Federal jurors at the accounting fraud trial of HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy told the judge they’re deadlocked and can’t reach a verdict after four days of deliberations.
The jury in Birmingham, Ala., sent a note to U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre on Tuesday afternoon saying: “We cannot unanimously agree on a verdict.”
The panel of seven men and five women said it needed “an explanation in layman’s terms,” without specifying the nature of its confusion and asked for a private meeting with the judge. Bowdre said she couldn’t oblige.
The judge may try to resolve the impasse by issuing an “Allen charge,” instructing jurors that they have a duty to continue deliberating until they reach a verdict, or she could declare a mistrial if she concludes that they’re hopelessly deadlocked.
Bowdre told jurors she couldn’t meet with them in private because “the parties who have a vested interest in the case have the right to be present whenever I communicate with you about the case.”
The judge also asked, “What do you need an explanation about in layman’s terms?”
VAIL
Vail Resorts shares
reaching 7-year highs
Shares of Vail Resorts are reaching highs not seen since 1998 in advance of next month’s release of what is expected to be a very rosy third-quarter earnings report after a healthy ski season at the company’s five resorts, the Vail Daily said Tuesday.
The stock, which fell 15 cents Tuesday to $27.70, may be less influenced by speculation than by market dynamics.
“Seventy-nine percent of this company is held by institutional investors, and they know what’s going on,” said Fraser Horn of First and Main Investments in Edwards.
“They’re not selling. There’s no stock to buy, so it becomes simple supply and demand,” the paper reported.
DENVER
TransMontaigne puts
IPO at $21.40 per unit
TransMontaigne Partners LP, a master limited partnership, announced Tuesday that it has priced its initial public offering of 3.35 million common units at $21.40 per unit.
The units will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TLP.
NEW YORK
Fitch cuts GM debt
to junk credit rating
General Motors Corp. debt was cut to junk by Fitch Ratings, the second time in three weeks the world’s biggest automaker lost an investment-grade credit rating over concern about a drop in market share.
Fitch followed Standard & Poor’s, which on May 5 roiled bond markets by reducing $196 billion of GM debt to high-risk, high-yield status. The downgrade means GM will fall out of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s benchmark investment- grade bond index.
ENGLEWOOD
Sports Authority sees
quarter-income jump
The Sports Authority, operator of Gart Sports stores in Colorado, on Tuesday said first-quarter net income was $8 million, or 30 cents per diluted share, compared with income of $4.2 million, or 16 cents a share, which included merger-integration costs, in the prior year’s first quarter.
Total sales for the first quarter were $591.2 million, compared with $572 million last year. Comparable store sales, a measure of retail profitability, rose 1.8 percent.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Gold Fields mulling
Russian firm venture
Gold Fields Ltd., South Africa’s second-biggest gold producer, is considering a venture with OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel to increase its overseas assets after a surge in the rand reduced profits, people familiar with the plan said.
Gold Fields, based in Johannesburg, would transfer its profitable foreign mines in Australia and Ghana to the company, said the people, who declined to be identified. The Russian company, currently Gold Fields’ biggest shareholder, would contribute its ZAO Polyus gold-mining arm, the people said.
DENVER
Corgenix gets up to
$5.1 million financing
Denver’s Corgenix Medical Corp., a developer of specialized diagnostic kits for immunology disorders, vascular diseases and bone and joint disorders, announced Tuesday that it received up to $5.1 million in a private placement financing.
The private placement consisted of $3.4 million in senior convertible term notes due 2008, $215,000 in common stock and up to $1.5 million in additional funding through investment rights exercisable for up to 270 days following the closing of the transaction.
DES MOINES, Iowa
Publisher of women’s mags buying 4 more
Meredith Corp., a major publisher of women’s magazines including Ladies’ Home Journal, is buying four magazines including Child and Family Circle from the German publisher Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. for $350 million.
The deal, which also includes the magazines Fitness and Parents, effectively marks the exit from the U.S. magazine market for Gruner + Jahr, which had suffered a series of setbacks in its efforts to expand here.
NEW YORK
Lawyer says ex-Tyco CEO acted lawfully
L. Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco International Inc.’s former chief executive, believed he was acting lawfully when he accepted the millions of dollars in bonuses he is accused of stealing, his attorney told jurors.
The lawyer, Austin Campriello, said in closing arguments at the New York trial of Kozlowski and his former finance chief, Mark Swartz, that without proof of criminal intent, Kozlowski shouldn’t be convicted of larceny for accepting cash, shares and the allegedly unauthorized forgiveness of company loans.
ST. LOUIS
Department stores’ shareholders to meet
Shareholders of May Department Stores Co. and Federated Department Stores Inc. will meet July 13 in separate meetings to vote on the planned $11 billion merger.
PEOPLE
Engineers council; Disney; Groople
Robert Iger, who is slated to take over the top job at Walt Disney Co. this year, has sold $3.5 million in Disney stock under a prearranged trading plan. … The American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado appointed Dave Adams, principal of Kleinfelder Inc., as its new president for the 2005-06 term. … Groople, a domestic and international group travel booking agency, announced the addition of Eliot Cobb as chief financial officer.
