic Web.

According to the company, access to and development of Arabic Web content is difficulty because of the complexity of typing in Arabic so many Arabic-speaking Internet users prefer using an English keyboard and spelling out Arabic words phonetically, a process known as transliteration.

Yamli allows users to convert English characters into Arabic words, the company said, and its patent-pending solution converts users' input into Arabic as they type.

"The Arabic Web will truly take off when people can do two things easily: find and write Arabic content," company cofounder Imad Jureidini said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

WPI honored for women's degrees

The Worcester Polytechnic Institute said it has been ranked second in the nation for the percentage of bachelor degrees in bioengineering awarded to women.

The ranking was announced by the American Society of Engineering Education, said WPI, which noted that it awarded 56.8 percent of biomedical engineering degrees to women in 2006, the year on which the rankings are based.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

Alnylam expands management team

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge announced the expansion of its management team today.

The company named Stuart Pollard to the position of vice president of scientific and business strategy and Donna Ward to the position of vice president of intellectual property.

Pollard previously worked for Maxygen Inc., a California biotechnology company, and Ward recently worked as a patent attorney with the Elmore Patent Law Group, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:23 AM | Comments (0)

United Way launches financial education site

The United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley helped launch an online resource at www.financialedtoolkit.org that is designed to ensure the quality and consistency of financial education programs in the Bay State.

The United Way said it is working closely with Bank of America Corp. to ensure that this new online resource increases financial stability for families.

By partnering with the United Way and giving community-based organizations "access to financial education curricula and promising practices, we will greatly advance our work helping families make their way to financial stability and success," Robert Gallery, Massachusetts president of Bank of America, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:17 AM | Comments (0)

Jackson Sq. upgrade approved

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that the first phase of a $250 million Jackson Square redevelopment project has been approved by the board of directors of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city's planning agency.

The project envisions redeveloping more than 11 acres of public and private land adjacent to the Jackson Square MBTA station, the BRA said; when completed, a mixed-use project of mixed-income housing, retail shops, community facilities, and open space will reconnect Jamaica Plain to Roxbury.

The project will be built in four phases over about six years, with completion expected in 2013, the BRA said.

Phase One represents about 40 percent of the project and includes the construction of four new buildings, the BRA added.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:12 AM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

Logan prepares for Thanksgiving travel surge

Boston’s Logan International Airport is stocking up on cots, food and beverage vouchers, and employees volunteering to aid the distressed. The airport isn’t bracing for a natural disaster, but rather the busiest travel week of the year: Thanksgiving.

Logan officials expect almost a 3 percent increase in passengers compared to the same period last year and flights that will be 95 percent to 100 percent full. As a result, the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs the airport, is unveiling a program to comfort passengers who get stuck sitting at terminal gates instead of on airplanes.

Travelers who become stranded or severely delayed can sleep on cots and cash in water and meal vouchers at concessionaries that will stay open later than usual. The airport is hoping to minimize such snafus by allowing any airline’s late flight to unload passengers at certain gates so the carrier can get back on schedule sooner.

Also, Massport’s board voted today to charge economy-lot parking rates at the more expensive airport garages that are closer to the terminals, offering drivers a $6 daily savings. The discount will apply to travelers who enter the Central Parking Garage, Terminal B Garage or Terminal E lots between 3 am Tuesday, November 20th and 3 am Sunday, November 25th; it doesn’t matter how long the vehicle is parked there. The airport introduced its Thanksgiving discount last year because business travelers who typically park in the garages disappear during the holidays while leisure travelers overflowed the cheaper lots.

For those taking public transportation, Massport is also adding additional Logan Express buses serving Braintree, Framingham, Peabody and Woburn. And additional buses will run on the airport routes to the MBTA station to handle increased riders on the MBTA Blue Line.

In other business, the Massport board approved a $13 million project budget to convert former Delta Reservations Building 11 into a new headquarters for Logan’s State Police, which has outgrown its home in Terminal C.
(By Nicole C. Wong, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:32 PM | Comments (0)

Howie Carr returns to WRKO tomorrow

After months of legal wrangling, talk radio host Howie Carr is returning to WRKO-AM tomorrow afternoon, to host the show that he tried to leave this summer.

In July, Carr surprised his bosses at WRKO with the announcement he would leap from his popular afternoon show to rival talk station WTKK-FM to host the morning drive-time slot.

Carr sued WRKO alleging that provisions in his contract were illegal and the station filed a counterclaim, trying to keep their top radio personality on the air.

Carr has been off the air since September, but last month an Appeals Court justice slammed the door on Carr's hopes of moving to WTKK.

“We are thrilled that Howie is back on WRKO,” Entercom New England vice president and market manager Julie Kahn said in a statement. “Howie is a one-of-a-kind talent, and I’m sure all of Howie’s listeners are looking forward to hearing him on our air again.”

Carr, who has compared working at WRKO to "indentured servitude" said that he looked forward to returning to the station.

“I said I'd be back on the air before Imus and now I am!" he said in a statement.
(By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:45 PM | Comments (0)

Genzyme stock rises as Icahn buys a stake

Stock of the Cambridge biotechnology company Genzyme Corp. rose today after billionaire investor Carl Icahn snapped up 1.52 million shares, fueling speculation about a potential buyout.

The stock rose $2.30, or 3.3 percent, to $73.08 in afternoon trading. The stock has ranged between $58.71 and $76.90 over the past year.

Icahn acquired 0.57 percent of Genzyme’s outstanding shares, according to regulatory filings.

In a note to investors, Natexis Bleichroeder analyst Alex To maintained a "hold" rating on Genzyme and a target price of $75. He cautioned that Genzyme isn’t inclined to be bought out by a larger drug company.

The rising stock price, however, will better position Genzyme to pursue acquisitions rather than be acquired, To said.

But Bear Stearns analyst Mark Schoenebaum said he thinks Genzyme is a logical target for a big drug company.

"Given Mr. Icahn’s success in prodding the managements of both MedImmune and Biogen into putting their companies up for sale, we think it’s at least possible that Genzyme may ultimately do the same," Schoenebaum said.
(AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:33 PM | Comments (0)

State Street Corp. taps Carmichael

State Street Corp., a Boston-based provider of financial services to institutional investors, announced today the appointment of Caroline Carmichael to senior vice president of the company's relationship management group.

Before joining State Street, Carmichael spent more than 12 years at the investment bank Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., most recently as senior vice president and West Coast global sales and relationship manager, State Street said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:32 PM | Comments (0)

Gneezy wins kudos for thought leadership

Burlington's iBasis Inc., a global VoIP company, said today that president and chief executive Ofer Gneezy was named "Business Leader of the Year" by Capacity magazine.

Capacity is a trade journal for the telecommunications and service provider industry, iBasis said.

"Gneezy was selected as Best Business Leader by Capacity magazine at the 2007 awards because of his thought leadership and development of an innovative wholesale outsourcing solution," Capacity chief executive and editor-in-chief Mark Kemp said in a statement included in an iBasis press releases.
(Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:04 PM | Comments (0)

Zoll's shares jump on higher profits

Shares of Zoll Medical Corp., of Chelmsford, jumped today after the medical device and software maker said its fiscal fourth quarter profit rose more than 26 percent on higher sales of resuscitation products, including defibrillators and ventilators.

Shares of Zoll Medical added nearly 7 percent, to $24.66 in afternoon trading, after hitting an intraday high of $26.25.

Net income for the July to September period rose to $6.8 million, or 33 cents per share, up from $5.4 million, or 27 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected 31 cents.
(AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:43 PM | Comments (0)

Local gas prices rise sharply from a year ago

October energy costs in the Boston metropolitan area increased 0.5 percent from September, and they were 11.2 percent higher than they were in October 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today.

October 2007 gasoline prices in the Boston area were 20.7 percent higher than gas prices in October 2006, added the bureau, which is part of the US Department of Labor.

While Boston-area grocery prices declined 0.5 percent from September to October, they were 3.8 percent higher than they were a year ago, the bureau said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)

Verizon offers expanded NFL coverage

Verizon Communications Inc. said today that subscribers to its video and broadband services can put themselves into a "virtual control booth" and view certain National Football League games from multiple camera angles.

The offering enables Verizon subscribers to watch live, online broadcasts of Thursday and Sunday pro footballs while selecting from multiple camera feeds, Verizon said.

The service, provided at no additional charge, is made possible through an agreement between Verizon and NFL Network, a year-round channel dedicated to football, Verizon said.

Other features of the service include live online chats with other NFL Network Game Extra viewers during the live game, game statistics, highlights and drive-chart simulations during the games, and on-demand highlights, Verizon said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

SmarterTravel issues holiday travel tips

SmarterTravel.com, a Boston-based online travel resource, has issued a list of tips for holiday travelers.

According to SmarterTravel.com, flight delays and lost-luggage incidents are ongoing issues so holiday travelers are well advised to heed its guidelines.

Herewith are some tips from SmarterTravel.com:

Reserve airport parking, and arrive early.

Leave your valuables at home. Airlines are only responsible for up to $3,000 per lost bag.

Leave presents unwrapped, and brush up on what is considered safe or unsafe by the Transportation Security Administration.

Make sure to place your toiletries in a quart-sized bag before getting in line.

Travel early in the day because later flights are more likely to face delays.

If possible, check in online.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

Harvard's Berkman gets $4 million gift

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School announced today that it has received its largest gift ever from a foundation - $4 million from the MacArthur Foundation.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is known for a fellows program that often grants $500,000 to people it selects; the fellows are free to spend the money as they wish.

"The generous award from the MacArthur Foundation will help us pursue scholarship with impact in the field of Internet studies for years to come," John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center, said in a statement.

The center noted that the MacArthur Foundation has previously supported its work through a series of grants over the course of the center's 10-year history.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

Verenium files shelf registration

Biofuels maker Verenium Corp. said today that it filed a $150 million universal shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The statement covers the possible issuance of securities including common stock, preferred stock, debt securities or warrants as well as 3 million shares of stock for resale by Syngenta AG and its affiliates. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

PerkinElmer completes ViaCell deal

PerkinElmer Inc. said today it has completed its acquisition of ViaCell Inc., a Cambridge company specializing in the collection and preservation of umbilical cord blood stem cells.

Waltham-based PerkinElmer, which sells an array of instruments and services to the life sciences and photonics industries, said the acquisition expands its offerings and reach in the neonatal, prenatal, and maternal health markets.

Six weeks ago, PerkinElmer unveiled its plans to buy ViaCell for $300 million.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Global Partners completes purchases

Global Partners LP said today it has completed its previously announced acquisitions of two refined products terminals on Long Island, New York.

The Waltham-based wholesale distributor of gasoline, distillates, and residual oil said the acquisitions from ExxonMobil Oil Corp. will increase Global's total storage capacity to about 8.8 million barrels.

"By acquiring these assets, we have greatly expanded our share of the Metropolitan New York refined products storage market," Global president and chief executive Eric Slifka said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

Johnson & Johnson restructures

Health care and consumer products company Johnson & Johnson said today that it will create three new units to boost growth prospects.

The company said it would create an office of strategy and growth to identify opportunities for growth while a new surgical care group will focus on new technology. Thirdly, a comprehensive care group will focus on creating portfolios to treat chronic and pervasive conditions, including metabolic disorders.

The office of strategy and growth will be led by Nicholas J. Valeriani, the current worldwide chairman of medical devices and diagnostics. Sherilyn S. McCoy, currently group chairman for Ethicon, will be worldwide chairman of surgical care and will become a member of the company's executive committee. Donald M. Casey Jr., currently group chairman for the diabetes franchise, will be worldwide chairman of the comprehensive care unit and become a member of the executive committee.

Also, Joseph Scodari, worldwide chairman of pharmaceuticals, plans to retire early in 2008, the company said.

In October, the company reported a 8 percent drop in its third-quarter profit because lagging sales of its top-selling products, including the anemia drug Procrit and heart stents. The company has also been attempting to trim costs and in July said it would cut its global workforce by up to 4 percent, or by 4,820 jobs.

Also, sales of the drug-coated stent Cypher have been lagging because of safety concerns, while Procrit sales have fallen over Medicare and Medicaid program reimbursement cuts, initially sparked by safety concerns.

Each of the new organizations and leadership appointments becomes effective Jan. 1.

The company's consumer businesses will not be directly affected by the changes. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

Mass. unemployment dips

Massachusetts' unemployment rate dipped in October to 4.3 percent, the lowest level in six years.

The jobless rate fell from 4.4 percent in September, matching a level last achieved in October 2001, as a recession was setting in.

The state's unemployment rate remains below the nation's, which stood at 4.7 percent last month.

State economic officials says Massachusetts' October unemployment decline was driven by a nearly 10,900-person increase in the number of employed residents, and a 5,100-person reduction in people without jobs. Those estimates are based on a survey of households.

A separate survey of employers recorded a decline of 3,000 jobs in October, for the second straight monthly decline. The two-month decline bucks a recent trend in which the state has seen job gains in 10 of the past 13 months. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

Galliker retires at Dyax

Cambridge drug developer Dyax Corp. said today its executive vice president and chief financial officer, Stephen Galliker, will retire.

Galliker will remain with the company to help it search for a new CFO. Dyax plans to have a new CFO in place by the end of the first quarter in 2008.

Following his retirement, Galliker will serve as a consultant for Dyax. Galliker joined Dyax in 1999.(AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)

Staples set to launch holiday campaign

Framingham retailer Staples Inc. disclosed plans today to crank up an ad campaign that will remind shoppers that its stores are not just a good place to pick up supplies for a home office or small business, but they're also a great place to buy holiday gifts.

Starting Nov. 18, a campaign that includes TV, radio, and online ads will feature the theme, "That holiday was easy," a take-off on the chain's regular ad campaign, which has theme of, "That was easy," Staples said.

Ads note that Staples stocks the "hippest technology items," including a wide assortment of Dell notebooks and desktop computers and accessories.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

Inverness prices public offering

Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. announced today the pricing of its previously announced public offering of 11,834,302 shares of its common stock at $61.49 per share.

Inverness, a Waltham company known for such products as over-the-counter pregnancy tests, has made a number of acquisitions this year as it looks to broaden its portfolio of products; its strategy is to put health management in the hands of consumers.

In looking to emerge as a potential powerhouse in the field of point-of-care diagnostics, Inverness prevailed in a $1.6 billion bidding war earlier this year to buy Biosite Inc., a California company that makes a test for heart failure.

Discussing today's announcement, Inverness said that certain selling stockholders of the company are also selling 165,698 shares of common stock in the offering; in connection with the offering, the company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,800,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.

The offering is expected to close on Nov. 20, subject to customary closing conditions, the company said.

UBS Investment Bank, Jefferies & Company, Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering, Inverness said.

Leerink Swann LLC and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. are acting as co-managers for the offering, Inverness said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:00 AM | Comments (0)

AMSC issues bullish forecast

American Superconductor Corp., a Westborough company specializing in energy technologies, said today it projects its fiscal 2008 revenue to exceed $150 million.

The company has said it expects its fiscal 2007 revenue to be in the range of $100 million to $110 million.

"Our growth today is being driven primarily by the wind energy market," Greg Yurek, company founder and chief executive, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:42 AM | Comments (0)

Holland Mark buys TPG Creative

Boston ad agency Holland Mark said it has made its first acquisition since reopening six months ago.

Holland Mark said it has agreed to purchase TPG Creative, a Boston design firm.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:42 AM | Comments (0)

Dicerna raises $13 million

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it has closed a $13 million Series A financing.

The Cambridge startup looks to develop drugs that take advantage of the same cellular machinery responsible for RNA interference, which offers the promise of silencing genes linked to diseases.

The company said the funding round was led by two venture capital firms - Oxford Bioscience Partners, which has offices in Boston, and Skyline Ventures of California.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:37 AM | Comments (0)

Transformers, Barbie top a hot toys list

Transformers, autobots popularized by the recent Transformer movie, are expected to top the list of must-have holiday toys for boys this year, while Barbie's reign should continue as the number one item on girls lists.

So proclaims a hot-toy survey out today that was drawn up the National Retail Federation, a retail trade association.

Other popular toys for boys this year include video games, Nintendo Wii, and Legos, the federation said.

Girls also are beguiled by the charms of the Nintendo Wii. Another unisex favorite - Elmo.

Bratz dolls and Disney Hannah Montana-themed items should also be highly prized by girls, the federation said.

To see a complete list, please click the "Full entry" icon.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

The National Retail Federation's predictions for the most popular holiday toys this year:

Girls
1. Barbie
2. Bratz
3. Dolls (generic)
4. Dora the Explorer
5 Disney Princess
6 Disney Hannah Montana
7 Nintendo Wii
8 Webkinz
9 Elmo
10 American Girl

Boys
1 Transformers
2 Video Games
3 Nintendo Wii
4 Cars (generic)
5 Spider-Man
6 LEGOs
7 Thomas the Tank Engine
8 Xbox 360
9 Elmo
10 Remote-controlled vehicles

Click here to see a list of last year’s top toys.

Posted by globebusiness at 7:28 AM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2007

Delta, United said to be pondering merger

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc. have been discussing a combination that would keep the United name and the corporate headquarters in Chicago according to an official with knowledge of the talks.

Delta issued a statement denying ‘‘published reports that it had engaged in merger talk with United.’’ The statement added, ‘‘There have been no talks with United regarding any type of consolidation transaction and there are no such ongoing discussions.’’ United, the second-largest US carrier, called the report of recent talks ‘‘wholly inaccurate.’’

However, on Oct. 12, 2006, then-Delta chief executive Gerald Grinstein said he had received ‘‘feelers’’ from United about a possible merger.

Yesterday, Delta, the third-largest carrier, said its board has established a committee to work with management to analyze strategic options for the airline. Top executives have said recently that they are trying to determine whether consolidation would make sense.

There is a sense of urgency in the talks, which have been going on for some time and continued as recently as a week or so ago, an official with knowledge of the talks said today. The official stood by assertions about the talks after learning of the statements by Delta and UAL Corp.’s United.

‘‘They want to get something done before a new administration gets in and so they get the clock ticking on’’ federal regulatory approval, the official said.

It’s unclear what impact a United-Delta combination could have on air fares and schedules in New England.

At Logan International Airport in Boston, Delta is the second-largest airline, having carried 3.485 million passengers between January and September, or 16.2 percent of the airport’s 21.47million travelers during that nine-month period, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority. United is the fifth-largest, having transported 2.071 million passengers, or 9.7 percent.

If Delta and United merge, the combined airline will surpass American Airlines for the largest local market share. American carried 3.567 million Logan passengers this year through September, or 16.6 percent.

Financial details of the transaction being discussed are not clear. But the talks involve United being the name of the new company, with headquarters in Chicago and Delta’s Atlanta hub being an operational center for the two carriers, the official said.

Delta also has had talks with other airlines, the official said, without specifying which airlines or the status of any such talks.
(Globe staff and wire reports)

Posted by globebusiness at 6:52 PM | Comments (0)

Auto insurer to return to Mass. amid market reform

An insurer is returning to Massachusetts as the state opens its auto insurance market to greater competition.

Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group says one of the companies it owns, Peerless Insurance, intends to resume doing business in Massachusetts next spring after a 20-year absence.

New Hampshire-based Peerless sells insurance in seven states and plans to add auto and home coverage in Massachusetts. It had left the market in 1988.

It's the first auto insurer to announce plans to return to the state since Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes issued rules last month on the planned switch to a so-called "managed competition" market.

Not counting Peerless, 19 insurers write auto insurance policies in Massachusetts. That's far fewer than in most states where the market has traditionally set rates, rather than regulators. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:31 PM | Comments (0)

AMSC issues bullish forecast

American Superconductor Corp., a Westborough company specializing in energy technologies, said today it projects its fiscal 2008 revenue to exceed $150 million.

The company has said it expects its fiscal 2007 revenue to be in the range of $100 million to $110 million.

