BRIEFS.(Business)

Byline: Compiled from News staff, The Associated Press, Bloomberg

News, Scripps Howard News Service.

NATIONAL

Intel to spend $3 billion to build Arizona plant

Intel Corp. said Monday it will spend $3 billion to build a factory in Arizona and another $105 million to convert an inactive Arizona plant into a temporary test facility.

The new microprocessor factory - known as a "fab" in the semiconductor industry - is expected to create up to 1,000 new Intel jobs over the next several years, the company said. Another 3,000 people are expected to be hired during its construction at the company's site in Chandler, Ariz.

Construction will begin immediately. Once completed, the facility known as Fab 32 will become the Santa Clara, Calif., company's sixth factory that produces chip wafers that are about 12 inches in diameter.

UPS plans to acquire British parcel carrier

UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, said Monday it is buying a large independent British parcel carrier for $96.5 million in cash as it seeks to expand its presence in Europe.

Atlanta-based UPS said its deal to acquire LYNX Express Ltd. of Nuneaton, England, is expected to close by the end of the year.

LYNX Express is majority owned by the London private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital Ltd. In addition to its parcel delivery service, LYNX Express offers logistics services. It had sales of $295 million for the fiscal year that ended Oct. 2, 2004.

Disney names Battsek to head Miramax Films

Walt Disney Co. on Monday named Daniel Battsek president of Miramax Films - the studio responsible for Academy Award best picture winners The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love and Chicago. Battsek, 47, will take over all operations at Miramax on Oct. 1, the company said.

Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who sold the company to Disney in 1993 for $80 million but continued to run the studio, will remain co-chairmen of the film company on a nonexclusive basis through Sept. 30, Disney said.

The parties said in March that they mutually agreed to conclude the Weinsteins' employment contract with Disney.

The company said Battsek will focus on building a new executive team and slate of Miramax films.

BellSouth posts drop in second-quarter profit

BellSouth Corp., the dominant local telephone provider in nine southeastern states, reported a more than 20 percent drop in second-quarter profit on a slight rise in revenue, but said it was pleased with the impact its wireless unit is having on the Atlanta-based company's bottom line.

For the three months ended June 30, BellSouth said it earned $795 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with a profit of $996 million, or 54 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.

Excluding certain wireless merger integration costs and including the impact of its 40 percent ownership of Cingular Wireless LLC, BellSouth said its earnings were $849 million, or 46 cents a share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 43 cents a share. It wasn't immediately clear which earnings figure analysts' estimates were based on. A call to Thomson Financial went unanswered Monday.

Revenue in the April-June quarter rose 1.2 percent to $5.14 billion, compared with $5.08 billion recorded a year ago.

Netflix posts increase in second-quarter profit

Netflix Inc.'s second-quarter profit nearly doubled as the online DVD rental pioneer continued to attract new subscribers despite stiffer competition from the much larger Blockbuster Inc.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company said Monday that it earned $5.7 million, or 9 cents per share, for the three months ended in June.

That compared with net income of $2.9 million, or 4 cents per share, at the same time last year.

If not for accounting charges for stock options issued its employees, Netflix said it would have earned 14 cents per share.

That trounced the mean estimate of 1 cent per share among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue for the period totaled $164.5 million, a 37 percent increase from $119.7 million. The sales were just slightly above the average analyst estimate of $163.5 million.

EarthLink cuts rest of customer service jobs

About 180 EarthLink employees in Atlanta will lose their jobs as the Internet provider completes a move to outsource customer service and technical support telephone lines.

EarthLink cut 1,300 call center employees in 2003 and another 1,300 in 2004 as it began farming out the work to call centers in India and the Philippines.

The latest cut eliminates the use of EarthLink employees to handle customer calls, said spokesman Dan Greenfield.

The cuts will take place between August and September.

EarthLink will be left with 1,020 employees in Atlanta and 1,800 nationally.

Short-term T-bills highest in four years

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction to the highest levels in four years.

The Treasury Department auctioned $19 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.345 percent, up from 3.220 percent last week. Another $17 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 3.540 percent, up from 3.420 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the highest since these bills averaged 3.360 percent on Sept. 4, 2001.

The six-month rate was the highest since 3.550 percent on May 29, 2001.

WORLD

Grupo Televisa buys stake in discount airline

Mexican media conglomerate Grupo Televisa SA said Monday it plans to participate with a 25 percent stake in a new, low-cost airline to be launched in Mexico next year.

