Robert Rogalski has been named CEO at Excela Health, a position he has held on an interim basis for three months, the Greensburg-based hospital network announced on Monday.

Rogalski, a former senior counsel and health care practice group leader at Thorp Reed & Armstrong LLP, joined Excela as a hospital trustee six months ago. He brings to the job more than 17 years of experience advising health care systems on a variety of strategic and legal matters, including corporate governance and acquisitions.

“While a number of candidates emerged during the deliberations, we found the opportunity to observe Bob’s strengths firsthand in day-to-day operations a considerable advantage,” Excela board Chairman Paul Mongell said in a prepared statement. “The positive results and substantive work he has performed during the transition period demonstrate the key attributes we seek in moving Excela Health forward.”

Before Thorp Reed, Rogalski was in-house counsel for health systems in western Pennsylvania and upper Midwest. Most recently he served as vice president and general counsel and compliance officer at MedCenter One Health Systems in Bismarck N.D. He has also worked as in-house counsel at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and West Penn Allegheny Health System, the first and second largest hospital networks in the region.

Rogalski is a graduate of St. Vincent College. He received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Bank of America spent $4.4 billion last year on its Wall Street bankers , according to a person familiar with the matter.

The nation’s largest bank used 19% of the $23 billion in revenues it generated in 2009 within its markets and investment banking businesses to pay workers’ salaries benefits as well as year-end bonuses.

That works out to an average of about $440,000 per employee. The bank has roughly 10,000 workers in its markets and investment banking units.

Bob Stickler, a spokesman for Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), would not confirm the figures, although he said that the company tried to walk a fine line when it structured worker pay this year.

"We are trying to balance the need to pay competitively and to respond to concerns about the level of compensation on Wall Street," said Stickler.

Faced with a public backlash over outsized bonuses, many of the nation’s largest financial firms have incrementally lowered pay levels for traders and investment bankers.

Many institutions have offered workers less cash and more stock, in an effort to tie workers’ performance with the firm’s fortunes and the interest of shareholders.

The use of so-called "clawback" provisions, which would reclaim pay from workers whose actions may damage the firm’s long-term financial health, have also gained momentum recently.

The issue of compensation has haunted Bank of America for much of the past year after it was revealed that the firm paid $3.6 billion in year-end bonuses to Merrill Lynch workers for fiscal year 2008. The firm is currently facing two legal actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission over the matter.

Compared to some of its peers, the amount Bank of America spent on its Wall Street employees appeared to fall in the middle of the pack.

Last month, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) said it spent $9.33 billion to compensate workers in its investment banking division. Divided among the nearly 25,000 individuals in this business, the average annual compensation per employee was nearly $380,000.

Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) also revealed during the latest earnings season it spent approximately $498,461 a person, if its compensation pool were divided evenly among the firm’s 32,500 employees. 

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Flash memory maker SanDisk Corp. has been of the hottest stocks on the market in December, up 52 percent in the past 19 trading sessions.

Milpitas-based SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) has gathered a number of positive analyst ratings during that time but there has been little else to explain investors' enthusiasm.

Its stock rose to a 52-week high of $30.14 in trading on Christmas Eve before closing at $30.13. It has more than quadrupled since hitting a 52-week low of $7.73 in March.

In its most recent quarterly earnings report, SanDisk posted a $231.3 million profit on a 14 percent rise in revenue to $935.2 million.

CEO Eli Harari said at the time, "We are encouraged by improved industry fundamentals and our increasingly diversified global markets, which bode well for further growth in the fourth quarter and in 2010 easy fast payday loans."

That followed word in September that South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Corp. had officially dropped a bid to buy SanDisk. Samsung's $5.85 billion offer was rejected last year as too low and later withdrawn.

The companies in May also signed a patent-license deal that reduces the threat of litigation between them in the flash-memory chip market.

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KaChing Group Inc., which runs an online service that lets individual investors emulate the trading decisions of qualified skilled investors, has received $7.5 million in a financing round led by DAG Ventures.

Palo Alto-based kaChing launched its platform in October. The company charges users an average 1.25 percent annually, as compared to the 3 percent it says is common in mutual funds saving account payday loan.

The company previously raised $3 million from individuals including Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz, Jeff Jordan, CEO of Open Table and former president of PayPal and various other well known venture capitalists.

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Whitney Design Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after the Commerce Department imposed special anti-dumping duties on one of the company’s Chinese suppliers.

As the importer, the Hazelwood-based company must pay penalties nearly equal to its annual revenue, forcing it to seek protection from creditors.

Formed in 1994, Whitney imports and sells household goods, mainly ironing boards, pads and covers and closet organizers.

Filing on Saturday, Whitney Design said the Commerce Department imposed a "penalty rate" of 157.68 percent of the purchase price on steel-top ironing boards bought from a Chinese manufacturer since 2004.

The Commerce Department took that step in April after the Chinese supplier, named Since Hardware, failed to cooperate with on certain audits and procedures. Since Hardware is appealing the penalty, according to a filing with the bankruptcy court in St. Louis.