"Our growth today is being driven primarily by the wind energy market," Greg Yurek, company founder and chief executive, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:08 PM | Comments (0)

Company: Our item doesn't belong on worst toy list

A toy company today disputed the inclusion of one of its products on a list of the year's "10 worst toys" as compiled by the nonprofit group World Against Toys Causing Harm Inc., or WATCH.

A story in today's Globe reported that the group included on its list the "Lil' Giddy-Up Sak with Horse" from Douglas Co. of Keene, N.H.

The toy is a miniature plush-toy horse that comes in a purse.

In an e-mail to the Globe, Douglas president Scott Clarke wrote that Lil' Giddy-Up Sak should not be on any list that includes recalled toys because his product has been tested many times and the horse and purse meet and exceed government standards.

But Clarke added, "We agree with the comment from WATCH that this item should be more clearly labeled, and we will make the horse age grade match the age grade of the purse."

The horse is labeled that it's age appropriate for "birth and up," and the purse is labeled as appropriate for "18 months and up," said Clarke, who added the labels would be modified to both read that they're appropriate for "18 months and up."

WATCH director James A. Swartz said that the purpose of the top 10 list is not to catalog toys that are recalled but to cite examples of the types of potential hazards that parents could find in toys on store shelves.

Only one item on the list, the Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Boat, has also been recalled, in this case for lead-content issues, Swartz said.

As for Lil' Giddy-Up Sak, Swartz said that the purse features a wooden bead that could get detached during play; according to Swartz, the bead is small enough to pose a choking hazard and shouldn't be included in a toy "marketed for babies."

Told that Douglas was planning a label change, Swartz replied, "That's a good start."

Clarke noted that the bead on the Lil' Giddy-Up Sak is securely fastened.

"It does not detach with play," he said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:56 PM | Comments (0)

TJX is sued over gift card processing

Card Activation Technologies Inc. said in a press release today that it has filed a lawsuit against TJX Cos. of Framingham for the violation of a patent that covers the way TJX activates and processes gift cards.

Chicago-based Card Activations, the owner of a proprietary patented payment transaction technology, said the lawsuit is the seventh it has filed in the past two years; other retailers that the company said it is suing include Sears Holding Corp., Walgreen Co., and Barnes and Noble Inc.

TJX, which operates a number of retail chains that sell apparel and home fashions, including T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, said it does not comment on pending litigation.

In a US District Court in Chicago, Card Activation said it filed a lawsuit against TJX Nov. 6 as it seeks a royalty payment from TJX and an injunction to halt the further use of gift cards until TJX obtains a license.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:38 PM | Comments (0)

Raytheon wins $1.3 billion UK contract

Extending its homeland security business overseas, Waltham defense giant Raytheon Co. today signed a deal worth $1.34 billion over the next 10 years to help the United Kingdom control its borders.

Under the agreement, signed with the British Home Office, Raytheon will lead a six-company consortium called "Trusted Borders" that will collect and analyze data on people entering the nation by air, sea, and rail. The effort is part of the United Kingdom's e-Borders project undertaken in advance of the London Olympics in 2012.

The deal is important in two ways to Raytheon, which has a larger share of foreign sales than any other large Pentagon contractor. The operation will run out of the London suburb of Uxbridge, near Heathrow International Airport, and will deploy techniques and technologies Raytheon could market to other countries. And it will raise the company's profile in the fast-growing field of homeland security -- called "national security" in the United Kingdom -- a key focus for Raytheon.

"We see this as a capability we're interested in forwarding to new countries interested in border control," said Mike Keebaugh, president of Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems unit in Garland, Tex., outside Dallas, which is leading the effort. "Those countries could be in the European Union or they could be in Asia."
(By Robert Weisman, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)

Lynn apartments sold for $2.6m

High Street Property Management has sold a Lynn apartment complex for $2.6 million to an individual named Yan Schecter, a broker involved in the transaction said today.

The broker is NAI Hunneman, a Boston commercial real estate firm.

Built in 1910, 1-4 Kingsley Terrace consists of two detached, identical apartment buildings that have a total of 48 one-bedroom units, NAI Hunneman said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:33 PM | Comments (0)

IRS wants to refund $3m to Mass. residents

The Internal Revenue Service is putting out an all-points bulletin for Massachusetts tax payers who are collectively owed $3 million in refunds - or an average of more than $1,000 each.

The IRS said today that refunds sent to 2,190 Bay State taxpayers were returned as undeliverable, and the average amount of the refunds owed to those taxpayers was $1,357.

A refund is normally returned as undeliverable when a taxpayer moves without updating his or her address with either the US Postal Service or the IRS, and about one refund in a thousand is returned as undeliverable, the IRS said.

The refund checks can be claimed as soon as taxpayers update their addresses with the IRS, the agency said.

Local taxpayers who believe they are owed a refund can check their status by visiting the agency's website at www.irs.gov and clicking on the "Where's My Refund?" tool and following the directions, the IRS said.

"Taxpayers should not miss out on getting their money back," Peggy Riley, an IRS spokesperson, said in a statement. "The IRS makes it as easy as possible for taxpayers to update their addresses and claim their refunds."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)

US commercial real estate value falls

The value of US commercial real estate owned by big pension funds fell 2.5 percent in the third quarter, the first quarterly downturn since the third quarter of 2003, according to an index produced by the MIT Center for Real Estate.

The drop may not only spell the end of a five-year rally during which commercial real estate prices effectively doubled, but it also may signal that weakness in the housing market is spilling over into commercial real estate, said the MIT Center, which added that the last time that prices fell more than 2.5 percent was in the fourth quarter of 2001, when prices fell 3.9 percent following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Commenting on the index for the third quarter of 2007, MIT center director David Geltner said in a statement, "The fall in our index is the first solid, quantitative evidence that the subprime mortgage debacle, which hit the broader capital markets in August, may be spreading to the commercial property markets."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

Mass. Sec. of State charges Bear Stearns

Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin today charged a unit of Bear Stearns Cos. with engaging in improper trading activities at two collapsed hedge funds.

Filed on behalf of Massachusetts investors in the funds, the suit charges Bear Stearns Asset Management traded mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations and other securities from its own account with hedge funds it advised without notifying the client funds independent directors as required, Galvin's office said in a press release.

The rules were designed to control conflicts of interest, but Bear Stearns Asset Management failed to train or oversee people who were supposed to obtain approvals from fund directors, Galvin claimed, violating state securities rules.

Galvin also said directors of one fund, based in the Cayman Islands, declined to make themselves available for questioning. They did not honor department subpoenas, he said in a statement, "calling into question the efficacy of their independent oversight into the trading operations of these hedge funds.''
(By Ross Kerber, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

Idera names Arcudi finance chief

Biopharmaceutical company Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today that it named Louis J. Arcudi III as chief financial officer, effective Dec. 3.

Arcudi most recently served as vice president of finance and administration and treasurer for Peptimmune Inc. and was responsible for all financial business and operations. Before his four years at Peptimmune, Arcudi served as senior director of finance and administration at Genzyme Molecular Oncology Corp.

Idera develops drug candidates to treat cancer and infectious, respiratory and autoimmune diseases.

Shares of Cambridge, Mass.-based Idera fell 12 cents to $12.03 in morning trade. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

NeuroMetrix, Cyberkinetics collaborate

Two Massachusetts medical device companies said today that they are proposing to form a 50-50 joint venture to develop a peripheral nerve injury product.

The companies are NeuroMetrix Inc. of Waltham and Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. of Foxborough.

As part of this strategic relationship, NeuroMetrix said it has made a $2.5 million investment in Cyberkinetics common stock.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

MassMEDIC partners with German agency

MassMEDIC announced today an alliance that seeks to foster collaboration between medical technology companies in the Bay State and Berlin Partners, a public-private business development agency in Berlin, Germany.

The Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, or MassMEDIC, is an organization of 360 manufacturers, suppliers, research institutions, and academic health centers.

"With a similar agreement already in place with medical device organizations and agencies in Beijing, this new agreement will further help our companies here in Massachusetts to grow and gain more market share in the years ahead," MassMEDIC president Tom Sommer said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

Woburn Charrette property sold

Olympia Avenue Associates has sold the Charrette property in Woburn for $15.6 million to Morris & Morse Co. Inc., a broker involved in the transaction said today.

The broker is CB Richard Ellis Group, a Los Angeles-based commercial real estate services firm with a New England practice.

The Charrette property consists of industrial-zoned buildings on Woburn's Olympia Avenue and Normac Road, CB Richard Ellis said.

According to its website, Morris & Morse is a real estate asset and portfolio consulting firm with offices in Boston.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

Ferrara to lead MFIC

MFIC Corp. announced today that Michael C. Ferrara has been appointed chief executive and a member of the company's board of directors.

The Newton company designs, manufactures, and distributes Microfluidizer materials processing and formulation equipment to the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, chemical, cosmetic/personal care, and food industries.

Ferrara was most recently president and chief executive of X-Rite Inc., a Michigan-based technology company, MFIC said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:50 AM | Comments (0)

InnoCentive contributes oil spill solution

InnoCentive Inc. said today that its network of problem-solvers was able to devise a fix for workers helping to clean up an oil spill.

A Web-based community headquartered in Waltham, InnoCentive helps corporate and nonprofit clients solve research-and-development problems by posting descriptions of these problems, called challenges, on a website visited by thousands of researchers, scientists, engineers, and mathematicians from around the world; those who solve a problem can qualify for financial awards.

InnoCentive said it has been working with the Oil Spill Recovery Institute, or OSRI, a group established by Congress after the 1989 oil spill by the Exxon Valdez.

InnoCentive said OSRI has posted three challenges on its website, and the first challenge was solved last week by a researcher outside the oil industry.

The challenged was to find a method for separating oil from water on oil recovery barges after the oil and water had frozen to a viscous mass.

InnoCentive problem-solver John Davis proposed using an existing product commonly used in the concrete industry to keep cement in liquid form during massive cement pours.

Davis was awarded $20,000 for his solution, InnoCentive said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)

Verizon's FiOS coming to Marshfield

Verizon Communications Inc. said it has introduced its FiOS TV service to Marshfield.

Because the FiOS TV service is delivered over an all-fiber network, it offers superior quality and choice when compared to services offered by rivals, Verizon claims.

Marshfield is among 58 Massachusetts communities where Verizon says it offers its FiOS TV service.

Headquartered in New York, Verizon delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless services to mass market, business, government, and wholesale customers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)

Red Hat summit coming to Boston

Red Hat Inc. announced today that its annual Red Hat Summit will take place June 18 through June 20 at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston's Back Bay.

North Carolina-based Red Hat, a provider of open source solutions, said the summit will feature hands-on workshops, demonstrations, technical and business sessions, solutions expos, and opportunities to speak and network with the developers, engineers, and partners behind Red Hat's open-source software solutions, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:32 AM | Comments (0)

EnerNOC prices public offering

EnerNOC Inc. of Boston announced today that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 2.5 million shares of its common stock at an offering price of $43 per share.

The offering includes 500,000 shares offered by EnerNOC and 2 million shares offered by certain selling stockholders, the company said.

EnerNOC uses technology to automate the so-called demand response process for electricity utilities by signing up commercial and industrial companies to conservation programs; during peak demand periods, such as hot summer days, EnerNOC uses its technology to remotely curtail the electricity consumption of companies that have signed onto the program as a way to lower the likelihood of brownouts and outages.

In May, EnerNOC had an initial public offering of its stock. In EnerNOC's first day of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, shares rose $5.13, or 20 percent, to $31.13.

Yesterday EnerNOC shares closed at $43.75, up $2.57 for the day.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

Foreclosure rates on the rise

Worcester and Boston/Quincy ranked 32nd and 48th respectively on a national survey that compiled home foreclosure rates among the country's 100 largest metropolitan areas during the third quarter.

The survey was put together by California-based RealtyTrac Inc., an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

RealtyTrac said its Metro Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of foreclosure filings by metro areas, along with the number of households per foreclosure filings; the household numbers are based on 2005 US Census Bureau data.

According to the report, the Worcester market had one foreclosure filing for every 150 households, and the Boston/Quincy market had one filing for every 220 households.

Stockton, Calif.; Detroit; and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. had the highest foreclosure rates during the third quarter, and markets in California, Ohio, and Florida collectively accounted form more than two-thirds of the top 25 metro foreclosure rates, RealtyTrac said.

Of the top 100 metro areas, 77 of the metro areas reported more foreclosure filings in the third quarter than they had in the previous quarter, RealtyTrac noted.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:20 AM | Comments (0)

US mortgage applications up

Mortgage applications increased as refinancings jumped in the latest weekly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The association, which represents the real estate finance industry, said its market composite index, a measure of loan application volume, was 707.3 for the week ending Nov. 9.

That was an increase of 5.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week's reading, the association said; on an unadjusted basis, last week's reading was up 21.8 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

For the week ending Nov. 9, the refinance index increased 6.4 percent to 2315.7 from 2176.1 the previous week, the association said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)

Berklee launches blog network

Local musicians can learn about the music business, thanks to a blog from Berkleemusic, the continuing education division of Boston's Berklee College of Music.

Berkleemusic just announced the launch of the Berkleemusic Blog Network, which seeks to bring together music industry professionals and Berklee faculty members to discuss topics and current events relating to the music business, Berklee said.

Topics covered include improving production skills, marketing music online, and starting a publishing company, Berklee said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:09 AM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007

Lab space filling up

Biotechnology companies are gobbling up a growing amount of laboratory space in the Boston area, according to a report by Richards Barry Joyce & Partners, a commercial real estate firm in Boston.

The report found vacancy rates for lab space fell to 9.1 percent for the two quarters ending Sept. 30, the first time vacancy rates have fallen below 10 percent since 2002. And tenants occupied more than 12 million square feet of lab space in the region, the most ever recorded.

The report also identified several neighborhoods where biotech companies could expand, including Boston's Allston neighborhood and Cambridge's NorthPoint and Alewife areas.
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 5:57 PM | Comments (0)

Molecular Insight prices $150 million in bonds

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals Inc. said that it has priced $150 million in bonds, the proceeds of which should help the company through its first product launch.

The Cambridge company said that it is developing a pipeline of molecular imaging and targeted radiotherapeutic candidates.

The bonds are due in 2012, the company said, and in connection with the transaction, Molecular Insight will issue warrants for the purchase of an aggregate of just over 6 million shares of common stock; these warrants represent 18 percent dilution of common shares on a fully diluted, post-money basis.

"In evaluating several financing options relative to our business needs and market conditions, we concluded that this transaction was ideally suited to provide the capital necessary to fund our product development plans while minimizing dilution to our current shareholders," Donald Wallroth, the company's chief financial officer, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:05 PM | Comments (0)

Bond will support solar power

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, said today that a $3.1 million bond will support 12 solar power projects across the state.

Issued on behalf of the commonwealth, the federally-sponsored Clean Renewable Energy Bonds will be used to help install photovoltaic cells at such places as a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority facility at Deer Island, Worcester State College, and several prisons operated by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, MassDevelopment said.

By participating in the no-interest bond program, Massachusetts will save more than $1 million in borrowing costs along with $180,000 in annual energy costs while reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by 500 metric tons each year, MassDevelopment said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:01 PM | Comments (0)

Coakley delays new mortgage regulations

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is delaying new regulations cracking down on the mortgage industry after lenders raised objections.

Many of the new rules were scheduled to take effect Thursday. But Coakley is pushing the effective date back to Jan. 2, saying some lenders aren't ready to meet the requirements for mortgage loans that were recently originated, but haven't yet closed.

Some lenders have indicated that the tougher regulations might cause them to drop out of the Massachusetts market for certain types of mortgages.

Among other things, Coakley wants to change compensation rules for brokers who arrange mortgages. She says the current system creates potential conflicts of interest.

Brokers fear the changes will drastically cut their compensation. The attorney general says there is confusion over the issue and she plans to issue a clarification. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)

Mass. gas jumps 13 cents

Gasoline prices have jumped an average of 13 cents per gallon in Massachusetts compared with a week ago, and are up an average of 33 cents in the past month.

AAA of Southern New England's statewide survey finds an average price of $2.97 for a gallon of regular, self-serve gasoline.

A month ago, gas averaged $2.64 per gallon.

Prices at the pump are being driven up by rising crude oil prices on the global market, which are approaching $100 per barrel.

The auto club says prices in Massachusetts are still 13 cents below the national average of $3.10 per gallon for regular, self-serve gas. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

Converse increases NBA ties

Converse, the iconic sneaker brand with a North Andover headquarters, said today it plans to mine its basketball heritage as it gears up to celebrate its centennial next year.

As it gears up to launch nine performance basketball shoes this season, Converse said it now boasts its largest roster of National Basketball Association players to endorse its products in more than 20 years.

New additions to its lineup include Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat, Kyle Korver of the Philadelphia 76ers, and Orien Greene of the Sacramento Kings, said Converse, which was founded in 1908.

"Converse's basketball heritage is rich with stories of product innovation and legendary players, but it's our future in the basketball category that excites us most," chief executive Jack Boys said in a statement.

Converse is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oregon sneaker giant Nike Inc.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)

Three Mass. women executives honored

Three Massachusetts companies and executives were among those honored at a presentation ceremony last night for the Fourth Annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

The Las Vegas ceremony put a spotlight on 43 women executives, business owners, and companies, according to press release from the event's organizers.

Among honorees with Bay State connections were Gail Goodman, chief executive of Constant Contact Inc., a Waltham-based e-mail marketing agency, who was hailed as "best entrepreneur," and Care.com, also of Waltham, was cited as "best new company of the year," the release said.

According to its website, Care.com helps consumers find care providers for children, seniors, and pets.

Also winning a Stevie for "best executive" was Lisa Wexler, chief executive of Elaine Construction of Newton, the press release said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

VMware updates software

VMware Inc. released today an early version of a free product it uses to promote its more advanced virtualization software and its shares rose over 11 percent, rebounding from a drop Monday.

VMware shares fell 8.4 percent Monday on news from Oracle Corp that it was entering the virtualization market with a product three times more efficient than competitors' offerings.

VMware, 86 percent-owned by EMC Corp, is the market leader in virtualization software, which allows companies to save costs by squeezing more resources out of each computer.

It has provided companies with a free product known as VMWare Server to give them a chance to experiment with the technology. That approach has proven successful, prompting thousands of businesses to buy complex VMware products that they use to run sophisticated data centers.

On Tuesday VMware announced the second generation of VMware Server and made a trial copy available on its Web site.

VMware said it will be generally available next year and has a new Web-based interface that supports more than 30 operating systems including Microsoft Corp's Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and various Linux products.

Shares of VMware rose $9.12, or 11.4 percent, to $89.48 on the New York Stock Exchange in late Tuesday morning trade and have tripled from their initial public offering price of $29 a share in August.

EMC shares, which had fallen 5.4 percent Monday, were up 4.1 percent at $19.60 amid a broad rebound in technology stocks. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Taiwan requests upgrades from Raytheon

The U.S. Defense Department today informed lawmakers about a possible sale to Taiwan of Patriot missile system upgrades valued at $939 million and supplied by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon Co.

The Pentagon's Defense Security and Cooperation Agency said the government of Taiwan had requested upgrades and refurbishment of its three existing Patriot fire units.

Congress has 30 days to block the sale although such action is rare.

The agency said the proposed sale served U.S. national, economic and security interests by supporting Taiwan's continuing drive to modernize its armed forces and boost its defense capability.

The sale, likely to irritate China, comes just a week after Defense Secretary Robert Gates appealed to China for help in curbing Iran's nuclear program, arguing that a stable Gulf was in the interests of Beijing's energy security.

Ties between the United States and China are much warmer than earlier this decade, but Washington remains concerned about China's military modernization and Beijing's decision to shoot down one of its own aging satellites last January.

During his visit to Beijing, Gates said China had not adequately explained the anti-satellite test, a move that raised the specter of a space arms race. China says its space programs are entirely for peaceful purposes.

