Equitable Resources to Add 200 Local Jobs
Equitable Resources Inc. will add about 200 engineers and other employees in the region by year’s end, CEO Murry Gerber said at the natural gas company’s annual meeting Wednesday. North Shore-based Equitable also will announce in coming months where additional offices will be located. The company is outgrowing its three-year- old headquarters, where almost 500 people work now, and is seeking another 235,000 square feet Downtown or elsewhere. Also, Gerber told shareholders the company now draws 90 percent of earnings from gas well production and pipelines. Equitable will drill 750 wells this year, and spend $1.2 billion on production — a figure “more than double what the company was worth a decade ago,” he said.
Water firm falls on NYSE
American Water Works Co., the largest U.S. private-sector water utility and owner of Pennsylvania American Water Co., fell as much as 6 percent in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. American Water’s initial public stock offering was for 58 million shares priced at $21.50, and trading under the symbol AWK; shares ended the day down 90 cents, at $20.60. RWE AG, Germany’s second-largest utility, raised $1.2 billion by selling 36 percent of the Voorhees, N.J.-based company. American Water supplies about 15.6 million people with water and wastewater services in the United States and Ontario, Canada. RWE had owned American Water since 2003.
Cable firms cut Sprint Nextel
Three of the nation’s largest cable companies are pulling the plug on their cell-phone joint venture with Sprint Nextel Corp.Spokesmen with Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. said Wednesday they have stopped marketing the service, which sold under the Pivot brand. They say they plan to offer their Pivot customers the option of switching to a traditional Sprint wireless plan. The partnership was announced to great fanfare in November 2005 as a way to give cable operators a “quadruple play” of voice, video, Internet and wireless products, but the cable operators say the service proved too complicated to sell effectively.
Janitors lose UPMC jobs
Services Employees International Union Local 3 conducted a food drive Wednesday outside a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center building in Oakland, to collect food for janitors who lost their jobs when the health care provider fired the janitorial contractor. Twelve unionized janitors, members of Local 3, lost their jobs at the Lillian Kaufman Building on April 1 when UPMC terminated its contract with Central Property Services, and hired Signature Building Services of New Castle, which did not retain the janitors, said Tim Finucan, a union staff representative. Four of the fired janitors found jobs with other unionized janitorial services, Finucan said. Signature Building Services could not be reached for comment and UPMC spokesman Frank Razkiewicz said UPMC would not comment.
Liberty Mutual to buy Safeco
Liberty Mutual Group Inc. said Wednesday it has agreed to buy Safeco Corp. for $6.2 billion in cash in a deal to create the nation’s fifth-largest property and casualty insurer. The boards of Boston-based Liberty Mutual and Seattle-based Safeco approved the deal, which represents a 51 percent premium over Safeco’s closing price on Tuesday. Liberty Mutual, which is owned by its policyholders, said there are no financing conditions on its offer and plans to use its available cash for the purchase. But with Wall Street nervous amid a credit crunch, Standard & Poor’s placed Liberty Mutual’s credit ratings on watch for a possible cut.
Earnings
– Apple says its fiscal second-quarter earnings jumped to beat analyst estimates as computer and iPod revenue grew. The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and electronics maker’s second-quarter profit totaled $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per share, compared with $770 million, or 87 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose almost 43 percent to $7.51 billion from $5.26 billion.
– Independent natural gas exploration and development company CNX Gas Corp. reported record first-quarter profits, as the three-year- old Consol Energy spin-off produced a record 15.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Profits for the quarter ended March 31 totalled $49.9 million, or 33 cents a share, up 51.2 percent from $33 million, or 22 cents, in the year-earlier period. Revenue reached $160.5 million, up 39.4 percent.
Other business news
– Quantum Simulations Inc., a Murrysville education software company, won the U.S. Distance Learning Association’s Platinum Award this week for its Internet-based tutoring programs that assist students with chemistry, math and accounting lessons. Judges recognized Quantum’s software for its artificial intelligence techniques, which allow it to help students with any problem they type in, not just sample problems.
– A free workshop called “Don’t Get Caught: Escape the Debt Trap” is set for 6:15 p.m. May 7 at the Focus on Renewal Community Center, 701 Chartiers Ave., McKees Rocks. Dollar Bank and the Neighborhood Housing Services are cosponsors. Information on the costs of many non-traditional types of credit such as payday loans and car title loans will be discussed, as well as the pitfalls of relying on credit cards for daily expenses. Details, call 800-345-3655.
Originally published by staff and wire reports.
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