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Show TheKattLakeTribune sly BUSINESS CONSUMER CORNER, E-2 MARKET\\\ FRIDAY NOVEMBER3, 2000 HEBUSINESS GLANCE, E-4 WUTAH BRIEFS, E-2 Retailers Face Disappointing Holidays Indicators Sales decline points to spending slowdown slowdown,” said Kurt Barnard, publisher “A lot of retailers have cleared the decks, and are relying on other channels to move outthe leftovers,” Morris said. “Theyare keeping stores fresh, but there is still an awful lot of inventory in the stores.” He added that he foresees more mark- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ofBarnard’s Retail Trend Report, based in downs for the holiday season. NEW YORK — Thenation’slargest retailers turned in a mixed performance in through the holiday. Most companies will fail to matchlast year’s numbers,let alone exceed them.” analysts who reviewed the sales results “ yeleased Thursday. And many believe these problems will continue through the holiday season. “October sales results are clear evidence that there’s 4 consumer spending BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO October as specialty stores strong sales and department stores were stymied by heavy markdowns thateroded their profits. The outlook for the holiday shopping season appears disappointing. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer and usually one of the industry’s best performers, warned Thursday that. its fourth-quartersales will be slightly below Wall Street estimates. However, Wal-Mart said its October results metexpectations. Stock market volatility, rising fuel prices and slower consumer spending continue to plagueretailers, according to strength. Department stores generly turned in disappointing sales, with Federated DepartmentStores, J.C. Penney andDillards not meeting analysts’ expectations. J.C. Penney warned thatit expects to See’its third-quarterloss to at least double from recentforecasts. On the other hand, May Department Stores, Target Corp. and Sears, Roebuck ey. met. goals for the Upper Montclair, N.J. “This will continue reported blamed its 9.2 percent decrease in sales at stores openat least a year to “higher gas and heating oil prices, a tightening in consumer spending, and a lack of must-havefashions or consumer products.” Sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, are the most widely used measure of retailers’ Thelatest measure of consumeroptimism has added to the growing expecta- tion that this will be a difficult holiday seasonforretailers. On Tuesday,‘the Conference Board repol a sharp dropin its consumer confidence index, indicating that Americans are growing more conservative about Evendiscounters, which The big winners last month were spe- cialty stores, with Talbots, Limited, Wet Seal, andPacific Sunwear ofCalifornia all reporting strongsales. A big exception was Gap, which reported Wednesday that its same-store sales fell 2 percent due to heavy markdowns. It also warned thatits thirdquarter in slightly below Wall At Wal-Mart, same-sto} sales were up 4.9 percent, while total sales gained 10.1 have been the mosthurt byrisingfuel prices, have found themselves struggling, with Bradlees, Ames Department Stores, Kmart and spending. John Morris, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison, says that any sales increases have been achieved at the expense of heavy discounting of merchandise, percent. Federated reported same-store sales rose 1.6 percent, while total sales rose 0.6 percent. Dillards saw same-store andtotal sales fall 2 percent. Costco not meeting Wall Street's forecasts for October. Bradlees chairman Peter Thorner whicheatinto retailers’ profits. ANALYSIS Utah Power | a. WORD IS OUT Buyers moved selectively back into the stock market Thursday, snapping up financial and technology issuesafter Wednesday's dip. Selling in basic materials andretailing stocks left the overall market mixed. Wantsto Track Costs Utah, Other States Reach Settlement on Lens Suit Utah and31otherstates have ‘@ reached a proposed settlement with *{ CIBAVisionin an antitrust lawsuit Rate hike could soak up priceofextraelectricity i..volving replacementcontactlenses that would makecash rebates and te benefits available to about itahns. aThe states, in a 1996 federal lawsuit BY STEVEN OBERBECK " filed in Jacksonville, Fla., alleged that . £ s = ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE the American Optometric Association, Vistakon, Bausch & Lomb, CIBA Vision andindividual optometrists violated antitrust lawsbypricing replacementcontact lenses atartificially high levels, in part by preventing the lenses from being sold through mail, phone order and Internet outlets, the Utah Attorney General’s Office said. Consumers who