At the time, Gates said he had reiterated Washington's position on Taiwan, the self-governed island over which China claims sovereignty, saying it opposed moves by either side to change the status quo.

The defense agency said the proposed sale included an array of long- and short-range radio systems, radar enhancements, remote launch communications equipment and an electric power plant, as well as four telemetry kits for live fire training. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

Mass. Bar supports Pakistani lawyers

The Massachusetts Bar Association said today it supports efforts by the National Lawyers Guild to show solidarity with lawyers in Pakistan.

The guild has called for demonstrations today in cities with Pakistani consulates, including Boston, to protest the suspension of Pakistan's constitution by President Pervez Musharraf, the bar association noted.

"The purpose of a constitution is to establish citizens' basic rights and liberties, and by suspending his nation's constitution, President Musharraf has usurped the rule of law," MBA president David W. White Jr. said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)

Hyatt Place opens in Medford

Global Hyatt Corp. said that a 157-room Hyatt Place hotel officially opens today in Medford.

According to the company, the Hyatt Place is new kind of "hospitality experience" that complements Hyatt's full-service brands.

Hyatt Place hotels seek to combine "contemporary design with innovative services to create an atmosphere of casual hospitality," the company said.

The Medford hotel will offer a complimentary shuttle service within a four-mile radius for transportation to Tufts University and Davis Square in Somerville as well as to nearby shopping centers, restaurants, and office buildings, Hyatt said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

Profit up at TJX

TJX Cos. said today that its third-quarter profit climbed 13 percent, a result that fell just short of analysts' expectations as the off-price retailer's apparel sales were hurt by unseasonably warm early fall weather.

However, the owner of 2,565 discount stores including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls slightly raised its fourth-quarter earnings outlook.

Net income for the three-month period ending Oct. 27 increased to $249.5 million, or 54 cents per share, up from a profit of $230.6 million, or 48 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

The latest quarter's performance fell just short of the consensus estimate of 55 cents a share by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $4.74 billion from $4.47 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected revenue of $4.79 billion in the latest quarter.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 3 percent.

"While sales were slightly below plan, we believe this was mostly due to unseasonably warm weather through the majority of September and October," said Caroly Meyrowitz, president and chief executive.

The company expects fourth-quarter earnings in a range of 58 cents to 60 cents per share, up from its prior guidance of 57 cents to 59 cents per share. The company cited favorable foreign currency exchange rates for increasing its expectations.

TJX expects full-year 2007 earnings of $1.86 to $1.88 per share, and same-store sales growth of 4 percent for both the fouth quarter and full year.

Analysts forecast fourth-quarter net income of 59 cents per share.

TJX operates T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, A.J. Wright and Bob's Stores in the United States, Winners and HomeSense stores in Canada, and T.K. Maxx stores in Europe. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

New contract for Smith & Wesson chief

Gun maker Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. said today that it signed a new contract with its president and chief executive that secures his services through November 2010.

Michael F. Golden originally became president and chief executive, along with a member of the company's board, in December 2004.

Smith & Wesson, which is based in Springfield, Mass., said the new contract is performance focused and includes performance-based cash bonuses and restricted stock units, along with stock options. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

FDA asks Genzyme for more data

Biotechnology company Genzyme Corp. said today that the Food and Drug Administration asked for additional information about the company's pain relief drug candidate Synvisc-One.

Approval of the drug candidate, which is a single dose treatment of pain drug Synvisc, now will likely be delayed until the second half of 2008. The drug candidate's goal is to provide up to six months of pain relief from osteoarthritis of the knee.

Synvisc is currently given through three injections of 2-milliliter doses over three weeks. The new formulation would give three combined doses in a single 6-milliliter dose.

The company is also seeking approval for Synvisc-One in Europe. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:57 AM | Comments (0)

Welch's taps Oco tech

Welch Foods Inc., the Concord-based cooperative known for its Welch's grape juice, has selected a business-intelligence solution from Oco Inc., Oco said today.

Waltham-based Oco is a software-as-a-service provider of business intelligence and data integration solutions.

Oco said Welch will use its solution to optimize its transportation operations.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:18 AM | Comments (0)

Forecast: Upturn ahead for NE economy

The nation's housing slump and credit crunch have left economists gloomier than they were six months ago about New England's growth prospects, but the worst may soon be over.

A regional forecast organization today predicted that New England's economy will begin to break out of its recent run of slow growth starting in the second quarter of next year, but its housing market is at least six months from bottoming out.

The New England Economic Partnership expects the current quarter and next year's first quarter to yield the slowest growth in the value of New England's products and services -- a measure known as gross regional product -- during a forecast period that runs through 2011.

The panel of economists from the region's six states expects an annual growth rate of 1.6 percent this quarter and 1.7 percent next quarter. The economists then expect "a slow and modest recovery," peaking at 3.4 percent growth in early 2009, according to the latest twice-a-year forecast presented at the economic organization's fall conference in Boston.

Regional gross product growth is expected to average 2.2 percent per year through 2011, below the 2.6 percent the group had forecast last spring.

The group attributed the lowering of expectations to "the broadening effects of the national credit crisis, and economic vulnerabilities extending from the housing market to other sectors of the economy."

The economists predict New England will continue to experience slower gross product growth than the nation over the next few years, with New Hampshire posting the region's fastest growth at 3 percent. All other states in the region are expected to see gross product growth of at least fourth-tenths of a percentage point below the U.S. annual average.

New England's current housing price decline is to reach its steepest point during the current quarter, with prices continuing to fall through next year's second quarter. Economists then expect a slow, modest housing recovery, with the region's median price expected to fall 10 percent from the pre-slump peak to the downturn's low point.

After a long run of steep price appreciation, New England's housing market switched to a buyer's market beginning last year.

New England's jobs growth is expected to average eight-tenths of a percentage point per year through 2011, compared with the national average of 1.1 percent.

Ross Gittell, the organization's forecast manager and a professor at the University of New Hampshire, said New England's economic prospects have recently been hurt by lagging population and employment growth compared with the nation as a whole.

"There is no single factor causing vulnerability in New England's regional competitiveness, but rather a confluence of factors that will have to be addressed to ensure a strong regional economic future," Gittell said. "Noteworthy among these factors are indications that the region is experiencing a decline in 'attractiveness' to young adults and businesses expanding employment."

The New England Economic Partnership is a 36-year-old nonprofit forecast organization with members from private industry, government and academia. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:52 AM | Comments (0)

Sonus expands in Mexico

Sonus Networks Inc. said today that one of its customers plans a large scale expansion of the Sonus network in Mexico.

The Westford company is a supplier of service-provider of IP-voice infrastructure solutions.

According to Sonus, Alestra, a data-and-voice telecommunications services operator, plans the expansion of the Sonus network in Mexico.

Alfa, a Mexican industrial conglomerate has a majority ownership position in Alestra, with AT&T Inc. owning a 49-percent share, Sonus noted.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)

Cabot declares dividend

Cabot Corp. said Friday its board declared a regular quarterly dividend of 18 cents per share.

The specialty chemicals and materials company said it would pay the dividend on Dec. 14 to shareholders of record on Nov. 30. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

Vivox rounds up $7.8 million

Vivox Inc. announced today it has secured $7.8 million in a second round of equity financing.

The Framingham company provides integrated voice services for online games and virtual worlds.

The funding round was led by Benchmark Capital, a venture capital firm with offices in California and Israel, Vivox said.

Proceeds from the round will fund product development, sales support, and marketing, Vivox said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:32 AM | Comments (0)

Ricciardi joins Sepracor board

Sepracor Inc., the Marlborough pharmaceutical company known for the insomnia drug Lunesta, announced today the appointment of Lisa Ricciardi as a new member of its board of directors.

Ricciardi is an adjunct partner at Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, a venture capital firm with offices in California and New York, Sepracor said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:30 AM | Comments (0)

Survey: More gift cards this year

Gift cards should be more popular than ever, according to a survey commissioned by the National Retail Federation.

The federation, a trade group, projects that consumers will spend $26.3 billion on gift cards this holiday season, compared with $24.8 billion in 2006; the federation added that according to the survey, 87.7 percent of shoppers said they will purchase two or more gift cards this holiday season.

"Many consumers pulled back on spending for themselves this year and are hoping to receive a gift card so they purchase something they may have had their eye on for several months," Tracy Mullin, the federation's president and chief executive, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:25 AM | Comments (0)

FBI adopts Nuance technology

Nuance Communications Inc. announced today that the FBI has selected one of its speech-recognition products.

The Burlington company, a provider of speech and imaging solutions, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation will use its Dragon Naturally Speaking product in order to offer speech-recognition capabilities throughout the FBI.

The product will enable FBI agents to quickly and accurately create comprehensive reports, interviews, and other documents by voice, increasing productivity over manual typing, Nuance said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:22 AM | Comments (0)

"Enchanted" opening at Mansfield Crossing

Costumes from "Enchanted," a new movie from Walt Disney Pictures, will be exhibited as part of the grand opening festivities Friday and Saturday for Mansfield Crossing, the developer of the shopping center said.

The developer is W/S Development of Chestnut Hill, and W/S describes Mansfield Crossing in Mansfield as "a vibrant blend of retailers and restaurants in an open-air pedestrian friendly environment."

The shopping center's retail tenants include Kohl's, L.L. Bean, Borders, and Best Buy, W/S said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)

FirstBest raises $7 million

FirstBest Systems Inc. of Lexington today announced the completion of a $7 million round of series A funding led by IDG Ventures Boston, a venture capital firm.

In a statement, IDG Ventures Boston general partner Chip Hazard described FirstBest's business model.

"FirstBest was formed to address an unmet need in the commercial property and casualty insurance market," Hazard said in his statement. "Current market forces are putting intense pressure on insurance carriers' profitability, especially in the mid-tier market, focusing their attention on the underwriting process. FirstBest has developed a new category of business solution specifically to address their underwriting challenges, leveraging the latest Web 2.0 technologies."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

Metro Boston reports circulation gain

Metro Boston, a local free daily newspaper, said today its circulation rose 12 percent in the second quarter of 2007.

Citing figures from the Certified Audit of Circulations, Metro Boston said its circulation for the quarter ending June 30 was 186,956, up from a circulation of 166,290 in the previous quarter, which ended March 31.

The New York Times Co., parent of The Boston Globe, owns a 49 percent interest in Metro Boston.

Stuart Layne, Metro Boston publisher and managing director, said in a statement, "People are consuming the news very differently than previous generations, and these numbers are proof the newspaper landscape in Boston has changed."

Posted by globebusiness at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)

Fidelity's brokerage assets hit $1.96 trillion

Boston money manager Fidelity Investments said today that client assets at its brokerage business were at a record $1.96 trillion at the end of September.

That was up 24 percent from a year earlier, due to higher inflows and stronger markets.

Fidelity, the world's biggest mutual fund firm, competes with Merrill Lynch & Co., Charles Schwab Corp., TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and E+Trade Financial Corp., among others, in the brokerage business.

Privately owned Fidelity said in a statement that net new client assets, which include sales of Fidelity and non-Fidelity mutual funds and individual securities, almost doubled to $54.8 billion in the third quarter.

New retail brokerage assets and new institutional clearing assets rose 27 percent each to $14.7 billion and $11.8 billion, respectively, in the quarter. New institutional adviser assets jumped four-fold to $28.4 billion, helped by a business tie-up with financial software provider SunGard, it said.

Daily average commissionable trades were at a record 368,502 in the quarter, up 31 percent from a year earlier, the firm said.

Fidelity had 17.6 million brokerage client accounts at the end of the quarter, up 6 percent from a year earlier but down from 18 million at the end of June.

"The small decline in accounts is primarily due to Fidelity purging nearly 700,000 zero-balance accounts in July 2007," Fidelity spokesman Steve Austin said. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:51 PM | Comments (0)

Greater Media plans to buy NC radio stations

Greater Media Inc. said today it has agreed to buy three radio stations in the Charlotte, N.C., for $100 million as it looks to add a new market to its portfolio of radio stations.

Greater Media of Braintree is the parent company of 20 radio stations in the Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, and New Jersey markets; its local stations include Country 102.5 (WKLB-FM), 96.9 FM Talk WTKK, and Magic 106.7 (WMJX-FM).

The North Carolina stations that Greater Media has agreed to buy are WBT-AM, a news-talk station similar in format to WBZ in this maket; WBT-FM; and WLNK-FM, home of a popular nationally syndicated show titled "The Bob and Sheri Show."

The seller is Lincoln Financial Group, a Philadelphia-based financial services firm, Greater Media said.

"Charlotte is a huge growth market and gives us a strong presence in the Southeast to balance our successful markets in the Northeast," Greater Media president and chief executive Peter Smyth said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:15 PM | Comments (0)

Synta starts Phase III trial of melanoma drug

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. announced today the start of a Phase III clinical trial of the company's melanoma drug Elesclomol.

The Lexington company also reported that it has successfully completed the special protocol assessment process, reaching agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration on the design, conduct, and planned analyses of the trial.

The trial is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Elesclomol in patients with stage IV metastatic melanoma, a disease with a median survival of six to nine months, Synta said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:29 PM | Comments (0)

Navy awards $142 million destroyer contract

Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. said today that its Bath Iron Works subsidiary in Maine was awarded a $142 million contract modification by the U.S. Navy to continue work on the Zumwalt class of destroyers.

Under the modified contract, Bath Iron Works' duties will include long lead material procurement and preproduction planning to support detail design and ship construction.

The original contract was awarded in August 2006.

Virginia-based General Dynamics said the Zumwalt class represents the Navy's next generation of multimission surface combat ships. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)

Survey: Few recycle old electronic items

Only 23 percent of Americans recycle their old or unused electronic items, according to a survey made public today by Staples Inc.

The Framingham-based retailer of office supplies added that 41 percent of those surveyed said they either throw such items in the trash or don't dispose of them all.

Staples used the survey to remind consumers that they can recycle "a range of used technology items" in the chain's 1,400 stores nationwide.

One item consumers may not wish to recycle is a limited-edition "Easy" button that Staples is making available during the holiday season.

The Easy button was inspired by Staples ads with the theme of "That was Easy," and the limited edition of the Easy button on sale during the holidays was partly designed by Janisha Thomas, a 14-year-old member of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City.

Staples said it will donate up to $100,000 beyond its current $1 million contribution from its charitable arm, the Staples Foundation for Learning, to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America based on the sales of the limited-edition Easy button.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)

Myron will join Hanover Insurance

Hanover Insurance Group Inc. said Robert P. Myron will join the Worcester-based insurance company as director of corporate finance and treasurer, overseeing corporate finance and supporting business development.

Myron joins the company from Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., an underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty market. The 39-year-old executive served as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer at the Bermuda company.

Hanover Insurance shares rose 56 cents to $44.82 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)

TA agrees to sell SmartStream

TA Associates, a private equity firm with offices in Boston, said today it has agreed to sell SmartStream Technologies in an all-cash deal that values the company at $413 million.

SmartStream is a British-based software licensing and professional services business, and the buyer is DIFC Investments, which operates under the umbrella of the Dubai International Financial Centre, TA said.

The transaction is expected to close in a month, TA said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)

Comcast expands HD-TV offerings

Cable provider Comcast Corp. said today it is adding three high-definition television channels to its New England line-up of HD channels.

The addition of the History Channel HD, the Discovery Channel HD, and the USA Network HD brings the total number of high-definition TV channels that Comcast offers New England subscribers to 30, Philadelphia-based Comcast said.

Besides HD channels, Comcast noted that it also offers New England subscribers 150 hours of HD content, which can include movies and concerts.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

Epix will privately place $16.m worth of stock

Biotechnology company Epix Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today it will privately place $16.3 million worth of common stock.

The Lexington company is placing about 5.2 million shares at $3.10 a piece, it said, and will use the proceeds to pay for clinical trials and research and development. The placement is expected to close on or about Thursday.

Shares of Epix closed at $3.73 Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)

Women's rise in Mass. board rooms is slow

Women hold 11.5 percent of the 838 board seats at the 100 largest companies in Massachusetts, up from 10.8 percent the previous year, a new report noted today.

The report, titled "Leading by Example: The 2007 Census of Women Directors and Executive Officers of Massachusetts Public Companies" was released by the Boston Club, an organization of professional women.

In drawing up the report, the Boston Club collaborated with Bentley College and Mercer, a global consulting firm.

According to the report, there was significant turnover in senior executive positions in the state's largest public companies last year; among the state's largest 100 largest public companies, turnover produced a total of 64 new directors, 50 of whom are independent directors.

Furthermore, the total number of executive officers increased by 45, the report said.

"These changes offered significant opportunities for women's advancement," the Boston Club said in its press release.

Unfortunately, few Massachusetts companies took advantage of those opportunities, said the Boston Club, which noted that 37 percent of the companies on the list still have no women directors.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:29 AM | Comments (0)

Raytheon buys firm's robotics unit

Raytheon Co. has purchased the robotics business of Sarcos Inc., expanding its integrated defense systems arm, the Waltham-based defense contractor said today.

Terms were not disclosed.

Salt Lake City-based Sarcos researches and develops advanced micro-electro mechanical systems. Acquiring its robotics division will allow Raytheon to expand in a "developing growth area," Dan Smith, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, said in a statement. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:07 AM | Comments (0)

Global adds fuel storage capacity

Global Partners LP announced today that it plans to increase its storage capacity in Providence by 474,000 barrels of refined products and biofuels.

Waltham-based Global Partners is a wholesale distributor of gasoline, distillates, and residual oil.

Global said its Providence terminal is scheduled to open for business in December, and it will provide about 244,000 barrels of dedicated storage for distillates and biofuels.

Global said it is also building about 230,000 barrels of dedicated storage for residual fuels, which is set to be available in the first half of 2008.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:56 AM | Comments (0)

IBM to acquire Cognos for $5 billion

In hopes of keeping pace with rivals in the field of "business intelligence" software, IBM Corp. said today it plans to buy Cognos Inc. for $5 billion in cash.

Cognos has its US headquarters in Burlington.

The acquisition would follow similar moves in the same market this year. Software giant SAP AG recently linked up with Business Objects SA and Oracle Corp. grabbed Hyperion Solutions Corp. Cognos shares had soared recently on expectations that it, too, would be acquired.

However, the head of IBM's software group, Steve Mills, said acquiring Cognos -- which already had a business partnership with IBM -- was not inspired by those previous deals. IBM has been on an acquisition tear in recent years to build out its software portfolio and improve the company's overall profit margins.

"We never do acquisitions on defensive moves or based on what others are doing," Mills said in an interview.

IBM is offering to pay $58 per share in cash for Ottawa-based Cognos, a 9 percent premium over Cognos' $52.98 closing price Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. But Cognos was trading in the mid-$40s before SAP's $7 billion proposal for Business Objects was announced in October, accelerating expectations for consolidation in business-intelligence software.

Business-intelligence software helps big organizations gather and analyze data from across their organizations, whether for marketing the financial impact of strategic decisions or making staffing changes.

IBM said Cognos' portfolio will fit in its information management software division. Cognos CEO Rob Ashe is expected to remain and report to the group's head Ambuj Goyal, after the deal is completed in the first quarter of 2008.

Cognos has 4,000 employees worldwide and serves more than 25,000 customers. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:28 AM | Comments (0)

Citizens will aid Salvation Army kettle drive

Citizens Bank said it will again partner with the Massachusetts Salvation Army to help the Salvation Army with its kettle drive.

Traditionally, the Salvation Army uses red kettles in its fund-raising campaign, but plans call for 50 green kettles to be deployed across the state among the red kettles this year, and Citizens, a unit of Providence-based Citizens Financial Group, said it will match donations in the green kettles up to $250,000.

Last year's partnership generated more than $442,000 in contributions at the green kettles, said Citizens, whose corporate colors include green.

Citizens said that the Massachusetts Salvation Army hopes to raise $3.5 million this year.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:07 AM | Comments (0)

Legacy.com taps Mirror Image

Mirror Image Internet of Tewksbury said today it is working with Legacy.com, an online memorial site.

