Pittsburgh Business Times articles from March 1998

Pittsburgh Business Times archives from March 1998

Highmark's profit masks underwriting loss. (Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield)
March 27, 1998... DOWNTOWN - New figures show Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield posted net income of $100 million for 1997, but that black ink masks significant underwriting losses in its managed care and indemnity insurance businesses. if not for a healthy...

Unwilling to tool and die. (tool and die shops)
March 27, 1998... Local tool and die makers offer careers with the pay and job security everyone covets. So where is everyone? FREEPORT - Imagine a career that promises job security, and, after four years of paid training, a doubling of salary. It doesn't even...

Southwood Psychiatric sells hospital.
March 27, 1998... Texas for-profit slates site for mid-Atlantic hub UPPER ST. CLAIR - A Texas-based provider of behavioral health care for children and adolescents plans to buy Southwood Psychiatric Hospital. The move by Youth and Family-Centered Services...

Mellon's 3-year-old venture fund gambles on WiseWire. (Mellon Ventures Inc.; WiseWire Corp.)
March 27, 1998... Million-dollar investment a departure for bank's unit DOWNTOWN - There are certain rules Mellon Ventures Inc. follows when investing in companies. But rules were made to be broken. And recently, this unit of the region's second-largest...

$99 million from Japanese lender lets Oxford refinance office tower. (Nomura Capital Corp.; Oxford Development)
March 27, 1998... Meanwhile, local developer undertakes bevy of new projects DOWNTOWN - Oxford Development has borrowed more than $99 million from Japan's Nomura Capital Corp. to refinance the mortgage on One Oxford Centre. "The rates are good. It's a good...

Carnegie Group opens wallet for New Jersey software development firm. (Advantage kbs Inc. of Edison, NJ)
March 27, 1998... Acquisition follows stuggles, layoffs for local firm DOWNTOWN - Carnegie Group Inc. is growing again. Three months ago, the company was forced to lay off 25 employees and consider subletting some of its space in Five PPG Place due to a...

Industrious banking lobby averts vote on new law regulating ATM fees. (automated teller machine service fees)
March 27, 1998... Lobbyist convinced legislators that bills could be illegal HARRISBURG - An expected House vote - and predictions of passage - on legislation to ban or limit fees charged at automatic teller machines in Pennsylvania has been delayed, perhaps...

Mellon consolidates its small business services. (Mellon Bank Corp)
March 20, 1998... 50 in Philadelphia lose jobs; PNC also makes cuts DOWNTOWN - Mellon Bank Corp. is dosing its Business Banking Loan Center in Philadelphia and transferring its functions to Pittsburgh. Fifty workers in Philadelphia will lose their jobs in...

New Heinz CEO makes his presence felt. (H.J. Heinz CEO Bill Johnson)
March 20, 1998... End of traditional analyst meeting part of more sweeping changes DOWNTOWN - A venerable Heinz tradition has ended, just as Anthony O'Reilly prepares to pass the CEO's baton to Bill Johnson on April 30. The meeting with financial analysts,...

Rearranging the furniture. (Haskell of Pittsburgh Inc)
March 20, 1998... Haskell of Pittsburgh Inc. is trying a new direct sales strategy to reach middle-market customers for its office products For office furniture manufacturers, finding a profitable niche can require difficult choices. Competition can force a...

AHERF sells ailing Philadelphia hospitals to Vanguard Health Systems. (Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation)
March 20, 1998... Vanguard Health Systems has purchased six Philadelphia-area hospitals from the Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation. The Philadelphia region has an acknowledged surplus of hospital beds and no history of...

Vision Systems sets its sights on Keane's money, industry connections. (investments in the company)
March 20, 1998... Investment could boost local company's prospects OAKLAND - Vision Systems Inc. has secured money and connections that may help the technology start-up bring its new products successfully to market. The company, which develops information...

