IN BRIEF
Station Casinos again extends deadline
Station Casinos again has extended the deadline for its debt exchange.
The announcement, made through a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is the second time this week the locals gaming company has extended its debt-swap deadline from the original Dec. 5 date.
The new deadline is Dec. 19.
The casino operator is seeking to exchange the debt at a significant discount to par. Senior noteholders are being offered $540 per $1,000 in debt; subordinated noteholders are being offered $200 per $1,000 of bonds.
Some of the debt was trading as low as $80 per $1,000 when the initial offer was made.
American Pacific reports higher profits
American Pacific Corp., a chemical manufacturing company based in Las Vegas, on Thursday said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 19.4 percent from a year earlier.
In a statement, the company said it earned $4.3 million, or 57 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, up from $3.6 million, or 48 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 15.4 percent to $71.2 million from $61.7 million.
Moody's cuts rating for Hooters Hotel
Moody's Investors Service on Friday cut credit ratings for the Hooters Hotel on speculation that the niche property will have trouble meeting its bond interest obligations of $11.4 million next year.
Moody's bond analyst Kendra Smith said in a note to investors the "very depressed economic environment" that has curtailed customer spending is expected to continue making it "unlikely" Hooters Hotel "will generate sufficient cash flow to avoid a default" next year.
The default could happen with a distressed offer exchange, a missed interest payment or a bankruptcy filing.
Las Vegas Sands starts laying off workers
Las Vegas Sands Corp. on Friday began laying off 216 employees at The Venetian and Palazzo hotel-casinos, about 2 percent of the properties' 10,000-person work force.
The cutbacks were part of an effort to reduce annual expenses by $100 million next year. Also, the company will eliminate management bonuses in 2008, saving the company $6.5 million.
Shares of Las Vegas Sands, which have been battered for much of the year, closed at $5.94 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, up 13 cents, or 2.24 percent.
WASHINGTON
Siemens will pay fines to settle charges
Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG plans to plead guilty and pay at least $450 million in fines to settle long-standing corruption charges in the United States, according to court papers filed Friday.
The Justice Department has accused Siemens of making bribes and trying to falsify its corporate books from 2001 to 2007. It has also accused some of the conglomerate's subsidiaries of bribery, including paying kickbacks to the former Iraqi government to get some of the United Nations' Oil-for-Food contracts.
Siemens, based in Munich, Germany, and its subsidiaries in Bangladesh, Venezuela and Argentina, have agreed to plead guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Harrah's execs help to distribute turkeys
Harrah's Entertainment executives spent Friday afternoon passing out 500 turkeys as part of a community outreach program hosted by Nevada Partners on West Lake Mead Boulevard in North Las Vegas.
The event, co-sponsored partly by the Review-Journal and its Spanish-language sister publication, El Tiempo, helped families gather information on health care, financial services, employment, foreclosure assistance and education assistance.
Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard, Chief Marketing Officer David Norton, and vice presidents Karlos LaSane II and Tony Gladney led a group of Harrah's employees at the event.
Representatives from NV Energy, Pepsi, American Family Insurance and St. Rose Dominican Hospitals also participated in the event.
NEW YORK
Treasury yields hover near lows as stocks rise
Yields on longer-dated Treasurys on Friday continued to hover near their recent historical lows as stocks rose.
The 10-year note rose 0.25 points to 110.19 and its yield fell to 2.59 percent from 2.66 percent.
