PNC puts name in spotlight

PNC Financial Services Group, in advertisements that will appear in national publications starting next week, is launching a branding campaign aimed at bolstering its identity. The move comes as PNC closes on the sale of its majority stake in New York-based money fund manager BlackRock to Merrill Lynch, netting PNC $1.6 billion. The transaction will see Thomas H. O'Brien, former chairman and chief executive officer, leave PNC's board but remain an independent director of BlackRock.

Brewery workers to vote

Union workers at bankrupt Pittsburgh Brewing are scheduled to vote tomorrow on a concessionary contract to replace a five-year labor agreement ratified last year. The contract covers about 160 members of the IUE, the industrial arm of the Communications Workers of America.

Dick's takes to the links

Dick's Sporting Goods will become the title sponsor of a professional golf event in Broome County, N.Y., next summer. The Findlay retailer has contributed to the Champions Tour event, which will offer a purse of $1.6 million. The tournament will be shown on cable TV's Golf Channel.

Timken cuts profit forecast

Timken Co., the Canton, Ohio-based parent of Latrobe Steel, yesterday slashed its earnings outlook for the third quarter and the full year and said it would cut 700 jobs, or 2.6 percent of its work force, from its automotive group. Timken now expects third-quarter earnings of between 50 cents and 55 cents per share, excluding special items, down significantly from its July forecast of 70 cents to 75 cents per share. Timken also lowered its full-year forecast to between $2.60 and $2.75 per share from a previous range of $3 to $3.15.

Profits elude health clinics

Rite Aid Corp.'s first experiment offering health clinics inside its stores ended when the clinic operator decided it could not turn a profit. Take Care Health Systems LLC told Rite Aid that it would close its last seven health clinics yesterday, less than a year after opening 10 of them in Rite Aids around Portland, Ore. Take Care Health said places like Portland and Seattle have a mix of elements -- a higher proportion of health-care providers or a healthier population, among them -- that make such clinics unprofitable. Take Care Health Systems operates clinics in Eckerds stores in Rochester and Monroeville, and plans to open eight more in the area.

Also in business ...

Ronald Violi, the former chief executive officer at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, will continue as CEO of Wheeling Hospital through July 2008, the hospital announced ... The new, two-level Borders bookstore in East Liberty is scheduled to open in November. The 24,000-square-foot store, which will be in the Eastside center anchored by Whole Foods Market, is expected to create 45 jobs.