IN BRIEF
Global Cash Access profits slip 11 percent
Global Cash Access Holdings, a Las Vegas-based provider of automatic teller machines and cash advance services to casinos, said Wednesday that its third-quarter earnings fell 11 percent as operating costs rose.
Net income fell to $6.9 million, or 9 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, from $7.8 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation and other unusual items, totaled $15.2 million, or 19 cents per share.
Revenue rose 9.6 percent to a record $156.6 million from $142.9 million.
Atlantic City casino to feature twin towers
The newest addition to Atlantic City’s skyline will be a twin-tower megacasino that appears as if it were sculpted by ocean waves.
Revel Entertainment Group unveiled designs Wednesday for its $2 billion casino to be built on the Boardwalk next to the Showboat, and said the project will open earlier than had been planned.
Kevin DeSanctis, the company’s chairman and CEO, said the project would be called simply "Revel" and would open in the second half of 2010.The 20-acre complex was given preliminary site plan approval Wednesday by the Atlantic City planning board.
The project’s first phase calls for a single tower with 1,800 to 1,900 rooms. When a second tower is built, that number would rise to 3,800 to 3,900 rooms.
WASHINGTON
Worker productivity surges during summer
Worker productivity surged in the summer at the fastest pace in four years while wage pressures eased.
The Labor Department reported that productivity — the amount of output per hour of work — jumped at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the July-September quarter. That was more than twice the 2.2 percent rise in the second quarter and was the fastest surge in worker efficiency since 2003.
At the same time, wage pressures eased. Unit labor costs dropped at an annual rate of 0.2 percent, the best showing in more than a year.
Tracinda begins offer to boost Tesoro stake
Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. began a $1.4 billion tender offer to increase its stake in U.S. refiner Tesoro Corp. to 20 percent from 4 percent.
The offer, for 21.9 million shares at $64 each, will expire on Dec. 6 if it’s not extended, Tracinda said Wednesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The price is 12 percent higher than Tesoro’s last close before Tracinda announced plans for the offer on Oct. 26.
Tesoro shares, which rose as high as $65.98 after Tracinda’s Oct. 26 statement, closed Wednesday at $56.64. If more shares are offered than the maximum in the tender, stock will be purchased on a prorated basis, Tracinda said Wednesday.
Tesoro issued an Oct. 29 statement acknowledging the offer and saying it would make a recommendation to shareholders on whether to accept within 10 business days after the tender commenced.
Kerkorian, a 90-year-old billionaire, would become Tesoro’s largest shareholder with a 20 percent stake.
LV club revenue lifts Playboy Enterprises
Playboy Enterprises, the publisher of the most widely read men’s magazine, said revenue from a new club at the Palms helped third-quarter profit more than doubled.
Net income rose to $2.6 million, or 8 cents a share, from $1.1 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier. Revenue was little changed at $82.8 million. Analysts polled by Bloomberg forecast revenue of $86 million.
Revenue at the publishing unit fell 6 percent to $23.1 million and advertising sales at the magazine will fall 3 percent this quarter, Playboy said. Chief Executive Officer Christie Hefner, daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, opened the Palms in Las Vegas a year ago and a store in London to help offset the decline.
NEW YORK
Treasury prices mixed as credit fears worsen
Treasury prices closed mixed Wednesday as deepening fears about mortgage-linked assets spurred strong buying of shorter maturities.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.31 points to close at 103.25 with a yield of 4.34 percent, down from 4.38 percent in late trade Tuesday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
