The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 84

IK VANCOUVER SUN, I'RIHAY, APRIL 27, 2001 BUSINESS IN BRIEF 'ITS TIME FOR THE WORLD TO WEAR THE J.LO LOOK' iY--- tui A 1 1 for 10.75 per cent of Coming's payroll of 40,000. The latest cuts were announced Thursday as Corning reported a first-quarter net profit of $132 million US or 14 cents a share, up 71 per cent from $77 million or nine cents a share in last year's first quarter. However, Corning once again cut its earnings estimate for 2001 to a range of 90 cents to $1 a share, down from a revised forecast in March of $1.20 to $1.30. It also projected year-end sales of $7.8 billion to $8 billion, down from a previous forecast of $8.2 billion to $8.5 billion. Sales in 2000 totalled $7.1 billion.

Because of a continued softening in telecommunications markets this year, Corning said it is eliminating all 4,300 permanent and temporary jobs by the end of April. Associated Press CANADA 724 'on track' to turn a profit TORONTO Wireless financial software company 724 Solutions Inc. is on track to turn a profit within 12 months, despite the rocky market conditions which have affected many technology companies, the company told shareholders at its annual meeting Thursday. "There are some days when we feel like a Top Gun pilot," said 724 Solutions chief executive John Sims. "But we can not focus our eyes on the explosions that are going on around us." The company makes software that allows bank customers to access their financial services over cellular phones and other handheld devices.

The company said it had enough cash on hand to weather the stormy markets. It has been burning through $12 million US to $16 million US a quarter, but has $167 million US in cash reserves to support it until it turns a profit. The firm's stock value has plummeted in recent months. After hitting a 52-week high of $89.60 Cdn on the Toronto stock market, the stock dropped to a low of $12.20. It closed at $17.77 on Thursday.

National Post Noval launches hostile bid CALGARY Oil maverick Greg Noval has launched a hostile takeover bid for his former company, Canadian 88 Energy two weeks after suing the company over the sale of some assets. Canadian Superior Energy Noval's new junior energy company, announced late Thursday it is offering $4.95 a share in stock for Canadian 88 a deal worth about $700 million. If succesful, the merger would create a gas producer with key operations in the Alberta foothills and off the coast of Nova Scotia. Canadian Press iV UNITED STATES Nasdaq plans to go public NEW YORK Nasdaq announced Thursday it plans to become a public company, putting shares of the electronic stock market in the hands of investors as early as next year. In becoming the United States' first for-profit stock exchange, the Nasdaq said it expects to achieve greater flexibility to expand and compete with oth-( er stock markets in the US.

and abroad. "We can act like the real world acts, like a real company," Nasdaq chairman Frank Zarb said in a news conference. Zarb offered few details of the move, including how large the initial public offer will be or when it will take place, other than that it will likely be next year. Nasdaq home to 4,600 companies including Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.

said an IPO will give it capital to improve its market, along with a publicly traded stock that it can use as a currency for acquisitions. Both make the Nasdaq more attractive, said one market observer. Associated Press Starbucks meets the street SEATTLE Starbucks Corp. met Wall Street expectations Thursday as net income for its fiscal second quarter increased 38 per cent. The Seattle-based coffee retailer had profits of $32.2 million US or 16 cents a share for the quarter ended April 1, compared with $23.4 million or 12 cents a share last year.

Analysts had forecast earnings of 16 cents a share. Net revenue increased 24 per cent to $629 million, compared with $507 million a year ago. Comparable store sales, a key measurement of growth in the company's retail operations, increased six per cent year over year. For the six months ended April 1, Starbucks had earnings of $81.2 million, up from $58.2 million, in the same period last year. Net revenue for the six-month period was $1.3 billion, compared with $1 billion.

Starbucks shares fell five cents to $39.68 on the Nasdaq Stock Market Thursday. In after-hours trading, shares were down $3.43, to $36.25. Associated Press Corning to cut 1,000 more Jobs CORNING, N.Y. Fibre-optics maker Corning Inc. is eliminating 1,000 jobs on top of 3,300 already targeted in recent weeks as it scrambles to rebound from a slump in telecommunications markets.

