Business briefs, January 23

Published January 23, 2007 at midnight

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NATIONAL

Pfizer to eliminate 10,000 jobs, 5 plants to save $2 billion

Pfizer Inc., struggling with fierce competition from makers of generic drugs, announced Monday it will cut 10,000 jobs and close at least five plants to slash its annual costs by up to $2 billion by next year.

The latest cuts, forecast to save $1.5 billion to $2 billion, come on top of a previously announced plan to cut costs by $4 billion a year by 2008. The 10,000 layoffs amount to about 10 percent of the company's global work force and include the elimination of 2,200 jobs from the U.S. sales force, which Pfizer announced late last year.

BOEING LOGS $5 BILLION ORDER GE Commercial Aviation Services has ordered 39 Boeing commercial jets in a deal worth approximately $5.34 billion, Boeing Co. said Monday.

LOCAL

Aerospace company calls flaw in rocket 'correctable issue'

An upstart aerospace company whose Colorado-built rocket went awry soon after launch in September said the cause was a "correctable aerodynamic issue."

Connecticut-based UP Aerospace builds its small rockets at a plant in Highlands Ranch. The company said in a news release it has made the "appropriate updates to its rocket fleet" and "is looking forward to a full schedule of launches in 2007."

EXECS BUY BOOTH CREEK Vail- based Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc., has been purchased by three principals of the company: Chairman George Gillett, President Chris Ryman and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth Cole, as well as Jeff Joyce, Gillett's business partner.

QWEST SIGNS L.A. DEAL Qwest Communications has signed a three-year deal to provide data networking service to the city of Los Angeles' information technology agency. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

RECORD INVESTMENTS IN SPRINGS Out-of-state investment companies bought a record $1.1 billion worth of commercial real estate last year in the Colorado Springs area, real estate agents say.

The total is more than five times the amount of property purchased by out-of-state firms in 2001, according to Paul Turner, president of Turner Commercial Research.

WORK STARTS ON CANCER CENTER Lutheran Medical Center and e+ Healthcare are set to break ground today on a $10 million cancer treatment facility.

The facility, the Cancer Care Center of Thornton, is scheduled to open this fall.

ARVADA MAYOR RESTATES STAND Arvada Mayor Ken Fellman on Monday sent a letter to state lawmakers, reiterating that Qwest Communications is misrepresenting his position on proposed statewide cable-TV legislation. Fellman said his position isn't that an entrant should be required to "build-out," or provide service throughout a community, but that a local government is in the best position to decide the issue.

FRONTIER LOOKS TO MEXICO Frontier Airlines has applied for federal permission to fly nonstop between Dallas and Mazatlan, Mexico. The carrier, which flies to Denver from Dallas, plans to launch, in June, as many as three weekly flights on the route during peak season.

ECONOMY

Investor optimism index highest in 3 years

A measure of optimism among U.S. investors climbed to a three-year high as speculation of an interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve lessened pessimism about the housing market, according to a survey by UBS AG.

The UBS/Gallup Index of Investor Optimism rose to 103 in January from 90 in December, reaching the highest since 108 in January 2004. The index, established in 1996 with a baseline score of 124, has risen above 100 just five times since 2000.

The percentage of investors who said the U.S. residential real estate market is getting worse fell to 65 percent from 70 percent in November and December, UBS said.

"With inflation remaining under control, investors see the possibility of a Fed interest rate cut during 2007 and therefore believe the slide in the real estate market may be coming to an end," wrote Mike Ryan, head of UBS Wealth Management Research Americas.

Investors' optimism about their own portfolios rose in January, adding four points to 73.

Thirty-seven percent of those polled said they expect the Dow Jones industrial average to end 2007 at a higher level than its record close in 2006.

THIS JUST IN...

• The Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce has named its 2007 Athena Award nominees. The recipient will receive the award at the group's annual meeting Feb 6. The nominees are: Donna Hultin of Denver Kids Inc.; Rebecca Cordes of U.S. Bank; Patricia Miller of Whiting Petroleum Co.; Patricia Barela-Rivera of the Small Business Association; Linda Childears of the Daniels Fund; Julia Hubbel of the Hubbel Group; Natasha Felten of Colorado Commercial Companies; Kim Patmore of First Data; Lisa Snider of the Colorado Ballet; Lisa Buckley of American Automation Building Solutions; Jean Jones of the Girl Scouts Mile Hi Council; Debbie Trujillo of Keybank; Ivette Dominguez of Alpin Buick-Pontiac-GMC; Nancy Tuor of CH2M Hill; Donna Lyne of Kaiser Permanente Colorado; Caz Matthews of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield; Jill Sisson of New World Restaurant Group; Heather Shepardson of Ever-Green Seasons; Christin Crampton Day and Leanna Clark of Schenkein; Karea Wenzel of Rocky Mountain MS Center; Janet Savage of Davis, Graham and Stubbs; Paula Neubert of Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club; Amy Sherman of the West Denver Chamber of Commerce; Marcia Benshoof of Pinnacol Assurance; and Debbie Welle-Powell of Exempla Healthcare.

• Data393, a managed IT infrastructure provider, hired Douglas Beck as director of product development and senior sales engineer, and Chris Horning as business development executive.

• The Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce has selected the inaugural class of Chamber Connect, a 10-month program offering executive training and networking opportunities for business, community and entrepreneurial leaders in Colorado. They are: LaJuene Austin, Daniel Betts, Makisha Boothe, Theresa Brooks-Varanasi, Geoffrey Crowell, Uche Ejiasa, Onyekwere Ejiasa, Chinesom Ejiasa, Beverly Gamu-Swait, Jessica Gray, Walter Gray, Regina Holmes, Kharyl Jackson, Donald James, Michael David Jennings, Joni Johnson-Powe, Keith Kirkpatrick, Kymbal Lindsay, Herbert Merrill II, Mary Canty-Merrill, Tanko Mohammed, Enockina Ocansey, Eric Patterson, Kyle Reese, Richard Rhodes, P. Sterling Rowe Jr., Elizabeth Saddler, Christina Stephens, Kevin Tremitiere and Doris Walker.

• The American Institute of Architects named Rocky Mountain Institute a recipient of the 2007 Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement Award. It will be presented in June at the AIA 2007 National Convention and Design Exposition in San Antonio.

• Tia Jenkins was named president and owner of Kieding Office Architects.

• Bruce Kirchhoff has been named general counsel of Denver-based Royal Gold Inc. effective Feb. 1.

• Frederick-based Meadowlark Optics announced the addition of Jay Ahling to its engineering development group.

• Denver-based CH2M Hill Enterprise Spatial Solutions has formed a strategic partnership with IDV Solutions, a global location intelligence and visualization software company, to deliver enterprise spatial solutions, composite applications and systems integration services.

Compiled from Rocky staff and wire reports

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