Mirror Image, a provider of content delivery solutions powered by a patented global network, said Legacy.com is "leveraging" Mirror Image's Object Caching solution and Flash Animation to reliably deliver online content and ensure website performance during peak traffic periods.

Legacy.com is an online memorial site that hosts obituaries from more than 500 newspapers; at the site, families and friends from around the world can read a loved one's obituary, sign an online guest book, and create interactive memorials in honor of an individual, Mirror Image said.

Traffc to Legacy.com's site was expected to quadruple over the Veterans Day holiday, the firm said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:55 AM | Comments (0)

Holiday laptops for Haiti and Rwanda

One Laptop per Child is starting a two-week holiday promotion today that will allow consumers to pay $399 and get two laptops - one for themselves and the other for a child in a country such as Afghanistan.

One Laptop per Child, or OLPC, is a Cambridge-based nonprofit started by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte and others at the MIT Media Lab; its stated mission is to design, manufacture, and distribute laptop computers that are sufficiently inexpensive that they can provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education.

During the next two weeks, individuals who live in the United States or Canada can participate in the "Give One Get One" program to support the OLPC Foundation by paying for two laptops - one to give, one to get, the group said.

The laptop the consumer gives will go to a child in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, or Rwanda, said the group, which added that the laptops will be delivered starting in December on a first come, first served basis.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:38 AM | Comments (0)

Holiday shopping starts slowly

Consumers are off to a slow start in their holiday shopping, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation, a trade group.

Young adults in the 18-to-24 age range are the least prepared for the holidays with 76.2 percent of them finished with less than 10 percent of their shopping, the group said today.

Many economists fret that the holiday retail season will be soft as consumer concerns about high energy prices and troubles in the housing market result in restrained spending, but the federation remains upbeat.

"Now that the weather has started to cool, consumers will start to think about holiday shopping by making lists, researching gift ideas, and window shopping around town," Tracy Mullin, the federation's president and chief executive, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:19 AM | Comments (0)

November 9, 2007

Harvard names interim endowment chief

Harvard Management Co., which invests the nation's largest university endowment, today named Harvard Business School professor Robert Kaplan as interim chief executive officer.

Kaplan, 50, a former vice president of Goldman Sachs Group in New York, will take the reins at Harvard Management on Monday on a temporary basis while the organization seeks a permanent successor to Mohamed El-Erian.

El-Erian joined Harvard Management in February 2006, replacing 15-year chief executive Jack Meyer, who left with a team of investment colleagues to start a Boston hedge fund. Then, this September, El-Erian announced he was returning to his previous company, Pimco, in Newport Beach, Calif., to be closer to family.

Kaplan will work with El-Erian until he departs in early December to ease the transition, said Harvard spokesman John Longbrake.

In a statement, James F. Rothenberg, treasurer of Harvard University and chairman of Harvard Management Co., said El-Erian had rebuilt the investment capacity of the endowment during his tenure.

"He is leaving it in a much stronger organizational position than when he arrived," Rothenberg said. "We are fortunate to have Rob Kaplan's experience, expertise, and leadership to help ensure a smooth transition and to maintain the highest level of investment management."

Harvard's endowment was valued at more than $35 billion at the end of its 2007 fiscal year.
(By Robert Weisman, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 6:10 PM | Comments (0)

Genzyme buys piece of Canadian company

Cambridge biotech company Genzyme Corp. has agreed to buy Diagnostic Chemicals Limited's diagnostics unit for $57 million.

Diagnostic Chemicals Limited is a privately-held diagnostics and biopharmaceutical company based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, the company disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

The diagnostics unit includes its line of more than 50 clinical chemical reagents, which generated about $21 million in revenue during the 2007 fiscal year. The deal also includes the Canadian company's diagnostic operations in Prince Edward Island and Connecticut, but excludes assets related to its bio-pharma unit, BioVecra.
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)

Alnylam details Cambridge expansion

Alnlyam Pharmaceuticals Inc. is expanding.

The biotech company subleased 22,456 square feet from Archemix Corp. at 300 Third St. in Cambridge, where Alnylam is based, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

That's in addition to the 62,000 square feet of office and laboratory space Alnylam had already leased in the building.

The latest lease runs through September 2011, with an option to extend it for another four years.
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

Paper outlines Fidelity succession plan

Abigail Johnson, daughter of Fidelity Investments chairman and chief executive Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III, is likely to succeed her father as chairman of the Boston mutual funds giant, but not necessarily as chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The Journal cited unnamed "people familiar with the matter" as the basis for its report on Fidelity's succession plans.

According to the Journal, two questions about Fidelity's succession plan are still unclear: When the 77-year-old Edward Johnson plans to retire, and how much power Abigail Johnson, 45, would wield if she became chairman.

The Journal reported, "Mr. Johnson has expressed doubts in recent months about his daughter's readiness to run Fidelity, say some of his confidants."

Among possible succession scenarios outlined in the Journal was one in which there would be no chief executive and the heads of Fidelity's operating units would report directly to the board of directors.

Another possible scenario is that a chief executive would be selected from outside the Johnson family.

Earlier this week, Moody's Investors Service warned in a report that the future of Fidelity is clouded because of the concentration of power in the hands of Edward Johnson.

According to a Globe story yesterday, Moody's said it has growing concerns about the control wielded by Johnson at Fidelity's parent company, FMR LLC. Its board includes Johnson family members and long-time associates and no independent directors "whose presence would create some confidence that there is some check on Mr. Johnson," Moody's wrote.

Moody's comments give an institutional voice to questions others have raised lately about performance and government practices at Fidelity, which Johnson has put into the makeover mode this year following a period of lagging returns at its mutual funds, the Globe story noted.

Among other things this year, Johnson has replaced his number-two executive, reorganized its business units, and, most recently, transformed the structure of Fidelity parent FMR.
(Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

Biogen Idec says arthritis drug shows promise

Biogen Idec Inc. of Cambridge said today that a potential treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis showed promise in a Phase IIa trial.

The trial is of baminercept, a dual-mechanism lymphotoxin-beta and Light pathway inhibitor in development for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Biogen Idec said it presented results from the trial to a meeting of the American College of Rheumatology now underway in Boston.

Based on the results of the Phase IIa study, Biogen Idec said it has initiated two Phase IIb trials to study baminercept when used in combination with another drug, methotrexate; those tests will focus on patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who had inadequate responses to some other forms of treatments.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:31 AM | Comments (0)

Monotype Imaging narrows quarterly loss

Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., which provides technology that allows consumer electronic devices to display text, said today its third-quarter loss narrowed in part on higher revenue and a tax benefit.

The company reported a loss after preferred dividends of $2.4 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with a loss of $6.7 million, or $2.77 per share, in the previous year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 8 cents per share.

The current period's results included a $1.4 million tax benefit from a change in its German deferred tax liabilities.

Revenue for the quarter increased 15 percent to $26.2 million from $22.8 million, surpassing Wall Street's estimate of $25.1 million. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)

Brooks revenue may fall short of expectations

Chip manufacturing equipment and software maker Brooks Automation Inc. said today its fiscal first-quarter revenue may fall below Wall Street's expectations.

For the quarter ending in December, the company forecast per-share results between a loss of 4 cents and profit of 4 cents. Chelmsford-based Brooks expects revenue of $155 million to $165 million.

Analysts, on average, estimate profit of 13 cents per share on revenue of $165.2 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial. Analysts typically exclude one time-items from their estimates.

The company did not provide a forecast for adjusted earnings. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:25 AM | Comments (0)

Handheld device shipments dip again

The worldwide handheld device market posted its 15th consecutive quarter of decline in shipments, according to a report from IDC, a Framingham-based market intelligence firm.

According to IDC's Worldwide Handheld QView report, vendors shipped 728,894 handheld devices in the third quarter of 2007, about 1.5 percent more than the previous quarter, but 39.3 percent less than the same quarter a year ago.

Ramon T. Llamas, a research analyst with IDC's Mobile Device Technology and Trends Team, offered an explanation in a statement.

"The handheld device market has been under constant pressure, with mobile phones and converged mobile devices appropriating many of the handheld's salient attributes," Llamas said in his statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:15 AM | Comments (0)

HEI plans to buy Hotel@MIT

The owner of the Hotel@MIT in Cambridge said it has agreed to sell the 210-room hotel to an affiliate of HEI Hotels & Resorts of Norwalk, Conn.

Terms of the sale are not being disclosed.

The seller is a joint venture between Forest City Enterprises Inc., a publicly traded real estate company based in Cleveland and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIT will retain ownership of the land, and the adjacent Star Market and a parking garage were not included in the transaction, Forest City said.

The hotel unit of Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago-based real estate money management and services firm with a big presence in Greater Boston, brokered the sale, Forest City said.

HEI is a hospitality investment firm that buys, owns, and operates hotels under such brand names as Marriott, Sheraton, and Westin.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)

Verizon FiOS TV adds Discovery HD

Verizon Communications Inc. said it has added Discovery Channel HD to its FiOS TV high-definition lineup in all markets.

Earlier this week, Verizon said it plans a fivefold increase in high-definition television channels in 2008 as it looks to win over new customers for its FiOS TV service; the move would bring the number of HD-TV channels on FiOS to 150.

In Massachusetts, the FiOS TV service is available to roughly 400,000 households in just over 60 communities.

Headquartered in New York, Verizon delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless services to mass market, business, government, and wholesale customers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:33 AM | Comments (0)

Stop & Shop is tapped for green program

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. said that Quincy-based Stop & Shop and a sister chain are the only grocery chains in the country to have been selected to participate in a green building pilot program.

The program is sponsored by the US Green Building Council, a nonprofit group dedicated to sustainable building design.

Stop & Shop's sister chain is Giant Food of Landover, Md.; together the two chains operate 575 stores in Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.

"Our acceptance into this pilot recognizes Stop & Shop and Giant's strong environmental leadership and innovation and our early commitment to and success in developing and operating green and energy-efficient stores," chief executive Jose Alvarez said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:16 AM | Comments (0)

November 8, 2007

Fed reappoints Lisa Lynch, Henri Termeer

The Federal Reserve Board today reappointed Lisa M. Lynch and Henri A. Termeer as chairman and deputy chairman, respectively, of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for 2008.

The appointments were part of a larger announcement by the Federal Reserve Board relating to 2008 appointments for all 12 Federal Reserve Banks.

Lynch is the William L. Clayton professor of international economic affairs at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Termeer is chairman, president, and chief executive of Genzyme Corp., a Cambridge biotechnology company.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:29 PM | Comments (0)

Insurer to expand sales force

Liberty Mutual Group plans to enlarge its statewide sales force by 50 percent as Massachusetts prepares to introduce auto insurance competition for the first time in 30 years.

To help add 30 new Massachusetts sales representatives, Liberty Mutual, of Boston, has scheduled an all-day recruitment event at Gillette Stadium on Nov. 16.

On Nov. 19, insurers are scheduled to file their rate plans for next year for customers who start renewing their policies after April 1.

State Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes has said she expects companies to offer new products at different prices when they unveil their plans Nov. 19.

Currently, 61 Liberty Mutual sales representatives offer auto, home, and life insurance products from 13 Massachusetts offices, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:43 PM | Comments (0)

Home health workers vote to join union

The state's home healthcare aides have overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the powerful Service Employees International Union. Of the 22,000 home healthcare workers in Massachusetts, about 6,600 mailed in ballots, union officials said, with 94 percent of them voting to organize.

The vote allows 1199SEIU to negotiate with the state in an effort to improve wages and benefits for the workers, who are paid through the state's Medicaid program, Mass Health. Union officials said the next step is to set up a bargaining committee. They hope schedule a meeting with the state within a month.

Home healthcare aides are hired by individual patients or family members, and perform such tasks as bathing, feeding, and cooking. A state law passed last year allowed them to be recognized as a bargaining unit.

With more than 300,000 workers and retirees, 1199SEIU claims to be the largest union local in the world. With the addition of the home healthcare workers, it now has about 177,000 members in New England, including healthcare and child-care workers, and those who work for universities and in the public sector.

SEIU is also in the midst of a push to organize workers at Boston's teaching hospitals, and union officials believe today's vote results will give that effort added momentum.

(By Mark Pothier, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:41 PM | Comments (0)

Repligen swings to a profit

Repligen Corp., a Waltham clinical-stage biotechnology company, today said it swung to a profit in its fiscal 2008 second quarter, due to a hefty litigation gain and higher demand for its protein product.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company earned $40.3 million, or $1.29 per share, compared with a loss of $863 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. The most recent quarter benefited from a gain of $40.1 million from a legal settlement.

The company said revenue rose 87 percent to $5.4 million, mainly driven by revenue from its Protein A product, used to produce certain antibodies. Protein A sales partially fund the advancement of the company’s development of treatments for nervous-system diseases.

In September, the company said it reached a legal settlement with ImClone Systems Inc. in a patent dispute related to ImClone’s Erbitux drug.
(AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:09 PM | Comments (0)

West Coast ad agency opens Hub office

Forty Forty, a California brand building agency, said today it opened a Boston office last month as part of an East Coast expansion plan.

Forty Forty said the new office will serve as a regional hub to develop new business and aid in the growth of its sports-and-entertainment division.

According to the agency, it specializes in "non-traditional branding" as it looks to tell a brand's story in an "experiential way."

Companies that have used Forty Forty services include Citizens Bank, retailer Gap Inc., and the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, the agency said.

Kristin Tallman, whose resume includes a five year stint at Citizens Financial Group, was selected to lead the Boston office, the agency said.

Posted by globebusiness at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)

Mass. Bar forms energy task force

Massachusetts Bar Association president David W. White Jr. today announced the formation of an Energy and Environment Task Force.

The task force will oversee the MBA Lawyers Eco-Challenge, an initiative unveiled in September that urges lawyers to change the way they think and act while conducting business in order to conserve energy and resources, the MBA said.

The Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group, has agreed to collaborate with the MBA on the Eco-Challenge, the MBA said.

The co-chairs for the Energy and Environment Task Force are Susan M. Reid, a foundation staff attorney, and Nancy Reiner, a partner at Brown Rudnick in Boston, the MBA said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

UMass center to focus on wireless

The University of Massachusetts Amherst said a new research center will aim to untangle wireless communications challenges.

Under the leadership of Dennis Goeckel, the Center of Excellence in Wireless Communications will bring together more than 15 researchers from the fields of networking, communication systems, electromagnetics, and circuits to tackle challenges that arise in an increasingly interconnected world, UMass Amherst said.

The center is the recipient of a $200,000 start-up grant from the UMass president's Science and Technology Initiatives Fund and the president's Creative Economy Fund, said UMass Amherst, which added that the UMass Amherst campus is providing an additional $40,000 in funding.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

Fidelity offers "back-testing"

Fidelity Investments today unveiled a plan that will help investors to "back-test" their trading strategies online at no cost.

According to the Boston mutual funds giant, the service is an industry first.

Early next year, both customers and non-customers who visit Fidelity.com will be able to learn about commonly employed trading strategies and then test those strategies against historical data, said Fidelity, which added that such back-testing should help investors to make more informed investment decisions on when to buy, hold, or sell a stock.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

Food, gas fuel BJ's sales

BJ's Wholesale Club Inc., the nation's No. 3 warehouse club, today said food and gasoline sales drove its same-store sales 4.8 percent higher in October.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected same-store sales to rise 3.1 percent.

Sales were helped 1.7 percent from gasoline sales and hurt 0.4 percent from the absence of pharmacy sales compared with last year.

On a same-store sales basis, food sales grew by about 5 percent, while general merchandise sales were flat. Strong sellers included coffee, dairy, frozen, juices, meat, milk, office supplies, produce, soda, water and televisions, the company said.

Total sales for the four weeks ended Nov. 3 rose 9.2 percent to $663.8 million, from $607.9 million in October last year.

For the 39-week period ended Nov. 3, same-store sales rose 3.1 percent, while total sales rose 7.5 percent to $6.98 billion. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

Inverness, Chemogen partner to detect TB

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. of Waltham and Chemogen Inc. announced an agreement for the worldwide manufacture and distribution of tests that can detect tuberculosis.

Known for such products as over-the-counter pregnancy tests, Inverness is embarked on a strategy of broadening a portfolio of products that puts health management into the hands of consumers; to that end, it has made a series of acquisitions this year.

The agreement with Chemogen of Maine calls for making tests that utilize Chemogen's proprietary antibodies for the detection of an antigen in urine as in aid in the diagnosis of mycobacterial infection including tuberculosis, said Inverness, which added that the test could be particularly useful for patients who are HIV positive.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

HepaLife in license deal with US

HepaLife Technologies Inc., a Boston company engaged in the development of cell-based medical technologies, said today that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with the US Department of Agriculture.

The agreement allows for the use of patented liver cell lines in artificial liver devices and in-vitro toxicological testing platforms, HepaLife said.

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)

ExaGrid lands $20 million in funding

ExaGrid Systems Inc. announced today that it has received an additional $20 million of funding.

The Westborough company specializes in disk-based backup solutions with byte-level data de-duplication; according to ExaGrid, its patented approach minimizes the amount of data to be stored by providing standard data compression for the most recent backups.

ExaGrid said that its latest funding was led by a new investor: Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, the venture capital group of Lehman Brothers, the global investment bank headquartered in New York.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:21 AM | Comments (0)

Teradyne board approves stock repurchase

Chip testing equipment maker Teradyne Inc. said Wednesday its board authorized the repurchase of up to $400 million worth of common stock.

Shares will be bought back at the company's discretion, subject to market conditions and other factors.

Teradyne currently has about 183.8 million shares outstanding.

The stock closed earlier down 47 cents, or 4 percent, at $11.42.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:17 AM | Comments (0)

Warm weather hurts TJX sales

TJX Cos., the Framingham-based operator of such retail chains as T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, said today that October sales were "slightly below our plan" because of unseasonably warm weather in many parts of North America.

Still, TJX's solid sales gains for the month showed little evidence that a data breach in the company's computer system has dissuaded many consumers from shopping at its stores, which focus on apparel and home fashions.

Sales for the four week period that ended Nov. 3 were $1.54 billion, up 6 percent over the same period a year ago, TJX said.

At stores open at least a year, which the company calls "comparable store sales," there was a 3 percent increase from last year.

"Our 3 percent consolidated comparable store sales increase in October was achieved on top of a strong 5 percent increase last year," Carol Meyrowitz, TJX president and chief executive, noted in a statement. "Although slightly below our plan, the unseasonably warm weather in many US and Canadian markets dramatically impacted all of our cold-weather apparel categories."

Meyrowitz added, " We remain comfortable that our third-quarter earnings-per-share from continuing operations will be within our previously anticipated range of $.53-$.55."

Besides T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, TJX operates such chains as HomeGoods, A.J. Wright, and Bob's Stores.

Earlier this year, TJX disclosed how unknown hackers had stolen at least 45.7 million customer credit and debit card numbers from its computer system; TJX has said about 75 percent of the compromised cards were expired or had data in the magnetic strip masked.

Last month, a group of banks suing TJX over the costs associated with the breach alleged in court filings that more than 94 million accounts were affected in the theft of personal data.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)

Hanover Insurance names new finance chief

Insurance holding company Hanover Insurance Group Inc. said today that it tapped Eugene M. Bullis as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Bullis joins the company from Conseco Inc., where he served as executive vice president and chief financial officer from 2002 to 2007.

He succeeds John Leahy, who resigned in August after 15 years with Hanover. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:03 AM | Comments (0)

Sales down at Talbots, J. Jill

Talbots Inc., a women's apparel retailer, said today that third-quarter same-store sales dropped 7.9 percent as performance by both the Talbots and J. Jill brands suffered during August and September.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing stores rather than newly opened ones.

Same-store sales for the company's Talbots brand fell 8.2 percent in the third quarter, and J. Jill brand comparable-store sales declined 6.5 percent.