The low-cost carrier, to be called Vuela Compania de Aviacion SA, will be in partnership with Central America carrier Grupo Taca, Mexico's Grupo Financiero Inbursa SA and Discovery Americas I, a private investment fund operated by Protego and Discovery Capital, Televisa said in a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange.

Wal-Mart plans to open 42 more stores in China

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, plans to open another 42 stores in China by the end of next year, nearly doubling its presence in the country, a senior company official said Monday.

Lawrence Lee, Wal-Mart's operations director for eastern China, said the company plans to have 90 outlets in China by the end of 2006 - up from the current 48.

LOCAL

Capital Hill Gold joins bid for Nigerian rights

Denver-based Capital Hill Gold Inc. on Monday reported it has acquired an interest as technical partner on a 300-million barrel bid for petroleum and natural gas in Nigeria.

The bid has been submitted and accepted in Nigeria's 2005 round of offshore concession auctions, with bid awards scheduled for September 24, 2005, the company stated in a news release.

Capital Hill's bidding partners include three Nigerian partners. The company intends to acquire additional petroleum rights in Nigeria in conjunction with its local partners, the release noted.

ICG sells its assets in five Southeast markets

ICG Communications has completed a deal to sell its high-speed communications assets in five markets in the Southeast to Xspedius Communications of Louisville, Ky., for an undisclosed price. Arapahoe County-based ICG previously said it made the sale to focus on eight markets in Colorado and Ohio. The assets sold were in Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Charlotte, N.C.; Lousville, Ky.; and Nashville, Tenn.

Proliance to consolidate facilities in Denver

Proliance International Inc., formed Friday when two other companies merged, will likely consolidate its Denver facilities. Formed by the merger of New Haven, Conn.-based Transpro Inc. and Emporia, Kan.-based Modine Manufacturing Co., Proliance announced plans Monday to close its Emporia radiator factory and move the work to Mexico, cutting 130 jobs.

It's not clear how many Denver workers the company employs or how many, if any, would lose jobs here, where the company operates a distribution center and also manufactures radiator cores.

INFOBOX

Economy

Existing-home sales, prices set records

Existing homes were sold at the fastest pace in history last month, and the median price set a record as well.

In June, existing homes sold at an annual rate of 7.33 million units, an all-time high and an increase of 2.7 percent from the seasonally adjusted sales pace in May, according to a report Monday from the National Association of Realtors.

The gain reflected a 2.4 percent rise in sales of single-family homes, which climbed to a record of 6.37 million units at an annual rate.

Sales of condominiums also set a record, rising by 4.5 percent from the May level to an annual rate of 966,000 units in June.

The strength in sales helped push the median price of an existing home to a new record of $219,000, a gain of 14.7 percent from the median, or midpoint, for homes sold a year ago.

That was the biggest jump in prices in nearly 25 years, since a 15.6 percent year-over-year increase in November 1980.

Sales were strong in all regions of the country, led by a 5.5 percent increase in the West to an annual sales rate of 1.73 million units.

The number of existing homes available for sale at the end of June rose by 3.8 percent to 2.65 million units, a 4.3 month supply at the June sales pace.

This Just In...

* Multimedia holding company Prime Rate Investors Inc. announced its wholly owned subsidiary High Angle Media Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Comcast Corp. to establish a Resort Sports Network affiliate broadcast TV station in Aspen. The company in May established a similar station in Steamboat Springs. Prime Rate Investors, based in Stowe, Vt., also owns the majority interest of Stockli Ski USA, the Denver-based exclusive U.S. distributor of Stockli skis, bikes and sportswear.

* First Data Corp., an electronic commerce and payment services company, has signed a multiyear agreement to manage credit card and merchant processing services for Singapore-based DBS Bank's portfolio of more than 13,000 merchants and 2 million credit card accounts in the region. The agreement with DBS is the first major contract in South Asia for Greenwood Village-based First Data.

* Denver-based American Oil & Gas Inc. said Monday it received $13.5 million from accredited investors. The company sold a total of 250,000 units, with each unit comprised of one share of its Series AA convertible preferred stock and warrants to purchase shares of its $.001 par value common stock. The company will pay an 8 percent annual dividend on the preferred stock in cash or in equivalent shares of common stock, at the discretion of the company.

* Boulder-based Tapestry Pharmaceuticals Inc., formerly known as Napro Biotherapeutics, said Monday it would cut 14 jobs , or about 30 percent of its work force. The positions include executive, nonexecutive and consultants in all areas of the company.

CAPTION(S):

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Sales of existing homes. See graphic archive. ASSOCIATED PRESS AND COPY;