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E2 The Arizona Republic Wednesday, November II, 1998 BUSINESS BROWSER simi B08 KG8S Holiday closings Government offices, many banks and the Treasury bond market will be closed today in observance of Veterans Day. U.S. stock and commodity markets will be open, however, and stock and mutual fund listings will be published as usual on Thursday. Travel software takes off for pair Technology Countrywide Insurance Services said it expanded its Internet site to include instant homeowners and auto insurance quotes, making it the first to offer online quotes for all major insurance classes. The new services, available at www.cwinsurance.com, add to Countrywide's 18-month-old life insurance quote service.

K-Tel International Inc. said Tuesday that it has agreed to include its online music and home video service on Microsoft shopping channel, MSN Shopping. Microsoft will also be able to put direct links to K-Tel on all of the software and Internet company's sites. In the travel industry, there is a kind of revolution going on right now, because everything will be different. A lot of travel agencies say, 'OK, Internet, it's maybe five years from No, it's not.

It's already happening. GONTER SPONSEL PARTNER, AMERASIA DIRECT Earnings pared with competitors such as Microsoft. They hope the boost from IBM and its Lotus Development Corp. division, whos.e Lotus Domino platform TRIPS uses, will bring more- credibility, recognition and marketing opportunities. AmerAsia Direct will use its $50,000 in grant money to fine-tune TRIPS for travel agencies, creating more access levels and automating more services.

It will start beta testing the system with Phoenix-based Bowers Worldwide Travel in March. The system could be available to the general travel industry by May. TRIPS will make its money not from signing people onto the system but from a fee on each transaction booked, the couple said. AmerAsia Direct was the only Arizona company to be funded by the $1 million eDGE (e-business Development for Growing Enterprises) Fund. "What attracted us to Amer-Asia's proposed solution is that it is designed for travel agencies to remain competitive by leveraging the very technology (Internet) which is causing their disinterme-diation in the marketplace," said Doug Smith, director of e-business marketing for IBM's Global Small and Medium Business division.

Jane Larson can be reached at 444-8280 or jane.larsonpnl.com via e-mail. in Germany would do research on the Internet and come to them to book a trip, Sabine said. "For more complex things, you still look for the advice of your travel agent, because you have a long-established relationship. They know what you want, and sometimes you don't know yourself what you want," she said. The Sponsels are excited about the impact their software could have on small and mid-size travel companies like theirs.

Sabine started AmerAsia Direct in Munich, Germany, in 1994 after 14 years of doing travel management for big companies like Siemens and Northern Telecom. The company acts as a travel agency and tour operator for groups and individuals interested in travel to the North American, Southeast Asian and German markets. The couple moved to Arizona in 1996 and opened their Fountain Hills office to be closer to their inbound market. Between the two offices, AmerAsia Direct has eight employees and is doing about $1 million in annual revenue, they said. Giinter, a communications engineer with experience in strategic marketing, said he started thinking about the future of travel and how small companies could use technology to compete.

That's when he started developing the software. Their big hurdle has been a lack of name recognition, com TRAVEL, from Page El rural Arizona. At AmerAsia Direct's Web site, www.amerasia.com, customers or their travel agents can search for vacation spots according to continent, airlines, accommodations, sights, special events or even special interests such as golf or mountain biking. They can make reservations for ar(ines, hotels and tour packages. The TRIPS software will calculate rates and down payments and handle credit card transactions.

Vendors like hotels or tour operators get up to six electronic pages to profile their properties or services, which Giinter designed so users can make thorough comparisons and vendors can change and update as needed. Vendors do not pay to set up the profiles but pay a commission to the travel agent who books a client with them. "It's a normal way of selling travel products in the industry, and so there is no risk or investment for even a small vendor," Giinter said. The Sponsels think TRIPS will be perfect for bed-and-breakfasts and other niche-oriented services that make for unique vacations but often go undiscovered by the general traveler. TRIPS can help travel agencies provide customers with more information about such unique products, without the expense of Intel Corp.

said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter sales would exceed Wall Street forecasts because of surprisingly strong demand for personal computers that use its microprocessor chips. The company said it's expecting revenues of about $7.3 billion, 8 to 10 percent higher than the third quarter's $6.7 billion. That would make this year's fourth quarter revenue 13 percent higher than the $6.51 billion in revenues it reported in last year's fourth quarter. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 27 percent.

Net income rose to $1.01 billion, or 45 cents a share, from $792 million, or 35 cents, a year earlier. It beat the 43 cents a share predicted by analysts. Revenue rose 16 percent to $33.51 billion from $28.78 billion. Pennzoil Co. reported Tuesday its first quarterly loss since 1995 as low oil prices slashed revenue and tropical storms cut production.

