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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Monday, July 24, 2000

Dole gets $51 million insurance settlement

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Dole Food Co., the world's biggest producer of fresh fruit, said today its insurers have agreed to pay $51 million to compensate the company for damages wrought by 1998's Hurricane Mitch.

Proceeds from the settlement will be received early in the third quarter and will lead Dole to report a gain of about 70 cents a share. The company is expected by two analysts to earn 5 cents and 21 cents in the quarter.

The settlement comes on top of a $11.7 million insurance settlement last year for Hurricane Mitch damage. More than 30,000 acres of Dole's fruit plantations in Central America were destroyed by the storm, which wiped out 10 percent of the world's banana crop.

Toys 'R' Us hooks up baby unit to Internet

PARAMUS, N.J. -- Toys "R" Us Inc.'s Internet unit said it created a Babiesrus. com Web site to complement Babies "R" Us, the No.1 baby specialty store chain.

Babies "R" Us -- The Baby Superstore is a unit of Paramus, N.J.-based Toys "R" Us and has 135 stores with annual sales of $1 billion. Toys "R" Us operates 1,557 stores, including Babies "R" Us stores, and had sales of $11.9 billion for the year ended Jan. 29, Bloomberg News reported.

The new site will feature infant and baby products, a gift registry, and a program that allows customers to return purchases to Babies "R" Us stores.

Priceline.com loses $4.5 mil; stock falls

NORWALK, Conn. -- Priceline.com Inc., which lets customers bid on line for plane tickets, hotel rooms, groceries and other goods, said its second-quarter loss narrowed to $4.52 million as sales more than tripled. The loss of 7 cents a share after the payment of preferred dividends compared with $14.3 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $352.1 million from $111.6 million, topping the $331.2 million average forecast of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Priceline.com shares closed down $8.94, or nearly 22.3 percent, to $31.12 in Nasdaq trading.