Business Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

CITY
TIFFANY’S THIRD-QUARTER PROFIT FALLS; CUTS FORECAST
Shares of Tiffany & Co. shed 6.9% yesterday after the luxury retailer missed its own third-quarter earnings guidance, reflecting another quarter of sales declines in Japan.
The company again lowered its fiscal 2005 earnings forecast.
The purveyor of luxury goods also noted weaker-than-expected sales in its direct-marketing channel.
The New York-based company said third-quarter net income fell 26% to $20.8 million. Earnings per share fell to 14 cents from 19 cents a year earlier, falling short of analysts’ estimates of 19 cents a share for the third quarter ended Oct. 31. Tiffany had previously expected profit to equal the earnings of the year ago period.
The company lowered its fiscal 2005 guidance despite its forecast of healthy sales growth for the holiday season in America. The holiday sales growth view reflects initial customer reaction to new products and early results from new stores. Despite strong initiatives to increase sales in Japan, the chief financial officer, Jim Fernandez, said the company “isn’t out of the woods.”
– Dow Jones Newswires
NATIONAL
GM, FORD TO OFFER ANTI-ROLLOVER EQUIPMENT ON SUVS IN ’05
Electronic anti-rollover systems will become standard equipment on 1.8 million sport utility vehicles from GM and Ford in 2005, the automakers announced Thursday. General Motors Corporation said the vehicles include the Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, Avalanche, and Trailblazer; GMC Envoy; Hummer H3l; Saab 9-7X; and Buick Rainier. The Hummer H2 will get the system in 2006. The Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon Denali already feature standard stability control. Ford Motor Co. said more than 500,000 of its sport utility vehicles will be equipped with the company’s anti-rollover system by the end of 2005, and it plans to try to market its technology to other automakers. Ford said this summer it would add the stability control system as standard equipment to the 2005 Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer, Lincoln Aviator, and Lincoln Navigator, but it didn’t provide estimates on quantities until yesterday. The system also will be standard on the 2005 Volvo XC90 and available as an option for $595 on the 2005 Ford Expedition.
– Associated Press
ALLSTATE HOLDING OFF ON NEW POLICIES IN FLORIDA
Stung by more than $1 billion in losses from this year’s hurricanes, Allstate Corporation has stopped writing new homeowners’ insurance policies in most of Florida until the state Legislature makes some decisions about sharing future storm risks. Allstate’s chief executive officer, Edward Liddy, told reporters yesterday that the company lost $1.06 billion as a result of hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne hitting the southern United States, much of it in the company’s Allstate Floridian unit. The losses, he said, “wiped out all the profits” the unit had made on its Florida policies since Hurricane Andrew hit the state in 1992. Earlier this month, Allstate, the largest property casualty insurer in Florida, said it was tightening guidelines on new policies. Allstate, which is based in Northbrook, Ill., is one of the nation’s largest home and auto insurers. Yesterday Mr. Liddy said that while Allstate Floridian was renewing existing policies, it wasn’t writing new ones in most of the state until legislative issues were resolved. The Florida legislature plans a special session next month to consider changes in property insurance laws. Florida’s governor, Jeb Bush, and the state’s chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher, are pushing to change a law that now lets insurance companies charge separate deductibles for damage from different storms in the same season.
– Associated Press
REGULATORY
THREE AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE EXECUTIVES GET NOTICES FROM SEC
The three top executives at the American Stock Exchange received Wells notices from the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of an investigation into options trading and regulatory issues at the exchange, Amex confirmed Thursday. The Wells notices allow the executives – chairman and chief executive Salvatore Sodano, president Peter Quick and general counsel Michael Ryan Jr. – to make statements to the SEC before its investigators decide whether to take civil action against them. The notices are part of an ongoing SEC investigation into Amex’s options trading practices, first made public in June 2003. The probe centers on possible violations of a 2000 settlement agreement made by Amex and other options exchanges with federal regulators following charges of price-fixing and inadequate policing of trading misconduct. In a statement, Amex said its Board of Governors will appoint a special committee of public governors to oversee its handling of the SEC investigations, as well as working with the SEC on the exchange’s pending sale from the National Association of Securities Dealers to the exchange’s membership. The three executives could not be immediately reached for comment. Amex spokesman Daniel Charnas said the three were still employees of Amex, but would not comment as to how long they might remain in their jobs. The SEC is reportedly negotiating settlements with Amex and two other exchanges – the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in Chicago – as part of a broad investigation of regulatory enforcement failings at the three exchanges. It was unclear Thursday whether the Wells notices issued to the Amex executives were connected with this broader probe.
– Associated Press