Business briefs, December 1

Published December 1, 2005 at midnight

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NATIONAL

Wal-Mart may top Target in sales growth

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may report higher sales growth than Target Corp. for the first time in 18 months, a sign that efforts to revamp merchandise may be paying off.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said last week that November same-store sales rose about 4.3 percent.

Target, the second-largest discount retailer, forecast a gain of 2 percent to 3 percent after cutting its estimate in half this month. The retailers report final results today.

It would be the first time Wal- Mart has surpassed its competitor in the key measure since May 2004.

Microsoft developing online classifieds

Microsoft Corp. is developing an online classified service to compete with the likes of Craigslist, becoming the latest company to capitalize on growing consumer interest in buying and selling everything from cars to baby-sitting services on the Web.

Such Web-based classifieds are proving to be tough competitors for the ads that traditionally provided a big chunk of newspaper revenue.

Microsoft is hoping to distinguish its service, code-named Fremont, from rivals by tying in functionality with other Microsoft products.

For example, people will be able to have Microsoft's instant messaging service alert them if items they seek come up for sale or if someone is interested in buying something they are selling.

LOCAL

Xcel to file to lower electric surcharges

Xcel Energy will file with state regulators today to lower customer electric bills for 2006.

The utility, which serves 1.3 million electric customers in Colorado, will seek to lower one or more of the four riders, or charges, that are included in a typical electric bill. The riders are Electric Commodity Adjustment, Air Quality Improvement, Purchase Capital Cost Adjustment and Demand Side Management.

These riders together amount to $28.98, or 46 percent, of the typical residential electric bill, though a customer's total bill also includes natural gas costs.

Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said Wednesday the "drop in natural gas prices seen in the past few weeks will be reflected" in today's filing. Xcel buys natural gas in the wholesale market to fire some of its power plants in Colorado.

Xcel also will announce details on how it will achieve the renewable energy standards of Amendment 37, which was passed by voters in November 2004.

The utility will reveal details about a $2-per-watt rebate for customers who install solar panels in their homes and businesses to generate electricity.

Two managers leaving Westcore mutual funds

Two portfolio managers are leaving the $1.2 billion Westcore mutual fund family in Denver, a document filed with regulators shows.

Lisa Ramirez, a stock picker on the midcap growth equity research team, and Alex Lock, the director of the bond research team, plan to resign next year.

Ramirez is leaving to spend more time with her children, while Lock is departing to "pursue some of his hobbies," according to officials with Denver Investment Advisors, which runs the Westcore funds.

McData reports higher losses for third quarter

Data-storage company McData Corp. said its third-quarter losses widened, blaming tougher competition and weak North American sales tied to the integration of a rival company it bought recently.

The Broomfield company reported red ink totaling $7.5 million, or 5 cents a share, vs. $5.5 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue, however, jumped to $168.5 million from $98.5 million a year earlier.

Blue Sun to sell biofuel at Fort Collins station

A Colorado biodiesel company is adding Fort Collins to the list of cities where it sells its fuel made from crops raised by farmers in the region.

Blue Sun Biodiesel, based in Westminster, will open a pump Friday at a downtown gas station, bringing to roughly 15 sites statewide where the fuel is sold. The company also has retail sites in New Mexico, Utah and Idaho.

The new site expands the company's foothold in Fort Collins, where Blue Sun was previously based. The city uses Blue Sun biodiesel for vehicles in its fleets.

Other cities that use the biofuel include Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Durango and Santa Fe.

Colorado Ballet dancers vote to unionize

The dancers of Colorado Ballet on Wednesday voted 26-5 to join the American Guild of Musical Artists.

According to interim Executive Director Lisa Snider, the decision to unionize sets the table for collective bargaining discussions with management, once the dancers vote on whether to allow nonunion members, as required by state law.

The current contracts expire in April. Snider viewed the decision to join AGMA as a positive sign for the company, which is facing a $700,000 debt. The vote to unionize, she said, "happens when you are growing. There's a stature associated with being a union company." She also suggested that uncertainty following the recent dismissal of artistic director Martin Fredmann might have influenced the vote.

Dancer representatives were not available for comment on Wednesday.

Springs developer back as Daniels Fund director

Colorado Springs developer Steve Schuck has been re-elected as a director of the Daniels Fund a year and a half after he resigned from the board when he failed to meet a deadline to pay back a loan to the estate of cable mogul Bill Daniels.

Schuck, who repaid the debt in May 2004, had expressed an interest in returning to the board once the financial matter was resolved.