Talbots said that same-store sales performance for both brands improved in the month of October, as compared with August and September results.

Talbots' total sales for the quarter dipped 2.3 percent to $556 million, from $569 million in the third quarter of 2006. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected revenue of $546.4 million.

By brand, Talbots retail store sales fell 4 percent to $366 million from $383 million in the prior year, and J. Jill retail sales rose 5 percent to $81 million from $77 million last year.

Third-quarter direct marketing sales, including catalog and Internet revenue, was flat at $109 million.

For the year-to-date period, same-store sales fell 5.4 percent. By brand, Talbots' comparable store sales decreased 5.6 percent and J. Jill's same-store sales declined 4 percent during the 39-week period.

Year-to-date total company sales rose 7 percent to $1.70 billion, from $1.59 billion in the prior year. By brand, retail store sales totaled $1.15 billion for Talbots and $242 million for J. Jill.

Direct marketing sales for the year-to-date period totaled $314 million. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:44 AM | Comments (0)

CombinatoRx targets muscular dystrophy

CombinatoRx Inc. of Cambridge announced today a collaboration with two nonprofit groups to support research of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The collaboration with Charley's Fund and the Nash Avery Foundation will seek to identify "novel disease-modifying multi-targeted treatments" for the most common form of muscular dystrophy, CombinatoRx said.

According to Charley's Fund, Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a devastating, muscle-wasting disease for which there are no effective treatment options.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:31 AM | Comments (0)

WPI part-time MBA gets top ranking

Worcester Polytechnic Institute said its part-time MBA program was ranked tops in the Northeast and ninth in the nation by Business Week magazine.

WPI said its part-time MBA program was also ranked number five nationally in student satisfaction and number four nationally in academic quality.

"Technology is driving business, and our program trains students to lead in business and technology," Norman D. Wilkinson, director of graduate management programs at WPI, said in a statement. "Students and employers can see the results of our MBA program right away, from day one. They don't have to wait until graduation day."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:24 AM | Comments (0)

Dyax extends partnership with ImClone

Dyax Corp. of Cambridge announced today the extension of an antibody library collaboration with ImClone Systems Inc.

Under the terms of the agreement, New York-based ImClone will continue to access to Dyax's proprietary phage display technology for an additional four years as it seeks to discover new therapeutic antibodies, Dyax said.

Dyax is focused on utilizing a proprietary drug discovery technology to identify antibody, small protein, and peptide compounds for clinical development.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:22 AM | Comments (0)

Amicus partners with Shire

Amicus Therapeutics Inc. announced today it has entered into a strategic agreement with Shire Human Genetic Therapies of Cambridge to jointly develop several drug candidates.

The agreement calls for the two companies to work together on developing Amicus's pharmacological chaperone compounds that target Fabry, Gaucher, and Pompe diseases.

Under the terms of the deal, New Jersey-based Amicus will receive an initial licensing payment of $50 million, with the potential for receiving an additional $150 million in payments if certain clinical and regulatory milestones are met, the companies said; Amicus could also be eligible to receive up to an additional $240 million in sales-based royalties.

The agreement gives Shire the rights to commercialize these products outside the United States while Amicus will retain all rights to commercialize these products in the United States, the companies said.

Shire Human Genetic Therapies is a subsidiary of Shire plc, a British pharmaceutical company.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)

Walgreen Co. installs Kiva system

Kiva Systems said that Walgreen Co. has installed a Kiva fulfillment system at the drug chain's distribution center in Mount Vernon, Ill.

Woburn-based Kiva focuses on mobile fulfillment technology and robotic solutions for the storage, movement, and sortation of inventory.

Walgreen will use Kiva's Item-Fetch split-case packing system, which employs mobile robots to bring inventory to Walgreen distribution team members in a specific sequence required for efficient restocking of store shelves; the system's efficiencies reduce in-store labor, Kiva said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:09 AM | Comments (0)

Comcast opens Plymouth call center

Cable operator Comcast Corp. said it celebrated the official opening yesterday of its new call center in Plymouth and the creation of 230 new jobs.

With the addition of the new jobs, Comcast said it will employ more than 4,300 people in Massachusetts.

The 46,000-square-foot facility in Plymouth will house a Comcast local office and the newly renovated call center, said Philadelphia-based Comcast, which added that the new hires were needed to meet growing demand for its digital cable, high-speed Internet, and phone products.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:07 AM | Comments (0)

November 7, 2007

Dunkin' Donuts may get Sovereign ATMs

Sovereign Bancorp’s chief executive, Joseph Campanelli, today said he has talked with Dunkin’ Donuts leaders about an alliance that would allow the bank to put cash machines in Dunkin’ coffee and doughnut shops.

"We’re looking and talking on how do we work together on those types of things," Campanelli said at the Reuters Finance Summit in New York.

Banks like to put cash machines in retail stores, such as supermarkets or restaurants, which they see as small branch locations — but without the risk or cost that goes with building full-size branches.

Last year, Philadelphia-based Sovereign about doubled its network of cash machines when it struck a deal to put ATMs in CVS pharmacies. The bank, the second-largest US savings and loan, has 750 branches and more than 2,300 cash machines throughout the Northeast.

A deal with Dunkin’ Donuts would be different because store ownership includes franchisee-franchisor relationships. "It’s a little more complicated," Campanelli said.

Dunkin’ Brands Inc., of Canton, is owned by a consortium of private equity firms that includes Bain Capital and Carlyle Group. Most Dunkin’ Donuts shops are owned by franchisees.

Dunkin’ Brands was not immediately available for comment.

Dunkin’ has more than 5,000 US locations in 34 states.
(Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:54 PM | Comments (0)

Fidelity launches 2 international funds

Fidelity Investments today said it has launched two new internationally focused stock funds.

Boston-based Fidelity launched its Total International Equity Fund and International Growth Fund, its first international offerings since May 2006, as outperforming overseas stock indexes and a falling dollar are drawing more and more US investors.

"International is a big growth area for the mutual fund industry as a whole. A lot of Americans have woken up to the fact that they might be underexposed to overseas markets," said Dan Lefkovitz, a fund analyst at the research firm Morningstar.

"And Fidelity’s foreign equity fund line-up is not nearly as big or perhaps as robust as it is on the domestic side," Lefkovitz said. Fidelity offers 37 international equity funds out of a total of 367 funds.

The two new funds come amid a flurry of launches by Fidelity under president Rodger Lawson, who took over three months ago and has initiated a major reorganization.

Fidelity, which has $1.5 trillion in assets under management, launched 11 funds of funds in October, targeting savings of US retirees.

Fidelity said the Total International Equity Fund will be managed by George Stairs and Jed Weiss. It will invest mostly in growth and value stocks of overseas developed markets, with a small exposure to emerging markets and small-cap stocks.

The International Growth Fund will be managed by Weiss.

Fidelity also launched a third fund, the Dynamic Strategies Fund, which will invest through other Fidelity funds, ETFs, and individual securities across US asset classes. This fund will be run by Jurrien Timmer and Andrew Dierdorf.
(Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

Moody's gives voice to worries about Fidelity

The future of Boston mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments is clouded because of the concentration of power in the hands of 77-year-old chairman Edward C. "Ned" Johnson, Moody's Investors Service warned in a report issued today.

The New York rating agency left unchanged its rating on Fidelity's debt and credit outlook. But its comments give an institutional voice to questions others have raised about governance practices at Fidelity, in which the founding Johnson family holds a 49 percent stake.

"Moody's has growing concerns about the level of control exercised by Mr. Johnson and the degree to which there are independent checks on his control and that of Johnson family members involved in the management of the company,'' Moody's wrote in its note. Fidelity's six-member board is populated by Johnson family members and former employees, Moody's wrote, "rather than including some independent directors whose presence would create some confidence that there is some check on Mr. Johnson.''

Moody's also gives voice to what it calls "significant market speculation" about whether Johnson's daughter and heir apparent, 45-year-old vice chairwoman Abigail Johnson, "is the best possible person" to take over when her father steps down.

A Fidelity spokeswoman, Anne Crowley, said the note isn't meaningful since the company isn't in the market to issue more debt that would be evaluated by Moody's and other rating agencies.

"We disagree strongly with the majority of the views expressed in the report,'' Crowley said. "The fact of the matter is that Mr. Johnson and the Fidelity board have succeeded over the years in creating one of the most successful and fast-growing financial services companies in the world.'' (By Ross Kerber, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)

Pistol called "most innovative"

Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., a Springfield company known for its iconic handguns, said its M&P40 polymer pistol was named ‘‘Most Innovative Firearm of the Year.’’

The award was presented at a recent conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

The M&P series offers ambidextrous features and enhanced ergonomics; it also has a passive trigger safety to prevent the pistol from firing if dropped and has an enlarged trigger guard to accommodate a user wearing gloves.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)

AOL buys Highland investment, Quigo

The Internet company AOL announced today it has agreed to buy Quigo, a content-targeted advertising company, for an undisclosed amount.

Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm with offices in Lexington, is a major investor in Quigo; Highland managing general partner Bob Davis, a former chief executive of Waltham-based search portal operator Lycos Inc., counted Quigo as one of his marquee investments, Highland said.

AOL said the acquisition of New York-based Quigo will allow it to match ads to the contents of a Web page.

AOL said that Quigo will be its fourth acquisition of an advertising company this year.

AOL recently acquired Boston's Third Screen Media Inc., which enables advertising on cellphones.

AOL is part of Time Warner, a New York-based media and entertainment company.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

Survey finds "work/life balance" gap

While so-called "work/life balance" programs such as flex-time are highly prized by workers, they are not a priority for many employers, according to a survey out today from Monster.com.

With a big presence in Maynard, Monster.com is a website where employers can recruit talent and where workers can manage their careers.

According to the findings of the 2007 Monster Work/Life Balance Survey, 89 percent of employees polled believe work/life balance programs, such as flex-time and telecommuting, are important when evaluating a new job, yet only about half of human-resources professionals polled consider work/balance programs to be important initiatives for their companies.

Monster is the flagship brand of Monster Worldwide Inc. of New York.

The New York Times Co., parent company of The Boston Globe, has an alliance with Monster to sell help-wanted advertising.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)

Lawyers' Committee names new executive

The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a Boston nonprofit dedicated to combating race and national-origin discrimination, has named Norma D'Apolito, a former associate dean at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, its new executive director.

D'Apolito has also worked as a litigator for Greater Boston Legal Services and the Legal Aid Society in New York, where she handled class-action lawsuits on behalf of prisoners, juveniles, indigents and the mentally ill, and as a prosecutor for the Pennsylvania attorney general's office.
(By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

Celtics, Simon malls team up on gift card

The Boston Celtics and mall operator Simon Property Group Inc. announced today that they have teamed up to offer a new gift card called the Simon Boston Celtics Giftcard.

The card will be available at Simon malls in denominations ranging from $20 to $500 with a $3 handling fee for each card purchased.

A portion of the handling fee will be split evenly between the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation and the Simon Youth Foundation, both of which provide education benefits to local youth, the Celtics and Simon said.

The Simon Boston Celtics Giftcard is a Visa Gift Card and can be used anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted, the Celtics and Simon said.

The card is part of a three-year sponsorship agreement between Simon and the Celtics, and the agreement also includes Simon signage at the TD Banknorth Garden, on-court promotions, and an online promotional component, the two said.

Based in Indiana, Simon owns and operates a number of malls; local Simon properties include Copley Place, Burlington Mall, South Shore Plaza, and the Mall at Chestnut Hill.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

One Laptop Per Child starts production

The One Laptop Per Child Program, which hopes to spread sub-$200 computers to schoolchildren in developing countries, has reached a milestone with the start of mass production.

The nonprofit spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said assembly lines for its "XO" laptops were fired up Tuesday at a Chinese factory run by manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc. That means children should begin getting the green-and-white computers this month.

One Laptop Per Child did not specify how many computers will be made or how many orders it has received from international buyers. The program's founder, Nicholas Negroponte, said in September that Quanta would build about 250,000 XOs this year, ramping to 1 million a month in 2008.

Negroponte originally expected mass production of several million XOs to have begun by now. But he scaled back that goal after encountering reluctance from potential buyers.

The computers were dreamed up as $100 laptops but for now cost $188, and buyers are expected to let children keep the computers and tinker with them at home.

The initial recipients will be children in Uruguay, Peru and Mongolia. Also, beginning Monday, people in North America will be able to buy one for themselves and donate the other to a child overseas through http://www.laptopgiving.org.

Even with mass production beginning later than expected, One Laptop Per Child can claim success on several fronts. The small yet rugged XOs require low power and can be recharged by hand, have a screen that can be read in full sunlight and boast a user interface designed specially for children. And the impending emergence of the XOs awakened other companies to the potential of a low-cost educational market, greatly expanding the choices that international buyers now have. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

Converse names marketing chief

Converse announced today the appointment of Geoff Cottrill as its chief marketing officer.

Based in North Andover, Converse is an athletic footwear brand known for such products as the Chuck Taylor All Star shoe.

Converse is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Nike Inc., the Oregon sneakers-and-athletic-apparel company.

Cottrill, who has spent the last two-and-a-half years as a vice president of java giant Starbucks Corp., will join the company Nov. 26; at Converse, Cottrill will lead global brand development and drive the company's marketing strategy and brand management functions, Converse said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

NE work fatalities in 2006: 161, down slightly

A total of 161 fatal work injuries were reported in New England last year, six fewer than in 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today.

It was the third straight year that the number of New England fatalities declined, said the bureau, which is part of the US Department of Labor.

In 2006, fatal occupational injuries in New England accounted for about 3 percent of the nationwide total of 5,703, the bureau said; the number of on-the-job fatalities in Massachusetts was 66 in 2006.

The four most frequent work-related events nationally were highway incidents, homicides, falls to a lower level, and being struck by an object, the bureau said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)

Income declines at Acme Packet

Acme Packet Inc., which makes communications equipment that routes voice and data over IP networks, said Tuesday third-quarter earnings fell 19 percent, hurt by a higher tax rate.

Quarterly net income fell to $5.5 million, or 8 cents per share, from $6.8 million, or 12 cents per share, during the prior-year period. Excluding a stock-option expense, net income was 10 cents per share.

Revenue rose 33 percent to $29.6 million from $22.3 million last year.

Analysts expected a profit of 9 cents per share on revenue of $29.3 million, according to a Thomson Financial poll.

Quarterly results reflect a tax rate of about 33 percent, compared with about 4 percent a year earlier, when Acme Packet, which went public in October, used tax credits and other items to offset taxable income. Acme Packet is based in Burlington, Mass.

Shares fell $1.71, or 12.8 percent, to $11.70 during aftermarket electronic trading, after closing up 98 cents, or 7.9 percent at $13.41. The stock has ranged from $10.25 to $21.97 over the past year. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

Sycamore names Brauneis CFO

Sycamore Networks Inc., which develops optical networking products, said today that it appointed Paul F. Brauneis as its new chief financial officer.

Brauneis will also serve as treasurer and vice president of finance and administration. He will begin the new job Nov. 12.

He is taking over for Richard J. Gaynor, who left at the end of September.

Sycamore is based in Chelmsford, Mass.

Brauneis previously served as CFO, treasurer and vice president of finance and administration at Cantata Technology. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

Inverness completes HemoSense purchase

Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. said today it has completed its previously announced acquisition of HemoSense Inc. of California.

Inverness, a Waltham company known for such products as over-the-counter pregnancy tests has announced a number of acquisitions this year as it looks to broaden its portfolio of products that puts health management in the hands of consumers.

In August, Inverness disclosed its plans to purchase HemoSense, which develops, manufactures, and sells handheld blood coagulation monitoring systems.

The transaction was structured as a stock-for-stock deal, with HemoSense shareholders receiving about 0.274 shares of Inverness common stock for each HemoSense share, or a total of nearly 3.7 million shares of Inverness common stock; Inverness also agreed to assume option and warrants to issue about 665,242 additional Inverness shares, the company said.

On the American Stock Exchange this morning, Inverness shares were trading at $62.99, down 34 cents.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

Insulet prices public offering

Insulet Corp., which makes an insulin management system, said today that it will price its public offering of 4.9 million shares at $23.25 per share.

Certain shareholders are selling the shares.

Insulet has also granted underwriters the right to buy an additional 734,759 shares.

Insulet has about 26.4 million shares outstanding. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

Ariad narrows loss

Drug developer Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today that its third-quarter loss narrowed on higher license revenue from a collaboration with Merck & Co.

The company lost $10.9 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with a loss of $15.2 million, or 25 cents per share, during the same period last year. Revenue rose to $1.6 million from $229,000.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a loss of 21 cents per share on revenue of just under $3.2 million.

In July, the company signed an agreement with Merck to develop and market the AP23573 mTOR inhibitor as a cancer treatment. The drug candidate deforolimus is in late-stage development for metastatic sarcomas -- cancers spread through the body by the lymphatic system.

Shares of Ariad rose 2 cents in premarket trading to $5.10 after closing at $5.08 Tuesday. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)

Camiant appoints Slattery to top spot

Camiant announced today the appointment of Steve Slattery as president and chief executive.

The Marlborough company is a provider of policy control and application assurance technology for service providers.

Slattery most recently led the enterprise solutions organization at Nortel Networks Corp., a Canadian supplier of end-to-end networking products and solutions, Camiant said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:18 AM | Comments (0)

Mazor joins Fidelity as HR VP

Fidelity Investments, the Boston mutual funds giant, said it has appointed Arthur H. Mazor as senior vice president of product management and marketing, a newly created position within its Human Resources Services unit.

That unit provides a range of services that help companies manage their human resources, from recruitment through retirement, Fidelity said.

Mazor joins Fidelity from ACS Inc., Fidelity said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:16 AM | Comments (0)

American Tower raises forecast

American Tower Corp., which owns and operates broadcast and wireless communications sites, said today that it raised its guidance for 2007 earnings due to better-than-expected revenue from its services segment.

The company now expects income from continuing operations of $118 million to $122 million, versus a prior range of $85 million to $95 million.

American Tower raised the low end of its range for rental and management revenue and now pegs that at between $1.415 billion and $1.42 billion. Previously, the range was $1.405 billion to $1.42 billion.

The company also raised its estimated services revenue to between $30 million and $32 million versus a prior forecast of $23 million to $27 million.

For 2008, American Tower forecasts income from continuing operations of $113 million to $130 million, rental and management revenue of $1.51 billion to $1.53 billion, and services revenue of $35 million to $50 million. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)

Caliper disappoints Wall Street

Caliper Life Sciences Inc., which makes software used for drug development, said today that it expects revenue below Wall Street expectations during the fourth quarter.

The company, which is based in Hopkinton, expects revenue between $37 million and $40 million, while analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect revenue of $40.8 million. The company had revenue of $34.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2006.

For the full year, the company expects revenue to range from $137 million to $140 million. in 2006, the company had revenue of $107.9 million. Analysts expect revenue of $138.4 million.

Shares of Caliper fell 19 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $5.48 in premarket trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:50 AM | Comments (0)

FiOS TV coming to Marshfield and Sherborn

Marshfield and Sherborn have taken steps that will allow Verizon Communications Inc. to offer its FiOS TV service to residents in those communities, Verizon said.

As a result of those decisions, roughly 8,500 households in Marshfield and 1,500 households in Sherborn will have the option of signing up for the all-digital, fiber-optic network, which the company claims is superior to TV services offered by rivals, Verizon said.

Marshfield and Sherborn bring to 61 the total number of Massachusetts communities where FiOS TV is or soon will be available, Verizon said.

According to a filing with state regulators, FiOS TV had just under 12,000 Massachusetts customers at the end of 2006. Verizon said that FiOS TV has seen much growth in the Bay State since, but it is not disclosing the current number of Massachusetts subscribers for "competitive reasons."

