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Business News Briefs: 7/1/00
Saturday, July 01, 2000
NRM to consider 'alternatives'
National Record Mart Inc. has decided to hire an investment banking firm to explore various "value-adding alternatives." The music retailer said it favors no particular alternative and has made no decisions. NRM, which employs about 130 people at its Carnegie headquarters, recently reported a loss of $8 million for the fiscal year ended March 25. Without a one-time allocation of $4.2 million to noncash reserves and a $1 million depreciation and amortization expense, the loss would have been $3.1 million.
Bank agrees to alter policies
Pittsburgh Financial Corp., parent of BankPittsburgh, formerly called Pittsburgh Home Savings Bank, has agreed with regulators to change certain policies regarding the bank's interest rate risk, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following an examination, "regulators found certain risk management practices of the bank were deficient and resulted in less than satisfactory liquidity and interest rate risk positions," the filing said. Despite the deficiencies, regulators concluded BankPittsburgh's capital and earnings were adequate and asset quality was strong, the filing said.
Bell, GTE ring in Verizon
Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. yesterday completed their $59 billion merger to create Verizon Communications, positioning the regional telecommunications companies to compete on a national and global scale. Verizon said it would provide telephone service to about 95 million U.S. homes in 30 states and to an additional 25 million wireless customers. The combined companies, which together had $60 billlion in revenues in 1999, will have 260,000 employees.
Piece of history on the block
The block-long plant where George Westinghouse manufactured the world's first air brakes for railroad cars is for sale. RedZone Robotics Inc., the firm that purchased the Strip District building for $450,000 in 1990, has listed it for about $1.5 million with Grubb & Ellis Co., a Downtown real estate brokerage. Built in 1870 as the first headquarters for the Westinghouse Air Brake Co., the 35,000-square-foot plant is on Liberty Avenue. RedZone wants to sell it because it uses only parts of the plant for certain periods of the year.
USW, Kaiser OK arbitration
The United Steelworkers and Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp. yesterday said they had tentatively agreed to use arbitration to end a 21-month-old labor dispute involving 2,900 workers. The agreement calls for the two sides to negotiate for the next 28 days and, if they fail to settle, submit outstanding issues to binding arbitration. Workers at plants in Spokane and Tacoma, Wash; Gramercy, La., and Newark, Ohio, will vote on the proposal during the week of July 10. The agreement calls for a panel of arbitrators to resolve the dispute by Sept. 30 if talks fail.
Also in business ...
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled against imposing duties of up to 163 percent on imports of certain types of sheet steel from four countries: China, Indonesia, Slovakia and Taiwan ... Herndon, Va.-based Columbia Energy Group, parent of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, has agreed to sell its retail marketing operations to The New Power Co., of Greenwich Conn. The sale will not affect Columbia's 389,000 customers in the state ... Directors of Elkem ASA approved Alcoa's purchase of 750,000 additional shares, bringing Alcoa's stake in the Norwegian metals maker to 24.2 percent. Alcoa has said it may purchase up to 36.5 percent of Elkem's stock ... A lawsuit accusing a former unit of Mellon Financial Corp. of billing New York homeowners for unneeded mortgage insurance was certified as a class action on behalf of an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 borrowers. The suit was filed in 1997 against Mellon Mortgage Co., which was acquired by Chase Manhattan Corp. last year ... General Motors Corp. named its new mid-size sport-utility vehicle the Envoy, and plans to phase out the Jimmy name after the 2001 model.
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