Progress Energy's Florida subsidiary will test a new biofuel technology at one of its plants early next year.

Progress Energy Florida has an agreement with New Generation Biofuels Inc. to evaluate New Generation’s proprietary biofuel technology in utility boiler applications.

The agreement calls for New Generation to supply its biofuel for a test program that will be performed in early 2009 at Progress Energy Florida’s Bartow plant in St. Petersburg, Fla., according to a release from Houston-based New Generations Biofuels Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: NGBF).

The New Generation fuel, which is manufactured from vegetable oils and animal fats, will be evaluated for both technical and environmental performance characteristics, the release said.

Financial terms of the agreement between the two companies was not disclosed.

Progress Energy Florida, based in St. Petersburg, is a subsidiary of Raleigh-based Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN) and provides services to 1.7 million customers in St. Petersburg, Clearwater and the area surrounding Orlando.

Dick's Sporting Goods reported third-quarter earnings Thursday that were down year over year but in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts.

Net income for the quarter was $7.4 million, or 6 cents per share, compared to $12.2 million or 10 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding the impact of costs related to Dick's acquisition of Golf Galaxy, net income was $9.2 million, or 8 cents per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 7 cents a share, before items, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales were up 10 percent year-over-year, to $924 million.

"We are pleased to generate results in line with our expectations, particularly in light of the current environment," Edward W. Stack, Dick's CEO, said in a statement. "In these difficult times, we are carefully growing the business, successfully managing inventory and enforcing strict expense controls."

However, the company lowered its guidance, predicting earnings per share of between $1.06 and $1.13 per share for 2008. At the end of 2007, the company had earnings per share of $1.33.

Dick's (NYSE: DKS) has seven locations in the Triangle area.

A spike in gasoline revenue fueled big increases in total sales and earnings for convenience store operator The Pantry during its fiscal fourth quarter, the Sanford company announced Thursday.

The Pantry (NASDAQ: PTRY) posted net income of almost $23 million, or $1.03 a share, which was more than four times the profit of $5.6 million, or 25 cents a share, the company reported for the year-ago quarter.

Total revenue grew by 24.5 percent, to $2.5 billion, in the quarter ended Sept. 25. Gasoline sales rose by 33.1 percent, to about $2.1 billion, despite the total number of gallons sold falling by 4.7 percent overall – and 6.8 percent in stores operated by The Pantry for at least a year.

The reason for the higher revenue? Higher prices. The average cost per gallon of gas at The Pantry in the fiscal fourth quarter was $3.85, up by 39 percent year over year. Margins also improved for The Pantry as the price of oil started its dramatic decline in September.

Inflation and the slowing economy in the fiscal fourth quarter took a bite out of The Pantry’s sales of food and other merchandise – which declined by 0.7 percent, to $432 million.

For the year ended Sept. 25, net income climbed by 18.9 percent, to $31.8 million. Revenue rose by 30.2 percent, to $9 billion.

“We are pleased to be able to deliver improved operating results for the fourth quarter and for fiscal 2008,” Pantry Chairman and CEO Peter Sodini said in a press release. “As gas margins improved with the dramatic pullback in oil prices, we were able to fully leverage the aggressive actions we took throughout the year to reduce operating costs.”

The Pantry had $217 million of cash and cash equivalents, with an additional $132 million available under its revolving credit facility, as of Sept. 25. With the ample liquidity and improved profitability, Sodini believes The Pantry is in position to again consider making ‘tuck-in’ acquisitions that would bolster the company’s network of 1,653 stores in 11 states.

Wachovia Corp. CEO Bob Steel said Thursday that Charlotte could eventually see more jobs under Wells Fargo & Co. than Wachovia’s current 20,000 employees here, but that employment levels will depend more on industry trends than the impact of the banks’ merger.

“The industry is not adding jobs right now,” Steel said at the Charlotte Business Journal’s Power Breakfast 2, where he was the keynote speaker.

Steel addressed a crowd of about 750 business and civic leaders at the Charlotte Convention Center.

He said the deal with Wells remains the best of admittedly unpleasant choices for Wachovia’s customers, shareholders, workers and communities. Among those communities most affected by Wachovia is the Triangle. The Charlotte bank holds more than one-third of the Raleigh-Durham area's deposits, making it easily No. 1 in Triangle market share.

Asked to respond to North Carolina Treasurer Richard Moore’s contention that the Wachovia sale amounts to “highway robbery,” Steele said, “I would tell him the Wells deal is the right deal for Wachovia.”

Steele told the assembled business leaders in the Queen City that Wachovia (NYSE:WB) might have been able to weather the storm that ultimately led regulators to essentially force a merger. If sufficient capital had been in place, Wachovia could have reassured the financial markets, lenders and regulators while it worked out its loan issues.

Steel said the company considered many options when he first came on board in July, replacing former CEO Ken Thompson. Those options included a stock offering to raise $15 billion to $20 billion in capital.

He said the sense the company had then was that existing shareholders did not want to see their shares diluted by a sale. Raising $20 billion, he estimates, would have reduced the value of Wachovia’s stock 50 percent to 60 percent.

Ultimately, the stock value was probably cut at least that much when Wells made its offer of roughly $7 per share for a wobbling Wachovia.

Steel defended his initial decisions to try to raise capital by cutting the bank's dividend, reducing expenses and adjusting the balance sheet. In the end, the $6 billion those moves would have raised failed to reassure investors and regulators as the share price declined dramatically in the tumultuous financial events of late September. Other banks were also skeptical of making loans to Wachovia.

But Steel declined to be drawn into the speculation that Wachovia could have survived if regulators had not forced it into later-abandoned deal with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) over the weekend of Sept. 27-28. He praised Sheila Bair, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., who made the call that Wachovia would not be allowed to reopen the following Monday without a deal.

“Hindsight is 20/20,” Steel said. “We thought we had an aggressive plan in July. If we had had the environment we had in July in September, October and November, I think we could have succeeded.”

But the financial markets were in turmoil with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other bank failures.

Steele said the tumult in the financial markets in those weeks was unprecedented and that Wachovia could not have survived under those conditions. “I wish it had been otherwise, but that was the reality.”

