in brief
Ashley Furniture plans
to open new showroom
Ashley Furniture HomeStores plans to open a 100,000-square-foot showroom at 91 S. Martin Luther King Blvd. early next week.
Ashley is planning a Tuesday ribbon-cutting for the showroom, which will be Ashley's third Southern Nevada store. The event is scheduled for 2 p.m.
"The current Las Vegas and Henderson stores have performed very well and we are optimistic the economy will continue to improve," said Michael Jedlowski, Ashley's president and chief executive officer. "It only makes sense to open a third location to meet the demands of the awakening Las Vegas economy. The new store will also bring jobs, tax revenues and other benefits to the area."
Counting the latest addition to its stores, Ashley will have 17 showrooms in Arizona, California, Utah and Nevada. The 65-year-old furniture maker is the largest in the United States, distributing more than 20 million pieces of furniture to homes in 113 countries annually. The company employs more than 14,000 employees worldwide.
LV Sands hires two
for Chinese subsidiary
Less than a week after firing its top executive in Macau, Las Vegas Sands Corp. hired two gaming industry insiders Tuesday to fill positions for its Chinese subsidiary.
In a statement, Sands China Ltd. named former Trump Organization Chief Executive Officer Edward Tracy as president and chief operating officer and ex-Wynn Resorts official David Sisk as executive vice president. Both men begin their jobs Aug. 10.
Las Vegas Sands operates the Venetian Macau, Sands Macau and Four Seasons Macau, and has plans to restart construction on several hotel-casinos along Macau's Cotai Strip region.
Last week, Las Vegas Sands abruptly fired Sands China CEO Steven Jacobs for undisclosed reasons. Analysts said Jacobs had several disagreements recently with Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson over the operations of the company's Chinese subsidiary.
"In the past months, the Sands China team has been through some tough challenges and yet we are able to deliver tremendous business results," Las Vegas Sands President Michael Leven said in a statement. Leven is serving as the acting CEO of Sands China.
Las Vegas Sands is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings early this morning and results from Macau and the recent management shake-up are expected to dominate the discussion.
DETROIT
General Motors, Nissan
duel over electric cars
Just over a decade ago, electric cars were expensive niche vehicles for gadget lovers and celebrities. Now, Nissan and General Motors are competing to sell the most affordable electric car to middle-class America.
The contest escalated Tuesday when GM announced it would start the Chevrolet Volt at $41,000. While it costs $8,000 more than the base price of Nissan's Leaf electric hatchback, GM nearly matched the $349-per-month lease deal that Nissan is offering on its car. Nissan Motor Co. countered by matching the Volt's eight-year, 100,000-mile battery warranty.
Both vehicles will cost more than a comparable gasoline-engine car when they hit showrooms this fall. But their lease deals are competitive with regular cars.
The average U.S. new-car payment is about $450, so most new-car buyers can afford a $350 lease, especially when they factor in what they won't pay for gasoline, said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at the car pricing website TrueCar.com. General Motors Co. said it would cost about $1.50 worth of electricity to fully recharge the Volt each night.
NEW YORK
Las Vegas lone exception
to increase in home prices
Home prices rose in May for the second straight month as federal tax incentives pulled more buyers into the market.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday posted a 1.3 percent increase in May from April.
Nineteen of 20 cities showed price gains month over month. The lone exception was Las Vegas.
Minneapolis and Atlanta led the way with 2.8 percent and 2 percent increases, respectively. And San Diego posted its 13th straight monthly gain.
WASHINGTON
GE will pay $23 million
to settle kickback charges
General Electric Co. will pay $23.4 million to settle federal charges that some of its subsidiaries paid illegal kickbacks to the Iraqi government in order to win contracts under a U.N. program.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint filed Tuesday in federal court that GE subsidiaries gave cash, computers, medical supplies and other goods worth $3.6 million to the Iraqi health and oil ministries from 2000 to 2003.
The SEC alleged the kickbacks were in return for contracts to supply medical and water purification equipment under the United Nations' oil-for-food program, which provided humanitarian aid to prewar Iraq.
NEW YORK
Steel titan sees hurdles ahead
after posting quarterly loss
United States Steel Corp. on Tuesday said there are some hurdles ahead for the global steel industry, as it gave a shaky outlook for the current quarter after posting a second-quarter loss.
The loss was far smaller than a year ago as sales more than doubled. For the current quarter, the company expects to post a profit compared with a year-ago loss.
It thinks results will fall below the $198 million in income from operations during the second quarter because of declining orders from spot-market customers.
NEW YORK
Profit at DuPont climbs;
earnings view for year raised
Chemical maker DuPont Co. said Tuesday its net income nearly tripled in the second quarter as revenue surged in most of its businesses and it raised prices.
The Wilmington, Del., company also raised its earnings forecast for the year, saying it expects to continue to benefit from higher prices, growing sales and better efficiency.
DuPont, which makes a wide range of chemicals and many other products including Teflon and Kevlar, said its net income rose to $1.16 billion, or $1.26 per share, from $417 million, or 46 cents per share.
Excluding a gain related to a tax settlement, DuPont earned $1.17 per share.
NEW YORK
Occidental Petroleum
earnings jump 56 percent
Occidental Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday that net income jumped 56 percent in the second quarter as prices for oil and natural gas rose and the company pumped more from the ground.
The Los Angeles oil company reported earnings of $1.06 billion, or $1.31 per share, up from $682 million, or 84 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue increased 29 percent to $4.8 billion.
Analysts had estimated earnings of $1.33 per share on revenue of $4.7 billion.
WASHINGTON
Lockheed rides Pentagon changes; net up 12 percent
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit rose 12 percent thanks to stronger military hardware sales and a gain from plans to sell off a business unit.
Earnings from the nation's biggest supplier of military equipment beat Wall Street expectations and the company raised its earnings per share outlook by 15 cents mostly due to a lower expected share count and an expected $30 million of higher profits in its space division.
But it also trimmed its revenue outlook.
The Bethesda, Md., company reported net income of $825 million, or $2.22 per share, up from $734 million, or $1.88 per share in the same quarter last year.