Headquartered in New York, Verizon delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless services to mass market, business, government, and wholesale customers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:46 AM | Comments (0)

Mascoma buys Indiana biofuel firm

Mascoma Corp., a Cambridge company focused on the development of biofuels, announced today the acquisition of Celsys Biofuels Inc. of Indiana.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Celsys was formed in 2006 to commercialize cellulosic ethanol production technology developed in the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering at Purdue University, Mascoma said.

The technology was developed by Michael Ladisch, who will take a two-year leave of absence from Purdue to join Mascoma as the company's chief technology officer, Mascoma said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:43 AM | Comments (0)

Spalding president retires

Scott Creelman, president of the Springfield-based Spalding athletic brand, will retire March 31, an executive of Spalding's parent company said.

The Spalding Group is a division of Russell Corp., which has operations in Georgia and Alabama; Russell Corp is a subsidiary of Fruit of the Loom Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company.

While Creelman serves as a consultant during a transition period, Russell Athletic president Doug Kelly will assume the overall managing responsibilities of both the Russell Athletic and the Spalding brands, Fruit of the Loom said.

Kelly will continue the further integration of the Russell and Spalding brands, following last year's merger of the Spalding and Russell sales forces, Fruit of the Loom said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:39 AM | Comments (0)

PermissionTV hosts Harvard Business

PermissionTV announced that the online unit of Harvard Business School Publishing is using its interactive Internet video technology platform.

According to Waltham-based PermissionTV, Harvard Business Digital is using PermissionTV to serve new video content featuring "thought leaders and business experts on its website HarvardBusiness.org."

PermissionTV's press release included a statement from Joshua Macht, executive director of Harvard Business Digital.

"We look forward to working with PermissionTV as we evolve from producing video in traditional formats to the realm of interactive video content, continuing our tradition of influencing real-world business change through our publishing platform," Macht said in his statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

Davis Sq. building sold

Upland Capital Corp. bought a Davis Square office building in Somerville from Paradigm Properties for $19.6 million, said a broker involved in the transaction.

The broker is Boston real estate firm Meredith & Grew, and the four-story building at 212 Elm St. has just over 66,000 square feet of space.

The building's tenant roster includes Arrowstreet Inc., Citizens Bank, and Powderhouse Productions, Meredith & Grew said.

Upland and Paradigm are both Boston-based real estate investment firms.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:32 AM | Comments (0)

Survey tracks impact of electricity prices

High electricity costs are a major concern for Massachusetts employers and will drive decisions about whether or not to make new investments, add jobs, and maintain operations in the Bay State, a new survey claims.

The survey is from the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, an association of employers in the state.

In the survey, 46 percent of industrial and commercial businesses that responded to AIM's questions cited electricity as a key cost factor in their decision making.

According to AIM, Massachusetts commercial and industrial rates are among the highest in the nation.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)

Citizens celebrates 5th "Champions" initiative

Citizens Financial Group, which operates Citizens Bank, is scheduled to celebrate the five-year anniversary of its "Champions in Action" program today with a ceremony in Gillette Stadium.

The program will be hosted by Citizens chairman Larry Fish.

Since launching the initiative in 2002, Citizens and its media partners have recognized more than 100 nonprofit organizations as "Champions" and rewarded them with financial assistance and promotional support for the work these organizations do in communities.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:09 AM | Comments (0)

November 6, 2007

Amtrak upgrades its first-class menu

An attendant takes lunch orders on Amtrak's Acela Express. (AP file photo)

A new menu for first-class passengers on Amtrak's high-speed Boston-Washington service was developed with help from one of Washington's best-known chefs, Michel Richard.

Richard, owner of Michel Richard Citronelle and Central Michel Richard, was part of an eight-member team that came up with the new choices for the Acela Express, Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell said today.

Among the recipes Richard contributed was braised short ribs with cheesy grits. Other options in the new fall-winter menu include seared salmon, chicken Pa Nang, and polenta cakes with mushroom ragout.

At-seat meal service is included in the price of a first-class ticket, which ranges from $250 to $340 for the entire Boston-Washington trip.

The previous menu came from a list of standard choices offered by a contractor, while the new menu was developed by Amtrak's team and given to the contractor to implement, Connell said.

Richard will continue with the project as the team develops a spring/summer menu, Connell said.
(AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)

Lipper offers new way to rate mutual funds

Lipper Inc. has developed a new way to rank target-date retirement mutual funds, one of the fastest-growing products of the $11.9 trillion US fund industry.

These funds, which are hard to compare given their structure, will be ranked using a methodology similar to the system tennis organizations use to rank players, Lipper said. (Lipper is a unit of Reuters Group PLC.)

Using the methodology on 30 funds with retirement target dates of 2030, Lipper ranked funds from T.Rowe Price Group, Principal Investors, and Fidelity Investments as numbers one, two, and three, respectively.

Funds from American Independence Financial Services and MassMutual Financial are at the bottom, it said.

Target-date funds, or lifecycle funds as they are sometimes called, have fixed maturity dates and generally allocate their assets to a mix of underlying funds based on some parameters like the age or risk tolerance of an investor.

Lipper estimates total net assets in these type of funds have grown 60 to 70 percent each year since 2002 to more than $160 billion. There are more than 250 such funds now, it said.
But because they invest in different underlying funds and varying numbers of underlying funds, investors find them difficult to evaluate.

"Deciding which firm's target-date funds to buy has been hard. Buying one of these products is certainly more complex than buying a single mutual fund," Andrew Clark, Lipper’s head of research for the Americas, said in the report.

So Lipper has developed a method that ranks similarly dated target-date funds based on past performance.

The funds' performances are first compared against one another on a quarterly basis and are then subjected to a Bradley-Terry model of paired comparisons. The Bradley-Terry model and similar methods have been used to rank tennis players, Lipper said.

In tennis, "there is often a clique of dominant players in a tournament, with the odds being that one member of that clique will more than likely make it to the final round," Lipper said.

The top-rated funds "can be viewed as the Roger Federers of the target-date fund world," the report said, referring to the number one ranked tennis player in the world.
(Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:02 PM | Comments (0)

Lionbridge shrinks loss

Lionbridge Technologies Inc., which translates software and Web content to help companies operate internationally, today posted a smaller third-quarter loss amid higher sales.

But the quarter's sales and the company's revenue outlook fell below Wall Street's expectations, and shares tumbled in midday trading.

The company posted a net loss of $666,000, or a penny per share, compared with a loss of $933,000, or 2 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings, excluding stock options, restructuring and other costs, as well as the amortization of intangible assets, were 6 cents per share for the latest quarter.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $111.5 million from $108 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 4 cents per share on sales of $115.3 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial. The estimates included stock options costs, but analysts generally exclude one-time items from their estimates.

Lionbridge said it is "confident" in its prospects for top line growth and margin expansion.

The company expects fourth-quarter sales between $107 million and $111 million, below the $113.7 million analysts are predicting.

For the full year, Lionbridge expects sales to grow by 6 percent to 10 percent over the expected 2007 revenue.

Shares fell 85 cents, or 18.9 percent, to $3.64 in midday trading. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $3.40 and $6.66. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

Profit up at Hologic

Medical imaging systems maker Hologic Inc. said today that it swung to a profit in its fiscal fourth quarter, from a year-ago loss which included a hefty acquisition charge.

For the quarter ended Sept. 29, the company earned $32.1 million, or 58 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.5 million, or 3 cents per share, a year ago. The year-earlier quarter was hurt by a $15.1 million charge for in-process research and development costs related to the R2 Technology Inc. and Suros Surgical Systems Inc. acquisitions.

Revenue rose 31 percent to $202.6 million from $154.1 million, benefiting from higher product sales of digital mammography system Selenia in the most-recent quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 47 cents per share, on revenue of $198.1 million.

For the 12 months ended Sept. 29, net income rose to $94.6 million, or $1.72 per share, compared with $27.4 million, or 56 cents per share. Adjusted earnings more than doubled to $110.4 million from $49.9 million.

Revenue rose 60 percent to $738.4 million, up from $462.7 million.

Analysts estimated full-year earnings of $1.61 per share on revenue of $733.8 million.

Revenue growth was mainly driven by sales in the mammography and breast care segment which increased 45 percent to $165.1 million for the fourth quarter. Higher sales of Selenia along with R2 CAD software primarily boosted the revenue. The company bought R2 and Suros in July last year.

Hologic said revenue for its osteoporosis segment decreased to $15.1 million from $19.2 million, mainly on a reduction in the number of bone densitometry systems sold in the U.S.

In a conference call with analysts, the company forecast fiscal 2008 earnings per share of $2.15 to $2.20 on revenue of about $1.7 billion on increased sales of Selenia, as well as continued revenue growth from the biopsy and diagnostic groups. Previously, the company had forecast profit of $2.35 to $2.40 per share, on an adjusted basis, on $1.7 billion in sales.

Fiscal first-quarter earnings per share are expected to be about 49 cents, excluding multiple items.

Analysts are looking for profit of 46 cents per share for the first quarter and full-year earnings of $1.98 per share on revenue of $856.4 million. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

Xkoto raises $7.5m, names new CEO

xkoto Inc., a provider of data virtualization solutions, today announced it has raised $7.5 million in new financing. The Series B funding was led by GrandBanks Capital. Existing investor GrowthWorks Canadian Fund also participated in this round, bringing xkoto's total venture funding to $10 million.

In conjunction with the funding, xkoto also named David Patrick as CEO, and announced that Khalil Barsoum and Tim Wright have joined the xkoto board. Previously, Patrick was vice president and general manager at Novell, where he managed the Linux, Open Source, and Platform Services Group.

The company, which is now based in Toronto, also announced plans to move its corporate headquarters to Boston.
(By D.C. Denison, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)

IPG Photonics earnings, stock soar

Shares of fiber laser company IPG Photonics Corp. rose 9 percent today after the company reported that third-quarter earnings rose about 80 percent.

Profit climbed to $8.6 million, or 19 cents per share, from $4.7 million, or 12 cents per share. Revenue rose 32 percent to $47.9 million from $36.2 million.

Analysts, on average, expected income of 16 cents per share on revenue of $47.9 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Chief Executive Dr. Valentin Gapontsev said sales of materials processing lasers drove up revenue. He said demand for fiber laser is growing for test and measurement, instrumentation, sensing, research and defense.

In a statement, he said the company is seeing "the beginnings of a rebound in telecommunications sales on the strength of orders from Russia."

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey analyst Ian Fleischer said he believed IPG will continue to benefit from the continued displacement of some conventional lasers by fiber lasers, expansion of the company's product portfolio and its positive global growth.

He said he expected margins to increase because of integration, improved manufacturing capabilities, and decreases in the cost of the company's internally manufactured components.

Shares jumped $1.69, or 8.9 percent to $20.64 in morning trading. Shares have traded between $16.53 and $28 in the last year. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

IRS, Mass. to share employment tax info

Officials from the Internal Revenue Service and more than two dozen state workforce agencies, including Massachusetts, today announced they have entered into agreements to share the results of employment tax examinations.

The agreements, part of the Questionable Employment Tax Practice (QETP) initiative, provide a centralized, uniform means for the IRS and state employment officials to exchange data, thereby leveraging resources and encouraging businesses to comply with federal and state employment tax requirements.

So far, 29 states have entered into individual information-sharing agreements with the IRS.
“These agreements present a united front for the IRS and its state partners to improve compliance in the employment tax arena,” said Kathy Petronchak, Commissioner of the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Division. “Combining resources will help IRS and the states reduce fraudulent filings, uncover employment tax avoidance schemes and ensure proper worker classification.”

In addition to coordinating compliance activities, the agreements call for collaborative outreach and education activities designed to help businesses understand their employment and unemployment tax responsibilities.

The state agencies, the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, the Federation of Tax Administrators and the IRS worked together on various facets of the exchange agreements.

The exchange agreements are the first result of the QETP initiative. The QETP team will use the results of the project to find new opportunities for collaboration and to work toward improved employment tax compliance.
(By D.C. Denison, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

ULocate partners with AOL, StubHub

Where, a service of Boston-based uLocate Communications, Inc. has added AOL's AIM Buddy Finder and StubHub to its mobile GPS widget platform.

The AOL AIM widget allows users to set and share their locations with their AIM buddies from their GPS-enabled phones. Users can see the location on a MapQuest map of friends who've chosen to share their locations using the AIM Buddy Finder widget. This new widget extends the reach of AIM into the mobile social networking space and is the first cross carrier, mobile friend finding application capable of connecting millions of potential users.

The StubHub widget on Where helps users discover and find events that are going on around them. Users have easy access to StubHub's telesales agents and can order tickets immediately. StubHub, which is owned by eBAY, enables fans to buy and sell tickets at fair market value to a vast selection of sporting, concert, theater and other live entertainment events.

"The AIM and StubHub widgets on Where represent significant milestones in our commitment to provide users with content that helps them make the most of their mobile lifestyles," said Walt Doyle, CEO of uLocate Communications.
(By D.C. Denison, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:58 AM | Comments (0)

Charles River swings to profit

Medical researcher Charles River Laboratories International Inc. Monday said it swung to a third-quarter profit, after posting a hefty loss from discontinued operations in the year-earlier period.

The company earned $42.8 million, or 62 cents per share, compared with a loss of $16.6 million, or 24 cents per share, a year ago, when Charles River posted a $48.7 million loss from discontinued businesses.

Adjusted earnings, excluding certain charges, rose to 69 cents per share from 57 cents per share. The year-earlier period excluded $9.6 million of amortization of intangible assets and stock-based compensation related to acquisitions.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 62 cents per share.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $314 million from $264.7 million, benefiting from sales growth in the research models and services and preclinical services business segments. Foreign exchange contributed 2.6 percent to the net sales growth.

Analysts expected revenue of $298.8 million.

Discontinued operations in 2006 included the interventional and surgical services business. The closure was completed in the most-recent quarter, while the Phase II IV clinical services business was sold in the year-ago quarter.

The company said preclinical services segment sales rose about 23 percent to $168.8 million, mainly on strong demand for general and specialty toxicology services from pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers. The research models and services unit, which offers rodents for use by researchers and drug companies, rose about 14 percent to $145.2 million in revenue on higher demand for research models.

Charles River also raised its earnings and sales guidance for 2007.

Shares of Charles River jumped $2.88, or 5 percent, to $60 in aftermarket trading, having closed earlier at $57.12. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)

Momenta, Novartis blood drug denied

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today that the Food and Drug Administration denied approval for its blood clot drug enoxaparin sodium, being developed with partner Novartis.

The FDA sent the letter denying approval to Novartis' Sandoz division. The agency said the drug could not be approved because the application doesn't address the potential for the drug's immunogenicity, which refers to the ability of the drug to invoke an immune response.

The FDA recommended that the companies meet with the FDA's Office of Generic Drugs to determine what additional information is necessary.

Momenta shares plunged $4.28, or 32 percent, to $9.10 in premarket trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)

November 5, 2007

Cargo shipments up 10 percent at port

Business at the Port of Boston rose 10 percent between January and October compared to the same period last year, the Massachusetts Port Authority said yesterday. Massport said the increase can be traced to the June modernization of its Conley Container Terminal in South Boston, which allows it to handle increased retail shipments from Asia more quickly.

The terminal handled 1.4 million tons of cargo between January and October, compared to 1.3 million tons last year.

The $28 million terminal upgrade, which took two years to complete, allowed containers to be stacked higher and wider and added eight cranes and four machines to handle empty containers.
(Nicole C. Wong, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 5:36 PM | Comments (0)

North End Greenway parks dedicated

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Governor Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, House Speaker Sal DiMasi, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman Bernard Cohen, and other officials, more than you could keep track of, joined several hundred North End residents yesterday to declare two blocks of parks on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway open.

"A long-anticipated and historic event," Cohen said, that demonstrates "the continued vibrancy of the North End."

Children from St. John School and John Eliot School welcomed the sun-drenched crowd in song as new fountains gurgled. Kennedy called it an especially meaningful day for his family and recalled his mother, for whom the Greenway is named, and his grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, once a member of Congress and mayor of Boston. Both were born in the neighborhood.

The two of them used to talk about how "there was never any grass" in the neighborhood, Kennedy said. Now, "There's going to be grass, so the children from the North End can come here and picnic and enjoy the magnificent fountains."

Speeches were brief and to the point -- Conservancy board chairman Peter Meade just quoted Kennedy's brother, Robert, and the Irish author George Bernard Saw -- except for one by North End community leader Nancy Caruso, who, several pols said, had driven them "crazy" by pushing on behalf of her neighborhood.

After they credited her with leading the way for new parks, Caruso reintroduced the speakers, related anecdotes, and recounted years of meetings -- reading and ad-libbing for 21 minutes, until the wide ribbon that required cutting was virtually unrolled in front of her.

"If they put up with me, they've earned their salary," Caruso said. "It is truly a day we never thought would come."

US Representative Michael Capuano, eyeing the pergola above the eastern edge of the block, wondered, "Which end are the red grapes going to be on, and which end are the white grapes going to be on?"

The North End parks are the second on the Greenway to be formally opened. Chinatown's park opened in September, and the four Wharf District blocks, with a large circular fountain that has already been switched on, will open soon, turnpike officials said.
(By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 4:51 PM | Comments (0)

Compensation costs up 3.2% in N.E.

Total compensation costs for private industry workers rose 3.6 percent in the Northeast for the year that ended in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today.

The comparable figure nationally was 3.1 percent; the growth rate for total compensation in New England was 3.2 percent, said the bureau, which is part of the Department of Labor.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:39 PM | Comments (0)

Law center buys space in office building

The National Consumer Law Center has paid $5.5 million to buy several floors of an office building in Boston’s Financial District, a broker involved in the transaction said today.

Codman Co., a Boston real estate firm, said the nonprofit law center, which specializes in consumer issues on behalf of low-income people, plans to move its headquarters in the second quarter of 2008 to floors two through five at Seven Winthrop Square, with 22,500 square feet. The seller was Seven Winthrop Square LLC.

The law center currently leases headquarters space in Downtown Crossing.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:33 PM | Comments (0)

Jack Morton hires 2 from Staples

The Boston office of marketing agency Jack Morton Worldwide has hired Derrick Wood as creative practice leader and Erica Scheik as creative director.

Both join the agency from Staples Inc., the Framingham-based retailer of office supplies, Jack Morton said today.

Jack Morton describes itself as an experiential marketing agency that helps clients build brands by integrating live events, branded environments, and interactive media. Its clients include Procter & Gamble Co. and Hewlett Packard Co.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 2:26 PM | Comments (0)

Newspaper circulation declines

Newspaper circulation continued to decline in Massachusetts and across the country, according to a report today.

Nationwide, daily newspaper circulation declined 2.6 percent in the six months ending in September compared with the previous year, according to a report issued today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which monitors newspaper circulation.

The Boston Globe's average daily paid circulation fell 6.7 percent, to 360,695. The Boston Herald's circulation dropped 8.7 percent, to 185,832. Sunday circulation also declined.

For the first time, dozens of large newspapers also began releasing numbers that measure web traffic, in an effort to show the growth and reach of their content online.

The Globe reported 2.3 million combined print and online readers in the Boston market. There were 4.2 million unique Web visitors, and 61 million page views between March and August of this year.
(By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:24 PM | Comments (0)

Two Varian wind turbines approved

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. said today it has received approval from the Gloucester City Council to build two wind turbines at Varian's Gloucester headquarters.

Varian, a supplier of ion implant equipment to semiconductor manufacturers, said that the 2.5 megawatt wind turbines it plans to begin building next spring are projected to produce 14 million kilowatt hours of power per year, or about 65 percent of Varian's annual use of electricity.

Varian said it plans to use about 70 percent of the power generated by the wind turbines itself and sell the remaining power to the local power company.

When the project is completed, it is expected to eliminate the discharge of about 7,600 tons of carbon dioxide, 12 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 4 tons of nitrogen oxide each year, Varian said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)

Mass. gas prices jump 12 cents

Gasoline prices in Massachusetts are up an average 12 cents per gallon from a week ago, driven by rising global crude oil prices.

