Ambassadors Group stock splits

Ambassadors Group, Inc., of Spokane, has declared a two-for-one stock split – the first such move since the company was spun off from Ambassadors International three years ago.

The split will take the form of a 100 percent stock dividend that will be paid on Sept. 15 to people who own Ambassadors Group common stock as of Aug. 31.

After the split, the company will have about 20.4 million shares outstanding.

Ambassadors Group, which arranges educational tours for students and professionals using the People to People name, made the announcement of the stock split after the markets closed Friday. On Monday, the company’s shares rose $1.70, or about 4 percent, to close at $43.87 per share.

Kaiser Q2 profit buoyed by Aussie sale

Kaiser Aluminum Corp.’s second-quarter profit jumped to $361.7 million, buoyed by the sale of the company’s stake in an Australian alumina refinery.

Absent the asset sale, the company lost $6.6 million on its day-to-day operations, according to an earnings report released Monday.

Kaiser plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection later this year, reorganized as an aluminum products company rather than an aluminum producer.

The company collected $365.6 million on the sale of its share of Queensland Alumina Ltd.

But as for current operating losses, CEO Jack Hockema noted that sales were higher and the company was progressing even amid higher energy and freight costs.

Sales for the second quarter of 2005 were $262.9 million compared with $230.1 million in the same period a year ago. Figures from the Trentwood rolling mill are included in those numbers.

Qwest, union resume negotiations

Denver

Qwest Communications and union representatives headed back to the bargaining table Monday afternoon after a day in which little progress was reported in reaching a new contract for nearly 25,000 employees.

The employees across a 13-state region remained on the job two days after their contract with the telephone provider expired, hoping to avoid a strike.

Earlier Monday, the Communications Workers of America characterized the talks as “stalled” after a weekend of intense negotiations and said they were not expected to resume that day.

Key unresolved issues included health care, wages and mandatory overtime for employees in a 13-state region and many Qwest retirees.

Asarco, union disagree on work return

Tucson, Ariz. Copper producer Asarco LLC says that during a bargaining session Friday, striking workers were encouraged to return to work under the conditions of their expired contract, but that unions refused.

“The expired terms are more generous than the company’s current contract offer,” the company’s statement said.

But on Monday, an official from the United Steelworkers said the company didn’t offer to extend the agreement and only wanted them to return to work, said spokesman Manny Armenta.

Some 1,500 miners and other employees at Asarco’s five Arizona facilities and another in Texas have been on strike for six weeks.

Last week, Asarco filed for bankruptcy reorganization protection, citing costs it faces for environmental obligations and for asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits from operations of other mining subsidiaries not operating now.

In Idaho’s Silver Valley, Asarco was one of several companies sued by the federal government for cleanup of a century of mining waste. The company’s bankruptcy filing raised questions about the future cleanup of former Asarco operations there and across the nation.

Delta selling Atlantic Southeast Airlines

Atlanta Delta Air Lines Inc., which is struggling to avoid a bankruptcy filing amid persistently high fuel costs, said Monday it is selling feeder carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines Inc. to SkyWest Inc. for $425 million in cash.

Delta, the nation’s third-largest carrier, said the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes and to pay down $100 million of debt under its loan agreement with GE Commercial Finance and other lenders.

The sale, subject to regulatory review, is expected to close in September.

Delta, hit by high fuel costs, has lost nearly $10 billion since January 2001.

Company shares fell 22 cents, or 13.7 percent, to close at $1.39 in extremely heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. The stock gained 36 cents, 26 percent, in after-hours trading on news of the sale.

Icahn wants Time Warner to change focus

New York Financier Carl Icahn said Monday he will press Time Warner Inc. to shed its cable TV unit and embark on an aggressive buyback of $20 billion of its own shares.

Icahn, who is known for taking stakes in companies and agitating for strategic changes, said in a statement that he and three other investors have amassed more than 120 million shares of Time Warner, or about 2.6 percent of the giant media conglomerate, which owns CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. and the country’s second-largest cable TV provider.

Earlier this month, Time Warner said it planned to repurchase $5 billion of its own shares over the next two years in a bid to raise the company’s sagging stock price, but Icahn and his partners believe Time Warner can afford much more dramatic steps to boost the shares.