United to add 32 flights from Denver, a 4% increase
United Airlines plans to add 32 more flights from Denver by June, a 4 percent year-over-year increase, following moves by competitors Southwest and Frontier Airlines to increase flights.
United and its regional operation United Express will add flights on its existing routes, including Denver to Boston, Baltimore, New York-La Guardia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and St. Louis. Ted will add flights on its existing routes to Las Vegas; Reno, Nev.; and Ontario.
With the additions, United said it will have 455 daily departures from Denver, a 7 percent increase from its current schedule. Airlines typically add flights during busier travel seasons of the year and reduce flights during slower seasons. United is the largest carrier at Denver International Airport.
United last year pledged to boost the number of connecting passengers it moves through DIA in return for a deal in which Denver agreed to forgive $184 million in debt tied to a failed automated baggage system at DIA.
Frontier said in January it will expand to at least three new domestic cities this year and will add more than 20 flights on existing routes from April through July.
BROOMFIELD
Ball Corp. buying U.S. Can operations
Ball Corp., the largest maker of beverage cans, said it agreed to buy U.S. Can Corp.’s operations in the U.S. and Argentina to add aerosol cans.
U.S. Can will get about $44.5 million worth of Ball common stock, or 1.1 million shares, Broomfield-based Ball said Tuesday in a statement. Ball is assuming about $550 million of U.S. Can’s debt under the transaction, which it expects to close in the first quarter.
Ball expects to reduce some costs because making aerosol cans is a process similar to that of making metal food containers, which it already manufactures.
DENVER
MediaNews sees rise in quarterly revenue
ap, publisher of The Denver Post and 40 other daily newspapers nationwide, reported a 2.3 percent increase in revenue for the three months ending Dec. 31, according to a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The privately held company’s advertising revenue rose by 3 percent, from $159.1 million to $163.8 million. Total revenue was $206.2 million in 2005’s final quarter versus $201.6 million for the comparable period a year ago.
Quarterly net income, however, fell to $4.7 million from $16.2 million for the comparable period last year. The decline was largely the result of writing down the value of the company’s Denver printing presses, which the company is in the process of replacing, the filing showed.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
CH2M Hill names new president
CH2M Hill, an employee- owned engineering and construction firm based in Douglas County, on Tuesday announced the appointment of Lee McIntire as president and chief operating officer.
McIntire has more than 30 years of experience in engineering and construction, including 15 years at Bechtel Group.
DENVER
EVision to acquire 71 percent of Haojey
EVision International Inc. announced Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement with Chen Chi-Cheng, the majority shareholder of Haojey Technofibre Ltd. of Taiwan, to acquire about 71 percent of Haojey for $20 million.
EVision will issue 43.3 million shares of stock at 12 cents a share and a $14.8 million promissory note to buy controlling interest of Haojey, which manufactures and sells high-performance fiber products.
HOUSTON
Enron partnership “looked goofy”
A top trader who enjoyed a place in former Enron Corp. chief Jeffrey Skilling’s inner circle testified Tuesday that a partnership set up to help the company meet its earnings targets appeared odd.
“It looked goofy to me,” Kenneth Rice said of a partnership run by former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow that existed almost exclusively to conduct transactions with the parent company.
ATLANTA
Delta narrows losses as revenues increase
Delta Air Lines, the nation’s third-largest carrier, reported Tuesday a narrower fourth-quarter loss on a solid increase in revenue, but the results pushed its red ink to more than $12 billion since January 2001.
The company, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, said it lost $1.24 billion in the three months ending Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $2.21 billion in the same period a year ago. Revenue in the quarter rose 6.2 percent to $3.93 billion.
NEW YORK
Cisco Systems sells $6.5 billion in bonds
Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s biggest maker of data- networking equipment, sold $6.5 billion in bonds in its inaugural debt sale – and $1 billion more than first planned – to fund the $6.9 billion acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta Inc.
Cisco, which used cash and stock to purchase more than 90 companies in the past decade, sold $3 billion in five-year notes, $3 billion in 10-year notes and $500 million in three-year floating-rate notes.
WASHINGTON
Sugar-import limits blamed for lost jobs
High U.S. sugar prices caused by government restrictions on imports were a “major factor” in the loss of 10,000 jobs at candy and cereal companies over a five-year span, the Commerce Department said in a new study.
The report, which reviewed the period between 1997 and 2002, cited examples such as Ferrara Pan Candy moving plants to Mexico and Canada; Hershey Foods Corp. closing three plants in 2001; and the Chicago operations of Brach’s Confections Inc. moving to Mexico.
WASHINGTON
White House defends Canada-lumber tariffs
The Bush administration defended continued tariffs on Canadian softwood-lumber imports Tuesday but said the United States remains committed to a negotiated settlement to end the decades-long dispute.
At a hearing before a Senate subcommittee, officials said tariffs are necessary to protect U.S. businesses hurt by what they called unfair subsidies from Canada’s provincial governments.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.
Oracle will shed OnTarget business
Oracle Corp., the world’s No. 3 software maker, plans to sell OnTarget, a training business it acquired with the purchase of Siebel Systems Inc.
