The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 3

I HI A MEWS Business NORTH EDITION riday September 5 2003 Page A8 to Indicators DOW Noon today 955625 NASDAQ Noon today 959 E87856 CANADIAN DOLLARToday cent 7180C GOLD London today $150 $37100 BONDS 10 yr treasury 440 BusinessToday MANUACTURING Moog will pay $158 million for Northrop Grumman unit WASHINGTON (Dow JonesAP) Moog Inc a maker of precision compo nents for aircraft and other uses agreed to pay roughly $158 million in cash for Nor throp Grumman Corp's Poly Scientific divi sion according to a document filed Thurs day with the Securities and Exchange Commission The deal was reached Aug 14 but finan cial terms disclosed Elma NY based Moog expects to fi nance the transaction with borrowings The closing of the sale is expected on Sept 29 Poly Scientific makes motion control and data transmission devices It has annual sales of more than $130 million and employs about 1000 people in Blacksburg Va Springfield Pa and Murphy NC Moog also said it revised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year that starts at the end of September Assuming the deal closes by Sept 29 the company now forecasts fiscal 2004 sales of $920 million to $940 million Before the transaction Moog projected sales of $780 million to $800 million In ad dition the company said it expects 2004 earnings per share of $310 to $330 Moog had seen earnings at $305 to $325 a share Bon Ton makes $82 million offer DAYTON Ohio (AP) Board mem bers of Elder Beerman Stores Corp said the retailer will accept an $82 million offer from Bon Ton Stores unless rival suitor Wright Holdings raises its offer by early next week The Bon Ton operates 72 department stores including 10 in Western New York in New York Pennsylvania Maryland New Jersey Connecticut Massachusetts New Hampshire Vermont and West Virginia The Elder Beerman board met Thursday af ter receiving the offer to merge the Dayton based retailer with the York Pa based Bon Ton for $7 per share Elder Beerman and Bon Ton entered merger talks in late July about a month af ter the Elder Beerman board agreed to sell the company to Wright Holdings a subsid iary of Goldner Hawn Johnson Morrison of Minneapolis for $6 a share Under terms of the agreement with El der Beerman Wright Holdings has three business days to raise its bid Mortgage rate rises to 644 WASHINGTON (AP) Rates on 30 year mortgages climbed this week to the highest level since last summer The average rate rose to 644 percent for the week ending Sept 5 up from 632 percent last week reddie Mac the mortgage gi ant reported Thursday' in its weekly nation wide survey or 15 year fixed rate mortgages a pop ular option for refinan cing rates rose to 577 percent this week from 566 percent last week Rates for one year adjustable mortgages increased to 398 percent from 388 percent Callaway to acquire Top llte CHICOPEE Mass (AP) The biggest golf club manufacturer will buy one of the nation's oldest and largest golfball makers in a deal Callaway Golf Co hopes will help the company finally make money on golf balls A federal bankruptcy court on Thursday approved offer to buy Chicopee based Top lite Golf Co for $174 million above its initial offer of $125 million Calla way spokesman Larry Dorman said Callaway of Carlsbad Calif beat out German sporting goods giant Adidas in a bid to acquire Top assets after it sought Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy protection in June Top lite the second largest golf ball maker behind industry leader Ti lleisl had $250 million in golfball sales last year Mortgage rates lASf THIS LAST THIS WEEK WEEK WEEK WEEK 15 year 30 year fixed rate fixed rate77J 644 iff32 I QUq I Jill Motorola cuts another 60 jobs at its Elma plant By CHET BRIDGER News Business Reporter Motorola is releasing about 60 em ployees at its Elma plant this week ad ding to the growing list of late summer cutbacks by local manufacturers Part of the personnel move by Motor ola is related to a restructuring an nounced in August 2001 when the com pany decided to shift its printed circuit board manufacturing to Nogales Mexico Losing the circuit board line cost the plant about 200 jobs The cuts announced this week should complete the transition a company spokeswoman said employees affected are being no tified Wednesday and Thursday The transition will be completed by the end of the said Jennifer Weyrauch a spokesperson for the Illinois based com pany Some job cuts are also in sensors pro duction because the sales of those prod ucts have been slumping After the latest jobs are eliminated the plant which employed about 700 people at the beginning of 2001 will have about 435 on the payroll The company now