Saturday, January 26, 2013
LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“AT&T is already the largest owner of this block of [700 megahertz] spectrum.This deal gives them the major missing piece to their national coverage.”
Roger Entner, analyst with Recon Analytics LLC in Dedham, Mass.
Article, 1D
Exxon tops Apple as No. 1 in market value
Apple Inc. surrendered the title of the world’s most valuable company to Exxon Mobil Corp. after concern over slowing growth drove its shares to the biggest loss in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Apple’s 12-month reign as the No. 1 stock ended as its shares slumped 18 percent this year, worse than any other company in the benchmark gauge for U.S. equities. The decline reduced its market capitalization to $412 billion, below Exxon Mobil’s $417 billion.
The switch in rankings reflected fading confidence in Apple, whose 15 years of transformation from a near bankrupt personal-computer maker to a technology leader dominating the smart-phone and tablet markets helped it become the most valuable U.S. company ever in 2012.
Apple shares have fallen by 37 percent from a record high in September amid concern that mounting costs and competition may curtail growth.
Apple shares fell $10.62 on Friday to close at $439.88.
Exxon shares rose 38 cents to $91.73.
Bright Horizons rises in 1st day on
NYSE NEW YORK - Shares of child-care services provider Bright Horizons jumped more than 28 percent Friday in their first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Watertown, Mass., company’s stock climbed $6.32, to close Friday at $28.32.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. raised $222.2 million in an initial public offering of 10.1 million shares.
The shares were priced at $22, above the expected price range of $19 to $21 per share. That suggested healthy demand from investors. The banks managing the deal may buy another 1.5 million shares, increasing the funds raised.
Bright Horizons said in a regulatory filing that it will use the IPO proceeds to repay debt. Any remaining proceeds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.
The company is being taken public by private equity firm Bain Capital LLC, which bought it in 2008 for $1.3 billion. Bright Horizons had traded on the Nasdaq from 1998 until 2008.
The company has more than 750 child-care and early education centers.
Its stock is trading under the “BFAM” ticker symbol.
American Airlines to redesign uniforms
FORT WORTH - First American Airlines wanted to redesign its planes, and now it plans to outfit employees in new uniforms.
The airline said Friday that it hired fashion designers Ken Kaufman and Isaac Franco to create uniforms for pilots, flight attendants and customer-service agents.
The makeover will take 18 months. American didn’t say how much it will cost.
Last week American unveiled a new logo and paint scheme for its aircraft.
American is trying to change the image of the company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011. It’s considering whether to merge with US Airways or remain on its own.
Pinnacle Airlines to move headquarters
MINNEAPOLIS - Pinnacle Airlines plans to move its headquarters and a few hundred jobs to Minneapolis from Memphis.
Pinnacle has been reorganizing under bankruptcy protection since last year. When it emerges, it will become part of Delta Air Lines Inc. Pinnacle plans to move into space that Delta has rented but isn’t using at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It said it expects to make the move by May.
Pinnacle employs 500 people at its Memphis headquarters. It’s not yet known how many of those jobs will move to Minnesota, but it will be fewer than 500, Pinnacle spokesman Joe Williams said.
This is Pinnacle’s second move in less than two years.
In August 2011 it moved across town to prime office space in downtown Memphis after city and Tennessee officials lobbied it to keep it in the city rather than move to Mississippi. Officials helped put together a $17.4 million bond deal, and private investors bought a former bank building and renovate it to be the airline’s headquarters.
Decline in Caterpillar sales first since ’10
Caterpillar Inc., the world’s biggest maker of construction and mining equipment, reported the first decline in retail machine sales in more than 2 1/2 years after a slowdown in Asian demand.
Global machine sales in the three months through December fell 1 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, the Peoria, Ill.-based company said in a filing Friday. It saw a 7 percent drop in the Asia-Pacific region and a 6 percent decline in North America, while other regions posted gains.
Sales have slowed with rising machinery inventories and excess manufacturing capacity in China, undermining the growth experienced since Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman took the helm in 2010. The company, an economic bellwether, idled production in some plants last year.
The last time Caterpillar reported a decline in the numbers was for the three-month period through April 2010, according to data on the company’s website.
Fitch downgrades Cyprus to junk status
NICOSIA, Cyprus - International credit rating agency Fitch has downgraded Cyprus a couple more notches into junk status amid concerns that the government’s support for the country’s troubled banks could cost more than previously thought.
The agency cut its rating on Cyprus to B from BB- and warned of more possible downgrades as it predicted that the banks’ recapitalization needs could be as high as $13.5 billion.
That would push the size of the rescue package that Cyprus is trying to finalize with the other 16 European Union countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund to over $22 billion.
That, Fitch said Friday, would drive the country’s debt load to more than 140 percent of its annual gross domestic product, 20 percentage points more than the agency previously estimated.
Business, Pages 32 on 01/26/2013