The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 50

The Palm Beach Post f1 J---, i if Jli "ifi 0' i "2 State Farm seeks rate hike for condo owners who rent 2D THURSDAY. AUGUST 2 1.2003 1 ') it Ur )n. PalmBeachPost.com DOW: 9.397.51 -j lj NASDAQ: 1,760.54 500: 1,000.30 A RUSSELL 2000: 489.46 (0.76) A 10-YR NOTE 4.43 (0.07) I Etoaototi dtogs OctodthFM deal Hit Lfssst New Delta carrier tops expectations Some question the West Palm company's getting a government contract when it's hiring workers overseas. ATLANTA Delta Air lines low- sell the VA's portfolio of 12,000 foreclosed homes. That work now is done by 1 12 VA employees throughout the country.

Ocwen secured the deal only after facing criticism from a congressman and from the union representing VA employees. Rep. Lane Evans, and the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, criticized Ocwen for moving desirable jobs overseas. "The VA decision to out source to Ocwen sends a clear signal that the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Bush administration fully support exporting jobs to foreign countries, jobs which could be performed in America by veterans," Evans wrote in a February letter to VA Secretary Anthony Principi. Both the VA and Ocwen say the jobs will stay in the United States.

"As expressly stated in Oc-See OCWEN, 7D 1 fare carrier is doing better than the company expected as customers take advantage of cheaper flights. President Frederick Reid said. In April, Delta began offering flights on Song, its new low-fare, low-cost unit, to compete with discounters AirTran Holdings By JEFF 0STR0WSKJ Palm Beat Post Staff Writer Ocwen Financial Corp. is set to take over management of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' foreclosed homes, a deal that has raised a few eyebrows in Washington.

After all, West Palm Beach- based Ocwen has hired more than 1,000 employees in India, where skilled workers are plentiful and wages are low. But Ocwen vows the VA foreclosures will be handled by employees in Florida, not India. Ocwen is scheduled to sign a contract Aug. 27 to manage and Reid 'If you told me I was going to be part-owner in a Finnish cabinet company, you might as well have said I was going to own a worm NANCY RANDLES, part-owner of AKA-USA FCC out to boost local TX radio But many think Congress will still vote to roll back FCC rules. By ALEX ARMtTAGE Bloomberg News Southwest Airlines Co.

and JetBlue Airways Corp. Main indexes post moderate losses NEW YORK Sluggish earnings from Hewlett-Packard pressured Wall Street on Wednesday, although losses were limited as investors remained largely optimistic about a speedy economic recovery. All three main indexes saw moderate declines on profit-taking in the morning after the Dow Jones industrials and the Nasdaq composite on Tuesday hit their highest levels in more than a year. But stocks later trimmed their losses. Enron headquarters up for sale HOUSTON The "For Sale" sign is going up at Enron headquarters.

Granite Partners LLC, a New York real estate investment banking firm, announced Wednesday it's been retained to sell the 50-story glass tower at a time when top-notch office space in downtown Houston is cheap and plentiful. Judgment against EBay delayed SAN JOSE, Calif. EBay the world's largest online auctioneer, doesn't have to pay a Virginia company $29.5 million while it appeals a jury award for infringing patents for conducting sales over the Internet. U.S. District Judge Jerome Friedman said he would delay enforcement of the judgment against EBay pending the appeal.

The San Jose, company is challenging a jury finding that it infringed patents owned by MercExchange LLC of Great Falls, Va. competitors must pay millions TRENTON, N.J. Two competitors of the Johnson Johnson unit that makes cardiac stents have been ordered to pay damages totaling nearly $700 million to the health-care giant after losing patent disputes. Johnson Johnson, based in New Brunswick, said Wednesday that a private arbitration panel in Chicago on Tuesday upheld a preliminary ruling, issued June 5, requiring Guidant Corp. of Indianapolis to pay $425 million to Cordis Corp.

of Miami Lakes. In the other dispute, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said he'd try to strengthen local radio and television broadcasting one month after the U.S. House of Representatives voted 400-21 to roll back parts of his proposal to loosen media-ownership rules. The FCC will create a task force to study ways to promote local programming, Powell said Wednesday.

It will also speed the licensing of low-power FM radio stations, providing inexpensive opportunities for local broadcasters. Powell's proposals are aimed at pre Photos by LANNIS WATERSStaff Photographer Nancy Randies (left) and Laura Fincannon show off a nets prices start at around $8,000 for a small kitchen and kitchen at the AKA-USA showroom in Lake Worth. Cabi- can be delivered from four to six weeks from Finland. Finnish cabinetmakers find U.S. foothold in Lake W)rth serving the reforms his agency passed in owner in a Finnish cabinet company, you might as well have said I was going to own a worm farm," Randies said.

Fincannon and Randies say it's just a coincidence that the June. The rule change that's in jeopardy is one that Powell would let net works such as Viacom CBS buy more stations and enter new mar By ALEXANDRA NAVARRO CLIFTON Palm Beach Post Staff Writer LAKE WORTH Nancy Randies spent months looking for a Scandinavian-style kitchen for her 1914 bungalow-style home on Lakeside Drive. Increasingly desperate, she latched onto a tiny classified ad in the newspaper offering kitchen cabinets made in Finland. But it wasn't some lone craftsman cranking out woodwork in a shed somewhere who placed the ad. It was AKA-Kaulste, one of the most recognizable brands in Finland, with annual sales last year of about 17 million euros ($19.1 million).