appears to be fall ing below the commitment of 600 local jobs it made several years ago to get 4600 kilowatt hours of low cost power from the New York Power Authority The hydropower program requires companies to stay within 90 percent of their job commitment which would be 540 jobs for Motorola or the Power Au thority' could rescind the hydropower The company files an annual employ ment report with the power authority in December not automatic that we would pull the said Power Authority' spokes man Jack Murphy that ever hap pened we would sit down with the com pany and talk about what is going on in their industry and what they expect The whole objective here is to promote economic development not to stunt it by taking power The Motorola cuts follow bad news at several other manufacturers American Allsafe a Tonawanda safety equipment manufacturer will shut down by the end of the year and eliminate 1 16 jobs Oneida Ltd said last week it is consid ering closing the Buffalo China plant which employs 450 area residents Motorola pledged to provide outpla cement assistance to help their Elma workers find new jobs offered a competitive severance package which included medical cover age and outplacement Wey rauch said The company which makes computer chips electronics and communication sys tems has announced more than 40000 jobs cuts in recent years eliminating about a third of its global work force mail: cbriilgertQ buffncwscom ENTERTAINMENT OOD STORES 7 tj i ill IT 4 ANGELS 2 PI113 ifi sr jg 2pates 1 i rftwilIlM 3 TOMB RAIDER 2 6 UPTOWN GIRLS M3 1 Ti 7'2 71 if i It I I ill '7 I I I I ybm liml hl ihi i a tMaMEasiSSSSgSBgSSHM HI' I I SHARON CANTILLON'BuHalo News The locally owned Dipson Theatres chain feels the former AMC theater operation at the McKinley Mall is viable The show goes on Dipson has taken over the former AMC theater at the McKinley Mall By LISA HAARLANDER News Business Reporter Dipson Theatres the area's only lo cally owned chain of theaters is taking over the AMC theater adjacent to the McKinley Mall in the Town of Ham burg The six screen theater will open to day under new management said Mi chael Clement owner of Dipson will be a seamless Clement said theater is in excel lent AMC is leaving the McKinley Mall because the lease expired and because the McKinley theater is much smaller than its average 14 screen theater complex is it company focused on newer meganlex stylc theaters as opposed to the McKinley Mall which is an older style six screen theater that we did not feel was going to be com petitive in the long said spokes man Rick King AMC still operates a 12 screcn the ater at the Walden Galleria in Cheek towaga and two eight screen theaters on Maple Road in Amherst But Dipson feels the McKinley Mall location is viable an independent operator has allowed us to go in with flexibility to certain markets and react to market Clement said larger corporations have more firm struc tures We can adapt and react to dif ferent markets on a theater by theater or example most Dipson theaters show first run films However that for mula did not work with the Amherst location Dipson tried making it a sec ond run theater but that tactic did not succeed Dipson found that the Am herst location worked best aS an arts and independent theater lease is with the new own er of the McKinley Mall Stoltz Management of Bala Cynwyd Pa Stoltz bought the mall at the end of August for $486 million With the McKinley Mall movie the ater Dipson has a total of 10 theaters with 37 screens other theaters in Erie County are on Main Street in Amherst the Eastern Hills Mall in Clarence the North Park Theatre on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo and the Market Arcade Theatre on Main Street in Buffalo The five theaters outside Erie County are in the Batavia Mall Lakewood the Chautauqua Mall Hornell and War ren Pa Dipson has acquired three theaters in the last decade The Market Arcade Theatre and the Hornell theater came under Dipson management about three years ago Dipson took over the Eastern Hills Mall theater in 1993 Bill Dipson founded the movie chain in 1939 When Dipson died in 1987 Bernard Clement who had worked for Dipson bought the chain When Bernard Clement died three years ago his son Michael took over the company which is headquartered in Amherst and employs 110 mail: lltuarlander(a buffncwscom South Buffalo native named chairman at Penn Traffic By MATT GLYNN News Business Reporter A South Buffalo native will play an active role in trying to turn around the bankrupt par ent company of Quality Markets James A Demme 63 was named chairman of Syracuse based Penn Traffic replacing Pe ter Zurkow His appointment needs approval by a bankruptcy