Steel said he expects the Wachovia employees who stay on to be aggressive once Wells takes over. The bank, he said, will continue to be a vital part of the community. He said employee levels were a harder thing to predict because the banking industry is shrinking right now.

But he said that, ultimately, a strong business plan is the key to growth. The combination with San Francisco-based Wells (NYSE:WFC) is the strongest business plan for Wachovia, he contended, and the best option for the community.

Four out of five college students and young graduates are looking for a job to make extra money during the holidays, but many of them don’t think they’ll land one in a rough-and-tumble economy.

That’s according to a holiday jobs survey by Boston-based Experience Inc., which provides career services for college students and recent graduates.

Only 22 percent surveyed said they had secured a part-time or full-time job for the upcoming winter break. That’s down from 47 percent of survey respondents in 2007.

Of those still looking for a job, 53 percent said they think they are unlikely to secure a position, the survey said.

McGraw-Hill Construction released a report on Wednesday that found the value of green building construction starts was up five-fold from 2005 to 2008. According to the Green Outlook 2009: Trends Driving Change report, starts were up from $10 billion in 2005, to between $36 billion and $49 billion this year, and could triple by 2013, reaching a range of $96 billion to $140 billion.

The report – based on data found in the McGraw-Hill Construction Network – was released Wednesday at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Boston. The survey found that since 2005, the perceived benefits of green building have increased as people became more informed about the green they can generate from environmentally conscious construction practices. The decrease in operating costs is the most often-cited benefit (13.6 percent, up from 8 percent to 9 percent in 2005), followed by the increase in building values (10.9 percent, up from 7.5 percent in 2005).

The McGraw-Hill Cos. (NYSE: MHP) is a global information services provider with more than 280 offices in 40 countries and $6.8 billion in sales in 2007.

The latest battle between GlaxoSmithKline and Merck over the companies’ rival cervical cancer vaccines has gone to GSK.

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) said Thursday that the Netherlands has picked Glaxo’s vaccine, Cervarix, for a national program to vaccinate all 12-year-old girls.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The Dutch plan is expected to begin in September 2009 and vaccinate 350,000 girls in its first year.

Cervarix is competing with a rival cervical cancer vaccine from Merck (NYSE: MRK) known as Gardasil. The vaccines protect against the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection that’s the most common cause of cervical cancer.

Governments are interested in the vaccines for national programs – though, notably, Cervarix has yet to win U.S. approval. Gardasil is approved for U.S. use.

GlaxoSmithKline, based in London, has U.S. headquarters in the Triangle, where it employs more than 5,000. Merck, which has headquarters in New Jersey, is building a $750 million vaccine plant in Durham, where it ultimately plans to have hundreds of workers.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to purchase electricity from Duke Energy Corp.’s Notrees wind-power project in west Texas.

The project will provide power to about 50 Wal-Mart stores and facilities in the state.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

“We’re proud to partner with Wal-Mart on this innovative initiative,” says David Marks, senior vice president of wind energy at Duke Energy Generations Services. “Our customers want energy products and services that keep them competitive, yet respond to environmental concerns.”

The first phase of the Notrees facility is slated to start commercial operation in December.

When completed in 2009, the Notrees project will have a capacity of 150 megawatts.

Charlotte-based Duke is one of the largest electric power companies in the United States. The company delivers electricity to about 4 million customers and natural gas service to 520,000 customers. The company supplies power to much of the western Triangle.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is based in Arkansas.

Homebuilders’ confidence in a quick resolution to the housing crisis is at a new low, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

As the financial crisis worsens, the job market weakens and uncertainty hangs over the economy, builders fear it will take major incentives to bring home buyers back to the table.

“Today’s report shows that we are in a crisis situation,” NAHB Chairman Sandy Dunn said in a statement. “If there’s any hope of turning this economy around, Congress and the administration need to focus on stabilizing housing. Beyond the work that is being done to help reduce foreclosures, Congress must immediately incorporate such incentives for qualified buyers in a new economic-recovery package.”

The housing downturn has resulted in the loss of about 3 million jobs in construction and related industries.

The index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months. The survey also asks builders to rate buyer traffic as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.”

Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index.

Every U.S. region posted declines in builder confidence in November.

Pharmaceutical company Wyeth will lay off 124 workers at its facility in Sanford, a company spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

Wyeth spokesman Doug Petkus says the cuts represent about 10 percent of the jobs at the site, where Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) has more than 1,000 workers. The Sanford campus manufactures vaccines including Prevnar, which protects against common bacterial diseases.

Prevnar is one of Wyeth’s top-selling medicines, with revenue from the vaccine expected to top $3 billion in 2009.

The Sanford campus “does incredibly important work,” Petkus says. But Wyeth is going through a period of cost-cutting that will see the company shed roughly 10 percent of its global work force, or 5,000 jobs, over a long-term time frame.

Nearly every major drug company also is shedding jobs. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry faces struggles with patent expirations on some top-selling treatments and a dearth of new blockbusters coming out of the companies’ own R&D operations.

Various job functions were affected in the layoff, Petkus says. Affected workers will be given severance packages as well as job placement and counseling services.

Petkus also said he couldn’t rule out future cuts as Wyeth continues to adjust its cost structure.

“Clearly, we’re committed to that site,” Petkus says. “We’re committed to North Carolina.”

North Carolina State University alumnus and Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Cowher will give the fall commencement address at NCSU.

The ceremony will be held Dec. 17 at the RBC Center.

Cowher, currently a television analyst, won a Super Bowl in 2005 as head coach of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers. He graduated from NCSU in 1979 after playing on the school’s football team as a linebacker.

The coach has a home in Raleigh.

Consumer prices plunged in October by the largest percentage in 61 years as gasoline costs dropped by a record amount.

The U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday that consumer prices fell by 1 percent last month, the biggest one-month decline on records that go back to February 1947. The drop was twice as large as the 0.5 percent decline analysts expected.

The drop reflected huge declines in energy costs as well as in other areas. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy, fell by 0.1 percent last month, the first drop in more than a quarter-century.