boughtreplacement contact lerises from any of the © =< # + Utah Power wants to start keeping track of how muchit is spending to buy extra electricity in the wholesale marketplace so it eventually can pass the cost on to its customers. This past summer, demand for electricity to run central air conditioners and swamp coolers was higher than normal because of a heat wavein the region. Utah Power’s generating plants could not keep up with demand,so the company boughtextra electricity on the open market to keep humming. its transmission lines “Wehad to absorb those costs because we did not have any way to recapture Raga #f Which will fund a national education _- Trial has been set for March 19 in Jacksonville for the remaining part of ~ the lawsuit againstthe otherdefendants. Jan.31 is the deadline for consumersto opt outof the lawsuit or the ~ proposed settlement. Utahns whobelieve they may have beenvictimized bythe alleged antitrustactions maycall the Attorney General's Office at 801-366-0358. For 7 more information, consumers may { call 888-811-0385 orthey can visit *{ www.contactlenssettlement.com. Intel On Track in Riverton Intel Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker,saidit is on tracktofill 230 positionsatits new research and development campusin Riverton by the endof the year. The administrative positions are among 330 the Santa Clara,Calif., companyplans to fill in its new ; 330,op-eauaretoot facility by the end 4 of 2001 i Tjobs were created by the com‘ pany’s decision to consolidate payroll i jobs from Oregon and Arizona; hu* man resources jobs from Folsom, Calif; and call center jobs from Hillsboro, Ore. Intel said it expects tofill about 80 percentofthepositions in Riverton es », with tahns,given that only about s* one in 10 employees typically accepts a job transfer from anotherIntel loca*- tion. The companyhas also moved 350 of * its employees already working in ** Utah tothe Rivertonfacility. The fa& cility is one of several buildings neneering a campus thatover the next two decades could employ 8,000 people. a * 7 Huntsman in ICI Deal Pd : Huntsman Specialty Chemicals Corp., a subsidiary of Salt LakeCity- + based HuntsmanCorp,, plansto ac- é: quire the 30 percent interest in Huntsman ICI Holdings held by the Londonbased Imperial Chemical Industries. ‘The purchase price is $365 million. Huntsman Corp.and ICI formed Huntsman ICIHoldings in 1999 when Huntsman acquired controlling interest in ICI’s polyurethanes,titanium dioxide and petrochemicals businesses for$2.8 billion. HuntsmanandICI expectto complete the transaction by mid-2001, ‘ ‘ Rick Egan/TheSalt Lake Tribune Jackeline Santiago is among the Merit Medical.Sytems employees who haveparticipated in on-site English classes. On-Site English Classes Help In, Out of Work BY ANNA CEKOLA ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. SOUTH JORDAN — Ada Florian spoke little English before starting a language class in 1998 run by her employer, Merit Medical SystemsInc.of South Jordan. Five monthslater, Florian, originally from Guatemala, transferred from the medical-device maker's assemblyline to a better-paying position in which she needed her new English skills to operate computerized machines. She now works in Merit’s label-control department, where English is crucial to ensuring product directions and information meet strict Federal Drug Administration requirements. English has helped at homeas well. For one, she doesn’t need a translator any longerfor conferences with her 8-year-old daughter’, teacher, something that brings a big smile to her face. “I can go anywhere withouthelp,” said Florian, 36, who had been turned down for a job at Merit before it started the English-as-a-second-language class. “I just feel proud of myself,” she added. “T feel, ‘Oh, I can doit.’” Noonelikes hearing such success sto- ries more than Fred Lampropoulos, Merit ¢ rea time duringtheir regular shifts. Merit spends about$200,000 a year required in the tightly regulated medical (not counting the employee down time) to run the program, including devices industry. Hesaid he also madethe moveoutof a three full-time employees: one teacher and two mentors, who help the em- philosophyof helpingothers, rooted in the humble circumstances of his childhood, andin response to challenges familiar to most businesses:attracting and retaining qualified workers in a tight labor market. English is a second language for about a third of the 1,100 employees of Merit, which reported $3.2 million in net income ployees in all aspects of their work life. Abouttwo-thirds of the who have gone through the program have stayed with the company more than two years. In comparison, the average assembly worker stays eight months with the