Kentucky.com: Financial & Business - Wire
News, sports and entertainment from Kentucky.com

• Tropicana selling casinos in N.J, Ind., Miss.
  Tropicana Entertainment LLC is doing what many other Atlantic City gamblers have done when dealt a bad hand: Cut your losses and get out of town.The company plans sell its casinos in New Jersey, Indiana and Mississippi following a fallout from the denial of its Atlantic City license last week.Besides shedding its Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, the company is selling Casino Aztar in Evansville, Ind., and has already signed a contract to sell the Horizon Casino Hotel, a riverboat casino in Vicksburg, Miss.Word of the sales came as the company made a crucial $46 million interest payment Monday on its credit agreement and said it was working on reaching a deal with its lenders that would prevent it from filing for bankruptcy.The sale of all three properties is "expected to be sufficient to pay Tropicana's outstanding senior debt," the company said in a prepared statement. "Any remaining proceeds will be reinvested in the company's business."
• AP Interview: PNC chief executive says 2007 still a good year
  The top executive of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. says a projected dip in quarterly earnings was triggered by sudden weakness in commercial mortgage markets that no one could have predicted.But James E. Rohr, the Pittsburgh company's 59-year-old chairman and chief executive, said Monday that he remains confident that 2007 will be "a very good year for us," and he said prospects for the coming year also appear bright.The anticipated fall in earnings, disclosed in a regulatory filing last week, is not expected to seriously affect PNC's annual results, partly because PNC's commercial mortgage portfolio is not a large part of the regional bank's business, he said.On Wednesday, PNC estimated that the value of its $1.5 billion portfolio of securities tied to commercial real estate loans and being held for sale had declined $95 million as of Nov. 30, and warned that it could decrease further. The company's total assets are about $131 billion.PNC said fourth-quarter adjusted earnings were expected to range between $1 and $1.15 per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial on average had projected quarterly earnings of $1.39 per share.
• Fast-food company raises money, awareness in hunger fight
  For a week, Yum Brands Inc. dished out reminders of world hunger, and asked customers to ease the plight while satisfying their cravings for tacos, pizza and fried chicken.The Louisville-based parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC orchestrated a global effort to assist the U.N.'s World Food Programme in feeding the hungry. The campaign two months ago was the fast-food company's way of commemorating its 10th anniversary since its spinoff from PepsiCo Inc.Yum asked customers at its nearly 35,000 restaurants worldwide to donate $1 per purchase to the cause. Contributions are still being tabulated, but Yum estimates it raised $12 million to $15 million."I think Yum has made a little history in the fight against hunger," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Programme, said in a phone interview from her office in Rome.Yum employees, franchisees and vendors, along with their families, devoted more than 4 million volunteer hours to combat hunger, serving meals to the homeless and volunteering at food banks.
• Suitors lining up for Tropicana
  At least a half-dozen potential buyers have contacted state casino regulators about purchasing the Tropicana Casino and Resort, and a sale could take place within weeks, the head of the state Casino Control Commission said Friday.Linda Kassekert appeared at a news conference at the Tropicana with former state Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein, the interim trustee who's overseeing the casino until a buyer can be found, and Tropicana President Mark Giannantonio, who will stay on to run its day-to-day operations until the sale."I'm pleased to see that it is open and full and running," Kassekert said at a poinsettia-bedecked podium just off the casino floor, surrounded by Tropicana workers and curious gamblers. "The Tropicana is in great hands."After meeting with Tropicana and casino commission staff on Friday, Stein decided Giannantonio was the best choice to stay and manage the nuts and bolts of the operation."I'm here, I'm staying on, I'm running the property," Giannantonio told The Associated Press Friday morning before the news conference was scheduled. "I intend to work with Justice Stein and I look forward to a very, very smooth transition. My obligation is to keep things going."
• Tropicana fears bankruptcy from license denial
  A parent company of the Tropicana Casino and Resort raised the possibility Thursday of filing for bankruptcy if it cannot quickly overturn the denial of its casino license or work out a new deal with its lenders.Tropicana Entertainment LLC filed an appeal Thursday of a decision by state casino regulators that denied it a new license. A judge refused to consider the appeal on an emergency basis, saying the Tropicana can present its case through normal channels, which could take several weeks.But the Tropicana might not have that much time.Affiliates of Crestview Hills, Ky.-based Columbia Sussex Corp., which took over operations at the Tropicana on Jan. 3, said the denial of the license would trigger a default "on a complex cross-collateralized credit agreement" affecting numerous companies in several states. Such a default could affect casino licenses the company holds in other states, it wrote in its application to Appellate Judge Joseph F. Lisa."There can be no assurance that the lenders will not accelerate, which could compel the company to seek alternatives, including, without limitation, bankruptcy protection," the Tropicana said in a statement Thursday.
• Yum Brands looks to McDonald's success for turnaround plan
  After a year of disappointing results in its U.S. division, Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc. is looking to copy one of its biggest rivals in the fast food industry in a bid to turn the troubled business around.At a meeting with investors and analysts Wednesday, Yum Chief Executive David Novak said the chain would introduce new products, including beverages and breakfast meals, expand its value menus and offer healthier options at all three of its main U.S. brands - KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.Novak said the U.S. division's transformation is being modeled after moves made in the past few years at McDonald's Inc., which added healthy options, better quality food and beverage choices to its menu. The changes there led to far higher sales and profit at the nation's No. 1 hamburger chain in the past year."We know this works," Novak said. "We're going to build a business we're proud of. We can do a lot better. Frankly, we're mad as hell that we haven't done better."The company has struggled to recover from two highly publicized incidents at Taco Bell, once the leader of Yum's U.S. business.
• Religious leaders call for resolution to contract dispute
  Religious leaders from nine states are asking officials at Appalachian Regional Healthcare and striking nurses at the system's nine hospitals to resolve their contract dispute for the sake of their patients."The saddest outcome of this prolonged dispute is that our communities in Appalachia and the quality of our health care will suffer the greatest if this dispute is not settled soon," said the Rev. John Rausch, director of the Catholic Committee on Appalachia.Rausch and more than 75 other leaders submitted a letter on Wednesday to ARH President and CEO Jerry Haynes and members of the Kentucky and West Virginia nurses association. The letter supports continuous bargaining, but scolds ARH for permanently replacing about 150 of the nurses on strike."From a moral and ethical perspective, the permanent replacement of striking nurses at Appalachian Regional Healthcare must stop; and permanently replaced workers should be reinstated," the letter says.The statement represents views of religious leaders from several groups, including the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Roman Catholic Church, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church.
• Breeders' Cup official says Churchill in running for 2009 event
  The Breeders' Cup president said he considers Churchill Downs to be one of two leading contenders to host the 2009 world championships, even though the Louisville horse track hasn't formally applied.Greg Avioli, president of the Lexington-based Breeders' Cup, said the organization would discuss a 2009 host at its February meeting. Besides Louisville, he mentioned Oak Tree Racing Association at Santa Anita as a leading contender.Churchill is "one of the best venues for horsemen in the whole country," Avioli said. "Our international contingent loves Churchill. It's just a great facility all around to hold the Breeders' Cup in."Churchill spokeswoman Julie Koenig Loignon acknowledged the track has had informal conversations with Breeders' Cup offici