Business briefs for December 24, 2001

Monday, Dec. 24, 2001 | 10 a.m.

Sales weak for retailers

NEW YORK -- In what was supposed to be the biggest shopping weekend of the season, consumers remained frugal Saturday and Sunday, despite heavy discounting and advertising blitzes.

The restrained spending in the final stretch before Christmas cast a further pall on the shopping season, already expected to be the worst in at least a decade.

Holiday sales and profits for many merchants may come in below already modest expectations, said Jeff Feiner, managing director of Lehman Brothers, Sunday.

Retailers' profits may now be down as much as 5 percent to 10 percent, worse than the 3 percent to 5 percent declines Feiner had expected.

Equity investment announced

PurchasePro, a money-losing Las Vegas electronic commerce company, said Friday it entered into a common stock purchase agreement with Fusion Capital Fund II LLC, a Chicago institutional investor.

PurchasePro said it received a commitment for Fusion Capital to purchase of up to $15 million of PurchasePro stock at no discount to market prices. Details of the agreement have not yet been spelled out in Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

"Because of the minimal dilution to our shareholders and the long-term nature of Fusion Capital's investment, we consider this to be the best possible solution to our financing requirements," said Chief Executive Richard Clemmer, who called the deal evidence PurchasePro is a "long-term player."

PurchasePro stock advanced 23 cents to $1.43 Friday. It traded this morning at $1.28, down 15 cents.

Vegas man indicted

A former securities broker, indicted by a federal grand jury on wire fraud and money laundering charges involving $2 million, has surrendered to authorities in Las Vegas.

Tony D. Davis was indicted Wednesday on 28 counts of wire fraud and 27 counts of money laundering involving 10 customers. He was a broker for Finance 500, a California-based firm. He is accused of transferring funds from accounts in that company to a bank account he controlled at a Las Vegas branch of Bank of America.