Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 33

30 Today's business briefing Regional news International news Star TribuneWednesdayAugust 41993 Call for work-force training issued Musicland Stores will expand in Minnetonka French franc, others rebound against mark French, German finance officials say they agree on European Monetary System fixes St. Louis Park company has bought I Ml" I I ouice Dunaing to expand neaaquarters between France and Germany dur out the country as we do here," Eugster said, "we'd make a lot less money." But he said the tax rates were not a factor in deciding to buy the Shady Oak Office Center II from Aetna Life Insurance Co. The deal closed Friday. Musicland Stores Inc. has acquired an onice building in Minnetonka to expand its Twin Cities area headquarters, the company's chief exec- utive said.

"Jack Eugster, a critic of Minneso ta's property taxes, said he never seriously considered moving the "company's central offices out of state. "I did play an awfully nice golf course in South Dakota," he said. "But it (moving out of state was not a consideration at all." Eugster has been critical of Minne- sota's commercial-industrial prop-; erty taxes, saying that the relatively high rates have stifled the growth of Musicland stores in the state. "If we paid the same commercial-industrial property taxes through The Business Roundtable, a corpo rate public policy group based in Washington, D.C., Tuesday called for "a national commitment to improve skills training and work force development" to enhance U.S competitiveness in world markets. The Roundtable's working group on work force training and development, chaired by Lawrence Perl-man, chairman and chief executive officer of Bloomington-based Ceri-dian recommended better integration of schools and employers to aid students in finding careers; the adoption of voluntary, flexible national occupational skill In Kr pf Wl ICI FingerhutXonpanies Minnetonka, said Michael Qualen, vice president of finance and chief financial officer, will leave the company Feb.

1. Fingerhut said it expects to name a new chief financial officer before Qualen leaves. ADC Telecommunications Bloomington, said it estimates orders to $94.9 million and revenues to be $93.3 million for the third quarter ended July 31. The estimates represent increases of 16 percent and 12 percent over orders and revenues respectively, that were recorded in the year-ago third quarter. Final results will be announced later this month.

Cross Pointe Paper St. Paul, a subsidiary of Roseville-based Pentair said it has reached a conditional agreement to buy the assets of the Dayton division of Badger Paper Mills ing a meeting of European Commu- nity officials. The meeting was held after Germany, fighting inflation caused by the high cost of uniflca- tion, refused to lower interest rates. Other countries such as France are -in serious recession and are loath to keep their interest rates high. As a result their currencies have less value as investments than the This caused speculators last week to sell weak currencies such as the franc, further driving down their; value.

The speculation prompted predic-'; tions that the economic system's exchange rate mechanism, designed to prevent wide currency would collapse. Paris had pressed Bonn last weekend to temporarily' pull the mark out of the mechanism. Instead, France accepted new rules allowing wider fluctuations in cur rency values to avoid collapse of the exchange rate mechanism. Germany's central bank, the Bun desbank, in turn lowered its repur- chase interest rate for short-term loans yesterday from 6.95 percent to 6.8 percent, making weaker currencies more attractive. Russian repayment Best Power Technology going public Associated Press Paris, France The French franc and other battered currencies rebounded against the German mark Tuesday, and officials insisted a crisis-ridden European Monetary System would survive.

Top French and German finance officials emerged from a meeting smiling and assured reporters that they remained in close agreement on how to fix the system despite earlier differences. Germany also lowered one of its short-term interest rates, a move that would give other European nations and their currencies more breathing room. The system is aimed at stimulating business and controlling inflation by creating a single European currency. It has been challenged this week by currency speculators who have taken advantage of economic policy differences among countries and have driven down the value of weaker currencies such as the franc vs. the German mark.

The delegations said they agreed to form a committee of government and business leaders on how to fight unemployment. The words of reconciliation came after a weekend clash London Club eases Moscow, Russia The London Club of private creditors has accepted Russia's plea to repay only a fraction of this year's payment on the $24 billion owed on the former Soviet foreign debt, a top official said Tuesday. Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Vavilov said the London Club, a consortium of about 600 commercial banks, agreed Monday to accept payment of $500 million rather than $3.5 billion. The club initially asked for $1.5 billion. Based on figures released yesterday, Russia this year will have to make only about 8 percent of payments Necedah, Wis.

