In Brief

Western Liberty Bancorp gets OK to list shares on Nasdaq

Western Liberty Bancorp. said Monday that it received approval to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Market and expects to do so on the day after closing on Service1st Bank of Nevada.

The Las Vegas-based bank holding company now trades on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board. Its stock was delisted from the NYSE Amex Exchange in February because the company had a insufficient number of shareholders and other factors.

The closing is expected to occur by about Oct. 28.

Western Liberty will inject $25 million in additional capital into Service1st and pay Service1st shareholders the book value of the bank, approximately $20 million.

Service1st will continue to operate with the same name and to retain William Martin as chief executive officer.

Ex-Sands executive becomes finance chief for Borders

Former Las Vegas Sands Corp. executive Scott Henry has joined bookselling chain Borders Group as chief financial officer.

Henry, 45, had been operating his own financial consulting business since leaving Las Vegas Sands in 2009. He held numerous financial positions with the casino operator during his five years with the company, including CFO.

Before joining Las Vegas Sands, Henry spent 17 years as an investment banker on Wall Street.

Henry will still have ties to the gaming industry. He is a member-elect of the pending board of directors for the reconstituted Herbst Gaming.

Borders is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the bookseller, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: BGP), has gone through several management changes since Bennett LeBow invested $25 million in the company in May and became chief executive officer and the largest shareholder.

Zions Bancorporation reports slimmer loss for third quarter

Zions Bancorporation, the $51 billion holding company for Nevada State Bank and other financial institutions in the west, on Monday reported that its third-quarter loss dropped by more than half from a year ago.

The company lost $80.5 million, or 47 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $181.9 million, or $1.43 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters has expected a third-quarter loss of 50 cents per share.

Nonperforming loans declined 10 percent to $2.3 billion.

Foreclosed property declined 17 percent to $305 million from $365 million at the end of the second quarter, excluding real estate owned supported by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Zion shares gained 63 cents, or 3.04 percent, Monday to close at $21.35 on the Nasdaq National Market.

SAN FRANCISCO

IBM net income increases;
mainframe computer assists

IBM Corp. said Monday that its net income rose 12 percent as it wrung more out of its services and software divisions and got a lift from a new mainframe computer.

IBM earned $3.59 billion, or $2.82 per share, in quarter ended Sept. 30, up from earnings of $3.21 billion, or $2.40 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $2.75 per share.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $24.27 billion.

The value of the services contracts IBM signed during the quarter fell 7 percent to $11.0 billion. IBM is the world's top technology-services supplier, and its long-term contracts provide a steady source of revenue even in bad times. A decline in outsourcing deals led to the shortfall.

SEATTLE

IPhone sales help lift quarterly profits by 70 percent for Apple

Apple Inc. said Monday that net income for the most recent quarter soared 70 percent on strong sales of iPhones, though iPad sales fell short of expectations.

Apple sold 4.2 million of its new tablet-style computer during the fiscal fourth quarter, fewer than the approximately 5 million that analysts, on average, had expected.

The company sold 14.1 million iPhones from July through September, more than the 12 million or so analysts were looking for.

Apple's net income rose to $4.3 billion, or $4.64 per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $2.5 billion, or $2.77 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 66.4 percent to $20.3 billion from $12.2 billion last year.

WASHINGTON

Boeing asks workers to pay more for health insurance

Aerospace giant Boeing is joining the list of companies that say the new health care law could have a potential downside for their workers.

In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers to pay significantly more for their health plan next year.

"The newly enacted health care reform legislation, while intended to expand access to care for millions of uninsured Americans, is also adding cost pressure as requirements of the new law are phased in over the next several years," wrote Rick Stephens, Boeing's senior vice president for human resources.

Boeing is the latest major employer to signal a shift for its workers as a result of the legislation, which expands coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people and ranks as President Barack Obama's top domestic achievement.

Earlier, McDonald's had raised questions about whether a limited benefit plan that serves some 30,000 of its employees would remain viable under the law.

DALLAS

Airline fliers would like to do more themselves, poll finds

Travelers have grown accustomed to using self-service kiosks to check in at the airport, and now they want to do more themselves, a new survey finds.

About 70 percent of travelers say they want automated security checks and boarding gates, up from less than 60 percent last year, according to SITA, a Swiss firm that sells technology and communication services to the airline industry.

The company says two-thirds of passengers also would like to tag their own bags, change flight plans by themselves and claim delayed baggage without dealing with airline employees.

Online booking of flights is nearing saturation, with three-fourths of all passengers it surveyed booking their own flights.