The big retreat in consumer prices reflects a staggering turnaround from the summer, when a surge in energy costs raised concerns that inflation could spiral out of control. Meanwhile, the nation continues to struggle with its most serious financial crisis in a generation.

Despite the historic drop in October, consumer prices have risen by 3.7 percent over the past 12 months. That’s still well below a 12-month increase of 5.6 percent recorded this summer. Core prices are up 2.2 percent over the past 12 months.

Experts say this latest reading on consumer prices gives the Federal Reserve a reason to cut interest rates again. The central bank is expected to cut the federal funds rate, interest that banks charge each other, from 1 percent, to 0.5 percent, at its December meeting. The 1 percent funds rate ties the record low for the past half-century.

Annual bonuses and stock-based awards may dry up with the economy, according to a survey released Wednesday by Pearl Meyer & Partners.

Nearly nine out of 10 respondents say market turmoil will affect corporate executive compensation over the next six months, according to the New York compensation consultancy, which surveyed 410 board members, executives and human resources professionals earlier this month for its “Executive Pay in the New Economy” online survey.

More than half say they anticipate a decline in stock options and restricted share grants that comprise much of executive compensation. Twenty percent expect to revise their companies’ severance packages or change-in-control arrangements over the next year,

In addition to declines in performance-based pay, respondents also indicated they expect salary growth to be lower next year, and nearly 18 percent were “strongly considering” a salary freeze.

“It’s appropriate that variable components of pay such as annual bonus awards and stock grants are being put at risk in executive pay programs — that is how pay for performance is supposed to work,” says David Swinford, president and chief executive officer of Pearl Meyer & Partners. “The open question is whether the reductions will be in line with the expectations of shareholders who are feeling the pain in their own portfolios.”

It’s a good thing for the Big 3 U.S. automakers that they don’t have win approval from Triangle Business Journal readers for the $25 billion bailout they are seeking from the federal government.

Voters in TBJ’s latest online, unscientific poll overwhelmingly rejected the concept of a government bailout of the automobile industry.

Nearly 75 percent of the 969 voters voted “no” on the question “Should the government bail out the auto industry?” Only 18 percent of the voters said they supported a bailout, while 8 percent chose the answer “I’m not sure.”

Here’s a sampling of comments made on the poll, which was active from Nov. 12 through Nov. 18.

• I buy my own health insurance. I really don't want to pay with my tax dollars for the "right" for an auto worker to continue company-paid health insurance with no co-pay and no deductible. Bail me out, please.
• The UAW and pro-union government policies have finally succeeded in driving the Big 3 out of business. If I hear one more interviewed UAW worker complain that they aren't getting paid enough for their help in making their US auto company successful, I'm going to puke.The UAW has made it impossible for The Big 3 to make small cars profitably. The foreign transplant car makers can do it because the UAW doesn't have a stranglehold on them. Let them go bankrupt, cancel the union contracts and start fresh.
• The term "bailout" is a bit misleading when applied to the auto industry here, especially when the $25 billion loan they're requesting is put in context compared to the $700 billion BAILOUT the financial industry perceivably requires. It’s necessary to keep in mind here that the vast majority of a domestic vehicle's cost is related to employee benefits that most people would disagree with foregoing. Few industries have the pension fund and benefits requirements that the auto industry does, so maybe the question becomes how to subsidize these fixed costs rather than talk about a "bailout".
• Unfortunately, the overall economy of the US is intertwined with the auto industry. Failure of any one of the big three will most likely cascade into failure of all three. That would idle literally millions of workers and devastate the economy for years to come. Pouring money into banks to save the economy will be all for naught if GM fails. How did we get into this mess again?
• Let them file bankruptcy and restructure their debt while offloading their pension obligations. It will allow them to renegotiate labor and supplier contracts and maybe offer lower priced cars in the long run. Who gets hurt the most? Common stockholders. Biggest downside is no one wants to buy a car from a potentially defunct automaker. Mitigating factor – no one wants to buy their cars now anyway.

North Carolina does not rank among the top half of the 50 U.S. states when it comes to attracting and keeping businesses while providing high standards of living for workers, according to a report released Wednesday morning.

The eight annual state competitiveness report from the Boston-based Beacon Hill Institute placed North Carolina 27th on its list, which was headed by Massachusetts.

Researchers preparing the study evaluated the states in categories such as security, government and fiscal policy, environmental policy, human resources, technology and “business incubation.”

The strongest category for North Carolina in the survey was business incubation. The state scored ninth best in this segment, thanks in part to a No. 1 ranking for low union membership among the Tar Heel labor force.

North Carolina also did well in the government and fiscal policy portion of the rankings, coming in 15th. The state was No. 1 in bond ratings and No. 12 for a low budget deficit compared to gross state product. But the overall score was dragged down by a No. 32 ranking for North Carolina’s high number of state and local government employees and a No. 31 ranking for the state’s per-capita ratio of state and local taxes versus income.

The state’s weakest categories were environmental policy (42nd), security (41st) and human resources (39th). Factors in those poor scores included low rankings for air quality and the percentage of the population with health insurance. North Carolina also was hurt by a high unemployment rate, a high infant mortality rate and a high crime rate.

Overall, eight of last year’s top 10 states were in the top 10 again this year. Last place went to Mississippi.

To view the complete study, go to the BHI Web site.

Southwest Airlines said Wednesday that it’s competing for space in New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

Southwest (NYSE: LUV) says it bid $7.5 million to buy the rights from ATA Airlines, a now-bankrupt carrier that operated out of LaGuardia.

Southwest would be able to operate seven roundtrip flights out of LaGuardia if it wins the bid, the company says. It would not buy any of ATA’s aircraft, facilities or employees.

A bankruptcy court must approve Southwest’s bid, as well as a reorganization plan for ATA Airlines, before Southwest could gain the rights to ATA’s slots at LaGuardia. Southwest says it’s not sure where it would fly out of LaGuardia or when it would start service.

“Even in this volatile environment, we have said we must monitor the competitive landscape and take advantage of prudent market opportunities,” Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in a written statement.

Southwest Airlines is the No. 1 major carrier out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport, though it does not currently fly between RDU and either of New York’s major airports.

Members of the U.S. Green Building Council have approved major changes that will make climate change and energy efficiency higher priorities within the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines for environmentally healthy buildings.

