Briefcase

Yoke’s grocery bagger places second in nation

Spokane Yoke’s Fresh Market employee Jessica Lewis took second place in the National Grocers’ Association Best Bagger competition in Las Vegas recently.

Lewis, 19, took home a share of the total $10,000 awarded to the top finishers.

Lewis took first place in the Washington state finals held in Olympia in November. That finish earned her $1,500.

Tom Sowa

Sanofi-Aventis to buy Genzyme for $20 billion

Sanofi-Aventis is buying specialty drugmaker Genzyme for $20.1 billion, the latest example of a beleaguered pharmaceutical company snapping up high-priced biotech drugs to offset dwindling sales of older, simpler medications facing generic competition.

Sanofi, the world’s fourth-largest drugmaker, overcame Genzyme’s reluctance to a takeover by raising its previous offer to $74 per share and agreeing to make additional cash payments pending the success of several drugs.

Wednesday’s announcement comes after nearly nine months of back-and-forth between the two companies, with Sanofi-Aventis finally deciding Genzyme’s portfolio of rare disease treatments was worth adding an extra $5 a share to its original $69 per share offer.

Associated Press

Williams to split into two companies

TULSA, Okla. – Williams Cos. plans to split into separate companies – one for oil exploration and production, and the other to operate pipelines. Its shares jumped in aftermarket trading.

Williams said its board has approved the sale of up to 20 percent of its stake in the exploration business through an initial public offering in the third quarter. Next year, it will spin off the remaining interest to Williams shareholders.

The company also said it would raise its quarterly dividend to 20 cents per Williams share beginning in June. That’s up from 12.5 cents per share in recent quarters.

Williams shares rose $2.44, or almost 9 percent, to $30.20 in aftermarket trading.

Associated Press

Bank of England says inflation worsening

LONDON – The Bank of England warned Wednesday that inflation is surging faster than anticipated, but Governor Mervyn King dampened expectations of an early interest rate hike to counter rising prices as the bank also lowered its growth forecast for the British economy.

Official figures out Tuesday showed that consumer prices rose to 4 percent in January, from 3.7 percent in December.

The bank’s central forecast is for inflation to peak at about 4.4 percent this year amid higher commodity prices and domestic inflationary expectations and remain above target until around the middle of 2012.

Associated Press