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Women found sexually explicit comments were nearly twice as frequent in the workplace last year as the year before, according to a recent survey.

The telephone survey of 546 employees was conducted by International Communications Research for Novations Group, a consulting company based in Boston. It found that 42 percent said they had endured sexually inappropriate comments in 2007, up from 34 percent in 2006.

The largest increase was among women, 39 percent of whom reported the most common type of harassment — up from 22 percent the year before.
"People on the receiving end of hostile comments are more vocal about their displeasure than they have been in the past," said Mike Hyster, president of Novations Group bad credit payday loans. "I believe that’s a direct reflection of the fact that the number of paid legal settlements has doubled in the last five years."

Reports of racial slurs inched up to 35 percent of those surveyed, from 33 percent in 2006.

The survey also found that employees ages 18 to 34 were more than twice as likely to overhear ridicule regarding their age than their colleagues over 55.

NEWSSTAND

Entrepreneur magazine looks at how businesses can "work smarter" by using increasingly sophisticated Web applications.

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Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said it would buy U.S. firm Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc for $8.8 billion to boost its cancer drug business, in the biggest overseas acquisition by a Japanese drugmaker.

The friendly cash offer of $25 per share — 53 percent above Millennium’s closing share price on Wednesday — is the latest example of accelerating M&A in the biotech sector as drugmakers scramble to secure promising technologies and pipelines developed by smaller firms.

Takeda, Japan’s largest drugmaker, has long been under pressure to use a $10 billion war chest to strengthen its pipeline before a U.S. patent on its top-selling diabetes drug, Actos, expires in 2011.

Developing cancer drug pipelines has been a top priority for Japanese drugmakers, which have been late to step into the lucrative business.

“I see this as a positive move http://payday-faxless.com. Major drug companies, including Takeda, need to develop new drugs before their patents expire,” said Kumi Miyauchi, a drug analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research.

“It is quicker to buy other companies that can develop new drugs rather than developing new products by themselves.”

The deal comes on the heels of rival Eisai Co Ltd’s $3.9 billion purchase of cancer specialist MGI Pharma Inc.

It also follows Takeda’s agreement with Abbott Laboratories last month to split their 50-50 joint venture TAP Pharmaceutical Products. 

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Rogers Communications Inc. launched its latest salvo in the contentious “fee-for-carriage” debate this morning, bluntly telling the federal broadcast regulator that domestic broadcasters “don’t deserve a handout” at the expense of consumers.

Canada’s largest cable company kicked off public hearings hosted by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which is conducting the first sweeping review of television distribution regulations in about 15 years.

Ted Rogers, the cable giant’s president and chief executive officer, told a standing room-only crowd in a Gatineau, Que., conference centre that if broadcasters are not as profitable as they used to be, it is because of spending on American programming and billion-dollar acquisition deals.

“The commission should bear in mind that conventional broadcasters are not losing money,” Rogers said. “They are profitable.”

He points out that two of the largest broadcasters spent more than $3 billion on takeovers in recent years: the $2.3 billion acquisition of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. by CanWest Global Communications Corp. and U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co., and CTVglobemedia Inc.’s $1.4 billion takeover of CHUM Ltd.

In a subsequent deal, Rogers Media Inc. bought five Citytv television stations from CTVglobemedia for nearly $400 million.

“I recently spent half a billion dollars on Citytv,” Ted Rogers told commissioners. “I would not have done that if I didn’t think we could generate a profit without fee-for-carriage.”

Broadcasters, including CTV and Global, want cable and satellite companies to pay them a fee to carry their signals, arguing their industry is in "crisis" because of higher costs, slower ad growth and audience fragmentation.

Rogers Media, which also owns two OMNI television stations, operates three of the 11 over-the-air signals in Toronto. It estimates that fee for carriage, if adopted, could inflate cable bills by $5 to $10 a month.

Ted Rogers also argued that recent financial results suggest that broadcasters “don’t need a handout.”