The update of the LEED system, which will take effect in 2009, was approved by a majority of the 18,000 member organizations that comprise the U.S. Green Building Council, the group announced Nov. 18. LEED has become a sought-after certification in commercial and residential construction because of the positive publicity it generates and because of government incentives for buildings that maximize energy efficiency and minimize environmental impact.

The new LEED 2009 has re-weighted certain actions in favor of increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in new and existing buildings. The updated LEED also introduces a new set of regional credits, which are points withing the rating system tailored to match environmental priorities in certain geographic areas.

The USGBC will also introduce new processes for amending its LEED standards, including a pilot period for individual credits that can be tested and incorporated on their own.

The organization had received more than 7,000 comments since May on how to update its 8-year-old rating system for green buildings.

IBM will buy technology company Transitive Corp. for an undisclosed sum, Big Blue announced Tuesday.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) says Transitive works in the field of virtualization, technology that breaks the traditional bonds of software and hardware. Transitive’s technology allows applications written for one operating system, for example, to run on various platforms.

Such technology can boost business productivity.

The purchase of Transitive, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., will boost IBM’s own virtualization efforts, Big Blue says.

IBM, which has headquarters in Armonk, N.Y., employs 11,000 people in the Triangle.

Gift card purchases are predicted to suffer this holiday season as consumers continue to monitor the current economy and their wallets.

The National Retail Federation's annual Gift Card Survey projects that gift card sales will fall nearly 6 percent this holiday season, to $24.9 billion, down from $26.3 billion last year.

Only 53.5 percent of consumers plan to purchase gift cards this year, compared to 56.6 percent last year, with average spending of $147 on the cards this year versus $156 in 2007.

“Since gift cards never go on sale, some price-conscious shoppers will be passing up gift cards in favor of holiday bargains," said Tracy Mullin, president and CEO of NRF. “Retailers may need to make minor adjustments to holiday plans as fewer people may be hitting the stores in January to redeem gift cards.”

Men plan to spend the most on gift cards this year – an average of nearly $157 – with consumers over the age of 45 spending the most, $168 on average, according to the survey.

The NRF reported that many consumers say that gift cards are impersonal and that they would rather buy merchandise on sale this season.

But despite the projection, more people will be asking for gift cards this year, according to a survey released by the NRF last month. Nearly 55 percent of consumers want to receive gift cards this year, up from nearly 54 percent last year, said the report.

Economic worries are causing people to cut down on travel for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The American Automobile Association said Tuesday that about 41 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend – a decline of 600,000 people, or 1.4 percent. That would be the first drop in Thanksgiving travel since 2002, the group said.

“The overall state of the economy continues to present real challenges for some Americans looking to travel this Thanksgiving,” AAA President Robert Darbelnet said in a prepared statement.

About 33 million Americans, or 81 percent of total travelers, are expected to drive during the holiday week this year, down 1.2 percent from last year. But those who do travel by car will see cheaper gas prices than they did last year. The nationwide average for unleaded gasoline is $2.068, according to AAA, compared to an average of $3.095 a year ago.

The travel organization said about 4.54 million, or 11 percent of the total travelers, plan to fly – a 7 percentage point decrease from last year. AAA said that 3.26 million Americans, or 8 percent, plan to travel by train, bus or other modes of transportation.

Business and residential customers will see their Progress Energy bills go up, starting in December, as the utility recoups the rising cost of coal.

Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), based in Raleigh, says the average residential bill will increase by 10.2 percent, to $106.78, from the current $96.86.

Under the terms of a deal with the state, Progress will also increase rates over the next two years. That will spare customers from an all-at-once hike this year, the company says, that would have increased the average residential bill by another $6 or so per month.

“We know that any cost increase is unwelcome, particularly when many North Carolinians are struggling with rising prices in other aspects of their lives,” Lloyd Yates, president and CEO of Progress Energy Carolinas, said in a statement. “Higher prices are a new energy reality, but we're doing all we can to minimize the effect of cost increases on our customers.”

Progress’ rate hikes are due mostly to an increase in the prices of coal and natural gas, both of which hit record highs in 2008. Under state law, Progress and other utilities can recoup from customers the cost of generating electricity, though utilities are not allowed to make a profit on that portion of customers’ bills.

Progress also is recovering costs associated with its energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, as it is allowed to do under state law. North Carolina in 2007 passed a law that requires utilities to save energy and to generate a portion of their electricity from renewable sources.

Progress Energy has 1.25 million customers in North Carolina.

The number of existing homes up for sale in the Triangle dropped in October for the first time in more than two years, but the dip in supply couldn’t keep up with a severe slowdown in demand.

Data from the Triangle Multiple Listing Service show that there were 22,711 homes up for sale in October, down from 23,640 in October 2007. That year-over-year drop is a good sign for the local housing market, which has seen sales fall amid a nationwide downturn in residential real estate activity.

Demand, however, fell much more sharply. MLS says existing-home sales fell by 45 percent, to 1,397, from 2,550 in October 2007. That’s the single largest year-over-year decline since the start of the housing slump.

The figures added up to a 13.9-month supply of existing homes on the market in October. That level is significantly higher than the 8.3-month supply in October 2007 and more than twice as high as the 5.8-month supply in October 2006.

The Triangle’s housing market has held up better than most in the country. Home prices, devastated elsewhere after years of excess building and speculative buying, have held steady in the Triangle.

But the area has not been immune from national pressures on the housing market and the economy at large. Banks burned by bad bets elsewhere have tightened lending restrictions, making it tougher to get a mortgage loan. And the slowdown has left many potential home buyers on the sidelines – either waiting for better deals or deciding not to buy a home now at all.

Observers have said that supply needs to better match demand for the slowdown to cool. But October turned out to be a month of serious financial crisis, with the stock market falling, retail sales slumping and the federal government passing a $700 billion bailout of the financial system.

And it isn’t immediately clear when the market could start to recover. Pending home sales in the Triangle – a key indicator of the market’s direction – were 1,392 in October, down from 2,253 a year earlier.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science will receive more than $1.1 million for student scholarships.

