The two men accused of plotting with a secretary at Coca-Cola Co. to steal trade secrets from the world’s biggest soft drink maker and trying to sell them to archrival PepsiCo Inc. each pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy. Ibrahim Dimson and Edmund Duhaney both could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when they’re sentenced Jan. 29. Former Coca-Cola secretary Joya Williams is scheduled to stand trial starting the week of Nov. 13.
Higher margins aid Kraft profits
Kraft Foods Inc., the world’s second-largest food manufacturer, said Monday that its third-quarter profit grew 11 percent thanks in part to higher gross margins, restructuring savings and share repurchases. For the quarter that ended in September, Northfield-based Kraft said its net income was $748 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with $674 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, earnings grew 7.4 percent and were 46 cents per share, a penny better than the estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Netflix customers swell this summer
Netflix Inc. brightened its financial outlook Monday, emboldened by a surprisingly strong third quarter that lured nearly 500,000 more subscribers to the nation’s leading online DVD rental service. Investors cheered the news, lifting Netflix’s stock price by more than 13 percent. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company earned $12.8 million, or 18 cents per share, for the three months ended in September. That represented an 84 percent increase from net income of $6.9 million, or 11 cents per share, at the same time last year.
Mulally upbeat about Ford’s future
A $5.8 billion third-quarter loss. Dire prospects going into next year. And mighty adversaries breathing down its neck. In spite of all that Ford chief executive Alan Mulally, former chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, says returning to profitability in 2009 is a realistic goal. The July-September loss, attributed largely to sagging North American sales and billions in restructuring costs, brings Ford’s red-ink total through the first three quarters of this year to $7.24 billion, close to its largest annual loss in the last 20 years, $7.39 billion in 1992. Company officials predicted things would get even worse in the fourth quarter as market share continues to drop and Ford pays for further plant closures and job cuts to bring its manufacturing in line with lower demand for its products.
Wal-Mart to slow spending, growth
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will sharply reduce the growth in its capital spending next year and expand its retail space at a slightly slower pace than in previous years as the world’s largest retailer works to bring costs into line with a slowdown in its sales and earnings growth. Its shares rose almost 4 percent in midday trading Monday.
Correction
Edmonds and Everett community colleges oversee part of a program to train potential workers for the Boeing Co.’s 787 line. The incorrect training agency was listed in a story that ran on Page C1 in Monday’s Business section.
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