Wednesday, March 27, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.
Andersen CEO resigns
CHICAGO -- Andersen is parting ways with its chief executive but not the legal and business woes that threaten the 89-year-old accounting company's existence.
Joseph Berardino resigned under pressure Tuesday as CEO and managing partner of Andersen Worldwide, the legal umbrella for the now-tainted Arthur Andersen name. By staying, he said, he "could become an impediment" to efforts to save the firm.
But Andersen remains saddled by a criminal indictment for destroying Enron Corp. documents and a heavy loss of big clients because of its role in the auditing scandal, and there was no immediate evidence the resignation had altered either.
"This is too little, too late," said Arthur Bowman, editor of the industry publication Bowman's Accounting Report. "This doesn't change anything."
Specialized career school opens
Medical Association of Billers recently opened a school in northwest Las Vegas.
Located at 2441 Tech Center Court, Suite 116, the 750-square-foot site provides post-secondary education to students interested in the medical administration field.
Liz Jones, president of MAB, said the school offers one-month certification programs covering three levels of medical administration. Among other course offerings, MAB trains its students to read medical documentation, process claims, and interact with insurance carriers and patients.
The school has offered a combination of online and traveling educational workshops since 1995, Jones said. It trains about 700 people per year.
Sierra ski resort sold
VAIL, Colo. -- Vail Resorts Inc. agreed Tuesday to buy the Heavenly Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe on the border of Nevada and California from American Skiing Co. for $96 million to $99 million in cash, expanding its West Coast assets.
Vail, which owns resorts including in Vail and Beaver Creak in Colorado, said it will spend $25 million over the next five years to replace lifts, add restaurants and improve the snowmaking system at Heavenly in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
American Skiing, based in Newry, Maine, has been selling properties to pay off debt added during a 1990s expansion. But the company said with the Heavenly transaction, it has canceled a planned sale of its Steamboat Resort in Colorado. The Heavenly sale will complete the company's effort to cut debt, it said.
LV company posts hefty loss
PurchasePro reported its second straight quarter of heavy losses this morning, but the company repeated its assertion that it is on target to turn cash flow positive this spring.
The Las Vegas-based e-commerce company reported a loss of $71.3 million, or 98 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. This compared to a loss of $36.8 million, or 55 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenues fell 93 percent to $2.4 million.
PurchasePro stock fell 11 cents to 68 cents this morning.
Though revenues were down from the third quarter's $3.6 million, the company's bottom line was improved over the net loss of $106.4 million it posted in the quarter ending Sept. 30. PurchasePro lost $272.2 million for all of 2001 on revenues of $38.8 million, compared to a loss of $72.8 million on revenues of $65 million in 2000.
Of the $71.3 million fourth-quarter net loss, $48.8 million came from special charges, PurchasePro said. These included write-downs and write offs of "certain property and equipment, intangibles, investments and lease termination costs." Charges were also taken from layoffs, the company said.
The biggest cut in revenues came in software licenses. PurchasePro posted just $524,000 in software license revenue on the quarter, down from $22 million in the year-ago period.
Richard Clemmer, PurchasePro's chief executive, said in a statement that the company had emerged from an "overhaul" of its operations "with a streamlined infrastructure, additional customers and improved products."
He repeated his expectation the company will turn cash flow positive this spring, and begin generating cash this fall.
Ready Mix sale canceled
Meadow Valley Corp. of Phoenix, a big highway contractor in Las Vegas, said today it canceled a planned $12 million sale of its subsidiary Ready Mix Inc. But it will sell an Arizona rock and sand pit operation for up to $4 million to help ease the company's cash flow problems.
Neil Berkman, Meadow Valley's spokesman, declined to disclose why the company canceled the $12 million sale of Ready Mix, which supplies ready mix concrete and gravel products to Meadow Valley and other contractors in the Las Vegas and Phoenix markets. That sale was expected to resolve a lawsuit filed in Las Vegas against Meadow Valley by disgruntled shareholders.
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