Jane Iris Crutchfield, who died at the age of 92 on Dec. 10, 2006, was a lifelong teacher and school librarian. She taught at public schools in Virginia before returning to UNC in the 1950s to earn a bachelor’s degree in library science.

Crutchfield’s gift will go to the library science school’s Susan Grey Akers Scholarship Fund, named after a former dean at the school. That endowment fund gives aid to students who are admitted to the school’s master’s program.

It’s the largest gift ever given to the library science school.

“This incredibly generous gift will provide scholarships to our most promising students for years to come,” José-Marie Griffiths, dean of the School of Information and Library Science, said in a written statement. “We are grateful for this thoughtful and heartfelt gift that will assist in recruiting the best students into our program and prepare them for success in ways that were important to Miss Crutchfield.”

Technology company Motricity is suing one of the architects behind its move to the West Coast from Durham – raising questions about a deal that resulted in 250 local layoffs and the Triangle’s loss of one of its richest venture-backed companies.

Motricity has filed suit in Superior Court in Washington state against Steven Elfman, Sprint Nextel Corp.’s president of network operations and wholesale since March. The suit alleges that Elfman deceived Motricity into buying the mobile content business unit of Bellevue, Wash.-based InfoSpace – the deal that prompted Motricity to move its headquarters and cut its head count in Durham.

After the InfoSpace deal closed, Motricity alleges in its suit, Elfman left Motricity for Sprint and, in doing so, broke a promise he made to Motricity. The suit alleges that Elfman knew Motricity would buy the InfoSpace mobile services business unit only if he committed to take the job of president and COO of Motricity and stay for two years after the sale closed, which it did on Dec. 28.

The suit alleges that Elfman’s “duplicitous conduct” enriched himself and damaged Motricity.

Sprint announced March 24 that it had hired Elfman, who reports to CEO Dan Hesse. Elfman had been president and COO of Motricity since January.

Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint (NYSE: S) said in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had agreed Aug. 4 to pay Elfman’s legal expenses in the case “to help mitigate distractions to the business and to protect (Sprint’s) interests.”

Sprint spokesman Matt Sullivan read a statement from the company that said Sprint “reviewed the allegations, and Steve continues to have our full support.”

“We opted to reimburse the legal fees because we did not think the suit would have been brought if he hadn’t come to work for Sprint,” Sullivan said.

The suit doesn’t accuse Sprint of any wrongdoing.

Motricity General Counsel Richard Leigh said he was not allowed to comment on pending litigation.

Motricity’s suit asks the court for a monetary judgment against Elfman “in an amount to be proven at trial,” punitive damages under North Carolina law and taxable costs incurred, including attorney’s fees and costs.

Motricity still employs more than 100 people in Durham.

The company that became Motricity was founded in 1999 as Pinpoint.com by Taylor Brockman and Jud Bowman, who met as classmates at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham. It later merged with PowerByHand, a Tennessee company led by Wuerch that sold online content through Web sites including eReader.com and PalmGear.com. The merged company then changed its name to Motricity.

Most certified public accounting firms reported strong growth during the past two years and are poised to benefit as clients use their services more to navigate their way through the troubled economy, according to a recent survey conducted by the Durham-based American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

The 2008 National Management of Accounting Practice survey reports that 75 percent of CPA firms surveyed reported growth ranging between 1 percent and 19 percent over the two years from May 2006 through June 2008. Average net client fees per partner rose 10 percent, to $664,847.

The AICPA conducted the survey in partnership with the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.

“Clients go to CPAs to help them weather a troubled economy, and banks may seek greater assurance from practitioners about the companies with which they do business,” says James Metzler, an AICPA vice president.

The survey was taken before the financial crisis deepened, so Metzler says the firms’ strategic planning will need some careful revision.

“Particularly in a period of economic uncertainty, practitioners may increasingly find themselves facing more fee competition from other firms and pressure from clients,” he says.

Meanwhile, fewer CPA firms are reporting turnover, another side effect of recessionary forces at work. About 31 percent of respondents said they had lost professionals in fiscal 2007, compared to 45.6 percent a year earlier.

“We’ve found that more and more small firms are offering greater work-life flexibility, which persuades more practitioners to remain at their firms,” Metzler says.

A weak spot, according to the survey, is succession planning. Only 22 percent of firms surveyed had a succession plan and only 10 percent of the smallest firms had a practice continuation agreement in the event of death or a disability that leaves the owner unable to work.

The survey included responses from 2,722 CPA firms.

Belgian brewer InBev announced Tuesday that it has completed its $52 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. Effective today, the combined company is named Anheuser-Busch InBev and ranks as the world's largest brewer.

Anheuser-Busch shareholders approved the deal Nov. 12; InBev shareholders did so Sept. 29.

The combined company is one of the world's top five consumer products companies. Under the terms of the deal, all shares of Anheuser-Busch will be acquired for $70 per share in cash.

Starting Nov. 20, the company will trade under the new ticker symbol ABI on the Euronext Brussels stock exchange.

In a release, InBev said Anheuser-Busch has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev and will retain its current headquarters in St. Louis, which also will become the North American headquarters for the combined company.

Carlos Brito is CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev.

August Busch IV, president and CEO of Anheuser-Busch, will be a director of the newly combined company, but will give up his day-to-day role. Dave Peacock, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of marketing, was promoted to be president of Anheuser-Busch.

Anheuser-Busch holds a 48.5 percent share of U.S. beer sales. It owns 50 percent of leading Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo and a 27 percent share of top Chinese brewer Tsingtao. The company also is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and is one of the world’s largest recyclers of aluminum cans.

The Umstead Hotel & Spa in Cary and the Fearrington House Inn in Pittsboro again have won AAA’s top award for hotels.

The lodgings were the only two in North Carolina to receive the Five Diamond award from AAA, the automotive association. AAA gave a Five Diamond rating to just 103 hotels around the country for its 2009 guide book.

AAA also gave a Five Diamond award to the Fearrington House Inn’s restaurant, the Fearrington House Restaurant. The eatery is the only one in North Carolina to receive the award for 2009 and one of only 59 in the U.S.

