The Buzz On Business

BIDDING BEGINS ON MEXICO'S PORT PLAN: President Felipe Calderón opened bidding Thursday for construction of a huge seaport that could eventually compete with Los Angeles-Long Beach, the largest port complex in the United States. Mexico's $5 billion Punta Colonet project would transform a wind-swept bay 150 miles south of the U.S. border into a booming port city, creating an estimated 80,000 jobs, drawing freighters from Asia and funneling manufactured goods north. A planned railroad would link Punta Colonet to the United States, allowing freight to skip Southern California traffic and head directly to points across the Midwest, including Chicago. Planners have yet to determine where the tracks would cross the border -- although El Paso, Texas, and Yuma and Nogales, Arizona, have been mentioned. At Punta Colonet, Calderón is seeking private bidders to build the port and accompanying railroad before running it on a 45-year operating lease. The bidding should conclude late next year, and the port should start operating in 2012, said Jose Rubio, project director for Mexico's Baja California state, which is working with the federal government to develop the port.

DIFFERENT DESIGNS FOR RECHARGEABLE CAR: The race between General Motors Corp. and Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. to produce a rechargeable car is meaningless because the companies' vehicle designs are so different, GM's top product executive said Thursday. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Toyota's plug-in hybrid has a much shorter electric range than the Chevrolet Volt and must use a gasoline engine to go any farther. The Volt, he said, runs only on electricity but carries a small gasoline engine to recharge the batteries when they are depleted. Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said Thursday that Toyota will speed up delivery of its plug-in hybrid from 2010 to the end of 2009; the Volt is due in showrooms in late 2010. But Lutz said he expects Toyota's plug-in will debut in controlled fleets and not in large numbers. He said GM will have production versions of the Volt working in a large test fleet in late 2009. GM's top executives say they hope to return to profitability in 2010.

SALES AND PROFIT DOWN FOR SEARS OWNER: Beleaguered retailer Sears Holdings Corp. reported a hefty drop in second-quarter profit as sales slumped, despite a restructuring aimed at drawing back shoppers who've taken their checkbooks elsewhere. The company led by financier Edward Lampert also delivered a downbeat outlook, predicting sales and gross profit margins will feel continued pressure from the sluggish economy. The performance was the latest in a string of dismal news for the owner of Sears and Kmart stores. Sears said Thursday that it earned $65 million, or 50 cents per share, in the three months ended Aug. 2.

JEWELERS DO MUCH BETTER OVERSEAS: Rising sales in Asia and Europe boosted Tiffany & Co.'s second-quarter profit on Thursday, signaling that strong international demand for jewelry is helping offset U.S. economic weakness. Fellow jeweler Zale Corp. posted a loss for its fiscal fourth quarter but forecast 2009 profit above Wall Street expectations and noted significant growth opportunities in Canada. The softening domestic economy, which has crimped discretionary spending for many Americans, has jewelers focusing on international efforts to offset sluggish sales in the United States. At Tiffany, second-quarter sales soared by double-digit percentages in Asia and Europe and helped lift the company's earnings above Wall Street expectations. Sales in Europe jumped 35 percent, to $71 million, and sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 17 percent, to $214.2 million. That helped counteract weakness in the United States, where same-store sales declined 4 percent. Same-store sales are an important indicator of how a retailer is performing because it measures sales at existing stores rather than newly opened ones. At Zale, the jeweler recorded a loss of $4.9 million for the quarter ended July 31, compared with a profit of $1.5 million in the same period last year. Sales rose 6.1 percent, to $456.2 million. Same-store sales grew 6.1 percent as well.

BEE NEWS SERVICES

Figuratively Speaking

126: When factoring in inflation and increases in medical costs, percentage of their final pay at retirement that employees will need to replace, according to Hewitt's Total Retirement Income at Large Companies: The Real Deal report.

70 to 90: Traditional percentage pay replacement targets.

JOHN MacINTYRE,

UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE