Friday, October 28, 2005

National briefs

Detroit News staff reports and wire services

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Conglomerates

$651M recovered in WorldCom deal

NEW YORK -- A group of state and local retirement funds and insurance companies recovered $651 million from WorldCom's investment banks, auditors and company officers in a settlement announced Thursday. As part of the settlement, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co., two of the defendants in several nonclass action suits filed by the funds, agreed to jointly petition the Securities and Exchange Commission for more stringent disclosures by banks underwriting future stock and bond offerings.

Court

Microsoft antitrust law firms lose bid

BALTIMORE -- A federal judge said Thursday he had "better things to do" than to decide whether a group of lawyers should receive more than $24 million in legal fees for their work against Microsoft Corp. in antitrust cases. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz dismissed the case, which was brought by a group of 27 law firms that represented clients in federal court. Those firms were trying to get a share of $79 million in fees that a group of 11 law firms received for state court cases in Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.

Communications

Verizon profits from wirelesss growth

NEW YORK -- Verizon Communications Inc.'s profit edged higher in the third quarter as record growth in wireless and broadband subscribers offset the ongoing declines in traditional phone lines at the big telecommunications company that is buying MCI Inc. Verizon said Thursday it earned $1.87 billion, or 67 cents per share, in the July-September period, up from $1.80 billion, or 64 cents a share, a year ago. Verizon's revenue totaled $19.04 billion, up 4.6 percent from the year-ago tally of $18.21 billion.

Auto briefs

AutoNation profits jump 40%

AutoNation Inc., the largest U.S. retailer of new and used cars, said third-quarter profit rose 40 percent on higher sales and less inventory. Net income increased to $129.3 million, or 48 cents a share, from $92.4 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company said. Revenue rose 5 percent to $5.19 billion. Used-car sales climbed 10 percent, while parts and service revenue was up 9 percent, the company said.

Overseas sales boost Hyundai profits

SEOUL, South Korea -- Hyundai Motor Co. said its third-quarter net profit rose 27 percent from a year earlier as overseas sales helped offset production losses from a 12-day workers' strike. South Korea's largest automaker said it earned 534.9 billion won ($512 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from 421 billion won ($403 million) a year earlier. Total sales during the quarter fell 6 percent to 6.15 trillion won ($5.9 billion). Meanwhile, it also revived a plan to introduce the Entourage minivan in the United States next year, saying rising gasoline prices caused it to reverse its decision two months ago not to go ahead with the vehicle.

Goodyear Tire sales increase 7%

AKRON, Ohio -- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., one of the world's largest tire makers, said Thursday third-quarter profit surged to the highest quarterly level in seven years, as higher prices and new products helped offset increased raw-materials costs and boosted sales 7 percent. Earnings increased to $142 million, or 70 cents per share, from $38 million, or 20 cents per share, last year. Sales climbed to $5.03 billion from $4.7 billion a year earlier.

Strong sales push Honda global sales

TOKYO -- Honda Motor Co., Japan's third-largest automaker, reported a record profit for its fiscal half-year Thursday -- up 1 percent from a year ago -- on the back of strong sales around the world, especially in North America. Honda marked strong global vehicle sales, totaling 1.67 million vehicles for the first half, up 7 percent from the same period a year ago. Honda's first-half profit totaled 244.3 billion yen ($2.1 billion) for the six months ended Sept. 30, up from 241.3 billion yen the same period a year ago.