This marks the second straight year that the Umstead, which opened in January 2007, has won a Five Diamond award. The Fearrington House Inn has won the award for 15 years in a row, while its restaurant is now riding a 14-year streak.

“The ability to achieve and maintain the highest level of hospitality in the most luxurious surroundings is what the Five Diamond rating is all about,” Michael Petrone, director of AAA Tourism Information Development, said in a written statement. “AAA is pleased to honor these establishments.”

A number of Triangle-area restaurants and hotels have received AAA’s Four Diamond awards, the agency’s second highest rating.

Restaurants winning the award include:

• Carolina CrossRoads in Chapel Hill (a 7-year winner);
• Herons restaurant in Cary (2 years);
• Il Palio Ristorante in Chapel Hill (19 years);
• Four Square Restaurant in Durham (8 years);
• Fairview Dining Room in Durham (17 years);
• 1895 Grille in Pinehurst (8 years);
• Second Empire Restaurant & Tavern in Raleigh (5 years).

Hotels winning the Four Diamond award include:

• Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill (12 years);
• Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill (13 years);
• Arrowhead Inn Bed and Breakfast in Durham (6 years);
• Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club in Durham (9 years);
• Holly Inn in Pinehurst (7 years);
• Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst (27 years).

The Home Depot Inc. suffered a 31 percent drop in third quarter profit as the housing slump continued and a shrinking economy slowed consumer spending, the home-improvement retailer reported Tuesday.

Atlanta-based Home Depot (NYSE: HD) posted net income of $756 million, or 45 cents a share, down from net income of $1.1 billion, or 60 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2007.

Third quarter sales dipped 6.2 percent, to $17.8 billion. The average customer ticket was down 2.8 percent, to $55.86.

"The housing and home improvement markets remain challenging. Across our entire business, we are making the adjustments necessary to respond to a tough market environment," said Frank Blake, Home Depot's chairman and CEO, in a statement. "We are focused on the things we can control with a commitment to provide value and service to our customers."

With the housing and economic woes expected to continue, Home Depot said its fiscal 2008 sales could be down as much as 8 percent.

At the end of the third quarter, Home Depot operated 2,268 retail stores, including a dozen in the Triangle.

An IBM system is still the world’s most powerful supercomputer, Big Blue said Monday.

According to the biannual rankings put together by researchers in Germany and the U.S., IBM’s system at Los Alamos National Laboratory in California barely held on to the top spot.

The system, nicknamed Roadrunner, clocks in at a speed of 1.105 “petaflops.” One petaflop is equal to 1 quadrillion calculations per second; Roadrunner topped the petaflop barrier in June.

Roadrunner held off a challenge from supercomputer company Cray (Nasdaq: CRAY), whose Jaguar system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee now runs at 1.059 petaflops.

A system made by IBM (NYSE: IBM) has been the most powerful computer in the world since November 1999, the company says.

IBM, which has headquarters in Armonk, N.Y., employs 11,000 people in the Triangle.

The old Time and Temperature building across the street from Raleigh’s Crabtree Valley Mall, is getting a new lead tenant: TrustAtlantic Bank.

The building, which sits at the intersection of Glenwood Avenue and Creedmoor Road, also will get a new name and an environmentally friendly makeover.

The bank announced Monday that it has signed a lease to occupy three of the five floors in the building, which will be renamed the TrustAtlantic Center. TrustAtlantic will operate a branch on the bottom floor and maintain corporate offices on the other two floors.

TrustAtlantic current is based in about 9,000 square feet at 6131 Falls of Neuse Road.

The Time and Temperature building will undergo a significant renovation led by Durham-based developer Tri Properties, which will aim to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification for the property. The LEED program recognizes construction projects that incorporate features that reduce a structure's energy use and provide other environmental benefits.

“We are incredibly proud to manage this project and look forward to our partnership with TrustAtlantic Bank,” said Greg Sanchez, president of Tri Properties, in a news release. “We have had an opportunity to work on several LEED certified projects and we have found that not only are they socially responsible, they also provide tangible cost savings to tenants and owners through improved efficiencies.”

Renovations on the Time and Temperature building are scheduled to be completed next year, with TrustAtlantic scheduled to move into the property in the third quarter of 2009. The redesign will feature TrustAtlantic's name over the top floor of the building, just below electronic signs displaying the current time and temperature. The time and temperature displays that greeted Glenwood Avenue and Creedmoor Road drivers for decades have been dark in recent years.

NAI Carolantic Realty, the Raleigh company headed by TrustAtlantic’s board chairman, Steve Stroud, represented the bank in its headquarters search and lease negotiations.

“The Crabtree Valley area, located where the Glenwood Avenue corridor meets I-440, has become one of the most important business centers in the metro area,” Stroud said in a written statement. “Not only will our new headquarters and leading edge banking center be highly visible, but also easily accessible from all of Wake County and other parts of the state.”

TrustAtlantic came into being last year after former Capital Bank CEO Jim Beck and his Atlanta partner, Stephen Johnson, bought Greenville-based Millennia Community Bank, renamed the institution and moved the headquarters to Raleigh. The bank has five branches: two in Greenville, two in Raleigh and one in Cary.

“This is a very exciting day for TrustAtlantic Bank and for this community,” Beck said. “This announcement represents our confidence in and commitment to the continued growth of Wake County and our bank. Our growth of over $200 million in total assets since establishing our headquarters here in June 2007 is a testament to the economic opportunity in the Raleigh-Cary metro area, and to how well our approach to doing business has been received by customers in this region.

“We believe the extensive renovation and redevelopment to be carried out under the direction of Tri Properties will transform one of the best known buildings in the area into a highly visible, environmentally friendly symbol of the vibrancy and innovative spirit of the Research Triangle.”

Poor performance in its credit-card business and a slowdown in consumer spending pushed Target Corp.’s earnings down nearly 24 percent in the third quarter.

The Minneapolis company on Monday reported third-quarter earnings of $369 million, or 49 cents per share, down almost 24 percent from a profit of $483 million, or 56 cents per share, during the year-ago period.

Target’s total revenue rose about 2 percent to $15.1 billion, up from $14.8 billion during the same period last year. Retail sales climbed 1.7 percent to $14.6 billion, up from $14.3 billion.

