In the Region

Quarter and year off for Pep Boys sales and profit

Sales and earnings declined at Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack for the fourth quarter and for the year. The Philadelphia automotive-supplies-and-service chain reported $2.1 billion in sales for its fiscal year, which ended Feb. 2, down from $2.2 billion from a year earlier. Sales for the fourth quarter declined to $517.6 million from $578.9 million a year earlier. Earnings also declined. In the fourth quarter, Pep Boys reported a loss of $18.5 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with fourth-quarter profit of $7.9 million, or 15 cents a share - both based on earnings from continuing operations before changes in accounting principles. The fourth-quarter loss included $20.7 million, or 27 cents a share, in restructuring costs. For the year, Pep Boys' losses mounted to $37.4 million, or 72 cents a diluted share, compared with a $7.1 million loss the prior year. Its shares closed down $1.28, or 10.77 percent, at $10.60. - Jane M. Von Bergen

BioNanomatrix gets $5.1 million for gene mapping

A West Philadelphia start-up company, BioNanomatrix L.L.C., said it had raised $5.1 million to advance its technology that aims to sequence an entire individual human genome in eight hours at a cost of just $100. Current technology takes about two months and costs between $60,000 and $350,000. BioNanomatrix's technology is a tiny silicon "nano" chip that permits whole strands of DNA to remain intact through analysis. The strands are "read" and imaged without being broken, like sentences in a book. Battelle Ventures, Princeton, led the $5.1 million financing. Also participating was Battelle Ventures' affiliate fund, Innovation Valley Partners, and KT Venture Group L.L.C., of San Jose, Calif. Earlier investors Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania and 21 Ventures of New York, agreed to convert debt into stock as part of the financing. - Linda Loyd

Pa. to give Ben Franklin $3.5 million for nanotech

Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania said it would receive $3.5 million from the state for its Nanotechnology Institute. Founded in 2000, the institute is a collaborative effort between Ben Franklin and regional universities. It has helped develop 13 companies and attracted more than $172 million in investment. The $3.5 million is part of $9.8 million for six nanotechnology projects in the state announced by Gov. Rendell. The money will be used to accelerate research and commercialization and create new companies. - Linda Loyd

Elsewhere

Oracle stock drops on fears over tech spending

Oracle Corp.'s third-quarter profit matched Wall Street's expectations, but in after-hours trading, a sales miss sent shares of the business-software-maker tumbling on fears the company was being pinched by falling technology spending. The company said after the market closed yesterday that it earned $1.34 billion, or 26 cents a share, in the three months ended Feb. 29. That represents a 30 percent jump from the same period a year earlier, when Oracle's net income was $1.03 billion, or 20 cents a share. Stripping out onetime expenses, Oracle earned 30 cents a share, meeting the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial. Sales were higher than a year earlier, but lower than expected, and shares fell $1.74, more than 8 percent, to $19.20 in after-hours trading. They had fallen 14 cents during regular trading to close at $20.94 before the financial results were reported. - AP

Ex-CEO guilty of witness-bribing before fraud trial

A federal jury in Ohio convicted the founder of a failed health-care company of trying to bribe a witness in a forthcoming $1.9 billion fraud trial. Jurors delivered their decision against Lance Poulsen, former chief executive officer of National Century Financial Enterprises, after deliberating for one day. The Columbus suburbs company was described as the nation's largest health-care-financing firm before its 2002 bankruptcy. Poulsen was accused of offering a former company executive $500,000 to give misleading testimony during Poulsen's fraud trial, scheduled for August. Poulsen testified that the executive, Sherry Gibson, misunderstood and that he never asked her to lie. - AP

Court examiner: Bankrupt lender was 'time bomb'

Bankrupt mortgage-lender New Century Financial Corp. used improper accounting practices while making risky loans, creating "a ticking time bomb" that led to the company's rapid downfall, a court examiner said in a report. Michael J. Missal concluded that New Century engaged in at least seven improper accounting practices in 2005 and 2006. Missal also found that senior management at the Irvine, Calif., lender failed to take appropriate steps to manage rising risks caused by the company's aggressive approach to originating loans, often to borrowers who could not afford them. The examiner also said New Century's accounting firm, KPMG L.L.P., enabled some of the improper accounting practices to continue. - AP

New FTC chairman to be William Kovacic

The White House named William Kovacic as the next chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, replacing Deborah Platt Majoras, who will resign at the end of the month. Kovacic has served as one of the FTC's five commissioners since January 2006. He will be one of two remaining Republican commissioners after Majoras leaves. - AP

Walkout could force shutdown of GM plant in Ohio

General Motors Corp., with light-truck output slowed by a strike at a supplier, may shut its first car-assembly plant by April 4, a union chief said. The American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. walkout threatens to deprive GM's Lordstown, Ohio, factory of a brake part, which would halt work on the Chevrolet Cobalt, said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112. - Bloomberg News

Eli Lilly to pay Alaska $15 million in drug effects

Eli Lilly & Co. and Alaska announced a $15 million settlement in the state's lawsuit over the use of the drug Zyprexa in its Medicaid program. The deal ensures that Alaska will be treated as well as any other state that may settle with Lilly over similar allegations involving the drug, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The state sued for hundreds of millions of dollars to cover costs to Medicaid for treating what it says are Zyprexa-related health problems, such as severe obesity, elevated blood sugar, and diabetes. The agreement included no admission of wrongdoing by Lilly. - AP

Yield on 2-year T-bills lowest since March 2004

The U.S. Treasury sold $28 billion of two-year notes at a yield of 1.761 percent. The yield on the two-year notes sold yesterday was the lowest since 1.52 percent at the March 2004 auction. At the February auction, the notes yielded 2.045 percent. - Bloomberg News

Yields fall on taxable and tax-free money markets

The average seven-day yield on taxable money market funds fell to 2.17 percent this week from 2.62 percent last week, according to iMoneyNet Inc. A seven-day yield is an annual yield that is based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average yield on tax-free funds fell to 2.04 percent from 2.33 percent last week. - Rhonda Dickey