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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Monday, August 14, 2000

Maui hospital enlists L.A. firm

Maui Memorial Medical Center has retained Health Benchmarks Inc., a national consulting firm, to develop ways to measure the quality of the 169-bed hospital and the performance of its physicians.

Los Angeles-based Health Benchmarks said it will create a computer "data warehouse" of patient information that will monitor patients' encounters with their doctors and track how long patients stay and whether they have complications or have to readmitted later.

Jonathan Weisul, Maui Memorial medical director, said the system will give the hospital an up-to-date picture of its operations that it could not get from paper records. Health Benchmarks develops and supports health information services for the drug industry, employer groups and managed care organizations.

Hearst-Argyle signs cable TV pact

NEW YORK -- Time Warner Inc., the No. 2 U.S. cable-television operator, said today it will continue to carry Hearst-Argyle Television Inc. stations, averting a shutoff of broadcasts seen by 3.4 million cable subscribers.

Time-Warner is the parent of Hawaii cable TV operator Oceanic Cable, while Hearst-Argyle owns the local ABC affiliate KITV.

The New York-based companies did not disclose financial terms of the accord. Time Warner has 12.6 million cable customers nationwide. Hearst-Argyle has 26 TV stations available to 17.5 million homes.

The agreement avoids a shut off of Hearst-Argyle broadcasts to Time Warner subscribers like one the earlier this year between the cable operator and Walt Disney Co.'s ABC. Time Warner yanked ABC from some of its mainland cable systems for almost 40 hours in May after failing to sign a carriage agreement, which lets cable companies transmit local stations' signals to their subscribers. Time Warner said in April that it agreed to extend negotiations with Hearst-Argyle for 60 days. The original retransmission agreement expired at the end of last year.

In other news . . .

IRVINE, Calif. -- Broadcom Corp. said today it agreed to acquire computer chipmaker NewPort Communications Inc. for $1.24 billion in stock to expand its product line. Broadcom, based in Irvine, Calif., makes chips that manage high-speed communications in products such as cable modems and television set-top boxes. Closely held NewPort, also based in Irvine, develops fiber-optic communications chips.

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Of Mutual Concern

News for mutual fund investors

Key investment exec leaving Janus Fund

DENVER -- The man credited with building up the Janus Fund with technology stocks is leaving the fund's parent company. Jim Craig, Janus' chief investment officer and research director, will leave the firm at the end of September to manage money for a new charitable foundation he and his wife established, according to Janus Chief Executive Tom Bailey.

Janus spokeswoman Jane Ingalls said Craig's departure had nothing to do with the fact that Janus funds have been trailing other funds during the first seven months of 2000. So far this year, 15 of Janus' 18 funds were below their category averages. By contrast, 15 of Janus' 18 funds beat the averages last year.

Craig, 44, managed the Janus Fund for 13 years before turning the reins over to his former assistant Blaine Rollins in January and taking over the company's research. Janus' Executive Investment Committee, formed by Craig more than a year ago, will take over his responsibilities for managing the investment team. During his 17 years at Janus, Craig managed four funds, Janus Venture Fund, Janus Fund, Janus Worldwide Fund and Janus Balanced Fund.

The Craig Family Foundation will be based in Denver. Its mission is to help disadvantaged people in the Denver area.

Consumer groups urge tighter disclosure rules

WASHINGTON -- Ten U.S. consumer advocacy groups have turned up the heat on the Securities & Exchange Commission to require mutual funds to improve disclosure of their portfolios' holdings to shareholders.

In a five-page petition signed by the Consumer Federation of American, Consumer Action and others last week, the groups demanded that the SEC require all funds to disclose their holdings more often and that specialized funds increase the percentage of assets in their specialty area.

The Financial Planning Association, with 29,000 members, sent the SEC a similar petition on June 28.

Under current SEC rules, a fund whose name implies it invests in a certain type of asset -- such as a "value stock" or "government bond" or "growth stock" fund -- actually must invest at least 65 percent of assets in that type of security. The 10 consumer groups petitioned the SEC to increase the 65 percent threshold to 85 percent.

The 10 consumer groups also urged the SEC to require funds to disclose portfolio holdings -- each stock or bond in the fund, the number of shares, and their value -- within 30 days after the end of each month and on random days throughout the year.

Small-cap fund manager sees tech opportunities

BOSTON -- The downturn in technology stock prices in recent weeks presents some intriguing opportunities for small-cap investors, says John Hancock Small-Cap Value Fund manager Timothy Quinlisk.

Quinlisk knows what he's talking about. His performance last year in the value sector was one of the industry's best.

The John Hancock Small-Cap Value Fund, with about $550 million in assets, had a total return of 98.2 percent in 1999, ranking it in the top 1 percent of small-cap value funds, according to Morningstar Inc.

The fund has a return of 12.36 percent year-to-date through June 30, and a return of 73.18 percent for the 12 months ended in June.

"We're looking for what we consider a good or great business that are on sale for some particular reason that we see as a temporary issue," said Quinlisk. For example, a long-running favorite of his is Vicor Corp., an Andover, Mass., company that makes high-tech modular power components and power systems.

Quinlisk's fund starting buying Vicor shares at about $15 more than a year ago.

Now, it looks like the product is a success, Quinlisk says. The company reported second-quarter earnings of 19 cents a share, up from 10 cents last year, on strong revenue growth. The share price has climbed steadily from a low of $18 last August to its close today of $36.91.

Quinlisk also favors Aspen Technology Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., a maker of computer software used to perfect manufacturing processes.

Aspen has come off a high of $55.38 on March 24, and closed today at $47.25.