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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Monday, October 9, 2000

State tax revenues fell 4% in September

State tax collections dropped 4 percent in September, but the total collected so far in the fiscal year is up 5.2 percent, the state said today.

The September decline was partly because the last day of the month fell on Saturday, which meant taxes normally due that day didn't have to be paid until the first part of October, according to the Department of Taxation.

For September, tax revenue deposited into the state's general fund totaled $254.9 million, a 4.1 percent decrease from a year earlier. But for the first three months of the fiscal year, $774.3 million was deposited, up 5.2 percent from the same period in the year-earlier period, the state said.

The state has projected tax collections would rise 6 percent this fiscal year.

Crazy Shirts names new chief executive

Crazy Shirts Inc., which has suffered financial problems in the past few years, has replaced its chief executive with a newly appointed member of its board.

Randy Yeager, appointed a director of the Aiea-based clothing manufacturer and retailer in August, will replace former CEO William Almon, who resigned last week, the company said. Almon had joined Crazy Shirts in July 1999. Yeager, a former CEO of Crazy Shirts' mainland and Pacific operations, will assume the role of president as well.

Meanwhile, another newly appointed board member, John Loevenguth, has been named executive vice president, to add to his current executive roles as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. The two new executives joined Crazy Shirts in late August, along with three other new directors, after their five predecessors on the board quit.

In other news . . .

LONDON -- SmithKline Beecham Plc is buying U.S.-based Block Drug Co. for $1.24 billion, adding brands like Sensodyne toothpaste and Poli-Grip denture adhesive to its consumer health care portfolio that includes Aquafresh toothpaste.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., -- Applied Materials Inc., the world's biggest semiconductor-equipment maker, said the U.S. Justice Department is investigating its technology licensing practices.

SEOUL -- General Motors Corp. and Fiat SpA said they will study the finances of Daewoo Motor Co. before deciding whether to buy all or part of the South Korean carmaker.

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Of Mutual Concern

News for mutual fund investors

Stein Roe parent wants to eliminate 17 funds

BOSTON -- Liberty Financial Cos. proposed eliminating 17 of its stock and bond mutual funds, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, InvestorForce.com reported.

The 18 percent reduction of Liberty's family of 95 funds includes those run by its Colonial Management Associates Inc. and Stein Roe & Farnham units, the Web site said. The company described the moves as part of an effort at "streamlining and rationalizing" its lineup. Among the targets are small funds Liberty said have little prospect for growth. It wants to merge five state-specific tax- free funds into the larger Liberty Tax-Exempt Fund. Liberty also wants to merge the Liberty All-Star Growth & Income Fund into the Liberty Growth & Income Fund.

Shareholders of the funds are scheduled to vote on the proposal on Dec. 19. If approved, the reorganization takes place in January.

Putnam's CEO wants to renew contract

BOSTON -- Putnam Investments' Chief Executive Lawrence J. Lasser, whose contract expires next year, said he expects to stay on beyond 2001 at the helm of the No. 4 U.S. mutual fund company.

"The discussions haven't started, but I have every expectation of staying at Putnam," he said. "I hope they want me to, and I think they probably do."

Lasser, 57, whose four-year contract runs out next Dec. 31, joined the firm in 1969 and has been CEO since 1985. Given Putnam's recent performance, Lasser has some leverage. Putnam ranks as the second-best selling mutual fund company in 2000, taking in $14.6 billion through August, according to Financial Research Corp., a Boston-based mutual fund consultant. That compares to the $37.8 billion top-seller Janus Capital Corp. took in during the same period. In 1985, Putnam had $19.4 billion in assets under management. Today, the figure tops $400 billion. It accounts for about one-third of the revenue at its parent, Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world's biggest insurance broker.

"He has turned them from a second-division player into one of the absolutely top players in the mutual fund and retirement plan industry," said mutual fund consultant Burton Greenwald.