Business news briefs for 02/11/12
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Federal safety regulators are investigating reports of fires in the driver-side doors of 2007 Toyota Camry sedans and RAV-4 crossover SUVs. The probe could affect as many as 830,000 vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday on its website. The vehicles have not been recalled. Six fires have been reported, but NHTSA has no reports of anyone being hurt.
Wizzard Software, a Shadyside-based podcasting and speech technology company, said shareholders approved a 1-for-12 reverse stock split to go into effect Feb. 22. The company received a low price deficiency letter from the New York Stock Exchange in August. The company had already planned a reverse stock split as part of its acquisition of Chinese digital distribution company FAB. Wizzard's shares closed at 18 cents Friday, down 2 cents from the previous day.
Extended benefits for unemployment compensation will continue uninterrupted until March 10. Gov. Tom Corbett signed a bill that allows federal benefits to run for another month. Without the state legislation, those would have been eliminated as of last week.
A long-awaited supermarket for the Hill District should open in mid-summer, according to the Hill House Economic Development Corp. An exact date was not available. Officials originally hoped to open the Shop 'n Save by last Thanksgiving, but they were delayed by site preparation work and a change in construction managers.
This winter's warm weather hasn't helped sales of private-label soups made on the North Side by TreeHouse Foods Inc., but the Oak Brook, Ill., company said private-label products as a whole are holding up. The company reported fourth-quarter net income of $29.9 million, or 81 cents per share, compared to $28 million, or 77 cents per share, during the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding the impact of unusual items, TreeHouse Foods would have earned 85 cents per share, 2 cents below analysts' estimates. Net sales of $535.8 million compared to $509.5 million last year. For the year, the company reported profit of $94 million, or $2.56 per share, compared to $90.9 million, or $2.51 per share. Net sales of $2.05 billion compared to $1.8 billion last year.
Phoenix-based retailer PetSmart will open a 14,000-square-foot store in the East Side development in East Liberty in May or June, taking the entire bottom level of the former Borders bookstore.
First Published February 11, 2012 12:00 am