Best Power Technology Inc. plans to go public this week by offering 2.6 million shares of common a Robert W. Baird Co. "spokesman said Tuesday. Half the shares will be sold by Best Power and half by stockholders, 'said the spokesman.

About 9.37 national news FnnHI innlnr I VJUU 1IVI I II due for 1992-1993 to the London 1 Club and to the Pans Club of credi-. tor nations. Russia reached ment with the Paris Club last spring. The total former Soviet debt to both creditor clubs and to many other Business failures in U.S. decreasing NewYnrV.IM.Y.

That translated to business failui New York, N.Y. That translated to business failures standards for non-professional occupations; publicly funded job retraining for dislocated workers; continuous on-the-job training, and streamlining existing publicly fund ed work torce training systems. The Roundtable, an association of more than 200 corporations, said that "work force training should be seen as an investment in human capital" and that such investment "is an urgent priority for U.S. international competitiveness." Steve Alexander which had announced the closing of the facility. Completion of the sale and reopening of the mill is contingent on several conditions.

A $150 million issue of Norwest Financial Inc. notes due Aug. 1, 2003, was priced to yield 6.23 percent The noncallable notes are rated double-A3 by Moody's Investors Service Inc. and double-A-minus by Standard Poor's Corp. The issue will be sold through underwriters led by Merrill Lynch Co.

Norwest Financial is a unit of Norwest Corp. Funco Eden Prairie, said said it has leased space in six shopping centers in the suburban New York City metropolitan area for its FuncoLand stores. The company buys and sells new and used video games and related equipment. dropping 9.9 percent to 45,749 from 50,793 in the 1992 period. Except for places with lingering problems California, Hawaii and Connecticut for instance the turnaround is broad based, said Joseph Duncan, vice president and corporate economist for "The current pattern of business failures reflects the fundamental strength of the U.S.

economy," Duncan said. "The economic recovery has taken hold and the business sector is making a slow, steady comeback." That also means that larger firms are failing less, reported. to expand services reshape Nutri-System into health centers that would teach clients to control blood pressure, cholesterol levels and eating habits as well as lose weight Heisley said 26 of the 283 company-owned centers that closed in May when Nutri-System entered bankruptcy had reopened and another 54 would be open by the end of the year. He would not predict how many more of the original centers would reopen other than to say that many would not especially those in large metro areas where Nutri-System had operated several centers. ler, N.J.

But lenders say the rise barely affected loan demand. And many observers, citing a rally in the bond market late last week, say they expect mortgage rates to fall this week. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America's index of refinancing has reached the highest level since March. The index stands at 1,406, after rising 15 percent during the week that ended July 23. An index value of 100 corresponds with the level of March 1990.

child labor, overtime case Fast-growing supermarket chain agrees nations is esumaiea ai ou ouuon. Vavilov also said that Russia's debt to the London Club now will stand at $24 billion, a 50 percent higher' estimate than given in the past Tne( new figure includes debt owed on securities, he said. Vavilov said Russia has paid $1.9 billion of the $17 billion it owes directly to the Paris Club of nations. Confused About All The Investment Choices? Find out what the other seminars aren't telling you! Why the average investor is like a lamb being led to slaughter! Attendees have described this seminar as the best they've attended, "no hype." A reviving economy is the reason that U.S. business failures fell nearly 10 percent in the first half of this year, Dun Bradstreet Corp.

said. This comes after a record number of businesses failed in the United States last year. However, the rate of increase in failures peaked last year and the fourth quarter saw a decline. For the first six months of 1993, business failures were down in all major industries and nearly every U.S. Census region because of the recovery, the business information company said.

Nutri-System plans Philadelphia, Pa. As Nutri-System Inc. lumbers out of bankruptcy, its principal rescuer, Michael Heisley, said Tuesday that the weight-loss company would expand services but reduce the number of its centers. Heisley, 56, the chief executive of Heico Acquisitions in Chicago and the chairman and chief executive of Nutri-System, based in Blue Bell, said he expected that negotiations to return the private company to solvency would conclude next month. He said he expected Heico would invest as much as $25 million to FREE SEMINARS Seating Limited west seminars to pay $1 6.2 million in 'Associated Press Washington, D.C.