Over all, the workforce cuts account A SURVEY OF lender I t- I "7 Lpr rJi Jt-5 jIIO I II CZZ) Jennifer Lopez shows an outfit from suspenders and a Lycra tube with a 1st Mtg. (open) or broker fees may apply. If BUSINESS tnk.lWumdimrnranti -W. Consistently earns a high rate of interest. Daily in The Vancouver Sun Call 33-11-SUN for Home Delivery.

her new fashion line bell-bottomed hip-hugger slacks with attached white sequinned Puerto Rican flag at a news conference Thursday In Los Angeles. CURRENT MORTGAGE RATES Lopez unveils her line of 'sporty chic' urban wear ill i'J 1st Mortgage (closed) notice. Pates are compounded semi-annually. Lender Company 6 mo. 1 yr.

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Lopez, who in February became the first woman to top both the U.S. music and movie charts in the same week with her current release, lo, and film Tne Wedding Planner, approached Hilfiger and Stemmerman about the joint venture through her managers, the team said. She told reporters that designing clothing is a childhood dream come true and stems from growing up poor in the Bronx and cutting up cheap and old clothes to make them fit better. "Even before I learned to dance and sing and act in films, I was just redesigning clothes. "From the time I was little, I would get a really whacked pair of pants really cheap and cut them and make a beautiful tiny miniskirt out of them because I was on a lower budget," she said.

"Or I'd get just a plain sweatshirt and I'd make suspenders out of it by cutting off the sleeves, or I'd get a little pair of my pants for my birthday and I'd open them up, sew them together, cut them off, and I'd have a really cute little pink miniskirt, or something." Even after becoming a star, Lopez said, she has had a difficult time finding clothes that fit her properly and has had to resort to having pieces tailor-made to fit both her narrow waist and voluptuous hips. Her line grows out of a desire to help other women like her find clothes that tit then- curves. "I find it is difficult for women who are curvaceous to find clothes in stores that fit. The voluptuous woman is almost ignored. I want to offer clothes that are wonderfully designed and will; fit women of all sizes.

Everybody gets to be sexy." Reuters LOS ANGELES Attention, women of the world who have problems finding casual wear to properly hug their curves: Jennifer Lopez wants to dress you in her favourite styles and make you look unashamedly sexy. "It's time for the world to wear my look," Lopez told reporters at a press conference Thursday to introduce a new line of self-designed "sporty chic" urban wear for women and spun from her own imagination. "From little to voluptuous, everybody gets to be sexy." The collection, worn by several models appearing with Lopez, looked like it comes straight off the streets of her native Bronx: low-slung French jeans with lace-up backs, tiny T-shirts, powder-blue velvet sweat suits, acid-washed denim minidresses stitched together from various pairs of jeans, denim spike-heeled boots. J. Lo herself wore white bell-bottomed hip-hugger slacks with attached white suspenders, a belly-baring white Lycra tube emblazoned with a sequined Puerto Rican flag, and chunky silver high-heeled sandals.

"Just because you dress sexy doesn't mean you're a bad girl, it just means you know how to dress," Lopez said. The "J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez" line is backed by an investment group led by fashion and retail veterans Andy Hilfiger and Larry Stemmerman. The team plans to launch the line of "sporty chic" and sexy denim, stretch and casual wear in time for the 2001 Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season. A more extensive "J.Lo Lifestyle" collection including swimwear, eyewear and accessories is expected to follow, Lopez said. The garments will be reminiscent of what the public has seen Lopez wear in her movies and videos but will not, at least in the beginning, include the kind of much-talked-about couture evening wear such as the barely there V-front Versace dress she wore to last year's Grammys or the sheer Chanel number the wore to the 73rd annual Academy Awards last month.

The J.Lo line will be carried in better APRIL 26, 2001 Hates are subject to change without www.mortgagegrp.com rr i "'i Ml ev.t i 'it. jM i. i'i in For further information, contact The Mortgage Group Tel. (604) 876-1312 FAX (604) 876-6275 TOLL FREE 1-800-796-8577 Email: generalmortgagegrp.com Abbotsford 855-6661 Surrey 599-5155 Office Locations also in: Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Campbell River, Kamloops, Kelowna, Prince George, Surrey (MORTGAGE IWWlGROUP.