Business briefs for June 10

Brandon Honda files layoff notice with state

Car dealer Brandon Honda has filed a notice with the state that it may lay off 94 people in July.

Companies are required to file notice with the state when mass layoffs are expected to occur or if the company changes hands and there is the possibility of mass layoffs. It's unclear what action the dealership is taking.

Calls to executives at Brandon Honda were not returned late Thursday afternoon.

Last local Borders bookstore may close

The Borders bookstore in Citrus Park Town Center will close along with an additional 50 stores if Borders Group Inc. is forced to meet conditions of its bankruptcy filing.

Borders, which filed for bankruptcy court protection in February, has extension agreements for 365 stores. But it said in a court filing Thursday that it is still negotiating extensions for 51, many of which are among its top-selling stores.

Borders says it doesn't actually want to close the stores because that could make it impossible to sell them. The company's special bankruptcy financing requires it to start closing the stores where it has not obtained extensions by June 22.

The company closed 228 stores, including five stores from Pinellas County to Sarasota, when it entered bankruptcy.

Fixed mortgage rates drop for eighth week

Fixed mortgage rates have dropped for an eighth straight week, but the low rates have done little to boost the depressed housing market.

The average rate on the 30-year loan fell to 4.49 percent from 4.55 percent, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinance option, slipped to 3.68 percent from 3.74 percent. Both are lows for the year.

Most people can't take advantage of the low mortgage rates because they can't meet tougher lending requirements. And many who could afford to refinance likely did so last year, when rates fell to their lowest levels in decades.

Cadillac dealers will improve showrooms

More than 200 Cadillac dealerships nationwide will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each to spruce up their showrooms in an effort to better compete with Lexus, Mercedes and other luxury brands.

The makeovers, to be completed within the next two years, include oak walls, limestone exterior tiles, modern lighting and leather chairs, all specified by General Motors, the company said Thursday.

The changes are part of an effort by GM and other automakers to prod dealers to renovate buildings to change their image with car shoppers. Dealers say GM will help pay for the improvements in a program tied to how many cars a dealer orders.

Apple to nix apps that tip off drunken drivers

Apple says it will start rejecting iPhone applications that tip drivers off about police checkpoints for drunken driving.

The move comes after pressure from four senators, who asked the company in March to remove such apps.

Apple updated its app developer guidelines Wednesday. The apps often combine warnings about DUI checkpoints — supplied by other users of the app — with warnings about speed traps and red-light cameras.

Wet spring cuts corn crop; prices to stay high

U.S. food prices are expected to stay high through 2012 because heavy rains and extreme flooding will likely cut the size of this fall's corn harvest.

The United States will have a surplus of 695 million bushels of corn in 2012. That would be the lowest in 15 years and far less than the 900 million bushels estimated last month, the Agriculture Department said Thursday.

Unemployment claims continue upward trend

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits hardly changed for a second straight week, the Labor Department said. Applications ticked up 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 427,000 last week.

It marked the ninth straight week in which applications have been above 400,000. That trend represents a setback after applications had been declining all winter.

Applications had fallen in February to 375,000, a level that signals sustainable job growth. But applications surged in April to 478,000 — an eight-month high.

Oil rises on concerns about future supplies

Oil climbed above $101 per barrel Thursday as investors focused on how the world would meet energy demand in coming months.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose $1.19 to settle at $101.93 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

World oil demand is expected to outpace supplies this year by the widest margin since 2007. While OPEC has decided not to officially increase oil production, Saudi Arabia and a few other oil-producing nations are expected to boost exports anyway. Analysts aren't sure if it will be enough to meet demand.

Vineyard sale boosts Brown-Forman

Brown-Forman Corp.'s fourth-quarter profit spiked from the sale of its California-based Fetzer Vineyards, capping a year that showed strong growth for its flagship Jack Daniel's brand and el Jimador tequila.

The company, whose brands also include Southern Comfort and Finlandia vodka, on Thursday reported a 26-cent-per-share gain from the sale of Fetzer to Chilean wine producer Vina Concha y Toro S.A. The $238 million deal closed in April.

For the three months ended April 30, the company reported net income of $165.4 million, or $1.13 a share. That's up from $72.7 million, or 49 cents a share, from a year ago.

Coupons.com gets $200M investment

Digital coupon provider Coupons.com Inc. has received $200 million from undisclosed institutional investors, making it the latest Internet company to attract significant attention from the investor community.

Coupons.com announced the deal Thursday but would not disclose the company's total valuation. A person close to the matter who wasn't authorized to speak publicly said the investment brings the company's value to $1 billion.

That valuation implies the new investors will hold about one-fifth of Coupons.com.

From staff and wire reports