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Business Briefing, August 6

Rocky staff and wire reports

Published August 5, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.

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NATIONAL

D.R. Horton narrows loss

D.R. Horton Inc., the nation's largest homebuilder, said Tuesday it posted a narrower fiscal third-quarter loss as charges to write down the value of property declined.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based company posted a loss of $339.3 million, or $1.26 per share, in the quarter ended June 30. That compares with a loss of $823.8 million, or $2.62 per share, in the same period last year.

The latest quarter included pretax charges of $330.4 million to write down the value of inventory, deposits and other costs as the company walked away from land option contracts.

Still, that was an improvement from the $852 million in charges the company booked in the same quarter a year ago and from $834.1 million in the previous quarter.

Revenue, meanwhile, plunged 44 percent to $1.43 billion from $2.55 billion a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected the builder to report a loss of 70 cents per share on sales of $1.44 billion. Wall Street estimates typically exclude one-time charges or gains.

DELTA ADDING WI-FI Delta Air Lines Inc. said Tuesday it will offer broadband wireless Internet access on its entire domestic mainline fleet by the middle of next year.

The nation's No. 3 carrier is partnering with Aircell, a communications provider with offices in Louisville, to install the network on Delta's domestic fleet of more than 330 aircraft.

The system will allow Delta customers traveling with Wi-Fi enabled devices - such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs - to access the Internet while in flight. A fee of $9.95 will be charged on flights of three hours or less and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours.

WEYERHAEUSER CUTS Weyerhaeuser Co. on Tuesday said it would cut about 1,500 employees, or 6.3 percent of its global work force, as part of an ongoing plan to scale back operations to focus on timberlands and wood products.

Most of the job cuts will take place in Weyerhaeuser's Federal Way, Wash., headquarters, which currently employs about 2,500 people. The cuts will occur by the end of 2009.

STOLEN LAPTOPS The number of people nationwide affected by the theft of laptops with personal information about current and former employees of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. has grown to more than 190,000.

About 45,000 people in Virginia have been affected, an increase from previous estimates of 2,250, said J. Martin Tucker, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, on Tuesday.

LOCAL

Final data show ski visits hit record

U.S. ski areas attracted a record 60.5 million visits in the 2007-2008 season, up 0.7 percent from a preliminary estimate of 60.07 million, according to final data from a survey released by the Lakewood-based National Ski Areas Association.

SERVICE OUTAGE A water leak at the Park Central Building at 1515 Arapahoe St. in downtown Denver caused a phone and Internet outage at some businesses in the building Tuesday morning, Qwest said. Most service had been restored by late afternoon.

ANTHEM FINED Colorado regulators fined Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and its subsidary, HMO Colorado, a combined $542,000 for violations in 2006, including failing to maintain required records and in some cases cover newborns.

ECONOMY

Contraction continues in service sector

The U.S. service sector contracted in July - though less than expected - as new orders decreased and prices rose, stifling growth for truckers, retailers and insurers.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Tuesday its reading of the service sector was 49.5 in July, up from 48.2 in June. It beat economists' prediction of a reading of 49.0, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

A reading below 50 signals contraction, while a reading above 50 indicates growth.

The industries that grew include entertainment, recreation, scientific and technical services, utilities, hotels and restaurants.

The survey showed that prices continued to rise, but at a slower rate than in June.

In a good sign, companies' order backlogs grew in July. New export orders fell, however.

David Noah, president of InterMart Inc., an eight-person import-export software company, said sales are flat and "it's taking longer for companies to pull the trigger on a purchase."

* Denver Public Schools appointed Jennifer Stern as executive director of the Janus Education Alliance, an initiative to improve the recruitment, development and retention of high-performing teachers.

* Suncor Energy appointed John Gallagher to vice president of refining and pipelines, and Steve Douglas to vice president of supply and marketing.

* GM Real Estate Management Services, a division of Vail Capital Partners Inc., named Eagle County resident Eileen Valdez as quality control manager.

* Journal of Management named Herman Aguinis, Wayne Cascio and Marlena Fiol of the University of Colorado Denver Business School among the most influential scholars in the field of management over the past 25 years.

* Johnstown-based Burns Marketing Communications was elected to become part of the Transworld Advertising Agency Network.

* Xcel Energy added Joe Fuentes to its media relations staff.

* Bill Sinclair was elected to serve on the National Association of Royalty Owners board.

* Unique Homes in Centennial acquired the business assets of Fidelity Real Estate Group in Colorado Springs, announcing it as a branch office, now named Weichert Realtors-Pikes Peak Group.

* Global Custodian listed Denver-based ALPS Fund Services Inc. among the world's leading mutual fund service providers in its 2008 Mutual Fund Administration Survey.

* Denver-based Linhart Public Relations hired Russ Rizzo as an account executive.

* BiOptix appointed Phil McMahon as a chief science officer.

* The Colorado Department of Human Services will distribute $1.4 million in funding to 30 community and faith-based organizations throughout the state that provide direct services to fathers and their children.

* Design Concepts received the Colorado Construction Silver Hard Hat Award for Outstanding Landscape Project for the redesign of Utah Park in Aurora. * Panzano in Denver named Josh Mayo as general manager.

* The Credit Union Association of Colorado and Wyoming and Credit Union Strategic Partners moved to 1009 Grant St.

* Peter H. Belsley joined the New York Deli News as assistant manager.

* Scribbles, an invitation and stationery boutique, opened at 2368 15th St. downtown.

* The W.K. Kellogg Foundation gave Rose Community Foundation the 2008 National Leadership in Action Award and a $50,000 grant for its leadership in advancing cross-cultural collaborations with Colorado's Latino community and its support of the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado.

* Consilium Design and Woodley Architectural Group, both of Denver, are collaborating on the design of a residential community at the Sun Kingdom Golf Community in Chongqing in China.