Food Lion one of the country's fastest growing supermarket chains, agreed Tuesday to pay $16.2 million to settle charges that it violated child labor laws and failed to pay thousands of workers "required overtime. The settlement, which ended more than eight months of negotiations with the Labor Department, is the largest ever reached by the federal government in a wage-and-hour case involving a private employer. "Labor Secretary Robert Reich said he hoped that it "sends a clear signal" that the Clinton administration "will not tolerate companies that seek to gain competitive ad-" vantage through undermining the nation's fair labor standards." Food Lion, which has more than stores in 14 states and is based in Salisbury, N.C., did not admit to any violations. "We feel very strongly that we have not violated the law, but we settled in order to demonstrate that the long-running disagreement with the Labor Department is behind us," said George Salem, a Food Lion attorney. But the Labor Department said its investigation, which covered on-site inspections of 85 stores and reports from 150 other stores, revealed "widespread and extensive" Eugster said the company will keep it nffip cnaro in St I mii Park where Musicland also operates a distribution center.

Some office workers will stay in St Louis Park, while others will move to Minnetonka. The company also is planning to open a third distribution center, but Eugster wouldn't comment on it. A source said the facility is likely to be built in Indiana or Kentucky. Tony Kennedy million shares will be outstanding after the offering, he said. The price per share should be between $13 and $15, the spokesman said.

Baird, a brokerage and financial consulting firm, is one of Best Power's underwriters. cpttlPQ OWlUWO back pay, penalties violations of child labor and over time rules. Under the settlement Food Lion must pay $13.2 million in back pay to current and former workers who had not received proper overtime pay, some dating to 1989. In addition, the company agreed to pay $3 million in civil penalties for child labor and wage-and-hour law abuses. Most of the nearly 1,400 child labor violations stemmed from teenagers working on food baling machines and meat sheers contrary to federal requirements.

Some concerned minors who worked excessive hours or late-night hours not permitted by the law, the department said. Tom Smith, president of Food Lion, said in a statement that the company agreed to resolve its dispute with the Labor Department "rather than spend considerable resources and years in litigation." Thomas P. Williamson, a department solicitor, said that under the agreement 30,000 to 40,000 current and past employees will be eligible for back pay. Officials said they could not say how much money each worker would get The chain has approximately 66,000 employees. chair, still faces a separate lawsuit by nearly 900 workers over the overtime ssue.

The agreement with the Labor Department does not affect that officials said. legislation or by administrative action on my part to begin to implement those recommendations," Pena said. "We don't want this report to sit on a shelf and gather dust. We want to move on it as quickly as possible, implement those things that we can do quickly. I think there's a lot of interest in adopting most of the recommendations." He said he supports the commission's suggestion that the industry should not be included in the proposed transportation fuel tax.

The deficit-reduction bill headed for votes in the Congress this week exempts commercial planes from the fuel tax for two years. ment marked the fourth time in as many months that it has announced price cuts. "Unit shipments of our Macintosh products have picked up significantly since we began implementing our new pricing strategy," said Bob Puette, president of Apple USA. Previous cuts included other Apple PowerBook models, Macintosh Quadra, Apple Color Printer and Apple Workgroup Server 95. August 12, 2:00 PM vv at MATHESON FINANCIAL SERVICES jQDAY Northland Plaza Ci'y-t fttt 3800 W.

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The 15-member commission adopted a report Monday that said the industry has been "hobbled" by 1 government regulation, uncertainty about the air traffic control systems and excessive taxes. Members urged Congress not to impose new taxes on the industry, which over the past three years reported $10 billion in losses. Once we get the report, then we'll move quickly either by way of New York, N.Y. Despite a recent rise in interest rates, refinancings show no signs of letting up. "For the last 45 to 60 days, we've been very strong as strong as last fall," said Dennis Meroney, director of mortgage banking at First National Bank of Gainesville, Ga.

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