In March, the CRTC reported that private conventional stations improved their profits, before interest and taxes, to $112.9 million in 2007 from $90.9 million a year earlier check cash advance.

That same report also found that conventional broadcasters decreased spending on Canadian programming by 1.2 per cent to $616 million in 2007, while spending on foreign programs rose 4.9 per cent to $721.9 million.

Hearings on the future of the cable and satellite television industry are expected to last three weeks.

Amid criticism that CRTC’s agenda is too broad in scope, chair Konrad von Finckenstein sharpened the focus to five key issues. In addition to fee-for-carriage, they include the appropriate size of basic cable packages; whether there should be guaranteed access for certain domestic specialty and pay services; the potential elimination of “genre protection” rules and whether or not cable and satellite companies should have access to advertising revenues from “on-demand” services or local avails.

“This is the first broad review of BDUs (broadcast distribution undertakings) and discretionary programming services since 1993,” said von Finckenstein. “A great number of issues are at stake.”

Representatives from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. were scheduled to present next.

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Flat screen maker LG Display Co Ltd (034220.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) and two smaller Taiwanese rivals are expected to post strong first-quarter earnings as the booming market for thinner, sleeker TVs boosted panel demand amid tight supplies.

Makers of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels saw solid demand and stable pricing in the usually-slow first quarter, helped by drastic investment cuts after a painful panel glut in 2006. The investment cutback will continue to limit capacity throughout 2008, analysts said.

Earnings are set to increase further in the second and third quarters with sales of LCD TVs to replace bulky tubes picking up pace ahead of Beijing Olympics this summer.

“The LCD industry in 2008 should enjoy the sort of boom that has not been observed since 2004,” said John Soh, an analyst Goodmorning Shinhan Securities. “LCD TVs and notebook computers are becoming widespread globally, leading the trend. LG Display should see its best results ever this year.”

Analysts expect the market to tilt toward oversupply again at the end of the year, but many say the scale of excess production would be small, with TV demand growing fast.

South Korea’s LG Display (LPL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), formerly LG.Philips LCD, is forecast to report on Thursday a 715.5 billion won ($735 million) net profit in the first quarter, according to 8 analysts polled by Reuters.

The profit marks a rebound from a 169 billion won net loss from the year-earlier period and compares with the record 760 billion won earned in the October-December quarter.

Besides strong demand, the weaker won <KRW=> currency and improved production yields also boosted earnings at LG Display, the world’s No guaranteed cash advance loan. 2 maker of large-sized LCD screens. 

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Canadian consumer confidence fell in March, the Conference Board of Canada said yesterday, as concerns about future finances put consumers in a more pessimistic mood.

The board’s index of consumer confidence dipped two points in March to 94.5, erasing February’s modest 1.2 per cent rise, according to the monthly survey based on 2,000 telephone interviews.

Despite the drop, the figure was in stark contrast to a comparable number in the United States, where Conference Board Inc. reported its index fell nearly 12 points to 64.5.

The contrast between the two economies was also seen yesterday in employment reports for March.

Canada added 14,600 jobs, almost dead-on analysts’ expectations, while the U.S http://payday-nofax.com. economy shed 80,000 jobs, missing the market forecast for a decline of 60,000.

The Statistics Canada jobs report showed that Canada’s manufacturing sector has lost 113,300 jobs since March 2007.

But Ontario was the only province where consumer confidence rose in March. Even with its one-point gain, confidence in Ontario was below the national average

After a strong rebound last month, the index for the Atlantic provinces tumbled by 8.4 points. Quebec was down by 0.9, the Prairie provinces by 4.8 points, and British Columbia by 6.7 points.

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If there were any doubts about how Wall Street would respond to Patriot Coal Corp.’s agreement to buy central Appalachian rival Magnum Coal Co., they were quickly erased Thursday.

Patriot shares surged $7.85, or 17 percent, to close at a record $54.80 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is up 71 percent since it began trading at $32 on Oct. 18.