Revenue from new retail outlets helped offset lagging performance at existing stores. Same-store sales fell 3.3 percent during the quarter.

Earnings from Target’s retail business increased nearly 8 percent to $772 million, up from $715 million during the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had projected revenue of $15.24 billion and third-quarter earnings of 49 cents per share.

Target CEO and President Gregg Steinhafel said in a press statement the company plans to focus heavily on bolstering sales during the holiday season by “delivering exceptional value, a broad assortment of outstanding merchandise and a superior store experience.” Target (NYSE: TGT) said in a conference call last month that it will ramp up marketing of the “pay less” portion of its tag-line, in part to compete better with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which so far has better weathered the economic downturn.

Target’s credit-card business emerged from the third quarter battered. Profits fell sharply, slipping 83 percent to $35 million. Lower interest rates and an overall decline in the performance of its portfolio fell to 4.3 percent, down from 18 percent.

In May, Target sold almost half of its credit-card receivables to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The company said in a statement it plans to scale back capital investment and “temporarily suspend” the repurchase of shares.

“The current environment and our financial outlook have naturally reduced our appetite for investment in our business,” said Doug Scovanner, executive vice president and chief financial officer, in a statement.

There are 14 Target locations in the Triangle.

The company that developed landmark Cary neighborhoods MacGregor Downs and Lochmere has filed for bankruptcy.

MacGregor Development Co. of Cary lists assets of $23.8 million and liabilities of $41.4 million on its Chapter 11 petition, filed Nov. 14 in bankruptcy court.

"Basically, buyers stopped buying," says company President Michael Whitehead. "Lenders stopped lending."

According to MacGregor’s bankruptcy petition, the company took in just more than $3 million in revenue from January through September. That's a far cry from the almost $20 million the company brought in for all of 2007. And things have only gotten worse since then, Whitehead says, with the fourth quarter looking particularly poor.

The company also faced troubles with what Whitehead called "the interminable entitlement process" – the rezoning and permitting that all developers must go through to get projects off the ground. In particular, Whitehead said, a Chatham County project has been held up for longer than MacGregor was able to afford.

MacGregor Development owed money to some of its employees – including Whitehead, whose claim against the company is listed at more than $37,000 in bankruptcy documents. MacGregor also owed taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, the state of North Carolina and the Wake County government.

It's not alone. Several Triangle homebuilders and developers either have closed entirely or filed for bankruptcy since the start of the year as the residential real estate market has slumped. Sales of existing homes are down, and the credit crunch has left many developers unable to find the loans they need to develop their land.

Building is still being done. But it's slumped severely. Last week, research company Metrostudy said new home starts in the region fell by more than half in the third quarter of this year.

MacGregor’s roots in the Triangle stretch back to the company’s founding in the 1960s. The company has developed some of the area’s biggest residential communities, including the high-end MacGregor Downs golf-club community and the 1,400-home Lochmere neighborhood.

Another thing its history includes: a previous bankruptcy. Whitehead helped guide MacGregor Development through a restructuring in the prolonged economic downturn of the early 1990s, and he says that experience should help him this time around.

MacGregor has a viable plan to get through its bankruptcy, Whitehead says, which it plans to outline for the bankruptcy court.

Whitehead says he knew he would have to file for bankruptcy about three months ago. And other developers, he predicted, will be soon to join MacGregor.

"It's been a steady downward trend for the industry," he says.

Shares of drug company United Therapeutics Corp. lost a third of their value in trading Monday after the company said that one of its experimental medicines failed to produce the anticipated results in a late-stage trial.

But the company’s chief operating officer says the news shouldn’t affect United Therapeutics’ presence in Research Triangle Park, where the company is building offices and a manufacturing facility. That’s the case even though the drug in question, an oral version of United Therapeutics’ medicine Remodulin, is supposed to be made in RTP if it wins approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The news “actually has no impact on our build-out plans here in RTP,” says COO Roger Jeffs, who is based in the Triangle.

Remodulin treats pulmonary hypertension, a condition that leads to severe fatigue and, in the worst cases, heart failure.

United Therapeutics (Nasdaq: UTHR), which is based in Silver Spring, Md., said Monday that the experimental oral version of Remodulin didn’t lead to a statistically significant patient improvement in a phase III clinical study. Specifically, the company reported that patients enrolled in its oral Remodulin drug trial didn’t benefit as expected from the tablet in a test that measured their walking distance over six minutes after a 16-week dosing period.

The drug already is sold as an injectable medicine, and the FDA is reviewing an application for an inhaled version. Remodulin, which brought United Therapeutics for around $200 million in revenue last year, is the company’s major revenue driver – with sales expected to grow by more than 30 percent a year even without the oral form of the drug hitting the market.

Jeffs says many patients who were given the oral form of Remodulin in clinical trials found it tough to handle the dosage they were given. Of the 174 patients who enrolled in the trial, 25 patients dropped out, and 33 weren’t able to increase their dosage beyond the initial level of 1 milligram.

But patients who could handle higher doses of the drug did “very well,” Jeffs says.

Jeffs also says that during the trial, United Therapeutics introduced a 0.25-milligram tablet of Remodulin. Patients who took that tablet handled the drug well and were better able to increase their dosage than patients who received the 1-millligram tablets, Jeffs says – leading United Therapeutics to be “very bullish” on the future prospects of oral Remodulin.

Investors aren't sharing that enthusiasm – at least not today. Shares of United Therapeutics were down by 35.5 percent, to $58.46, in afternoon trading Monday.

Even if oral Remodulin doesn’t work out, Jeffs says, United Therapeutics will be able to use its RTP facility to make any solid form of a drug. The company has an experimental hepatitis treatment that could be made in RTP if it hits the market, Jeffs says. And United also is likely to license compounds from other companies that could be made in the Triangle.

United Therapeutics expects to eventually employ about 300 people in RTP. The company was promised state and local incentives in 2006 to expand what was then a small research and development operation.

The company also announced Monday a new licensing agreement with Eli Lilly & Co. Under terms of that deal, United Therapeutics will develop and market the active ingredient in Lilly’s erectile dysfunction drug Cialis for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension in the United States – a deal that company officials said would double its revenues if the drug is approved for that disease by federal regulators.

