Anshen and Allen Architects to move from St. Paul to Pratt
Anshen and Allen Architects will relocate next month to 250 W. Pratt St. in Baltimore from its current offices at 2526 St. Paul St., the firm announced yesterday.
"Downtown is the place to be for us," said Ed Hord, a principal. "This location will put us near some of the current projects we are working on and give us close access to I-395 so we can get to the Washington area quickly for our projects there."
Anshen and Allen will lease 10,000 square feet on the 10th floor of 250 West Pratt, which has views of the Inner Harbor and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. New offices were needed, said Mr. Hord, because the company has doubled its staff in the last two years to 36. CB Commercial was the leasing agent for the deal.
INTERSOLV offers new data products
Rockville-based INTERSOLV, which provides open client/server development solutions, says it has begun marketing new products for the data warehousing and business intelligence markets.
The new products being released for the market by the publicly traded company include DataDirect SmartData and DataDirect Explorer. The products allow users to rapidly access warehoused information, locate it in logical business terms, and distribute a wide range of business information through electronic mail and the Internet, including charts, graphs, and reports.
The new products will sell for between $199 and $799, the company said. INTERSOLV had revenues last year of about $120 million and has licensed more than 350,000 products for sale.
Host Marriott names Nassetta vice president
Bethesda-based Host Marriott Corp. has announced that Christopher J. Nassetta, president of Bailey Realty Corp. in Washington, will join the company as executive vice president.
Mr. Nassetta will supervise real estate operations, asset management and administration.
Mr. Nassetta co-founded highly successful Bailey Realty in 1991, and has been responsible for the operations of the real estate investment and advisory firm.
MCI to provide more financial reports
MCI Communications Corp. says it will provide expanded financial reporting, beginning with its 1995 year-end results.
The company will separate the results of its core long-distance business from its new ventures, which include MCImetro, wireless, international alliances and its multimedia initiatives with The News Corporation Ltd.
Under the new reporting structure, financial statements will be augmented with details specific to MCI's core business and venture performance. Business trends, capital allocations and operational performance of each of the major ventures also will be provided.
Kmart to sell remaining interest in sporting goods chain
The Sports Authority Inc. said yesterday that Kmart Corp. is selling its remaining stake in the sporting goods retailer for about $151 million and will no longer hold an interest in the company.
Last November, Troy, Mich.-based Kmart sold about 71 percent of Sports Authority to the public in an initial public offering. Kmart is selling about 6 million shares for $26 a share in the latest offering.
Of the shares being offered, 4.8 million are being offered in the United States and 1.2 million are being offered in a concurrent international offering outside the United States.
Business failures decline 1 percent in first half of year
Business failures declined 1 percent during the first half of this year to 36,546 -- the lowest level in five years, Dun & Bradstreet Corp. reported yesterday.
Liabilities involved in those failures totaled $11.9 billion, a 12 percent drop from $13.547 billion in the same period a year ago, the business information company said.
Preliminary figures show that U.S. business failures declined 1 percent during the first half of 1995 to 36,546, the lowest level level since 1990.
Only four of the nine geographical regions showed improvement, reversing a trend toward steadily lower failure rates across the country since 1992.
New England states reported the most significant improvement, with 1,796 failures, a reduction of 11 percent. The South Atlantic region had a decrease of 9 percent, led by Delaware's 70 percent fewer failures.
HealthPlan forms alliance with Nationwide
Tampa, Fla.-based HealthPlan Services Corp. said yesterday that it formed an alliance with Nationwide Life Insurance Co. to offer health insurance products to small businesses, and will acquire Diversified Group Brokerage Corp., a Connecticut health care administrator, for undisclosed terms.
Nationwide, one of the country's top five property and casualty insurers, will join with HealthPlan to provide a variety of health care plans to businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
Nationwide's products will be sold through HealthPlan's brokerage and endorsed network of insurance agents starting later this year in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
Britain's Lucas Industries to pay U.S. $88 million
A British engineering firm, Lucas Industries PLC, and two U.S. subsidiaries will pay the U.S. government $88 million to settle a lawsuit alleging they knowingly shipped defective parts to the Pentagon and failed to test military airplane parts.
Frederick C. Copeland, a former machinist for the company, will receive $19.36 million of the total as compensation for bringing some of the allegations to light in a 1993 lawsuit filed against subsidiary Lucas Western Inc. under the False Claims Act, the Justice Department said yesterday in announcing the settlement.
Lucas Industries Inc., another U.S. subsidiary of the British company, also was named in the civil lawsuit.
Lucas manufactured the parts under military contracts totaling $400 million. The Navy will receive $8.8 million of the settlement in the form of products and spare parts for the AMAD program. Lucas had steadfastly insisted it would be vindicated in court.
Saab's U.S. sales rise 48% on two models
Saab Cars USA Inc., which is 50 percent owned by General Motors Corp., said yesterday that its U.S. sales of Saab 900 and 9000 models cars soared 48.1 percent in September, the highest level for that month since 1989. The company said sales climbed to 2,281 units from year-ago sales of 1,540.
Saab, also half-owned by Swiss Investor AB, said year-to-date sales were up 27.3 percent from 1994 at 20,381.
Texas Instruments wins Pentagon contract
Texas Instruments Inc. said yesterday that its defense systems and electronics business was awarded a $236 million contract from the Department of Defense Naval Air Systems Command.
The 72-month contract includes developing and delivering 22 missiles, with the first delivery in 1998.
Also, the company said it will develop a mission planning system, a captive air training missile, air crew training and development test and evaluation support.
Exxon to assist program to save tigers
A campaign to protect the rare and increasingly threatened tigers -- now down to no more than 7,400 worldwide due to poachers -- is about to get help from a source that hasn't always been welcomed by conservationists and environmentalists -- Exxon Corp.
Exxon, which uses the tiger as a key symbol in its marketing and advertising campaign for gasoline, said it will donate $5 million over five years to support international efforts to protect the habitat of tigers in the wild.
The money, part of a Save the Tiger Fund, will be administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. It will help protect wild tiger habitat and promote tiger breeding programs in zoos.