Creve Coeur-based Patriot announced late Wednesday that it agreed to buy Magnum for $709 million in stock and debt. Magnum stockholders will receive 11.9 million newly issued Patriot shares. Patriot also will assume $150 million in debt.

The purchase, expected to close around mid-year, will nearly double the size of Patriot and make it the second-largest coal producer in the eastern U.S., just five months after it was spun off from St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. Only Massey Energy Co. is larger in central Appalachia.
"It came down to buying good assets at the right price," said Jeremy Sussman, a coal analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder Inc. in New York.

When the acquisition is complete, Patriot will generate revenue of more than $2 billion and sell between 40 million and 45 million tons of coal a year, Patriot Chief Financial Officer Mark N no teletrack payday loans. Schroeder said Thursday during a conference call with analysts and investors.

And because many of Magnum’s mines are contiguous to Patriot’s operations in southern West Virginia, the purchase will create efficiencies that should help the company take advantage of a robust coal market.

"We see synergies in a number of areas, including operating cost savings, enhanced brokerage and trading operations, the ability to increase net coal production and sales, and in the administrative functions," Schroeder said.

Magnum, based in Charleston, W.Va., has 1,700 employees and owns 12 mines and seven preparation plants. The company was formed in late 2005 and consists mainly of assets acquired from Arch Coal, also based in Creve Coeur.

jtomich@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8320

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Patriot Coal Corp., the company spun off from Peabody Energy Corp. five months ago, said it has agreed to purchase rival Magnum Coal Co. for $709 million in a deal that would create the second-largest coal producer in central Appalachia.

Together, Patriot and privately held Magnum sold more than 40 million tons of coal in 2007, generated almost $2 billion in revenue and own 2 billion tons of reserves, the companies said Wednesday in a statement.

Patriot Chief Executive Richard M. Whiting said Magnum’s assets represent a good strategic and geographic fit and will add to earnings in the first year.

"This transaction fits squarely with Patriot’s strategy of growing through synergistic, accretive acquisitions, particularly in the fragmented central Appalachian region," Whiting said in the statement.

Creve Coeur-based Patriot is using its fast-rising stock as currency. Shares of the company have risen 47 percent since they began trading at $32 on Oct. 18 as investors respond to increasing demand for coal to run power plants and make steel.

Magnum stockholders will receive 11.9 million newly issued Patriot shares, which closed Wednesday at $46.95 on the New York Stock Exchange. Patriot also will assume $150 million in debt.

The transaction, which had been rumored in the coal industry, is subject to approval by regulators and Patriot shareholders and is expected to close around mid-year.

Magnum’s majority owner, Boston-based ArcLight Capital Partners LLC, will own 16 percent of Patriot under terms of the sale, and other Magnum shareholders will own 15 percent.

"We believe this presents a unique opportunity to consolidate two significant, complementary coal companies, achieving the benefits of scale and diversity that we believe are critical to … long-term success in the coal sector," Robb E same day payday loans. Turner, Magnum’s chairman and managing partner of ArcLight, said in the statement.

Magnum, which has 1,700 employees, is based in Charleston, W.Va. It owns 17 mines and seven preparation plants.

The company was formed in late 2005 by ArcLight and Arch Coal Inc.

Creve Coeur-based Arch, the nation’s No. 2 coal producer, intended to exchange some mining operations for a minority stake in the new company, but ultimately sold the assets for cash to rid itself of millions of dollars in retiree health care costs and environmental liabilities.

jtomich@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8320

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First Clover Leaf Financial Corp. of Edwardsville said its fourth-quarter earnings fell as revenue declined. The bank holding company’s revenue comes from net interest income and other income.

However, earnings for the entire year were strong, as both net interest income and other income rose sharply.

Last year was the first full year of operations for the bank holding company, formed by the merger of First Federal Financial Services Inc payday loan. and Clover Leaf Bank. Growth in net income was attributed to the increase in loans and investments after the merger along with growth in commercial loans after the merger.

— JERRI STROUD

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