Business briefs for January 15, 2002

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002 | 10:36 a.m.

UNLV index rises

UNLV'S Southern Nevada Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose in December as the economy began to rebound from the terrorism-caused slowdown.

UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research said the index improved to 126.06, up 1.41 percent from November but down .73 percent from December 2000.

Lifting the index were gains in taxable sales, McCarran International Airport passenger traffic, gasoline sales, casino winnings, visitor volume and convention attendance.

But declines were reported in real estate development activity.

LV firm's shares jump on deal

Shares of Las Vegas technology company PurchasePro jumped 22 percent Monday after the struggling business-to-business company announced it sold some of its software to a large, blue-chip customer.

PurchasePro said Honeywell International Inc. signed a license agreement for PurchasePro's e-Source software. The software allows companies to conduct online reverse auctions with their suppliers.

PurchasePro wouldn't disclose the value of the deal, but a spokesman said licenses typically sell for $250,000 to $1 million and that PurchasePro will also receive maintenance fees amounting to several thousand dollars per month. A year ago, Honeywell's Home & Building Control unit had PurchasePro build it an online procurement system.

PurchasePro shares closed Monday at $1.22, up 22 cents on the Nasdaq Stock Market. However, the stock fell 11 cents this morning. In the past 12 months, the company lost $238 million on revenue of $70 million.