THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607060501
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business Briefs
LENGTH: 59 lines
Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. said Friday its same-store sales fell 3 percent in June from a year earlier. Same-store sales - or sales at stores opened at least a year - are considered a more accurate measure of retail activity. The company said sales ``continue to reflect a weak industry climate and our especially challenging prior-year comparisons in the personal computer category.'' Richmond-based Circuit City said total June sales increased 16 percent to $564.3 million from $487.5 million a year ago. Circuit City said the recent results include one additional Saturday compared with the year-ago period. (Dow Jones News)
Senior Sumitomo officials
linked to copper trades
Two commodities brokers who dealt with the central figure in the Sumitomo Corp. copper scandal, Yasuo Hamanaka, say senior Sumitomo officials approved some of Hamanaka's biggest copper trades, according to a report published Friday. The brokers' statements raise questions about whether Hamanaka acted without management's knowledge in racking up a $1.8 billion loss in copper trading over a 10-year period. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ashley Levett and Charles Vincent, co-founders of London-based Winchester Commodities Group, said in an interview that Akio Imamura, Hamanaka's boss, approved what was believed to be Hamanaka's largest single purchase of copper. (Associated Press)
America Online to give
free time to settle suit
America Online Inc. will give subscribers an hour of free connection time to settle lawsuits that accused it of misleading billing practices, plaintiffs' attorneys said Friday. The settlement will end 11 class-action lawsuits brought in California over America Online's obscure practice of rounding up per-minute access charges. AOL, the biggest online company, also will plainly disclose its billing practices when people sign up for its online service, according to plaintiffs' attorneys. The settlement is subject to final court approval after a public hearing. It applies to people who were subscribers of America Online between July 15, 1991, and March 31, 1996. (AP)
Prudential agrees to pay fine, make restitution
Prudential Insurance Co. of America has agreed to pay a record fine and create a multimillion-dollar restitution plan to help settle complaints it misled policyholders, officials said Friday. The fine was proposed by a task force of state insurance regulators investigating sales practices at the nation's largest life insurer. The group is scheduled to issue a report on its findings next week. Citing unidentified sources, The Wall Street Journal said the report will contend sales abuses were more widespread than Prudential has acknowledged and that the company could have done more to stop them. The Journal said the company would be fined a record $35 million. (AP) by CNB