Las Vegas business news

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

* ITT MUM ON HILTON BID -- It ended not with a bang -- nor a whimper. ITT Corp. was silent after its eagerly awaited board meeting Tuesday to consider Hilton Hotels Corp.'s hostile takeover offer. A spokesman wouldn't even comment on the length of the meeting, the first for ITT directors since Hilton announced its $55 a share bid for the Caesar World parent company Jan. 27. But ITT's 11 directors are expected to meet again before Feb. 14, the deadline for its official response to the Hilton bid. Privately, ITT officials have said they oppose the takeover attempt and are considering options to fight it. Industry analysts say ITT's directors likely discussed options that included issuing more shares to ITT stockholders, expanding the board to 25 members, selling non-gaming assets, claiming anti-trust violations and pursuing its own acquisition strategy that might make ITT less attractive or more expensive to Hilton.

* STATION CASINOS REVENUES RISE -- Station Casinos Inc. reported net income of $6.9 million, or 20 cents a share,for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with $7.4 million, or 21 cents a share, for the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose to $133.8 million from $122.9 million. The company said sports-book revenue declined $1.3 million in the fiscal 1997 quarter from the year-ago period at its three Las Vegas properties.

* TV MAKER EXPLORES GAMING -- Thomson Consumer Electronics wants to supply the growing gaming industry with a new kind of product, one that crosses computer monitors with television tubes. The company's digital precision pitch, or DPP, tubes combine the sharp image of a computer monitor with the brightness of a television, making the tubes readable at a distance. Thomson developed the hybrid tubes for multimedia applications in the so-called convergence category of products, or those that combine televisions with computers. It's developing the sets with Compaq Computer Corp., the world's leading seller of personal computers.

* VLT, EDS SETTLE DISPUTE -- Video Lottery Technologies Inc. said it has agreed to pay Electronic Data Systems Corp. $39 million in contract fees and a $27 million note to settle an eight-month-old dispute. EDS in return agreed to swap its 2.48 million shares in Video Lottery, currently valued at about $9.9 million, and $7 million in equipment. The agreement settles a dispute that followed Video Lottery's loss of the Arizona lottery operating contract. Video Lottery said it expects a $20 million pre-tax gain in the first quarter tied to the settlement.

To contact the SUN business news desk, call 259-4083 or e-mail mike@lasvegassun.com