Gadget retailer Brookstone said it has agreed to be acquired by a group of investors including two Singapore firms for $20.50 per share, about $445 million, and the assumption of $8 million in Brookstone debt. The retailer operates 288 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as the Gardeners Eden retail chain. Brookstone said the buyers plan to expand the chain and increase its presence in Asia. Current management is expected to remain.
GE 1st-Quarter Profit Up 25%
General Electric's first-quarter profit rose 25 percent, the most in five quarters, to $4.04 billion from $3.24 billion, spurred by orders for industrial goods and acquisitions in health care, water treatment and security. Revenue at the world's largest company by market value rose 19 percent, to $39.81 billion.
MORE NEWS
Raytheon offered to pay $12 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of accounting practices at its aircraft unit, neither admitting nor denying wrongdoing, and placed Chief Financial Officer Edward S. Pliner on paid administrative leave. It also said it reached a $39 million settlement on a shareholder class-action lawsuit over the 2000 sale of its construction and engineering business to Washington Group International. The SEC is expected to bring action against Pliner and another employee also put on leave, the company said. The SEC staff has recommended approval of the settlement, Raytheon spokesman James Fetig said.
Richard M. Scrushy's defense team tried to discredit a prosecution witnesses who said the former HealthSouth chief bought luxury cars and boats with the proceeds of fraud. William Bavis, whose firm analyzed more than 34,000 transactions in Scrushy's personal accounts, was hard pressed to say how it could be proved that Scrushy bought goods with tainted money. Bavis had earlier testified that his firm's analysis concluded that Scrushy got more than $249 million in cash because of a $2.7 billion earnings overstatement at HealthSouth. Bavis acknowledged that his firm made some mistakes in its analysis of Scrushy's accounts.
Westar Energy said it agreed to settle a series of shareholder lawsuits for $32.5 million and that it will pay $1.25 million, with its insurers paying the rest. Investors sued the company in 2003, claiming they weren't told key details about a plan to restructure the company. Westar officials said that they agreed to a settlement to avoid the costs of continued litigation and that the settlement doesn't admit liability of the company or any defendants. The U.S. District Court in Topeka, Kan., still must approve the deal, the company said.
INTERNATIONAL
MG Rover Group, Britain's last major carmaker, is being shut down, its administrators said. The company's closing, and the loss of thousands of jobs, comes after the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. made it clear that it would not enter a joint venture with MG Rover. PricewaterhouseCoopers, appointed to oversee the company's future, said there is no prospect of a sale. MG Rover is not to be confused with Land Rover, the British subsidiary of Ford Motor known for its four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Personal computer shipments worldwide rose 11 percent in the first quarter, to 46.2 million from 41.6 million, exceeding forecasts, as the dollar's fall made U.S. products cheaper, researcher IDC said. Sales of laptop computers helped shipments top the forecast, IDC said. Dell boosted sales 14 percent, to 8.73 million units, and Hewlett-Packard increased sales 11 percent, to 7.11 million units.
EARNINGS
Knight Ridder, the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, said first-quarter profit rose 8 percent from the comparable period a year earlier, to $60.5 million. Revenue rose 1.7 percent, to $724.7 million.
Tribune Co., which publishes the Chicago Tribune, New York Newsday and the Los Angeles Times, reported an 18 percent increase in first-quarter profit, to $142.9 million. Revenue fell 1 percent, to $1.32 billion.
Charles Schwab Corp. said first-quarter profit fell 10 percent, to $145 million. Revenue fell 4 percent, to $1.06 billion.
Citigroup's first-quarter profit rose 3 percent, to $5.44 billion. Revenue rose 6 percent, to $21.53 billion.
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones News Service and Washington Post staff writers.