A statewide survey by AAA of Southern New England finds an average price of $2.84 for a gallon of regular, self-serve gasoline. That compares with $2.72 one week ago.

Prices have increased by a total of 20 cents per gallon over the past three weeks, ending a period of relative stability.

The auto club says record crude oil prices have pushed the current average price at the pump to the highest ever seen in November in Massachusetts. But the state's current average remains 16 cents below the national average of $3.00 per gallon. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)

Myomo names Glover chief executive

Myomo Inc. announced today that Thomas Glover has joined the company as chief executive.

Boston-based Myomo is a neurorobotics company that seeks to use medical device technology to help people how move weak or partially paralyzed limbs.

Most recently, Glover was chief executive and president of Vasomedical Inc., a New York-based provider of non-invasive cardiovascular technologies, Myomo said.

Steve Kelly is relinquishing his CEO title but will remain as chairman, Myomo said.

Myomo said its founding research was developed with the assistance from Deshpande Center for Technology Innovation; the company added that it also leverages proprietary technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)

Heritage invests in Centra Industries

Heritage Partners, a Boston private equity firm focused on family owned businesses, said it has completed an investment in Centra Industries Inc., a family owned business in Canada that makes components for commercial aircraft.

Heritage valued the investment at $24.9 million in Canadian dollars, which at today's rates, translates into about $26.7 million in US dollars.

Heritage said the transaction was structured in a way that allowed family shareholders to receive substantial personal liquidity and ample capital for future growth while retaining control of the company.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)

Grubb & Ellis to sell BU property

Grubb & Ellis Co. said today it has been hired as the exclusive sales agent of a 210-acre Tyngsborough property owned by Boston University.

The property at 72 Tyng Rd. includes a 74,000-square-foot conference facility, said Grubb & Ellis, a Chicago-based provider of commercial real estate services.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

Tea, absinthe to make Boston appearences

Two beverages with distinctly different personalities - tea and absinthe - are looking to raise their Hub profiles.

Redco Foods Inc., a New York company that markets such brands as Salada tea, said Salada will be the official tea of this year's official re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party.

On Dec. 16, plans call for a re-enactment ceremony to mark the 234th anniversary of an event when unruly colonists steeped Boston Harbor in pekoe and oolong in protest of the tax policies of the British government, Redco said.

As Redco notes, Salada has some local history; in 1917, the company established its US headquarters and a blending and packaging facility in Boston.

If tea is a soothing beverage that can modulate mood swings, absinthe is a wormwood-infused component of volatile liquors that according to legend, can give those who swill it a head full of madness and raging sky.

If the legends are to be credited, absinthe helped inspire some of the more lurid masterpieces of artists such as Degas and Van Gogh, but because many a bluenose believed that absinthe could cause a drinker to access his inner werewolf, the US government has banned it for nearly 100 years.

Now, however, absinthe is making an approved US comeback in the form of a Swiss spirit called Kubler.

Tomorrow night, in fact, the Aria nightclub in Boston is scheduled to host the official local launch of Kubler.

In a press release, Aria and Kubler said, "You are cordially invited to celebrate the exclusive debut of the only authentic Swiss absinthe granted to the American market in nearly a century."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

IRobot stock rises after favorable ruling

Shares of iRobot Corp. rose this morning after a Massachusetts judge granted the company an injunction against a competitor.

JPMorgan analyst Paul Coster said the legal news puts Burlington, Mass.-based iRobot back on track as it competes for a $286 million contract to develop bomb-detection robots for the military.

"This should reinforce iRobot's first-mover advantage in the military robot market," Coster said in a client note.

The competitor, Robotic FX Inc., was founded by a former iRobot employee and had been awarded a contract for 3,000 robots from the U.S. Army. Coster now expects the contract to go to iRobot.

While Robotic FX may appeal the ruling, its founder's behavior was seen as "unusual" and his testimony ruled "not credible" by the court, Coster said.

Shares of iRobot Corp. rose $1.85, or 11 percent, to $18.73 in morning trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

Vertex shares fall on rival news

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc fell nearly 20 percent today amid growing concern that its experimental hepatitis C drug may face greater competition than expected.

Analysts at Leerink Swann & Co. downgraded the stock to "market perform" from "outperform," based on presentations being made at a conference in Boston indicating that competition to Vertex's drug telaprevir will become increasingly visible in the next few months and that "the competitive news could further affect the sentiment on the stock."

The plunge in Vertex's stock follows a decline of roughly 9 percent on Friday, after the company released data on the drug that were not as strong as some investors had expected, while other companies presented data that were unexpectedly promising. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

Dataupia raises $16 million

Dataupia Corp. said today it has secured $16 million in Series B financing.

The Cambridge company architects specialized software and industry-standard hardware into a cost effective and intelligent appliance that amplifies an organization's existing information systems.

The round was led by Fairhaven Capital Partners of Boston, said Dataupia, which added that it will use the new funding to fund future product enhancements and to expand support services.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

MIT team places fourth in robocar race

MIT said today that its self-piloting robocar placed fourth in a weekend competition designed to encourage the development of vehicles that can operate autonomously on battlefields without putting humans in harm's way.

The event in California is known as the DARPA Challenge, after its sponsor, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

First prize went to a vehicle designed by Carnegie Mellon University, and second and third prizes went, respectively, to vehicles designed by teams from Stanford University and Virginia Tech, the news office of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said.

Led by John Leonard, a professor mechanical and ocean engineering, the MIT team transformed a Land Rover LR3 into a self-piloting robocar; the team also included MIT professors Jon How and Seth Teller as well as David Barrett, an associate professor at Olin College.

MIT's robocar uses multiple laser range scanners, high-rate video cameras, and automotive radar units to perform autonomous planning and motion control, MIT said.

MIT noted that this was its debut in the DARPA Challenge and that three dozen vehicles participated in DARPA Challenge semi-finals events.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

Boston WiFi demonstration today

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is scheduled to meet with Dorchester students this afternoon as they help test the city's WiFi network, his office said today.

Boston has an ambitious plan to create an "open access" wireless Internet environment citywide, but a June story in the Globe noted that the plan has hit some "speed bumps, including the absence of major donors."

In any event, Menino plans to join students from the Lila G. Frederick Pilot Middle School to see a demonstration of a school research project that makes use of the city's pilot WiFi network.

A formal launch date for the network has not yet been announced, Menino's office noted today.

But the hope is that the WiFi network will eventually enable laptops, cellphones, handheld computers, music players, and other devices to connect to the Internet, allowing people to transmit and receive information on the go.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)

Spire lands Army contract

Spire Corp. said today it has received a $100,000 US Army contract to develop a miniature room-temperature terahertz light source.

The Bedford company provides products and services to the solar energy, biomedical, and other industries.

Terahertz light is useful for defense, biomedical, and scientific applications, and it has been shown to be capable of detecting hidden weapons and explosives, Spire said, and the contract is a small business technology transfer contract.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

EqualLogic sold to Dell for $1.4b

Dell Inc said today that it would buy data storage network company EqualLogic for $1.4 billion, its largest acquisition ever, as it seeks to boost its fastest-growing business segment

The world's second-largest computer maker said it expects the acquisition to reduce its earnings per share, excluding the amortization of intangibles, by 2 cents to 5 cents in aggregate for the fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies but still must pass regulatory muster. It is expected to close late in the fourth quarter of Dell's fiscal year 2008 or early in the first quarter of its fiscal 2009.

EqualLogic is based in Nashua, New Hampshire. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:44 AM | Comments (0)

Akamai expands Cambridge HQ

Akamai Technologies Inc., a global service provider for accelerating content and applications online, said today it has signed a lease to expand its corporate headquarters in Cambridge.

Akamai said it has finalized a 10-year lease agreement with landlord Boston Properties Inc. that will expand its office space in Cambridge from 140,000 square feet to ultimately more than 250,000 square feet.

As of June 2009, Akamai will occupy all of the property at Eight Cambridge Center, where it has its headquarters, as well as four floors at Four Cambridge Center, Akamai said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:43 AM | Comments (0)

Verizon plans 120 more FiOS channels

Verizon Communications Inc. said it plans a fivefold increase in high-definition television channels in 2008 as it looks to win over new customers for its FiOS TV service.

The move would bring the number of HD-TV channels on FiOS to 150, Verizon said.

Currently, the FiOS TV service is available to roughly Massachusetts 400,000 households in nearly 60 Bay State communities.

According to a filing with state regulators, FiOS TV had fewer than 12,000 Massachusetts customers at the end of 2006. Verizon said that FiOS TV has seen much growth in the Bay State since, but it is not disclosing the current number of Massachusetts subscribers for "competitive reasons."

Headquartered in New York, Verizon delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless services to mass market, business, government, and wholesale customers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:34 AM | Comments (0)

Tenn. firm taps SolidWorks tech

SolidWorks Corp. of Concord said today that a Tennessee maker of horticulture equipment is using its 3D computer-aided software to design a series of machines to convert household waste into biofuels and electricity.

Engineers at Bouldin & Lawson LLC have developed a system that is converting waste for Warren County, Tennessee; the process yields a wood-pulp like substance called Fluff that can be used in construction material and in potting material, SolidWorks said.

SolidWork is part of Dassault Systemes S.A. of France, a provider of product lifecycle management software.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:30 AM | Comments (0)

Summer associates laud Mintz Levin

Boston law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC said that the firm ranked fifth in the nation out of 169 firms in the annual American Lawyer Summer Associates Survey.

In the anonymous survey of summer associates, Mintz Levin said it achieved near perfect scores in key areas such as the quality of work assignments and interaction with partners and associates.

American Lawyer is a monthly magazine for lawyers.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:25 AM | Comments (0)

Lowy joins Helicos board

Helicos BioSciences Corp. announced today that Ronald Lowy has been appointed to its board of directors.

The Cambridge life sciences company is focused on genetic analysis technologies for the research, drug discovery, and diagnostic markets.

Helicos said Lowy is a former president and chief executive of Fisher Biosciences, now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific of Waltham, a provider of analytical instruments, equipment, software, and other products and services for the life sciences industry.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:21 AM | Comments (0)

Cilk Arts completes funding round

Cilk Arts Inc. said it has closed a Series A financing, the terms of which were not disclosed.

The Lexington company is a developer of software for multi-core computing.

The round was led by Stata Venture Partners, a private equity fund begun by Ray Stata, founder and chairman of Analog Devices Inc. of Norwood, Cilk Arts said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)

Boston Scientific sells 2 businesses

Boston Scientific Corp. will sell its cardiac and vascular surgery businesses to Getinge Group for $750 million in cash, the medical-device maker said today.

Boston Scientific expects the deal with its Swedish peer to close within the next three months.

The company first reported plans to sell the units in August as part of a plan to divest "non-strategic assets."

Boston Scientific acquired the cardiac surgery business as part of its $27 billion purchase of Guidant Corp. in April 2006. The 450-employee unit makes technologies to aid in heart surgery and generated $189 million in revenue last year. The 250-employee vascular surgery unit produces grafts and patches for repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms and posted 2006 revenue of $86 million. Boston Scientific acquired it in 1995.

"This transaction completes a previously announced element of our plan to divest non-strategic assets, focus on our core businesses and increase shareholder value," Chief Executive Jim Tobin said in a statement.

Boston Scientific shares closed at $13.24 on Friday. Its stock has gained 50 cents, or 4 percent, since the company first reported plans to sell the businesses. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:10 AM | Comments (0)

November 2, 2007

IRobot wins injunction against competitor

A federal judge in Boston has issued an injunction against a Chicago-area robot maker accused of stealing trade secrets from iRobot Corp. of Burlington.

In August, iRobot sued Robotic FX Inc. of Alsip, Ill., a company founded by former iRobot engineer Jameel Ahed. IRobot claimed that Ahed had used iRobot trade secrets in the building of a robot called the Negotiator, which beat out iRobot’s PackBot for a $280 million military contract.

After the suit was filed, detectives hired by iRobot witnessed Ahed trying to discard iRobot-related materials. Ahed also acknowledged shredding data CDs and erasing hard drives.

Ahed said that he was not destroying evidence, but US District Judge Nancy Gertner said that his behavior ‘‘gives rise to a strong inference of consciousness of guilt’’ and ‘‘profoundly undermines Ahed’s credibility as a witness.’’

During closed court hearings, iRobot discussed three areas in which it claimed the company’s trade secrets had been stolen by Robotic FX. Gertner refused to issue an injunction covering two of the areas, saying iRobot had revealed some of the information in a patent filing, thus undermining its status as a trade secret. But Gertner said there was good evidence that Robotic FX may have misappropriated iRobot technology used to make the rubber tracks that propel its robots. ‘‘While Ahed claims that he developed the track independently, this court will not credit his testimony,’’ Gertner wrote. Because the tracks are vital to the operation of the Negotiator robots, the injunction is a major barrier to continued manufacturing operations at Robotic FX — at least until a trial is held in April.

Officials at Robotic FX did not return calls seeking comment. (By Hiawatha Bray, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 7:24 PM | Comments (0)

Aquarium gets New Balance gift

The New England Aquarium said that it has received a $3 million gift from the New Balance Foundation.

The foundation is funded by New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., a Boston-based company that makes athletic footwear and apparel.

The gift will be used to help build the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center and to develop programs that use seals and sea lions to promote childhood fitness, said the aquarium, which added that it expects the mammal center to open in the spring of 2009.

"The New Balance Foundation is committed to encouraging childhood fitness and activity, and there is no better way to connect children to nature and the outdoors than through animals," Anne Davis, managing trustee of the New Balance Foundation, said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:17 PM | Comments (0)

KS Partners secures $71 million loan

KS Partners LLC said it has secured a $71 million loan from GE Real Estate.

With offices in Billerica and New York, KS is a real estate owner and property management company that is one of the largest commercial landlords in Greater Boston.

KS said it obtained the loan in a joint venture partnership with Apollo Real Estate Advisors, an international real estate fund manager headquartered in New York.

The loan will be used to refinance an eight-building portfolio that includes properties in Westborough, Andover, and Boston, KS said; the funding includes $7 million of future financing for tenant improvements and building upgrades.

"The fundamentals in the suburban Boston office sector are very strong, which made us confident that despite the current credit market turmoil and tightening, we would be able to secure this financing," Kambiz Shahbazi, president of KS, said in a statement.

GE Real Estate is a business unit of GE Commercial Finance, which is a subsidiary of General Electric Co., a diversified technology and services company based in Connecticut.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

HemaQuest receives Series A financing

HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals of Newton, a new company focused on developing small molecule therapeutics to treat blood disorders, said today it has received $20 million in Series A financing.

HemaQuest said that investors in the round included De Novo Ventures of California, Forward Ventures of California, and Lillly Ventures of Indiana, the venture capital arm of pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly and Co.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)

JPMorgan Chase chooses Voltaire

Voltaire Ltd. said today that JPMorgan Chase and Co. has selected Voltaire solutions to provide it with a "unified data center fabric."

An Israeli company with its US headquarters in Billerica, Voltaire designs and develops server and storage switching and software solutions that enable high performance grid computing within the data center.

JPMorgan Chase is a New York-based financial holding company that operates in such businesses as investment banking and retail financial services.

"As part of our new compute backbone architecture, Voltaire's InfiniBand-based solutions enable us to deliver large quantities of computing horsepower to multiple applications across different lines of business in a highly efficient manner that significantly reduces our capital equipment costs," Cory Shull, vice president of investment banking architecture at JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement.

Posted by globebusiness at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

Fidelity restructures, may pay millions less in taxes

Boston mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments changed its corporate structure, a spokeswoman confirmed today, in a move that could save it hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

FMR Corp., parent of closely-held Fidelity, converted itself to a limited liability company, or LLC, a spokesman said this morning. Bloomberg News first reported the change, citing an Oct. 15 securities filing that Fidelity made only in paper form, according to SEC records, and wasn't immediately available from the company.

Under Internal Revenue Service rules, companies that convert avoid double taxation by eliminating both corporate taxes and taxes on dividends. Instead, profits pass directly to shareholders and are taxed once, as personal income.

The majority of limited liability companies are small, according to the IRS, with less than $50 million in revenue.

Fidelity, with about 46,000 employees worldwide and about 13,000 in Massachusetts, is one of the state's largest firms. In 2006, it earned $1.2 billion in profit on $12.8 billion in revenue.

In 2001, a year when Fidelity had profits close to 2006 levels, the company set aside $623 million to pay its federal and state corporate taxes, according to confidential debt offering statements.

In June, 2007 the Globe reported that FMR was considering this move, which caused considerable debate about the implications for Massachusetts.
(By Ross Kerber, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

Mass. AG will review Caritas Christi

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced she will work with a consultant to conduct a review of the Caritas Christi Health Care System, her office said today.

Caritas Christi Health Care System is owned by the Archdiocese of Boston, which has been exploring a possible sale of the six-hospital system, the second largest in New England.

Boston officials are asking the archdiocese to cut Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester loose from the system so it can look for a buyer on its own, the Globe reported today; a previous Globe story reported that an internal Caritas Christi budget planning memo said Carney Hospital would be "insolvent" without a $6.7 million cash infusion it recently received from other hospitals in the Caritas Christi system.

In the past year, the archdiocese attempted to transfer ownership of the Caritas Christi system and its $275 million in debt to two successful Catholic healthcare chains, but was unable to reach a deal with either system, the Globe has reported.

"With the recent termination of affiliation discussions with other systems, we believe it is now an appropriate time to conduct a more focused review of Caritas on a stand-alone basis," Coakley said in a statement today.

Coakley's office said it will partner with Health Strategies and Solutions, a healthcare consulting firm that has provided consulting services to the attorney general's office for the last three years, in conducting the review.

The attorney general's office is responsible for overseeing the public's interest in the viability of the commonwealth's nonprofit charitable hospitals.

Coakley's press release included a statement from John Chessare, president and chief executive of Caritas Christi.

"We work with the attorney general's office on a regular basis, and we look forward to continuing to work with them while providing exceptional healthcare," he said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

Sales down at iParty

iParty Corp. said today that its October sales decreased because of increased competition during the Halloween retail season.

Halloween is its single most important selling season, said iParty, a Dedham-based retailer that operates 50 stores that sell party goods.

Total October sales were $16.9 million, a 3.6 percent decrease from October 2006, the company said, and at stores open at least a year, sales declined 2.9 percent.

"Our decrease in sales during the calendar month of October is primarily due to the dramatic increase in the number of temporary Halloween stores in our markets and the increased availability of Halloween product in non-traditional retail outlets," Sal Perisano, chairman and chief executive of iParty, said in a statement.

On a brighter note, iParty said that total sales for calendar year 2007 through October rose 6 percent to $66.88 millon when compared with the same period in 2006; at stores open at least a year, sales were up 4 percent through the first 10 months of 2007.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

Ambient closes on $2.5 million placement

Ambient Corp., a Newton company that focuses on "enabling smart grid efficiencies," said today it has closed on a $2.5 million private placement.

According to Ambient's web site, its proprietary technology will allow utility companies to use their existing medium and low-voltage power lines as high-speed data pipelines, capable of delivering broadband Internet and telephony along with utility services such as outage reporting.

Ambient said today that it has closed on an additional private placement of $2.5 million in principal amount of its newly issued 8-percent senior secured three-year convertible note from an institutional investor.

The investor in this round, Vicis Capital Master Fund, was issued the note scheduled to mature in October of 2010, and which requires no repayment of principal until the maturity date, Ambient said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

MIT "robocar" ready to rumble

MIT's Robocar (photo by Jason Dorfman)

Robots, start your engines!

Tomorrow, in California, an MIT "robocar" is scheduled to compete in a car rally of sorts, only there will be no place for high-speed hot-rod hot shots like Richard Petty and Rubberhead Wallace at this high-IQ event - in fact, there will be no humans at all in the driver's seat.

The competition is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and the competition's goal is to encourage the development of autonomous vehicles that can operate on battlefields and perform military supply missions while keeping humans out of harm's way.