At a meeting earlier this week, the board of the charitable foundation also elected cable industry veteran June Travis as a director.

EnCana building gas plant in Rio Blanco

EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) has started building a natural gas processing plant in Rio Blanco County, 35 miles southwest of Meeker, to treat natural gas from northwestern Colorado's fields for delivery to other markets.

The $200 million plant will be able to process 650 million cubic feet of gas per day, about double the 330 million cubic feet of gas per day that EnCana currently produces in the Piceance Basin. The plant will provide processing capacity as EnCana expands its production in the Piceance Basin, company spokesman Doug Hock said.

The plant will separate natural gas from its byproducts, including water, to prevent freezing in the pipelines during winter. Project construction is set to complete in early 2007.

Groople names Stacy as new chief executive

Groople named an online travel veteran as its new CEO, replacing founder David Loy, who will stay with the company as president.

Michael Stacy will take over the helm at the Centennial-based operator of an online site for group travel. Groople, which employs 50, said Stacy and Loy would work alongside one another "on day-to-day operations."

Groople said Stacy most recently served as president of Cendant's CheapTickets, where he led the site to profitability for the first time. Stacy also spent five years at then-startup Travelocity, including four years as senior vice president of consumer marketing.

Stacy told the Rocky Mountain News that one of his first priorities will be to make Groople's Web site easier for customers to use. He expects to close on a third round of venture capital financing in the first quarter of next year for an undisclosed sum.

ECONOMY

Economy weathers storms

The nation's economy demonstrated just how sturdy it is, posting its best quarterly showing in more than a year despite the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

Gross domestic product, the top measure of economic standing, increased at a 4.3 percent annual rate from July through September, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The reading was even better than the 3.8 percent pace estimated a month ago for the third quarter.

The upgraded performance reflected brisk spending by consumers and businesses, despite record energy prices, and stronger investment in home building.

"The economy shrugged off the ill effects of the hurricanes very gracefully," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

The hurricanes did bite into economic activity, especially when it came to jobs. Zandi and other economists believe economic growth probably would have topped 5 percent if the hurricanes had bypassed the U.S.

The GDP's growth during the third quarter was the strongest since the first three months of 2004. Also, it showed that the economy gained considerable momentum from the 3.3 percent pace in this year's second quarter, the April-June period.

The third-quarter figure also exceeded analysts' projections of a 4 percent pace.

GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the U.S.

Separately, a Federal Reserve report suggested the economy had solid momentum in October and much of November.

Manufacturing, retail sales and hiring improved in many regions, the Fed said.

THIS JUST IN...

• All Aboard Toys, LLC, an online retailer of top-rated educational and family friendly products, opened an office, warehouse and order-processing facility in Centennial.

• Green Manning & Bunch Ltd., a middle-market investment bank, announced it served as exclusive financial adviser to Denver-based ALPS Financial Services Inc. in connection with its recapitalization with Lovell Minnick Partners LLC, a California-based private equity firm.

• CH2M Hill, an international engineering services firm based in Douglas County, announced the promotion of Vincent "Vinny" Ragucci to state and local government affairs director for the company's northeast region.

• Tammy Perez-Baca has joined the mountain states region of Stewart Title Guaranty Co. as director of emerging markets. The region covers Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

• The Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.'s annual Scholarship Day raised $48,540 for the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club's Scholarship Fund. The money came from last week's opening day ticket proceeds.

• Broomfield-based Gaiam is introducing "Yoga Now," a system of yoga-cardio fusion workouts and nutrition plans designed to jump-start fat burning and maintain a lifelong healthy lifestyle with yoga.

• Austin, Texas-based Encore Medical Corp. on Wednesday said it has entered into a multiyear collaboration agreement with the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center covering Encore's total joint and rehabilitation product lines.

• Business Loan Express, a lender to small businesses, announced that Micheal Paul has joined the Greenwood Village office as vice president and business development officer. Paul brings 15 years of banking and commercial lending experience to BLX. He will be responsible for generating commercial loans throughout Colorado.

• Lafayette-based Aegis Analytical Corp., which provides software solutions and services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturers, announced the closing of $3.5 million in equity financing and the appointment of Robert D. Gills Jr. as vice president of business development. The investment round was led by Boulder-based Skyland Capital.

• Tatum Partners, an Atlanta-based firm that provides executives to its clients on a temporary basis, has selected Denver-based LeGrand Hart to lead a full-scale public relations campaign.

Compiled from News staff, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Scripps Howard News Service.

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