Partners at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart agreed Wednesday to merge the Downtown law firm with London-based Nicholson Graham & Jones, effective Jan. 1. The combination, which was tentatively approved in mid-July, would create a law firm with roughly 950 attorneys in 10 U.S. cities plus London. Newly named Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham expects to post firm fee revenue of at least $500 million in its first year of operation in 2005 and stands as one of the largest trans-Atlantic mergers in the history of U.S. law firms. The new firm will concentrate on mergers and acquisitions, litigation, funds, insurance coverage, securities and intellectual property. Pittsburgh's largest law firm, Kirkpatrick employs 1,700 people, including about 750 locally. The firm has 800 lawyers, including 270 at the Pittsburgh headquarters. Heads of the individual firms said in July that the combined firm will consider expanding further in Europe and in other key U.S. cities, such as Chicago.
Changes at U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel Corp. said Wednesday that other management changes will be made concurrent with the previously announced retirement of Thomas J. Usher as chief executive on Sept. 30 and the promotion of John P. Surma as his successor. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said John J. Connelly has been appointed as senior vice president of strategic planning and business development, reporting to Surma; Thomas W. Sterling will be senior vice president of human resources and business services; Eugene P. Trudell, vice president of business services, will report to Sterling. Also, J. James Kutka, vice president of commercial, will assume responsibility for all North America flat-rolled products sales and marketing; he will report to John H. Goodish, executive vice president of operations. Usher will remain chairman.
Gas up 7.5 cents
Gasoline prices in Western Pennsylvania increased by 7.5 cents a gallon this week, according to AAA East Central. The AAA Fuel Gauge Report showed the average price paid for a gallon of regular unleaded self-serve gasoline in Western Pennsylvania this week was $1.893, up from $1.818 last week. The average price for the same fuel one year ago was $1.59 cents a gallon. The trade group reported the average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in a number of communities throughout the region. They include Beaver, $1.91; Butler, $1.908; Greensburg, $1.892; Indiana, $1.899; Jeannette, $1.909; Kittanning, $1.883; Latrobe, $1.901; New Kensington, $1.894; Pittsburgh, $1.886; Uniontown, $1.90; and Washington, $1.881.
Healthy pact
HealthAmerica Pennsylvania Inc., a health insurance provider covering 730,000 people in Pennsylvania and Ohio, said Wednesday that it had signed a five-year agreement with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center that includes seven hospitals and two outpatient surgery centers. They are UPMC Horizon, UPMC McKeesport, UPMC Northwest Medical Center, UPMC Passavant Hospital, UPMC St. Margaret, UPMC Rehabilitation Hospital and Magee-Womens Hospital. Two new hospitals have been added to the network: UPMC South Side and UPMC Braddock. The agreement also covers the following physician groups: UPMC Cancer Centers, UPMC Community Medicine Inc., Womancare Associates of Magee-Womens Hospital, the University of Pittsburgh Physicians and UPMC Emergency Medicine Inc.
FedEx earnings up
Another strong performance at Moon-based FedEx Ground helped propel its parent, FedEx Corp., to a 157 percent increase in first-quarter net income. FedEx had earnings of $330 million, or $1.08 per diluted share, up from net income of $128 million, or 42 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue of $7 billion increased 23 percent from $5.7 billion, and included $490 million from the FedEx Kinko's division acquired late in fiscal 2004. The company expects second-quarter earnings of $1.10 to $1.20 per share. FedEx Ground cracked $1 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 17 percent from $914 million in the year-ago period, with operating income of $147 million, up 27 percent from $116 million a year ago.
Lowe's opening
Lowe's Home Improvement will open its 11th store Pittsburgh area store on Oct. 1 at the former No. 1 Cochran auto dealership in Monroeville. The $18.5 million Monroeville superstore will employ about 175 full- and part-time workers, said Glenn Morgenweck, store manager. The store, at 4200 William Penn Highway, will have 116,000 square feet of retail space plus an adjacent garden center. Lowe's Companies Inc., a Fortune 50 company, had sales of $30.8 billion during fiscal 2003, with more than 1,000 home improvement stores in 45 states.
Name changing
US Airways Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in Allegheny County and the fifth-largest in Pennsylvania, will announce a name change at a news conference Friday. The credit union, which has branches in Charlotte, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., has 35,000 members in Western Pennsylvania and 80,000 in the United States. Its headquarters is in Moon.
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