Business news in brief

In the Region

City buildings' security officers ratify new contract

Security officers who protect City Hall, the Municipal Services Building, and other city buildings ratified a five-year contract with Scotlandyard Security Services Inc. on Saturday, according to Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the guards. Unarmed officers now earning $8.50 to $9 per hour with no benefits, paid vacation or sick days will see their hourly wage increase to $13.02 in the first year, along with employer-paid health coverage, two weeks of paid vacation, and free legal assistance through the local's legal-services fund. By the end of the four-year contract, unarmed officers will earn $14.52 an hour and armed officers will earn $19.85 an hour, the union said. About 70 officers are covered by this agreement, which goes into effect immediately. A company representative could not be reached for comment. - Jane M. Von Bergen

Rite Aid to pay N.J. $650,000 to settle lawsuit

Rite Aid Corp. has agreed to pay New Jersey up to $650,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that dozens of its stores in the state sold expired infant formula, baby food, and over-the-counter medications. "Expired products have no place on the shelves of New Jersey stores, and as this settlement makes clear, the law requires Rite Aid to make sure product dates are checked and requires that out-of-date products are not offered for sale," state Attorney General Anne Milgram said in announcing the deal. Rite Aid, Camp Hill, Pa., admitted no wrongdoing, her office said. A company spokeswoman said Rite Aid had implemented policies to periodically inspect merchandise to make sure expired products are not being sold. - AP

Kensey Nash says it expects a fourth-quarter loss

Kensey Nash Corp. said it expected to report a net loss for its fiscal fourth quarter of 8 to 9 cents a share compared with a loss of 15 cents a share a year earlier. The Exton pharmaceutical company, whose quarter ends June 30, also announced an expanded share-buyback program. Without a special charge of $5.1 million related to the sale of its endovascular business, the company said quarterly earnings would be 32 or 33 cents a share. Last year's fourth quarter included a special charge of $3.1 million from the discontinuation of a business. Sales for this year's quarter, including endovascular products, are expected to be $14.3 million to $14.5 million, about a 33 percent increase from the 2007 fourth quarter, Kensey Nash said. The share repurchase program, which has no expiration date, will be increased by $10 million to as much as $35 million. It will be financed with available cash. Kensey Nash focuses on products for the sports medicine, spine and endovascular markets. Its shares closed down 11 cents at $32.55 on the Nasdaq market. - Paul Schweizer

Fandango acquires Movies.com from Walt Disney

Movie ticketing and entertainment site Fandango Inc. said it had acquired Movies.com from the Walt Disney Co. for an undisclosed amount. Fandango, based in Los Angeles, which is owned by Philadelphia's Comcast Corp., sells tickets for 1,300 theaters nationwide. It said it would now handle the movie-ticketing functions for Movies.com, which is mainly an entertainment Web site. Comcast said the purchase price was minimal. Fandango said it had 6.3 million monthly unique visitors to its Web site in May, compared with 1.9 million for Movies.com. - AP

US Airways announces alliance with Air China

US Airways Group Inc. said it had begun a code-sharing alliance with Air China Ltd. The agreement will put the US Airways airline code on Air China flights between Beijing and Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, and on Air China flights from the West Coast to Shanghai that connect in Beijing. Air China will add its code to US Airways flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Phoenix; Las Vegas; Charlotte, N.C.; Philadelphia; and Pittsburgh. The changes begin tomorrow. Code-sharing arrangements allow carriers to sell tickets on one another's flights and offer reciprocal frequent-flier and airport-lounge programs. - Linda Loyd

Reading's Carpenter files suit on alloy patents

Carpenter Technology Corp., Reading, said that it filed a lawsuit against Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Technologies Inc., alleging that two U.S. patents obtained by Allegheny were not valid. Carpenter Technology filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, challenging the validity of patents 564 and 858, relating to a method of producing and manufacturing 30-inch-diameter 718 ingots of nickel-based alloys. Allegheny Technologies said yesterday that it did not comment on litigation. Carpenter shares closed up $1.07, or 2.35 percent, at $46.60 on the New York Stock Exchange, where Allegheny closed at $63.37, up 73 cents. - Linda Loyd

Checkpoint Systems to buy Mass. software firm

Checkpoint Systems Inc. said it had agreed to buy software developer OATSystems Inc. in an all-cash transaction expected to close in two weeks. Financial terms were not disclosed. Checkpoint, of Thorofare, Gloucester County, makes systems for retail tracking, security and merchandising. The company said it expected the acquisition to dilute to earnings per share through 2009 and to enhance earnings after 2009. OATSystems, of Waltham, Mass., makes software for radio-frequency identification tracking systems. - Linda Loyd

Morphotek announces grant from Defense Dept.

Morphotek Inc. said it had received $1.7 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop therapeutic antibodies to treat infectious diseases and illnesses caused by potential biowarfare pathogens. Morphotek, of Exton, is the biologics development division of Tokyo-based Eisai Co Ltd., Japan's fourth-largest drugmaker. - Linda Loyd

Elsewhere

United plans to start cutting 950 pilot positions

United Airlines said it planned to eliminate about 950 pilot jobs beginning this summer in addition to an already announced plan to cut 1,600 salaried positions and reduce its fleet. The carrier told its pilots' union about the cuts yesterday and said it was still working out the reductions with the group. Dave Kelly, a spokesman for the United branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, declined to comment. United has about 6,600 active pilots, a United spokeswoman said. - AP

Interest rates on short-term T-bills fall at auction

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in yesterday's auction to the lowest levels in two weeks. The Treasury Department auctioned $22 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.855 percent, down from 2.050 percent last week. An additional $23 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 2.255 percent, down from 2.350 percent last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,953.11 while a six-month bill sold for $9,885.37. - AP

Average yield for one-year T-bills rises, Fed says

The Federal Reserve said yesterday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, rose to 2.57 percent last week from 2.51 percent the previous week. - AP