The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • 28

The Orlando Sentinel FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2000 Inside, C-5 WFTV-Channel 9 claims narrow win in late newscasts. Stocks, C-2 TULsainiess Budget Group in red THE MARKETS Dow Jones 10,164.92, up 26.99 1,381.76, up 2.57 NYSE index 601.50, up 2.02 Nasdaq index 4,754.51, down 29.57 AM EX index 1 ,003.50, up 1 .55 Dow Jones bond index 96.51 up 0.77 Gold, N.Y Merc close $288.20, down $3.30 Silver, N.Y. Merc close $5,008, down $0,065 Dollar, Fed index 95.88, up 0.54 Prime rate 8.75 Mortgages, 30-year, 1 point 8.125-8.25 Treasury bonds, 30-year 6.13 Treasury index, 1-yr, Feb. 28 6.22 CPI, January (1982-84100) 168.7 LOCAL-INTEREST STOCKS mmM WW nn HndM0(Q)m SeaWorld deal offers Florida residents season pass for the price of a day for year A hefty loss in the fourth quarter was a drag on the company's annual results. LockM 17.13 Lucnt 71.94 3.31 Marriot 27.38 Northp 43.56 JCPen 14.75 Seagr 60.06 Sears 27.63 SouthT 23.19 .63 Sprint 63.00 .38 Starwd 21.81 .31 SunTrst 50.06 Tribune 36.19 Tricon 27.69 Tupwar 16.56 Walgrn 24.69 WalMt 50.56 1.56 WDixie 15.94 AirTran 4.31 Albrtsn 24.38 54.19 6.31 Anhsr 60.38 BankA 45.06 BellSo 44.88 1.88 Boeing 35.94 Budget 5.75 CHCA 20.63 .63 CoBnk 8.63 Dardn 13.44 Delta 43.81 Disney 34.50 FirstU 30.38 Harris 34.13 3.19 Hughs 18.50 COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS Budget Group Inc.

slipped into the red during its most recent fiscal year because of a large fourth-quarter loss announced late Thursday. The Daytona Beach-based company, whose holdings include Budget Rent a Car and Ryder TRS truck rental, reported a fourth-quarter loss from continuing operations of $76.1 million, or $2.05 a share. That compares with a loss of $52.0 million, or $1.45 a share, in the same three months a year ago. For the full year ending Dec. 31, Budget lost $49.9 million, or $1.37 a share, compared with a profit of $4.5 million, or 14 cents a share, in 1998.

Both the quarterly and annual losses include $105.4 million worth of one-time charges related to a restructuring announced in January. Budget announced in January that it intended to cut 1,000 jobs and back out Please see GROUP, C-6 1 Stock updates: orlandosentinel.comstocks ECC gets Lockheed plum Lockheed Martin Information Systems Co. has awarded ECC International Corp. a $4.7 million contract to develop electronic components for the Close Combat Tactical Trainer, one of the Army's major war-game systems. The deal is the latest in a series of contracts that began in 1992.

ECC is a major subcontractor to Lockheed on the simulation training system. Both companies are based in Orlando. Terms call for ECC to complete most of the production work within the next 12 months. Palm stock sizzles Palm stock sizzled Thursday, nearly tripling on its first day of trading, but many small investors were burning at being left out of the initial public offering for the world's leading maker of handheld electronic organizers. Chat boards on the In Wilt 0c IF.

r. Hotelier is amused by property appraisals The site Harris Rosen wants for a resort was valued at $60 million and $90 million. By Tim Barker OF THE SENTINEL STAFF SEAWORLD Splashy. Olympic swimmer Janet Evans and a trainer at SeaWorld enjoy a '96 dolphin show. SeaWorld and Busch Gardens in Tampa, also owned by Anheuser-Busch are offering a new 'Florida 2000 Fun ternet crackled with messages about the IPO, as investors complained of dashed hopes that they would get a piece of the hot offering.

3Com parent of Palm sold 23 million shares to se Increased competition for theme park visitors in Orlando is likely behind the marketing move. By Tim Barker OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Price of gas fails to fuel tourism fears By Charlene Oldham OF THE SENTINEL STAFF past two years, the market has witnessed the addition of two new theme parks Universale Islands of Adventure and Disney's Animal Kingdom prompting widespread speculation that attendance would suffer throughout the market. "It certainly sounds like they are feeling the competitive pressure from Universal and Disney this year," said Mike Carroll, director of technical services for Orlando-based Show-quest Studios. According to estimates by trade publication Amusement Business, SeaWorld's attendance slipped 4 per-t cent last year. Several other area parks also experienced attendance i losses, according to the publication.

While there is little planned for the market this year beyond the summer opening of SeaWorld's own resort-style park, Discovery Cove the competition is likely to get tougher, with Islands of Adventure claiming more attention from visitors. Attendance at the new Universal park was mildly disappointing in its first year, but observers expect things to improve as consumers grow to accept it as part of the Orlando land- Please see SEA, C-6 The appraisals are back on the 330 acres of Orange County land coveted by hotelier Harris RosefNas a possible site for his next hotel, and depending on whom you believe, the site is valued at $60 million or $90 million. Rosen wants the land for his planned resort with 250,000 square feet of convention space and a golf course. The site will also serve as the campus for the University of Central Florida's School of Hospitality Management, which will carry Rosen's name. Rosen has promised to donate $10 million to the program.