Metals USA is on a roll with its acquisition of Pittsburgh's Levinson Steel.
March 20, 1998... Region could provide fertile ground for additional buyouts GREEN TREE - A new breed of industry consolidators has rolled into Pittsburgh's metals market. After fighting its way out of a 1990 bankruptcy and back to profitability, Levinson...

Monitoring Medicare. (Medicare fraud crackdown in Pittsburgh, PA)(Special Report: Health Care)
March 20, 1998... Hospitals face increasing challenges as the government cracks down on Medicare billing procedures. Three top executives at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital have been spending a lot of time on a topic that sends shivers down the spines of...

Hospital employment drops sharply under managed care regimen. (Pittsburgh, PA)(Special Report: Health Care)
March 20, 1998... Also changing: the nature of the jobs available Managed care has fundamentally restructured employment in the Pittsburgh region's health care industry. It isn't just that the new system of health care has forced hospital layoffs; the new...

Respironics Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 20, 1998... (NASDAQ: RESP) Respironics Inc., based in Forest Hills, designs, develops, manufactures and markets respiratory therapy products used in hospital, diagnostic clinics, patients' homes and in emergency care stations. Including the effect of...

Nets creditors fight Jim Manzi payment. (liquidation plan)
March 13, 1998... Liquidation plan to repay former CEO $1.6 million If Jim Manzi - whom many blame for destroying Nets Inc. - has his way he'll recover his money from the failed electronic commerce company before anybody else - including founder Don Jones....

Giant Eagle plans Crafton cold storage warehouse.
March 13, 1998... Company won't talk; price may be $20 million or more WEST END - O'Hara-based Giant Eagle Inc., the region's largest supermarket chain, is apparently planning to build a massive 400,000-square-foot cold storage facility close to its Crafton...

Pastime publisher: Spence Publishing Group plans to debut magazines on local recreational activities.
March 13, 1998... After successfully turning its free monthly lifestyle tabloid, Pennsylvania Health & Fitness, into a statewide publication, Spence Publishing Group Inc. plans to expand its offerings. Spence said it will introduce six new publications over...

Northstar seeks to sell mobile diagnostic unit. (Northstar Health Services Inc.)
March 13, 1998... Move is designed to stanch flow of red ink INDIANA. Pa. - Northstar Health Services Inc., trying to shed debt after a vicious in-house legal battle, hopes to withdraw from the mobile diagnostic industry. The provider of physical...

Biocontrol Tech buys majority stake in Florida coatings firm. (Biocontrol Technology Inc's acquisition of International Chemical Technologies Inc)
March 13, 1998... Maker of Diasensor tries to establish new business INDIANA, Pa. - Biocontrol Technologies Inc., entering its fourth year without federal approval to sell its primary product. has switched gears. The company is now pruning its financial...

Signal Internet tries to catch online commerce wave. (Signal Internet Technologies Inc.)
March 13, 1998... Company's strategy is led by new CEO GREEN TREE - In the last week, Signal Internet Technologies Inc. opened two new offices, formed a marketing partnership with Silicon Graphics and signed an overseas distribution agreement. But this...

Supercomputing Center finds some short-term relief in funding quest.
March 13, 1998... Two new contracts provide facility a bit of leverage OAKLAND - The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center isn't dead yet. There is still a $16 million hole in its budget - created last year when the National Science Foundation reduced the...

Insuring a future for Highmark; new CEO John Brouse is grappling with the insurer's serious problems.
March 13, 1998... Dressed impeccably in a tailored suit and starched white shirt, John Brouse looks like a textbook example of a big company chief executive officer. But, with a disarming sense of informality, he begins an interview by talking intensely about...

WVS Financial Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 13, 1998... (NASDAQ: WVFC) WVS Financial Corp., located in McCandless is a holding company of West View Savings Bank. The bank has six offices located in the North Hills. In 1997, the company earned nearly $3 million on $21.5 million in income,...