Business news in brief

Shares of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of contraceptive pills and generic drugs, surged as reports surfaced that it might be acquired by Israeli generic-drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. Barr rose $7.35, or 16 percent, to $54.17 at 6:03 p.m. in extended trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The online version of the Israeli business daily newspaper Globes reported that Teva was in talks to buy Barr. Calls to Carol Cox, a Barr spokeswoman, were not immediately returned. Denise Bradley, a spokeswoman for Teva's U.S. unit, which is in North Wales, Pa., declined to comment on the reports.

- Bloomberg News

Bid specifications for the second and final construction phase of the Convention Center expansion have gone to three prequalified bidders and are due Aug. 15, officials said yesterday. Prospective bidders are Perini Corp. of Boston; a joint venture of Walsh Construction of Chicago and Buckley & Co. Inc. of Philadelphia; and a joint venture of Daniel J. Keating Co. and Keating Building Construction of Philadelphia. The Keating group was low bidder, at $154.89 million, for the first construction phase, which is concrete pillars, foundation work and steel superstructure. That bid was about $20 million over original expectations, because of rising steel and concrete prices, said Convention Center Authority CEO Albert Mezzaroba. Center officials now estimate the expansion could run $90 million more than the $700 million budgeted because of increases in commodity costs.

- Linda Loyd

PPL Corp., the Allentown owner of Pennsylvania's second-biggest utility, may write down as much as $100 million worth of pollution credits that lost value after a court ruling threw out rules limiting power-plant emissions. The allowances for excess smog-causing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are no longer required by operators of coal-burning power plants as a result of the July 11 ruling, the company said in a regulatory filing. Market prices will determine the amount of the writedown at the end of the third quarter, PPL said.

- Bloomberg News

National Penn Bancshares Inc. announced record second-quarter earnings of $27.21 million, or 34 cents per diluted share. Net income increased 67.65 percent, compared with $16.23 million in the second quarter of 2007, the bank said in a release. Earnings per share were 32 cents in the comparable quarter last year. The Boyertown-based bank holding company attributed its record second quarter to the first-quarter acquisitions of Christiana Bank & Trust and KNBT Bancorp. Shares closed up $2.66, or 22.8 percent, at $14.34.

- Roslyn Rudolph

Environmental Tectonics Corp. said a sharp rise in sales helped it reduce its fiscal first-quarter loss to $1.5 million, or 19 cents a share. In last year's comparable quarter, the Southampton company posted a loss of $5.7 million, or 64 cents a share. Results for the latest quarter, which ended May 30, also reflect reduced claims costs associated with a U.S. Navy settlement. The improvement was partially offset by higher costs for interest and for research and development. Sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 were $10 million, compared with $4.3 million in the year-before period. Environmental Tectonics designs and develops air-crew and disaster-management training systems, entertainment products, sterilizers, environmental testing products, and hyperbaric chambers. Its shares closed down 5 cents to $1.35 on the American Stock Exchange.

- Paul Schweizer

Harleysville Savings Financial Corp. raised its quarterly dividend by a penny per share, to 18 cents per share. The holding company for Harleysville Savings Bank based in central Montgomery County also announced third-quarter earnings and said profit was $1.04 million, or 29 cents per share for the three months ended June 30, compared with $0.8 million, or 21 cents per share for the same period a year ago. The dividend is payable Aug. 20 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 6. Shares closed down 55 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $10.70.

- Reid Kanaley

Government experts narrowly backed a Johnson & Johnson antibiotic as a treatment against pneumonia, despite serious concerns about how the company studied the drug. J & J has major operations in the Philadelphia area. A Food and Drug Administration panel of antibiotic experts voted 7-6 that Doribax is effective at treating hospital-acquired pneumonia, a new use the company sought. A majority of panelists also said the drug seems safe for patients.

- AP

Merrill Lynch & Co. dropped efforts to sell a stake in BlackRock Inc. and struck a deal to sell its 20 percent share of Bloomberg L.P., people familiar with the decision told Bloomberg News and the New York Times. Merrill stood to gain about $2 billion on its 49.8 percent stake in fund manager BlackRock, based on its current market value. Merrill agreed to sell its investment in Bloomberg L.P., the parent of Bloomberg News, for $4.5 billion, a person familiar with Merrill's plans said.

- Bloomberg News

EBay Inc. says its second-quarter profit jumped 22 percent. The company saw strong growth in its e-commerce sites and its PayPal payments service. The San Jose-based online auction company earned $460 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with $376 million, or 27 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding certain items, eBay earned 43 cents per share. That beat Wall Street's forecast for 41 cents per share. EBay's revenue rose 20 percent to $2.20 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been looking for $2.17 billion in revenue.

- AP

Companies collected tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts by claiming to have their main offices in poor neighborhoods when the facilities actually were empty duplexes, part-time offices and other ineligible locations, congressional investigators alleged in two new reports. The Government Accountability Office reports examined the Small Business Administration's Historically Underutilized Business Zone program, intended to help small firms in distressed areas. Companies had to attest to the fact that their principal office was in a designated HUBZone. The SBA conducted audits on only 5 percent of the 13,000 HUBZone firms from 2004-2007. When it did conduct an audit, more than half of the firms on average were deemed ineligible.

- AP

The average seven-day yield on taxable money-market funds was 1.84 percent this week, down from 1.89 percent last week, according to iMoneyNet Inc. The average yield on tax-free funds fell to 1.00 percent from 1.08 percent last week.

- Rhonda Dickey