United Therapeutics will pay Eli Lilly $150 million up front to gain U.S. rights to the drug candidate, which is currently under review by the FDA. Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) will also buy $150 million worth of United Therapeutics shares and keep the rights to the drug outside the U.S.

United Therapeutics recently reported booking $205.6 million in revenue for the first nine months of this year, nearly all from Remodulin sales and up from $151 million in the same period last year. The company had also doubled its nine-month profits, to $38.4 million, from $17.9 million last year.

A man convicted of being a chronic shoplifter who stole more than $1 million in merchandise from Triangle stores has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Somsak Saeku, 46, of Raleigh, was convicted on two counts of wire fraud and one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods. The convictions bring with them two consecutive 108-month sentences.

Saeku also must give up all assets he’s gotten as a result of his shoplifting.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Raleigh, Saeku has been arrested at least nine times in the past 15 years for larceny. There are 22 documented instances of Saeku’s shoplifting, the U.S. Attorney’s office says.

Investigators found that Saeku had liquid assets of $500,000 in addition to a home valued at $214,000. Over a 3 1/2-year period, investigators say, Saeku stole $1,042,243 in merchandise from Triangle-area stores.

“Shoplifting is paid for by all of us,” U.S. Attorney George Holding said in a written statement. “Higher retail costs are the direct result to those that steal from unsuspecting merchants. It is especially important that we prosecute vigorously those that make a living by dishonesty and theft. In this district professional thieves will be dealt with swiftly and severely.”

A man who pleaded guilty to marketing illegal tax shelters through his Cary-based operation was sentenced earlier this month to 24 months in federal prison.

Laszlo Horvath pleaded guilty in August to one count of filing a false claim with the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Raleigh, Horvath and a partner operated businesses under the names American Legal Research Institute and American Debt Eliminator. The two companies marketed tax shelters that allowed clients to conceal income and assets from the IRS and other creditors, the U.S. Attorney’s office says.

Specifically, Horvath and his partner, Robert Pelletier, charged clients fees to set up fictitious trusts that were used to hide assets. And if clients didn’t want to set up fake trusts, Horvath and Pelletier instructed them how to set up fictitious liens – scaring creditors away from trying to collect unpaid debts.

Horvath and Pelletier also offered, for additional fees, access to post office boxes maintained under fictitious names.

Pelletier was convicted of tax charges in May 2005.

“The sentence obtained in this case sends a clear message to those who would market easy answers and schemes to unsuspecting citizens,” U.S. Attorney George Holding said in a written statement. “You will be caught and you will be brought to justice. To victims of the scheme the sentence is a reminder that if something sounds to good to be true, it usually is.”

Horvath also was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine in the case.

The new CEO at medical software company Etrials will make $325,000 a year in base salary, the same as his predecessor.

M. Denis Connaghan, who last week was named the new chief executive at Morrisville-based Etrials (Nasdaq: ETWC), also is eligible for a bonus of as much as $175,000 per year – half of which can be paid in shares of common stock.

That makes Connaghan’s pay package comparable to that of former CEO Eugene “Chip” Jennings, who left Etrials earlier this year after failing to turn around a struggling business. According to securities filings from Etrials, Jennings also received a base salary of $325,000, though he was eligible for an annual bonus of as much as 100 percent of his salary.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Connaghan also will receive 100,000 restricted shares of Etrials’ stock, which will vest in quarterly installments through 2012.

He also will get options to buy as many as 350,000 shares of Etrials’ common stock, at a price of $1.10 per share, with the shares fully vested by 2012. Shares of Etrials were trading down by 6 percent, to 90 cents a share, Monday morning.

Bank of America Corp. plans to exercise an option to purchase additional shares in China Construction Bank, giving it a 19.1 percent stake in the company.

BofA is exercising the remainder of an option to buy shares in the Chinese bank, which is one of that country’s largest financial institutions. Financial terms of the purchase weren't disclosed.

Charlotte-based BofA (NYSE: BAC) initially bought a 9 percent stake in the bank in 2005 for $3 billion, and it currently owns 10.75 percent of the company’s shares after increasing its stake earlier this year.

The shares BofA is acquiring cannot be sold until Aug. 29, 2011, without China Construction’s consent.

BofA says it plans to remain a “long-term and significant strategic investor” in the Chinese bank. Both companies will continue to pursue partnership projects under a strategic assistance agreement formed in 2005, BofA says.

The companies have launched more than 20 such projects, including a leasing business in Beijing and no-fee cash withdrawals from BofA’s ATMs in China.

When its purchase of the option shares is completed by the end of the month, BofA will hold about 44.7 billion “H-shares” of China Construction.

Some analysts have speculated that BofA might liquidiate part of its China Construction investment to free up capital. While not ruling anything out, BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis has repeatedly said the company plans to maintain a significant stake in the bank.

Bank of America is the No. 4 lender in the Triangle by deposits.

Lowe’s Cos. Inc. says its earnings fell 24.1 percent in the latest quarter, with the home-improvement retailer citing a slowdown in sales of big-ticket items.

Mooresville-based Lowe’s had net earnings of $488 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, for the fiscal quarter ended Oct. 31, down from $643 million, or 43 cents per share, in last year’s third quarter.

Sales increased 1.4 percent, to $11.7 billion, from $11.6 billion a year earlier. But sales at stores in operation at least a year declined 5.9 percent.

“Thanks to our employees’ hard work and dedication in this difficult environment, we achieved sales results within our guidance and earnings that exceeded our guidance,” says Robert Niblock, company chief executive. “During the quarter, products related to ongoing home-maintenance and outdoor projects continued to perform relatively well. Also, we experienced a hurricane-related sales lift in the Gulf Coast as residents repaired storm damage. However, consumers continued to delay discretionary home-improvement and bigger-ticket purchases, which resulted in negative comparable-store sales in the quarter."

Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) opened 39 stores during the latest quarter. As of Oct. 31, the chain had 1,616 stores in the United States and Canada, including a dozen in the Triangle area.

The company plans to add 33 to 38 stores in the fourth quarter.