Business news in brief

In the Region

Sunoco Logistics Partners hikes 2d-quarter profit

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. said higher fees, wider margins, lower interest payments and additional tank capacity in its pipeline and storage business helped double second-quarter profit to a record $51.3 million, or $1.21 per share, from $25.3 million a year earlier. Lower volume in its eastern and midwestern U.S. system only slightly dampened an overall jump in operating income. Chief executive Deborah Fretz said distributions to unit holders would rise to $3.74 from $3.58 per unit. - Inquirer Staff

Air Products to sell its health-care business

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. plans to sell its U.S. health-care business and record a charge of about $237 million in its fiscal third-quarter results. The unit operates in 80 locations and has about 1,700 employees, the Allentown company said in a statement. - Bloomberg News

Comcast urges change in Verizon's exemption

Comcast Corp., Philadelphia, urged Congress to change a federal law that exempted Verizon Communications Inc. from price controls two years ago after regulators failed to vote. Lawmakers shouldn't let telephone companies win such exemptions by "default," Catherine Avgiris, Comcast's senior vice president for voice services, said at a House subcommittee hearing. Comcast, the biggest U.S. cable company, sells telephone service to compete with AT&T Inc. and Verizon, the two biggest U.S. carriers. - Bloomberg News

IGI Laboratories' compliance plan is accepted

IGI Laboratories Inc., a Buena, N.J., skin treatment products company, said in a statement yesterday that the American Stock Exchange had notified it that the exchange had accepted its plan to regain compliance with listing standards. The exchange has granted IGI an extension till May 6, 2009, to regain compliance. Shares of the company closed down 15 cents, or 7.7 percent, at $1.80. - Rhonda Dickey

Encorium wins $5 million in biopharma contracts

Encorium Group Inc., Wayne, which designs and manages clinical trials and patient registries for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, said it won contracts worth $5 million from several multinational and smaller biopharmaceutical companies. The companies awarding the contracts were not identified, but Encorium said the therapeutic areas included are cardiovascular diseases, oncology, diabetes and infectious diseases. Encorium has announced about $10 million of new contracts during the last week, said Kenneth M. Borow, Encorium's president and chief medical and strategic development officer. - Roslyn Rudolph

Ireland company breaking ground on Montco site

Gov. Rendell will be on hand at 3:30 p.m. today for the groundbreaking of the Almac Group's new North American headquarters at Fretz and Wambold Roads in Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County. Based in Ireland, Almac provides research, development and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical industry. When it announced the project last October, Almac said it planned to spend $100 million on the building and hire 262 people within three years. The state contributed $9 million to the project. - Stacey Burling

Elsewhere

Washington Mutual posts $3 billion loss in quarter

Washington Mutual Inc. said it lost a staggering $3 billion during the second quarter as it increased its loss reserves to more than $8 billion to cover souring loans in its mortgage portfolio. For the April to June period, the bank reported a loss of $3.33 billion, or $6.58 per share, compared with a profit of $830 million, or 92 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Results include a previously disclosed, one-time reduction of $3.24 per share related to the company's $7.2 billion capital raise in April. - AP

AK Steel sees 32% gain in profit in 2d quarter

AK Steel Holding Corp. said second-quarter profit rose 32 percent because of record prices for sheet steel and higher demand from the power industry. Net income increased to $145.2 million, or $1.29 a share, from $109.9 million, or 98 cents, a year earlier, West Chester, Ohio-based AK Steel said in a statement. Sales gained 20 percent to a record $2.24 billion. - Bloomberg News

House imposes waiting period on FAA inspectors

Federal aviation inspectors would have to wait two years before taking airline jobs where they deal with their old government boss under legislation passed by the House. The legislation, passed 392-0, is designed to push the Federal Aviation Administration to improve its safety inspection practices and end the FAA's overly close relations with the airlines industry. It is in response to recent reports of lapses in FAA safety oversight and testimony by FAA inspectors that their jobs were threatened when they reported problems with some airlines. - AP

GE, Abu Dhabi company form $8 billion venture

General Electric Co., turning to sovereign wealth as it exits U.S. consumer financing, formed an $8 billion venture with Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co. to profit from commercial investments in the Middle East and Africa. State-owned Mubadala also said it wants to become a top 10 holder in GE, whose shares have lost about a quarter of their value since April 11. That's when CEO Jeffrey Immelt reduced his 2008 profit forecast as the seize-up in capital markets hurt some GE finance divisions. - Bloomberg News

Norfolk Southern raises dividend by 10 percent

Norfolk Southern Corp. boosted its quarterly dividend by 10 percent to 32 cents a share. The new payout, an increase from 29 cents a share, is payable Sept. 10 to holders of record on Aug. 1, the Norfolk, Va., railroad said in a statement. The company also said second-quarter profit rose to $453 million, or $1.18 a share. Net income a year earlier was $394 million, or 98 cents a share. - Bloomberg News

Supervalu, owner of Acme, sees 9% rise in profit

Grocer Supervalu says its fiscal first-quarter profit rose around 9 percent on modest sales growth, matching Wall Street expectations. Supervalu's Acme and Save-a-Lot stores employ about 11,400 people in the Philadelphia region. Profit rose to $162 million, or 76 cents per share, from $148 million, or 69 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Sales rose to $13.35 billion from $13.29 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 76 cents per share and sales of $13.19 billion for the quarter ended June 14. - AP

Walter Bettinger named CEO of Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab Corp. named Walter Bettinger as chief executive officer, replacing the brokerage's founder, Charles R. Schwab. Bettinger assumes the role on Oct. 1, the company said in a statement. The firm also boosted its quarterly dividend from 5 cents to 6 cents a share. The dividend is payable Aug. 22. "This increase reflects the board's confidence in our ability to continue to deliver consistent earnings and cash flow," Schwab, who remains chairman, said in the statement. - Bloomberg News