The top three prizes: $2 million, $1 million, and $500,000.

Led by John Leonard, a professor of mechanical and ocean engineering, the team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has transformed a Land Rover LR3 into a self-piloting robocar; the team also includes MIT professors Jon How and Seth Teller as well as David Barrett, an associate professor at Olin College.

According to an MIT press release, the robocar uses multiple laser range scanners, high-rate video cameras, and automotive radar units to perform autonomous planning and motion control.

MIT's robocar has already survived the DARPA event's semi-finals, which evaluated some three dozen robotic vehicles on their ability to operate in traffic without human intervention while obeying California traffic laws, MIT said.

In a statement, Leonard noted that MIT's robocar was developed in just 18 months, and he added, "We look forward to the challenge of trying to finish the 60-mile race course on Saturday."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:42 AM | Comments (0)

IBM says it may acquire security companies

IBM, which plans to spend a record $1.5 billion next year to develop and market security products, is seriously looking at using acquisitions to help beef up its offerings in that area, a company executive told Reuters Thursday.

The company, whose third-quarter revenue climbed 7 percent to $24 billion, sees security as a key to growth, said Val Rahmani, IBM's general manager of infrastructure management for global technology services.

"We're looking at a lot of different companies right now, as we always do in a number of different spaces within security," she said in a telephone interview.

A year ago International Business Machines paid $1.23 billion to buy Internet Security Systems. Rahmani declined to say when IBM might make its next purchase of a security company, or whether it was considering deals that size or larger.

It is IBM's policy never to identify specific businesses that it might buy, to discuss deals that it has considered, or comment on any speculation about its acquisition activities, she added.

But she identified some areas that IBM is interested in: "Keeping the bad guys out and letting the good guys in, authenticating people once they are in and worrying about data if people leave it behind."

IBM already has "pretty good coverage...but we could always do better," she added.

She also said companies that are most attractive acquisition candidates are ones that can help IBM better predict future threats.

"This is about understanding where the threats will be before they happen," she said. "This is what we are very focused on," she said.

She spoke to Reuters as IBM announced next year's $1.5 billion budget for developing and marketing its security business.

It is looking to handle security in house, instead of letting that work go to outside firms that specialize in security.

Smaller companies such as McAfee Inc, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and Websense Inc. say they have an edge over big technology companies like IBM because they are able to focus on security.

IBM argues it has an advantage because it is able to integrate security into every aspect of a company's technology systems operations. Key competitors in services include Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Accenture Ltd.

IBM employs about 5,000 people in Massachusetts, where it has bought nine software companies in the last ten years.

IBM spent more than $5 billion in 2006 on acquisitions, mainly for software companies in a drive to expand its most profitable business. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:15 AM | Comments (0)

Bannon, Gorski promoted at Conventures

Conventures Inc., a Boston-based events marketing and communications firm, announced two promotions.

Joy Bannon is now account director, and Kayla Gorski is now account coordinator, Conventures said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)

Celtics opening bash today

Call it hoops hoop-la. As the Boston Celtics gear up for tonight's home opener at the TD Banknorth Garden, basketball fans can expect a marketing extravaganza in the form of a block party and rally towel giveaways to mark the start of what locals hope will be a promising new era in C's history.

According to the team's publicists, festivities will begin outside the garden this afternoon with a four-hour block party presented by the beverage brand Pepsi on Causeway Street; the party is scheduled to run from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., and their will be free food sampling, face paintings, and appearances by such Celtics legends as JoJo White and Dana Barros.

Other highlights of opening night will include the team giving away 20,000 "rally towels," courtesy of Aquafina and Rite Aid pharmacy, the Celtics said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:08 AM | Comments (0)

Children's Hospital event raises $5.2 million

Children's Hospital Boston said its latest annual dinner and auction smashed a fund-raising record.

"More than 1,200 professional sports team owners, sports legends, and business elite rallied together to raise more than $5.2 million at the Champion for Children's annual dinner and auction to benefit Children's Hospital Boston - well above the hospital's $4.5 million goal," the hospital said.

Children's Hospital Boston describes itself as the largest provider of care to low-income and underinsured children in Massachusetts, and the hospital said that the funds raised will help it continue its research and community health programs.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:03 AM | Comments (0)

November 1, 2007

New stores are opening at Linden Square

Among new tenants that have either just opened or are about to open stores at Linden Square, a Wellesley shopping complex that is being redeveloped into a lifestyle center, are a CVS/pharmacy and a Starbucks coffee cafe.

That's the news from the project's redeveloper, Federal Realty Investment Trust, a real estate investment trust based in Maryland.

Other new tenants that will open before the holidays include a Beacon Hill Athletic Club, a Bella Sante Day Spa, and French Lessons, a boutique that sells such items as lingerie and ready-to-wear apparel, Federal Realty said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:06 PM | Comments (0)

Millennium narrows loss

Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today it narrowed its loss in the third quarter, as stronger sales from its cancer drug Velcade helped drive revenue.

The Cambridge-based biotechnology company lost $1.7 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $13.7 million, or 4 cents per share, a year ago. Results improved on a $3.4 million decrease in stock-based compensation expense and a narrower loss from operations.

Revenue rose 18 percent to $122.3 million from $104.1 million, benefiting from strong U.S. sales of cancer drug Velcade as well as higher royalty revenue.

On an adjusted basis, which includes restructuring charges and stock-based compensation expense, earnings rose to $15.3 million, or 5 cents per share, from $6.4 million, or 2 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 1 cent per share, on revenue of $118.3 million.

U.S. sales of Velcade rose 32 percent to $70.4 million. Cancer drug Velcade is being codeveloped by Millennium and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC. In the U.S., the drug is used to treat multiple myeloma and a form of lymphoma.

The company raised its full-year 2007 financial guidance for the second time this year, but the stock fell on concern competition will cut into Velcade sales.

On the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, shares of Millennium fell 25 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $11.57 in afternoon trading. In the past year, the stock has traded between $9.49 and $12.29. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 1:00 PM | Comments (0)

Boston Foundation distributes grants

The Boston Foundation today announced a round of $25,000 grants to organizations that work with high-risk youth in an effort to improve the advocacy skills of those organizations.

The grants are part of the foundation's Youth Policy Initiative, which is designed to "respond to the need of local organizations to become more sophisticated in advocating for a range of issues that affect their key constituents: high school dropouts and those disconnected from the system of workforce development programs, training opportunities, and social supports," the foundation said.

"Teaching organizations to be better advocates in the public policy arena is a high impact way to help young people," Paul S. Grogan, president and chief executive of the Boston Foundation, said in a statement.

The Boston Foundation is a community foundation that along with its donors, expects to make more than $92 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in 2007.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

Houghton Mifflin goes mobile

A California publisher of mobile content said today it is teaming up with one of the most venerable Boston publishing names in the real world: Houghton Mifflin Co.

The California firm, Mobifusion, said it is releasing a new line of mobile products based on Houghton Mifflin titles, with a focus on top reference information and children's titles.

While Houghton Mifflin makes much of its money from educational textbooks, a company that can trace its roots in Boston back to 1832 is also known as the publisher of the American Heritage Dictionary, the US editions of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," and the "Curious George" series of children's books.

Mobifusion "technology perfectly matches Houghton Mifflin's interest in exploring new ways to deliver their titles to readers, capitalizing on the ever changing way consumers want to receive book content and information," Pavan Mandhani, founder and chief executive of Mobifusion, said in a statement.

According to David Langevin, a Houghton Mifflin vice president, one of the first titles planned for mobile release will be "Fast Food My Way" by uber chef Jacques Pepin.

Houghton Mifflin is owned by HM Rivergroup PLC, a company created to allow Riverdeep Holdings Ltd., a Dublin educational software firm, to purchase the Boston publishing house in 2006.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)

EMC boosts China investment by $500m

Data storage vendor EMC Corp. said Thursday it would double its investment in China to $1 billion over the next five years.

The announcement expands a $500 million commitment EMC made in June 2006 to invest in China through 2012. The additional money will cover expanding research and development operations and sales and services in the country, a key market for EMC data storage software and hardware.

Joe Tucci, the Hopkinton, Mass.-based company's chairman, president and chief executive, announced the increased investment at an event to open a new R&D center in Beijing.

"The additional investment reiterates our deep commitment to this rapidly growing economy and emphasizes the important role that China will have in EMC's long-term business success," Tucci said.

The Beijing center, which will employ more than 200 engineers, follows last year's opening of a similar center in Shanghai that now employs more than 250 people.

EMC entered China in 1996, and operates major sales offices in seven Chinese cities. The company expects to employ 1,000 people in China by year's end, and employment in a region encompassing Asia, the Pacific and Japan now totals 4,700 workers.

EMC has consistently posted double-digit sales growth in that region in recent quarters, often outpacing growth in North America.

Shares of EMC fell 37 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $25.02 in morning trading. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

Circor downgrades outlook

Valve maker Circor International Inc., said today that it expects its fourth-quarter earnings to be well below Wall Street expectations, in part because of the slow arrival of cost-cutting measures.

Circor shares dropped more than 15 percent as a result.

The company said it expected to earn 54 cents a share to 59 cents a share, excluding charges, well below Wall Street expectations of 68 cents a share.

The outlook is also well below the 63 cents a share earnings in the same quarter last year.

Circor said it would not fully benefit from savings in component sourcing of its thermal fluid control section until the first half of 2008. It has also had to deal with higher legal costs from asbestos claims filed against a thermal fluid subsidiary.

Shares plunged $8.22 or 16.4 percent to $42.02. Shares had been trading between $31 and $50.38 in the last 52 weeks. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

G8wave partners with the Charlatans

A mobile media company with offices in Boston, g8wave Holdings Inc., said today it has reached an agreement with a band called the Charlatans to deliver a mobile Internet site where fans can download ringtones, songs, and videos free of charge.

Plans call for the Charlatans' mobile site to carry advertising from major music and lifestyle brands, g8wave said.

The site is part of a broader mobile music and marketing plan that includes Bluetooth broadcasting at shows, mobile ticket sales, and a mobile store where visitors can purchase T-shirts and posters, g8wave added.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

Grille Zone certified "green"

Grille Zone, a Boston restaurant that frets as much about its carbon footprint as it does about the quality of its grilled cheese sandwiches and veggie burgers, has been certified green by the Green Restaurant Association, the owners said today.

According to its website, the Green Restaurant Association is a Boston-based nonprofit group dedicated to helping the restaurant industry to become more "environmentally sustainable."

Grille Zone's press release noted that founders Ben Prentice and Barry Baker have developed an "eco-focused business model" for a casual restaurant that serves up such fare as certified Hereford beef hamburgers, fresh cut French fires, and authentic German frankfurters; the typical check average is about $10.

By taking such steps as using 100 percent compostable cups, plates, and cutlery, the Boston Grille Zone produces an average of 15 pounds of waste per day, compared with a national restaurant average of 275 pounds, Grille Zone said.

"We don't even own a dumpster," Prentice noted in a statement.

In their press release, Grille Zone's owners added that they're "entertaining investor inquiries to support plans for four additional locations in Boston and five in Albany over the next five years."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

Eaton Vance names new CEO

Eaton Vance Corp said today that Thomas Faust has become the asset manager's new chief executive, succeeding James Hawkes, who reached the mandatory retirement age.

The Boston-based company began preparing shareholders for the move more than a year ago when it signaled that Faust, 49, who was promoted to president in 2006, would take over when Hawkes turned 65.

Hawkes joined Eaton Vance, which makes all of its senior executives retire at age 65, in 1970. He has been chief executive officer since 1996. (Reuters)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:12 AM | Comments (0)

Aveo names Johnston CFO

Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today the appointment of David Johnston to the newly created position of chief financial officer.

The Cambridge company focuses on leveraging breakthroughs in cancer biology to discover targeted oncology therapies.

Johnston joins Aveo after nine years at Genzyme Corp., a Cambridge biotechnology company where he most recently served as senior vice president of finance, corporate planning, and analysis, Aveo said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 9:03 AM | Comments (0)

Profit falls at Timberland

Timberland Co., which makes apparel and footwear, said today that its third-quarter profit dropped 53 percent due to costs for closing stores and a drop in revenue in the company's footwear division.

For the quarter ended Sept. 28, net income fell to $25.9 million, or 42 cents per share, from $55.6 million, or 88 cents per share in the prior-year quarter.

The company, which is based in Stratham, N.H., said excluding restructuring costs related to Timberland's decision to close several retail locations, it earned 49 cents per share.

The adjusted figure matches the estimates of Wall Street analysts, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Revenue fell 14 percent to $433.3 million from $503 million in the third quarter of 2006. Analysts predicted revenue of $436.9 million.

Revenue dropped 28 percent in the U.S. wholesale division while revenue in the U.S. consumer direct segment fell 4 percent.

By product category, the company took the biggest revenue in footwear. Footwear revenue dipped 16 percent.

Timberland said its boots, kids and apparel businesses all underperformed in the quarter.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, dropped 4.8 percent on the domestic retail side. Global retail same-store sales slipped 5.6 percent.

Same-store sales is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing locations rather than newly opened ones. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:57 AM | Comments (0)

AS&E gets Olympic order

American Science and Engineering Inc., a Billerica company specializing in X-ray detection technology, said today it has received an order for 15 of its parcel inspection systems from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The order is for Gemini Parcel Inspection Systems, which will be used to secure key checkpoints at the games, the company said.

The Gemini combines dual-energy transmission and proprietary Z Backscatter X-rays, allowing operators to obtain the most information about the contents of a parcel, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)

Lawsuits mount for State Street

Institutional money manager State Street Corp. now faces three lawsuits over its management of bond funds that were touted for their conservative investment strategies, yet posted losses over the summer because of risky holdings tied to the subprime mortgage industry.

Managers of public employee funds in at least two states that suffered losses are following the litigation closely but have yet to file their own complaints.

The latest lawsuit was filed last week in federal court in Boston by Nashua Corp., a Nashua, N.H.-based maker of paper and imaging products, against State Street's investment arm, State Street Global Advisors.

State Street also was named in similar lawsuits filed earlier in October by Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Co., a manager of retirement plans, and by New York-based publisher UniSystems Inc.

Nashua lost $5.6 million by investing company pension funds in State Street's Bond Market Fund, due to the fund's "overexposure in mortgage-related securities," according to the lawsuit.

Nashua's complaint seeks class-action certification, which could allow other companies that invested in certain State Street funds to join the case.

"As a result of State Street's misconduct, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars have likely been lost through retirement and pension plans that invested in the bond funds," the lawsuit says.

Arlene Roberts, a spokeswoman for Boston-based State Street, said the company was "disappointed that a small number of our active fixed-income clients" have sued.

"We pride ourselves on our commitment to clients, and we believe that we managed these strategies consistent with stated investment objectives. The events in the fixed-income markets over the summer were unprecedented. We intend to defend ourselves against these complaints," she said.

Nashua's lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and alleges violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the federal law governing retirement plans in private industry.

"State Street held out the bond funds to be actively managed funds with little investment risk and returns comparable to their respective benchmark indices," the lawsuit says.

But State Street "significantly deviated from its investment strategy," the lawsuit says.

For example, as of the end of July, the Bond Market Fund "had invested more than 27 percent of the portfolio in asset-backed securities comprised of home equity loans" in the mortgage industry's subprime segment, the lawsuit says.

In late August, Nashua received a letter from State Street advising it of a more than 12 percent loss in the fund that month, in a period when an index the fund was supposed to track posted a 1 percent gain, the lawsuit says.

Idaho and Alaska are among the states with state employee funds that were invested in so-called "enhanced index" bond funds offered by State Street -- funds buffeted by the recent turmoil in investments tied to subprime mortgages geared toward customers with spotty credit.

Alan Winkle, executive director of the Public Employees Retirement System of Idaho, said Wednesday that his agency was reviewing the matter "to find out what happened."

Idaho has not pursued litigation over $3 million to $4 million in losses in a state Unused Sick Leave Benefits Fund that had invested in State Street's Government/Credit Bond fund, Winkle said.

Michael Barnhill, an attorney in Alaska's Department of Law, said his state is conducting a review after 1,300 state employees suffered losses totaling $6.1 million from their elective investments in a State Street Bond fund offered through a state supplemental annuities savings plan. Barnhill declined to comment on whether Alaska might sue State Street over the loss.

State Street says the problematic funds amounted to a small fraction of the $244 billion in fixed-income funds it manages. About $36 billion of that total is actively managed -- as opposed to passive funds that track indexes. The proportion exposed to subprime mortgages amounted to $7.8 billion as of June 30, and just $2.6 billion as of Sept. 30, Roberts said. (AP)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:50 AM | Comments (0)

Indevus drugs gets FDA review

Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. said today that the US Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review the Lexington company's new drug application for Nebido.

Nebido is a long-acting injectable testosterone preparation for the treatment of male hypogonadism, a medical condition characterized by a reduced or absent secretion of testosterone from the testes, the company said.

Common effects of hypogonadism include decreased sexual desire, muscle loss and weakness, and increased risk of osteoporosis, the company has said.

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act target action date for Nebido is June 27, Indevus said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:46 AM | Comments (0)

Sales up at CVS

CVS Caremark Corp., a Woonsocket, R.I.-based company that operates a large pharmacy chain, said today that October sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.6 percent over the same four-week period last year.

During the four week period ending Oct. 27, CVS/pharmacy opened 21 new stores, closed one store, and relocated eight others; as of Oct. 27, the chain operated 6,226 CVS/pharmacy stores in 40 states and the District of Columbia, the company said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:45 AM | Comments (0)

NORESCO hired by Maryland

NORESCO, a Westborough company that helps businesses and government agencies to more efficiently manage their energy consumption, said today it has been hired by the state of Maryland's Department of General Services.

NORESCO said it has been engaged by the department to implement an energy efficiency performance contract for the Spring Grove Hospital Center.

According to NORESCO, its program should yield more than $36 million in savings over 13 years.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)

Rule Stream leasing in Wakefield

Rule Stream Corp., a software technology company, has signed a lease of 3,804 square feet of office space at 301 Edgewater Park Drive in Wakefield, a broker involved in the transaction said.

The broker is NAI Hunneman, a Boston-based commercial real estate services firm.

The building's landlord is Joseph Campbell Co., and the broker representing the landlord in the transaction was CB Richard Ellis/New England, NAI Hunneman said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:23 AM | Comments (0)

Survey: Boston nonprofits need PR help

Greater Boston's nonprofit sector is not successfully communicating its value, according to a new survey from Boston public relations firm Solomon McCown.

"The sector is evolving and as it does, the need for nonprofit, mission-focused and social entrepreneur organizations to distinguish themselves is more important than ever before," firm president and chief executive Helene Solomon said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:16 AM | Comments (0)

WMJX promotes Apicerno

Greater Media Inc., the Braintree-based parent company of 20 radio stations, announced the promotion of Kristen Apicerno to local sales manager at WMJX-FM, which is known locally as Magic 106.7.

Apicerno previously served as a senior account executive at the station, Greater Media said.

Magic 106.7 bills itself as "Boston's continuous soft rock" station.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)

Biopure prices offering

Biopure Corp. announced today the pricing of an underwritten public offering of stock and warrants.

The Cambridge company, which develops and manufactures oxygen therapeutics, said that a transaction expected to close on or about Nov. 6 could result in net proceeds to Biopure of about $13 million, assuming no exercise of the warrants issued in the offering.

Subject to closing conditions, the underwriters have agreed to purchase from the company 16.85 million new shares of Biopure common stock and warrants to acquire an additional 16.85 million new shares, Biopure said.

The price for one share and one warrant is 85 cents, and the exercise price of each warrant is $1.06, Biopure said.

Biopure said it intends to use the proceeds from this offering for general corporate and working capital purposes.

Biopure also said it has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase an additional 2.527 million shares and and 2.527 million warrants to cover over-allotments.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)

Posted by globebusiness at 8:05 AM | Comments (0)