court judge which is expected to occur Sept 16 Demme will be responsible for areas such as strategic planning and improving opera tions as well as helping the board choose a permanent CEO Zurkow remains a director Demme brings a wealth of supermarket in dustry experience to the job including a num ber of years in the Buffalo market The Emer son High School graduate said very famil iar with the markets that Penn Traffic senes in the Northeast through the chains it owns Demme plans to spend his first five months working full time in Syracuse After that he expects to shift into a more traditional role working as chairman on a part time basis Demme said the challenges Penn Traffic faces are no different from those at other su permarket chains he has led always a challenge but my feeling is I get things done through people" Demme said a big team player kind of Demme's first experience in the industry came locally with in 1955 He remained in Buffalo on and off until the late 1980s also holding jobs with SM lickinger and Co and Scrivner during that time Demme has led two supermarket chains through reorganizations: Oklahoma based Homeland Stores and Alabama based Bru He was the top executive at when it was sold in 2001 to Royal Ahold which also owns Tops Markets This is the third change involving a top ex ecutive at Penn Traffic since May Joseph isher resigned as president and CEO and Martin ox stepped down as chief financial of ficer Demme said he plans to free up Steve Panagos Penn interim CEO and chief restructuring officer to focus on the financial side of the turnaround effort Panagos retains both of his own titles Penn Traffic operates 211 supermarkets in the Northeast including six Quality Markets stores in Erie and Niagara counties Last month it closed a store in Central Park Plaza Demme said upbeat about prospects think the franchise here can be mail: mglynn(d' buffnewscom Committee votes to block CC plan WASI IINGTON (AP) A Senate com mittee voted Thursday to prevent federal regulators from letting media companies own larger shares of the television market defying a White House veto threat The Senate Appropriations voice vote came six weeks after the House approved a bill that would also block the lib eralized ownership rules After vote the Republican chairman of the Ap propriations Committee said he believed President Bush would not veto the measure Zippo the lighter made famous in World War II got help from collectors in its quest to reach 400 million lighters OOD STORES New executives approved at Ahold meeting By ANTHONY DEUTSCH Associated Press SCHEVENINGEN Netherlands Shareholders of beleaguered food retail er Ahold approved the appointment of two top managers Thursday despite dis agreement over a proposed payment package for the Dutch company's new Swedish chief executive Anders Moberg was elected CEO at a general shareholders meeting along with inn Hannu Ryopponen who was voted in as the chief financial officer Around 97 percent of shareholders present voted for appointment to head Ahold which owns Tops Markets Moberg told anxious investors he would tackle problems by step" and that his strategy include the sale of the troubled US oodservice unit which was al the core of the ac counting scandal revealed earlier this year Badly heeded cash will be sought in the capital markets to reduce debt and unprofitable businesses shall be sold he said Angry shareholders had threatened to delay appointment over his proposed annua) payment package of around euro375 million ($41 million) including bonuses Moberg warned that See AhoM Page All SECURITIES RAUD Goldman Sachs fined $93 million in bond case Associated Press NEW YORK Goldman Sachs Co will pay more than $93 million to settle charges that one of its econo mists used an illegal tip to make mil lions for the firm when the government discontinued its 30 year bond in 2001 Economist John Youngdahl who has since left the firm was indicted Thursday on seven federal charges in cluding perjury and securities fraud He pleaded innocent and is scheduled to go to trial in ebruary Tile financial consultant accused of providing the tip Peter Davis has al ready pleaded guilty in the case Both men could eventually face time in pris on The criminal charges stem from the Treasury announcement Oct 31 2001 that it would end sales of its 30 year bond The decision sparked a huge rally that day in the long term bond The Treasury Department carefully guards its quarterly press conferences to announce specifics of its sale of gov ernment bonds Attendees must agree to abide by an embargo not release the information ahead of a pre set time On that morning in 2001 a call by See Bonds Page All north edition 7 i.