Makers of kitchen and bathroom cabinets since 1979, AKA was looking to expand its business into the United States. kets. The Senate next month probably will follow the House and vote to roll back the rule, which threatens di versity in programming, con M- first AKA-USA showroom opened in Lake Worth, the city with the largest concentration of Finns outside Finland. Their market, they say, is not Finns, but homeowners who are increasingly investing in their homes. The average cost of a major kitchen remodeling in the U.S.

during 2002 was $43,213, according to a study conducted by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The number of homeowners doing major kitchen remodeling of more than $10,000 jumped from 600,000 in 1999 to 1 million in 2001, the study shows. AKA's kitchen cabinets run from about $8,000 for a small kitchen to the $25,000 Henna model in the Lake Worth showroom and can be delivered within four to six weeks. The company also sells custom bathroom cabinets and closet doors. AKA-USA will target See CABINETS, 7D Circuit in Washington, D.C., ruled last week that Medtronic Inc.

of Minneapolis infringed on Cordis stent patents and should pay the company $270 million in damages. Oracle still gathering information REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Oracle $7.25 billion hostile offer to acquire People-Soft Inc. may not clear an antitrust investigation by the U.S. Justice Department until November, Oracle Executive Vice President Chuck Phillips said.

Oracle, the world's third-largest software maker, is still compiling information about the software industry and the markets it operates in, which the Justice Department has requested as part of its investigation, Phillips said. The department will have 30 days to review the information once it is submitted, Phillips said. R. J. Reynolds to eliminate jobs WINSTON SALEM, N.C.

RJ. Reynolds -Tobacco Holdings the second-biggest 1 U.S. cigarette maker, will eliminate an specified number of jobs to reduce costs as competition from discount brands hurts sales and profit. I Employees were asked to consider sev- erance packages to minimize firings, said Carole Crosslin, a spokeswoman for the sumer advocates say. "This is a smoke screen," said Frank Blethen, publisher of the family-owned Seattle Times newspaper.

"He's sitting there saying they want to create some diversity through low-wattage stations, yet what are they doing? They are proceeding as rapidly as they can despite feelings from the American public and Congress it's the wrong thing to do." Mark Cooper, director of research for the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, said Wednesday's See FCC, 7D AKA cabinets have made their way into the kitchen in Nancy Randies' Lake Worth home. A few months later, Kivimaki, Randies and Fincannon formed AKA-USA A AKA-USA showroom opened in downtown Lake Worth in June. The company has several orders and about 10 proposals for jobs in single-family homes and condominiums. "If you told me a few years ago that I was going to be part- After her kitchen was done, Randies, who is president of The 5060 Group, a business consulting firm in Lake Worth, offered AKA owner Ahti Kivimaki help with his business plan. Laura Fincannon, 5060 Group's vice president, also had AKA remodel her kitchen and joined Randies on the trip to Finland to meet with Kivimaki.

Upscale spots woo pedigreed snowbirds Aegis to hire 300 to staff call center The Ritz-Carlton and The Breakers market to rich spots up North. The Ritz-Carlton is trying to lure wealthy buyers to homes such as this club home in Jupiter. DAMON HIGGINS Staff Photographer Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based company. Nestle reports steep drop In profits VEVEY, Switzerland Nestle, the world's largest food and drink company, reported a steep decline in first-half net profits Wednesday, largely because of the year- 1 earlier spinoff of its eye-care unit Alcon Inc. Profits for the January to June period totaled 2.78 billion Swiss francs ($2 billion) compared with a profit of 5.65 billion francs for the same period last year, which was inflated by a one-time gain on the partial floating of Alcon in March 2002.

Dillard's posts $50.4 million loss IJTTLE ROCK Dillard's Inc. department store chain said Wednesday it swung to a loss in its second quarter, citing a 5 percent drop in sales and costs associated with debt and closing stores. The retailer lost $50.4 million, 60 cents per share in the quarter ending Aug. 2, af- ter posting a profit a year earlier of $6.7 million, 8 cents per share. Compiled from Palm Beach Post wire reports By SUSAN T.

PORT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PORT ST. LUCIE Aegis Communications Group Inc. officials said Wednesday that the company plans to hire an additional 300 people by the end of October, nearly doubling the current staff size at its call center here. Mary Henson, the center's director, said the new employees will make outbound sales calls to two new telecommunications clients, whose identities Aegis officials would not disclose. Company officials did say, however, that Aegis will hire employees first to sell telephony and Internet-related products for a UK-based client.

In September, they will hire new callers to handle sales of wireless products for its second client, a See AEGIS, 7D By LINDA RAWLS Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Mohammed went to the mountain. The Ritz-Carlton Club in Jupiter went to the Hamptons. And The Breakers in Palm Beach is headed to Martha's Vineyard. When your customers can't come to you, the savvy new marketing trend is to go to them. The Ritz-Carlton Club's upscale home buyers and The Breakers' luxury hotel guests spend their winters in Palm Beach County, but many if not most of them spend the hot summer months in retreats such as the Hamptons in New York and the Vineyard in Massachusetts.

So both companies have looked north to capture new customers. The Ritz-Carlton recently sponsored a celebrity-studded weekend of social events that ended with the 55th Artists Writers Softball Game Aug. 16 in East Hampton and a post-game reception See HOTELS, 7D YOUR MONEY: Get financial advice from Charles Jaffe anJ Michelle Singletary. 2D.