Both appraisal prices on the land are thought to be higher than the hotelier wants to pay for the vacant tract, which sits near the largely undeveloped end of South International Drive. Rosen won't say how much he is willing to spend or what his appraisers say the land is worth. However, he chuckled when told about Please see ROSEN, C-6 Tourism officials are keeping a close eye on rising gas prices but so far aren't doing much more. "It's not the sort of situation that you can combat officially by a change in advertising," said Tom Flanigan, spokesman for the tourism promotion agency Visit Florida. Fuel prices have been rising steadily and could hit $2 a gallon during the next few months unless oil production increases.

No one seems too concerned yet that the extra cost to fill a gas tank will hurt the region's tourism industry. "In the past, rapidly escalating Please see GAS, C-6 Starting today, Florida residents who buy a ticket to SeaWorld will have unlimited admission to the park for the rest of the year. The same deal is being offered at Busch Gardens in Tampa. The parks, owned by Anheuser-" Busch are offering a new "Florida 2000 Fun Card" through April 30. Company officials say the deal is designed to offer a benefit to state residents, an important customer segment for both parks.

"We think it's the best offer Flor- -ida residents have ever had to a theme park in Florida," said Nick Gollattscheck, spokesman for SeaWorld. But some observers say the move is clearly aimed at attracting more customers during a time of intense competition in Orlando. During the lect investors at $38. The stock opened Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market at $145 and rose as high as $165 before moving downward to close at March for higher wages Labor activists marched through Kis-simmee on Thursday on their way from Fort Myers to Orlando to try to raise wages for farm workers. "No one will take up this fight for us if we don't do it," said Lucas Benitez, 24, a migrant laborer and co-director of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

They expect to reach Orlando on Saturday for a rally at the Florida Fruit Vegetable Association. The 230-mile walk is billed as a "march for dignity, dialogue and a fair wage." A vegetable association spokesman said the trade group can't get involved in labor negotiations. Online service launches ads BuySellBid.com, a national online content and advertising service, has launched local classified ads in Orlando on Internet Web sites operated by five radio stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. The stations are talk 104.1 FM (WTKS), oldies 100.3 FM (WSHE), rock 101.1 FM (WJRR), soft rock 107.7 FM (WMGF) and sports 540 AM (WQTM). The BuySellBid.com classified network connects radio listeners to 2.5 million local and national classified ads.

For the first month, the service is being offered free. Compiled from staff and wire reports. Laser maker's aim: Turn Orlando into 'Silicon Swamp' People have been cutting glass the same way since it was invented more than 2,000 years ago. They scratch the surface with a hard, sharp object usually a diamond-tipped blade then crack the glass along the scratch line. The makers ing development and receive a state tax credit for doing so.

CNL donated $42,000 to Habitat of Humanity to cover the cost of building materials for a house being constructed on West South Street in Orlando. CNL employees are also helping build the house, which is to be completed in May. Under the new Community Contribution Tax Credit program, companies making donations to approved projects are eligible for a 50 percent credit on their state corporate income, franchise and insurance-premium taxes. For more information, contact Burt C. Von Hoff at the governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development in Tallahassee 1-850-487-2568 by phone or by e-mail.

John Koenig can be heard 5:30 p.m. Monday on 90.7 FM (WMFE) and 7:53 a.m. each weekday on 740 AM (WWNZ). He welcomes your comments. 407-420-5352.

OfljJrV Check orlandosentlnel.com 19 after3D.m.forCFB3 of windowpanes do it that way. So do the companies that make the flat-panel displays used in notebook computers and other hightech devices. It may be fine for windows, but it has drawbacks The company is building its first laser-cutting device right now. Priced at $750,000, it is to be shipped in April to a Korean flat-panel-display manufacturer that Hoekstra would not identify. He said his company, which has 14 employees, plans to build two units a month.

Meanwhile, Applied Photonics is developing another laser to cut the silicon wafers used in making semiconductors. It's experimenting with laser technology so precise it might be used to cut microelectronic circuits far smaller than the width of a human hair. With all of this in the works, Hoekstra predicts the company will have $50 million in sales and 250 employees three years from now. The Orlando native wants to help put his hometown on the high-technology map. "I'd like Orlando to be thought of as 'Silicon he says.

BBS Orlando's CNL Financial Group is one of the first companies in Florida to contribute money to low-income hous Applied Photonics has introduced a cleaner and faster glass-cutting technique using laser technology. Though just 6 months old, the company has already received $3 million in orders for its laser-cutting equipment from producers of flat-panel displays. President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Hoekstra predicts the company will have $8 million in orders by year's end. The idea evolved from the laser experiments Hoekstra observed years ago while working at a U.S. Air Force materials laboratory.

Trained as an engineer, he was an Air Force captain and later worked for NASA. He returned to his hometown of Orlando in 1992 and worked as a consultant until launching Applied Photonics with three partners in September. The company has offices in the University of Central Florida's business incubator and a demonstration unit operating in rented space in Melbourne. Hoekstra hopes to consolidate operations this summer in UCF's Central Florida Research Park. ALL BUSINESS business news updates at: orlandosentinel.com businesscfb3.htm Watch Central Florida News 13 on Time Warner Cable after 5:30 p.m.

for Central Florida Business Update. in high-tech applications. Flat-panel displays, for instance, are produced in dust-free "clean rooms." Yet this age-old cutting technique creates lots of tiny glass particles. Enter Applied Photonics, one of Orlando's newest high-tech companies. U7 jkoenigorlandosentinel.com.