Pennzoil said its third-quarter loss before special items was $61.9 million, or $1.30 a share, compared with a profit of $38.2 million, or 81 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Total revenue, which included a gain of $230.1 million from debt refinancing, rose to $365.3 million from $226.4 million. International printing and distributing vast quantities of quickly outdated brochures. The software also will help agencies with (Jbuntless back-office functions verifying credit card information, calculating commissions, guaranteeing reservations and performing other operations that need to be as efficient as possible if an agency is to be profitable. The Internet aspect of the system also will allow agencies to do business with each other and with tour operators.

It also will direct customers who book on the Internet to nearby travel agencies where they can pick up tickets, get questions answered and build a relationship with a local agent. The Sponsels think that is vital. Even their techno-savvy customers Combustion Systems Inc. and Split Engineering, both in Tucson; JB Images in Glendale; and Se-dona Red Rock Scone in Sedona. Ten winners will be honored Dec.

3 at a luncheon at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort and Villas. SCORE workshop The East Valley chapter of the PEOPLE Ailing Philippine Airlines has accepted an investment offer from Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways. The amount of capital Cathay Pacific will provide is still to be determined, but it will be accompanied by an additional investment by Lucio Tan, PAL's chairman and main stockholder. Commercial jet maker Airbus Industrie will boost its production about 25 percent to between 285 and 290 planes in 1999, the consortium said Tuesday. Airbus will deliver 232 planes this year, just short of its projection for 235.

9 in Arizona make seed-money finals Marketplace The government on Tuesday lowered its estimate of the 1998 U.S. cotton crop by 0.5 percent, the sixth consecutive cut, as bad weather hurt crops less than previously thought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its crop estimate to 13.23 million bales from the 13.29 million bales projected in October. Workplace iinumip.in FDX parent of Federal Express Corp.

said Tuesday that it will expand trucking operations if its pilots strike. FDX will also reconfigure its domestic air system around its pilots who continue to fly, as well as contract out some flights. H.J. Heinz Co. said Tuesday that it will fire 400 workers as it closes a factory and combines its Ore-Ida Foods and Weight Watchers frozen food units, and will take a $150 million pretax charge for costs of the moves.

MergersAcquisitions Cargill the world's largest crop trader, said Tuesday that it will buy the grain unit of c'ose rival Continental Grain Co. Terms of the transaction between the two privately held companies weren't disclosed. Cargill will get Continental's global grain storage and commodity trading, transport and export businesses. Continental will change its name to ContiGroup Cos. Inc.

i I -m -s 1 A People Center St. Cost is $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Information and registration: 379-3100 or e-mail Jane Larson can be reached at 444-8280 or at jane.larsonpni.com via e-mail. Wade D. Nelson Jay Zaludek Sacks Tierney, has announced that Julie Indcrlied has become associated with the firm.

A recipient of the Alan E. Reidel Scholarship Fund for law, based on merit, for 1992-1995, Indcrlied is also a member of the Arizona State Bar and P.E.O. Darrow K. Soli has joined the Streich Lang White Collar CrimeSpecial Matters Practice Group. His experience includes more than 50 felony jury trials.

Soil represented the first series of individuals facing commitment under Arizona's Sexually Violent Persons Act before the Arizona Supreme Court. limit looms that- option new area codes are simply added as demand arises. Just three years ago the 520 area code was introduced to all numbers outside the Phoenix area. A geographic split would likely remedy the problem for just four years in central Phoenix and for 12 years in suburban areas, the commission's staff said. Rebecca Rolwing can be reached at 444-8305 or rebecca.rolwingpni.com 1 'V-V dry A Service Corps of Retired Executives will hold a "Loan and Marketing Workshop" from 8:30 a.m.

to 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The workshop will feature marketing professionals, bank lending officers and representatives of the U.S. Small Business Administration. It will be held at the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, 120 N.

THE HOVE ts4s Lisa Hendrix Tom Holtrup dek has joined the agency as an account executive. Before coming to LHB, Zaludek was an account executive for Riester-Robb Corp. in Phoenix. Wade D. Nelson has been promoted to national sales manager for Arthur Andersen's U.S.

and Canadian Property Tax Practice. Before joining Arthur Andersen, Nelson managed similar operations in the Southwest. Tom Holtrup has been named vice presidenttreasurer of Hensley the Valley's Anheuser-Busch distributor. Tom worked in public accounting before coming to Hensley in 1979 as a staff accountant. as number Attendees at the public meetings and those who called the commission's customer service division were about evenly divided between the two approaches.

The survey found that 46 percent wanted a geographic split, 33 percent had no preference and 21 percent wanted the overlay, which the commission's staff chose. The staff prefered the overlay because they said it would provide a long-term solution because with 9 IN ARIZONA, fivm Page El company's 14-state region. Of the 50 finalists, nine are from Arizona. They are: Arizona Builders Network, New Vision Vistas and Products of Nature, all of Phoenix; Beyond Garden Walls and Timed Resources, both in Scottsdale; International Teilborg, Sanders Parks P.C. has announced the following new associates: Johnny J.