company, which specializes in disposable medical products used in cardiology and radiprocedures. for 1999, with revenue growing to $78 mil- lion forthefiscal year. “Ican't think of anythingI do herethat gives me more personal satisfaction and allows me to feel successful in business, especially in the medical device area,” Lampropoulossaid. “It’s a tough world out there. There are big competitors. Small medical device companies have not been well appreciated for the last several e seller of powerinto the wholesale markets and periods when it was a net buyer,” Gimblesaid. “All of that will need to be analyzed in + the future to get a complete picture of whatis happeningwith its costs,”he said. Eskelsen said the request will have no “Retention has improved and that saves money in recruiting and re- training,” said Susan Kubiak, Merit’s vice president of organizational de- immediate impact on consumerprices. He wouldn’t predict when Utah Power will askfora rate hike. e-mail: steve@sltrib.com velopment. “It is also a way of saying years on Wall Street. But despite that, whenwehavea program likethis andit's See ENGLISH,Page E-5 ; Code Won’t Be Used Until 2002 | 0 those costs in a future rate case. PSC Chairman Stephen Mecham said the power company’s request for the socalled “deferred accounting treatment” has been used before. “Tt is a way for them to account for those extra costs. Then, how those costs get treated in a rate case becomes an issue,” he said Pacificorp is forecasting that if the price of electricity remains near current levels, it may have to buy as muchas $67 million in extra power over the next year: for its Utah customers. Yet that projected $67 million will not be the only thing regulators have to consider before they allow Pacificorp to pass * on the excesscostto its Utah ratepayers. The ing could get i said Dan Gimble, energy group manager for the Committee of ConsumerServices. “This past summer, there were probably periods when Pacificorp was a net the class, four days a week — all paid except one — a knowledge of English — ’ 9 385’ Area special accountso it can try to recapture successful, it makesit all worth it.” About 60 Merit employees, mainly women working on assembly lines, have graduated from the 16-week customized ESL classes in the past two years. Employees spend 90 minutes in Medical’s president and chief executive officer. Hetook the unusual stepofstarting the ESL program at company headquarters in 1998, responding to a growing numberof Spanish-speaking applicants like Florian whoheldall the necessary qualifications on e § n Utah's 385 BY STEVEN OBERBECK eee, percentof the 4.6 million land-line 801 numbers that had been as- PSC Chairman Stephen Mechamsaid it may be possible to Utah will eventually get a new “385"area code for Davis, Morgan, use. The PSC was right. There are date back even further. In Feburary, the PSC will Service Commission the "gsr 801 numbers. area code for Davis, ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE signed by NANPAwere actually in Utah and Webercounties. still a lot of 801 numbers left. It just won't be as soon as Asaresult,thePSCon Thursday issued an orderthat says the “385" area code will not be put touse until expected. The North American Number. ing Plan Administrator (NANPA), which oversees area-code and telephone-number assignments nationwide,last year told the Utah Public Service Commission, PSC) that 801 heare8 would be exhausted by mid-200! The PSC beloved NANPA’s es: timate was inaccurate. Its studies indicated only 60 percent to 65 March 30, 2002, It was originally scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 31 ofthis year. When a new area code is assigned, telephone users typically, are granted a six-month grace pe. riod during which they can use the new area code or not. Under the PSC’s new plan, that grace period will run until Sept. 90, 2002. . ‘aah Power spokesman Dave Es- Pee Utah Power's Portland, Ore.-based parent company, is asking the Utah Public Service Commission (PSC) for permission to keep track ofits future excess wholesale electricity costs in a campaign starting today. Area Code push the March 30, 2002, starting The Utah Public launch a plan to conserve unused are —_Telecommunica- they are using 9 percent of the numbers that have been assigned to them. Qwest Communications International Inc, was set to go with the new code Dec. 31, said Michael Frandsen, the company's Utah spokesman, The new start date won't inconvenience the company. e-mail: steve@sltrib.com ) cota to Dink Morgan, Weber and Utah counties will tions companies that want additional numbers will have to prove notbe needed until March 30, 2002 at the earliest. (2) 385 area (2) 801 area () 435 area ' * ry |
