Chicago – The beef-futures market reacted calmly Monday to the second case of mad cow disease in the United States, but some investor concern surfaced with a 3 percent decline in the shares of Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. beef packer.
On the first day of regular trading since the Department of Agriculture reported the case Friday afternoon, August live cattle futures rose 0.7 cent a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to 80.57 cents per pound.
Market analyst Rich Nelson said the muted reaction was partially the result of the market already having had two weeks to factor in the possibility of a mad-cow confirmation since a USDA announcement that the sample was being tested. The price had since declined more than 2 percent, he noted.
Export demand is not expected to be harmed significantly since the only country to immediately ban U.S. beef imports after the latest announcement, Taiwan, is not a big importer.
DENVER
Proprietor sentenced, fined for tax evasion
A federal judge sentenced a Florissant man to two years in prison and fined him $506,000 Monday for evading taxes on his heating and air-conditioning company.
Bill Ledford, 57, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to defraud the United States. According to investigators, Ledford and his wife, Loraine, made no tax payments on their company, Service Engineering, from 1992 to 1995.
After joining an anti-tax group, they formed trusts in Utah and moved money into the trusts to avoid paying taxes, the government said.
Ledford is to begin serving his sentence July 27. The government dismissed charges against Loraine Ledford.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
Golden’s Blackhawk GeoServices bought
ZapataEngineering has acquired Blackhawk GeoServices Inc., a Golden-based environmental, groundwater and mining geophysics consultant. Blackhawk will operate as a division of the Charlotte company.
Jim Hild, Blackhawk’s general manager and an employee since the company’s founding, will continue to lead the firm. In a statement, ZapataEngineering said that no Blackhawk personnel will be transferred and no one will be laid off due to the merger.
VAIL
Vail completes sale of Marriott resort
Vail Resorts Inc. said Monday it completed the sale of the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort & Spa to a limited partnership for $62 million while retaining a 15-year management agreement over the property.
DiamondRock Hospitality Limited Partnership will keep the 345-room hotel as a full-service Marriott resort managed by Vail Resorts’ subsidiary, Vail Resorts Lodging Co.
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE
Caribou Coffee plans first Colorado store
Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee on Monday said it will open its first Colorado store July 11 at 1400 E. Hampden Ave. in Cherry Hills Village. The No. 2 U.S. coffee-shop operator has said it plans to open at least nine company-owned stores in the metro area this year.
NEW YORK
Ex-Morgan Stanley CEO may get job back
The possible return of John Mack to the top spot at Morgan Stanley would give the embattled Wall Street investment bank a credibility boost and assuage the company’s top clients, but the internal divisions within the company may not be quickly healed.
Two sources close to the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Monday that Mack is in discussions with Morgan Stanley’s board of directors to return to the company he left as president in 2001 in a power struggle with current – and now outgoing – chairman and chief executive Phil Purcell.
WASHINGTON
Chinese Unocal suitor welcomes U.S. scrutiny
The Chinese oil company that seeks to take over California-based Unocal Corp. said Monday it is eager to have the U.S. government scrutinize the national security implications of the deal and said the review process is critical to the success of the proposed merged company.
CNOOC Ltd. chief executive Fu Chengyu told Congress that he understands “the importance of these issues” and that he wants an opportunity to discuss them with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States “as soon as possible.”
ARMONK, N.Y.
SEC looks into IBM’s first-quarter reports
International Business Machines Corp., the largest provider of computer-related services, said the Securities and Exchange Commission is informally probing the way it reported first-quarter results and stock-option costs.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE
TrenStar U.K. deal adds kegs to fleet
TrenStar, a Greenwood Village-based company that manages beer kegs and other mobile assets for clients, on Monday announced that it will buy, track and manage the additional keg fleets acquired in 2003 by Scottish & Newcastle’s U.K. division.
The deal adds more than 600,000 kegs to the original 1.9 million that TrenStar’s U.K. operating division bought in 2002 from S&N U.K. and is managing for the brewer over the 15-year term of the contract.
WASHINGTON
Treasury auctions off $30 billion in T-bills
The Treasury Department auctioned $16 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.08 percent and another $14 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 3.22 percent.
The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors – 3.147 percent for three-month bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,922.14, and 3.319 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,837.21.
PEOPLE
TiVo adds CEO; new president at BellSouth
Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo Inc., which makes digital television recording systems, named former Primedia Inc. head Tom Rogers chief executive, replacing co-founder Mike Ramsay.
BellSouth Corp., the biggest telephone-service provider in nine Southeast U.S. states, named Mark Feidler, currently chief operating officer, as president.