Sorenson, Donald A. Lawson, Stephen J.P. Kupiszewski, Brent H. Br) son, Jay C. Jacobson, Kathryn M.

Epperson, Kerry L. Beringhaus and John E. Drazkowski. Deloitte Touche, announced the promotion of Gail N. Goodman to director of tax services-employee benefits.

Goodman, an attorney, joined Deloitte Touche in February 1995 to develop an employee benefits tax practice in Arizona. She started her professional career in Houston where she practiced law. Ernst Young, announced that Susan Jimenez has been promoted to partner. A member of the information systems consulting group, Jimenez specializes in project management and shared services solutions. Jimenez's promotion is the culmination of more than 14 years with Ernst Young.

Management Action Programs announced that it has named Randy Halle as president. Halle, who has been with the organization for 22 years, has experience in all areas of Area code AREA CODE, firm Page El division branches in a different area code. Residents don't like the idea of having to remember what area code to use when Calling friends. Burglar alarm systems must be reprogrammed to allow for 10-digit dialing with the overlay approach. And nobody wants their new fax line to have a different area code from their phone line.

It's just a Newsweek Managing Editor Mark Whitaker has been named to succeed late Editor Maynard Parker, becoming the first black editor of a major U.S. news weekly. Whitaker, a 21-year veteran at Newsweek, had been managing editor since 1996. His position will be filled by two of Nemweek's chief political editors, the magazine announced Tuesday. By the numbers Despite financial crises in Asia and Russia and slower global economic growth, world business giants expect to spend a record $430 billion to $440 billion expanding overseas operations this year, a trade report said Tuesday.

The United States remains by far the largest investor abroad as well as the biggest recipient of foreign investment, according to the report by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. Growth in workers' productivity, the key to rising living standards, improved in the July-September period after nearly stalling during the previous quarter. The productivity of non-farm, non-supervisory workers rose at a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Gail N.

Goodman Randy Halle management and marketing. Patrick Verda has been named general manager of the Phoenix training center of Productivity Point International. Verda joined PPI after several years in the technology training industry as an account manager. Before this promotion, Verda held positions with PPI corporate offices as manager of Global Solutions and manager of major accounts. Lavidge Hiegel Baumayr has announced the following additions: Lisa Hendrix, formerly an account executive for The Motta Co.

in Phoenix, has returned to the agency as an account executive. Jay Zalu overlay eyed big headache. "I think it's going to be confusing," said Tempe resident Marc Beckwith, who's been vocal in his opposition to the change, writing letters to the editor and attending corporation commission meetings. To help make its decision, the commission held a series of meetings and conducted a survey of 407 voters to decide what approach would be most favored. The last word We haven 't been able to conquer Europe, and the potential is very significant.

Eduardo Medina Mora director of strategic planning at mexican conglomerate desc sa, as mexico and the european union take the first steps toward creating a free-trade alliance. Compiled from Republic news services. Mark Whitaker sistance awards from GADA. The awards are designed to help communities prepare for public infrastructure projects. Cottonwood used the technical assistance program in planning for a new public safety building.

"We did it in house, but we wanted someone to look over it to make sure if we went ahead, we could do it within our operating budget," City Manager Brian Mick-elsen explained. "They reaffirmed the things we Nickell: GADA designed to aid rural, Indian communities water and sewer lines, or streets, or other public services could take a community out of the running as a relocation site almost before the search starts. The same inadequacies might hinder expansion by companies that are there. So, when GADA was announced in 1996 at a Governor's Rural Development Conference in Page, it was welcomed by representatives of the communities, but it also was easy to be skeptical about the future of the program. A year later GADA was signed credibility for the project from the council's point of view." Depending on its financial needs and credit market conditions, Cottonwood might go back to GADA for help with a loan for the project.

Rural communities across the state have complained for years that the Legislature does little to help them attract jobs. One of the big hurdles to bringing in new employers often is the perception that the communities simply can't provide needed services. A lack of adequate housing, or NICKELL, fivm Page El improvements. Goodyear City Manager Steve Cleveland said the GADA program came along at just the right time. It provided the city with almost $6.6 million in bond funding that would not otherwise have been available any time soon because of statutory limits on taxing.

Winslow will use its $400,000 for water system improvements. This year, eight communities and a fire district received technical as executive director. The loans from GADA are secured by a pledge of a dedicated revenue stream and a debt service reserve fund. If GADA lives up to its potential, a lot of rural communities will be better prepared to attract the new employers they say they are missing now. Naaman Nickell may be reached at 444-8968 or at nnickellpni.com via e-mail.

His column appears on Sunday and Wednesday. r' into law and is being administered by the Arizona Department of Commerce. Included in the bill was was a $20 million appropriation spread over three years. Within 15 months after authorization it was making its first loans. The $20 million is not used for direct loans, but is used to support loans made to the communities by other agencies.

"We take only a portion and pledge it as additional security," explained Carol Sanger, deputy Commerce director and former GADA I had come up with, and it lent some.