Business news in brief

Saturday, November 17, 2012

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I don’t know what we will do without Wonder Bread. I think it’s tragic.”

Regina Paff,

Hostess Brands Inc. customer, on Hostess’ plan to shut down its 33 remaining bakeries Article, 1DActive oil, gas rigs rise by 3 in U.S.

HOUSTON - The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rose this week by three, to 1,809.

Texas-based oil-field services company Baker Hughes Inc.

reported Friday that 1,390 rigs were exploring for oil and 417 were searching for gas. Two were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, Baker Hughes counted 2,001 rigs.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Louisiana gained five rigs, Colorado three and California and West Virginia one each.

Alaska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania declined by two apiece and Texas and Wyoming each fell by one. Arkansas and North Dakota were unchanged.

The rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. took legal action Friday to block employee protests outside stores that might disrupt its business next week at the start of U.S. holiday shopping on Black Friday.

Wal-Mart filed an unfair-labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board in Washington against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

The complaint seeks to halt attempts by the union to have its members disrupt its business and intimidate customers.

The union, representing more than 1.3 million workers in grocery and retail stores and the meatpacking industry, said Wal-Mart workers began walking off the job Wednesday at stores and warehouses in California. The strikes are the first of what the union said are 1,000 protests planned in Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Minnesota and Washington ahead of Black Friday, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving.

“Wal-Mart is doing everything in its power to attempt to silence our voice,” union member Colby Harris of Lancaster, Texas, said in a statement distributed by the group. “Nothing - not even this baseless unfair labor practice charge - will stop us from speaking out.”

Workers are protesting what they say is Wal-Mart’s manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to keep people from working full time and discrimination against women and members of minority groups, the union said in a statement.

The Wichita, Kan.-based plane-maker said in a filing Thursday evening in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York that the request is a critical step toward emerging from Chapter 11 protection.

Hawker announced Oct. 18 that it would liquidate its jet business if necessary and keep its propeller-plane division, emerging by the end of the year as a streamlined company.

The company told the court that warranties covering engines and avionics on the jet models are provided by the manufacturers of those components. Hawker also said it is in discussions with several other companies to ensure service and maintenance for the Hawker 4000 and Premier lines.

Last week, the plane-maker announced that it will shut down its service centers in Little Rock, Mesa, Ariz., and San Antonio, which employ 240 people and provide service for all of the company’s models.

The company also served notice last week that 170 workers at its completions centers in Little Rock and Wichita will be trimmed, but it didn’t specify how many jobs would be lost at each location. That followed an announcement in August that 170 Hawker jobs would be eliminated in Little Rock. The company hasn’t said how many employees will remain at the Little Rock completion center, which finishes out planes to customer specifications.

Nike to get $570 million for Cole Haan

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Nike is selling its Cole Haan brand to private-equity firm Apax Partners for $570 million, part of its effort to focus on core brands.

The sneakers, clothing and sports-gear maker said in May that it wanted to sell Cole Haan - its leather shoe and bag division - and its Umbro soccer jersey brand to cut costs.

Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., is focusing on its namesake brand, as well as Jordan, Converse and Hurley.

The Cole Haan deal completes the company’s sale plan.

Last month, it announced that clothing licensing company Iconix Brand Group Inc. would buy Umbro for $225 million.

Nike had bought Umbro in 2008 for $582 million.

Nike acquired Cole Haan in 1998 in a deal then worth $95 million.

Cole Haan traces its roots to Chicago in 1928, when it was making flapper-friendly leather shoes. Its current incarnation as a purveyor of men’s and women’s leather shoes and bags based in Yarmouth, Maine, began in 1975.

Like most consumer-product makers, Nike Inc. has faced rising costs for packaging, fuel and other raw materials.

Nike shares rose $1.76 to $92.59 in Friday trading.

Visa to hand over papers in inquiry

Visa Inc., the world’s largest payments network, said it will provide documents to the Federal Trade Commission after the agency asked for information on a debit-card service that may have violated the Durbin amendment.

U.S. antitrust regulators asked Visa, based in Foster City, Calif., in a Sept. 21 letter to voluntarily hand over documents related to its PIN Debit Gateway Service, the company said Friday in a filing. Visa said it’s cooperating with the U.S. and responding to its requests for information, and that the revenue in question isn’t material.

The request is another in a line of lawsuits and document requests faced by Visa and newly named Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf as the firm seeks to defend its leading market share in worldwide payments. In May, the company said it was the subject of a U.S. antitrust probe into its pricing for debit-card transactions. Visa continues to provide information to the U.S. in that investigation, according to the filing.

The Durbin amendment, named after U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that limits the amount of swipe fees, or interchange, Visa and Master-Card Inc. can charge on debit-card transactions. The companies collect the money and remit it to their member banks.

Earlier this year, Visa, MasterCard and the banks reached a proposed $6.6 billion settlement with merchants over creditcard transaction fees after seven years of litigation.

Business, Pages 32 on 11/17/2012