AMBITION

KeySpan Energy Corporation, the biggest natural gas supplier in the Northeast, plans to grow its earnings by from 4% to 5% in 2005, the utility’s chief executive, Robert Catell, said in remarks delivered at UBS Bank’s Natural Gas and Utilities Conference, which is being held at the Pierre hotel here. He said the company in 2004 divested noncore assets and is on track to meet earnings guidance. The Brooklyn based utility said in December that it would seek to sell parts of its mechanical contracting businesses, which have not met expectations, and focus on its core gas and electric operations.

UPPING THE ANTE

Qwest Communications International Inc., the no. 4 American local-telephone company, said it offered $24.60 a share in cash and stock for MCI, going public for the first time about its unsuccessful $8 billion takeover bid. MCI spurned the offer and accepted a $20.75 a share bid from Verizon Communications Inc. By going public, Qwest’s chief executive, Richard Notebaert, is stepping up pressure on MCI to reconsider his company’s terms.

KICKBACKS American Funds, the biggest American seller of mutual funds since 2002, violated securities rules by paying brokerages $100 million in commissions over three years in exchange for promoting its products, the NASD said. The kickbacks were made to about 50 brokerages by American Funds Distributors Incorporated, a unit of Los Angeles-based Capital Group Companies, the NASD said in a lawsuit yesterday.

– Bloomberg News

COKE RISES

Coca-Cola Company, the world’s largest soft-drink maker, said fourth-quarter profit rose 30% on lower costs and an unexpected increase in sales. Coca-Cola shares gained as much as 3.5%, the biggest increase since July 2003. Net income climbed to $1.2 billion, or 50 cents a share, from $927 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier. Sales increased 1.6% to $5.26 billion, the Atlanta-based company said today in a statement.

– Bloomberg News

PERFORMANCE

Stocks staggered to a mixed finish Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told a congressional committee the economy is strong, a sign that the central bank is likely to continue raising interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 2.44, or 0.02 percent, to 10,834.88. The broader gauges were narrowly mixed. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.22, or 0.02 percent, to 1,210.34. The Nasdaq composite index was down 1.78, or 0.09 percent, at 2,087.43.

UNTRUTHS

Former WorldCom Incorporated finance chief Scott Sullivan told jurors he lied to company officers, directors, and accountants about fraudulent practices in his department even after the chief executive, Bernard Ebbers, resigned. Defense lawyer Reid Weingarten went on the offensive, attacking the credibility of the government’s star witness, who spent five days describing phony accounting maneuvers that drove the company into bankruptcy.

– Bloomberg News