Acquisition of QVC completed
Comcast Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. said yesterday that they have completed their $1.42 billion acquisition of QVC Inc., accepting all shares of the home shopping network that were tendered.
The transaction closed one week after the Federal Trade Commission voted 4-0 to let TCI buy a bigger share in QVC, ending months of uncertainty for the nation's largest cable TV operator.
Comcast owns 57.4 percent of the joint venture, while TCI's Liberty Media owns about 42.6 percent.
Riggs joins Waverly board
Richard C. Riggs Jr., president and chief executive officer of Barton-Cotton Inc., yesterday was elected to the board of directors of Waverly Inc., the Baltimore publisher of medical and scientific books and journals.
Barton-Cotton, also based in Baltimore, is a direct-mail seller and fund-raiser for nonprofit groups.
Citizens Bancorp raises dividend
Citizens Bancorp, the holding company for Citizens Bank of Maryland, Citizens Bank of Virginia and Citizens Bank of Washington, N.S., yesterday raised its quarterly cash dividend to 28 cents a share from 27 cents a share.
The dividend is payable March 31 to shareholders of record March 6.
Del. National, Pa. firm to merge
The directors of Delaware National Bankshares Corp. and Lancaster, Pa.-based Fulton Financial Corporation agreed yesterday to merge the two companies, officials said.
Under the agreement, each share of Delaware National stock will be traded for 1.31 shares of Fulton stock, the companies said.
Delaware National's primary subsidiary, Delaware National Bank, will become Fulton's eighth banking subsidiary. Delaware National Bank, established in 1979, will retain its name and autonomy, the companies said. Once the merger is completed, Fulton Financial will have assets of nearly $3.2 billion with 103 banking offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.
Toyota's six-month earnings soar
In a sign that the worst may be over for Japan's slumping automobile industry, Toyota Motor Corp. yesterday reported sharply improved earnings for the first six months of its fiscal year.
Citing both the recovering Japanese market and its success in cutting costs, Toyota said its parent company's net income for the six months that ended Dec. 31 jumped 73.8 percent, to 68.5 billion yen ($685 million). Sales grew 2.1 percent, to 4.07 trillion yen ($40.7 billion).
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