As importer, Whitney will have to pay those special duties even though the company declared it was unaware of the Chinese supplier’s actions.

If the appeal isn’t successful, Whitney could owe up to $35 million. Last year, Whitney’s revenue totaled only $40 million, according to the company.

With such a potential liability hanging over the business, Whitney was forced into bankruptcy, said James L. Glenn, the company’s president and CEO.

"Potentially, (the penalties) could be devastating," he said Monday in an interview. "It’s tough. We didn’t have any idea that this was coming."

The bankrupt company now hopes to sell its assets to a new business, Household Essentials, which will be controlled by Glenn and Whitney’s Chief Financial Officer Mark J. Brown. Both men control Whitney.

Glenn said he anticipated that the sale of Whitney’s assets would be completed early in 2010 and that the company’s 46 full-time employees would keep their jobs.

The sale is backed by Whitney’s two key creditors, Enterprise Bank and Eagle Fund I LP, though the transaction will require the court’s approval, the company said.

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Qwest Communications International Inc posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and boosted its full-year outlook as it planned more cut costs, sending its shares up 3.4 percent.

While the telephone operator’s quarterly revenue fell 9.6 percent, slightly steeper than analysts had expected, investors cheered Qwest’s ability to rein in costs.

“They’re shrinking their way to greatness here,” said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King. “It continues to be a cost-cutting story.”

Like bigger phone companies AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc, Qwest has been losing home phone customers to cable rivals and to wireless, as some consumers forsake landlines to depend entirely on cellphones.

Qwest reported a third-quarter net profit of $136 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with $145 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding unusual items, earnings per share would have been 9 cents compared with the average analyst estimate of 7 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

In the quarter, Qwest’s cost of sales fell to $932 million from $1.23 billion a year ago.

Revenue fell to $3.05 billion, compared to the average Street estimate of $3.07 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company said “wireless substitution, increased unemployment, low business formation and soft housing trends” in its 14-state operating region cut into revenue faxless payday advance.

However, Qwest forecast full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to be at the upper end of its previous target of $4.25 billion to $4.4 billion.

Qwest also cut its capital spending target for the year to $1.6 billion or lower, from its previous budget of $1.7 billion or lower, and raised its estimate for full-year adjusted free cash flow to a range of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion, from the previous target of $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion.

“Qwest’s numbers were generally in line and slightly better on the outlook,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Larsen. “The name of the game for Qwest this quarter and for the rest of the year is strong cost cutting.”

Total access lines fell about 11 percent in the quarter, with the biggest decline coming in its consumer business, Qwest said.

“We are optimistic about our prospects as the economy begins to improve in the quarters ahead,” Qwest Chief Executive Edward Mueller said in the earnings statement.

Qwest shares rose 3.4 percent, or 12 cents, in premarket trade to $3.57.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Derek Caney)

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India’s industrial production rose the most in 22 months, suggesting the central bank may have scope to make an early exit from emergency stimulus measures.

Output at factories, utilities and mines jumped 10.4 percent in August from a year earlier after gaining a revised 7.2 percent in July, the statistics agency said in New Delhi today. Economists were expecting a 9.7 percent increase.

Manufacturing across Asia is showing signs of recovery, prompting policy makers to consider when they can begin to withdraw the monetary and fiscal stimulus initiated to protect their economies from the global recession. Central bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao last week said India may need to act ahead of advanced economies due to “incipient” inflation pressures.

“With doubts over the durability of India’s upswing fading all the time, and inflation pressures already high, policy rates look certain to move up soon,” said Kevin Grice, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London. “We still expect a first hike in January but the possibility of a first move at the Oct. 27 monetary policy meeting now looks close to a 50:50 call.”

India’s benchmark stock index has more than doubled from a three-year low in March as foreign inflows rebounded and demand improved for cars, air conditioners, refrigerators and homes.

The central bank cut interest rates six times between October and April and the government reduced taxes on consumer products and imports, together providing a stimulus worth more than 12 percent of India’s gross domestic product.

Interest Rates

At its last meeting on July 28, the Reserve Bank held its reverse repurchase rate at 3.25 percent and maintained the repurchase rate at 4.75 percent. The cash reserve ratio was kept unchanged at 5.0 percent.

India’s industrial production probably continued to improve last month. The Purchasing Managers’ Index compiled by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics increased for a sixth straight month in September, according to an Oct. 1 report. The gauge rose to 55 last month from 53.2 in August.

“There are sure signs of a durable manufacturing recovery,” said Sonal Varma, an economist at Nomura Securities Co no faxing payday loan. in Mumbai. “The downside is clearly behind us and we think India and China will lead the recovery in the Asia-Pacific.”

Factory output is improving across Asia as close to $1 trillion in government stimulus and record-low interest rates help the region lead the world economy out of the worst global recession since the 1930s.

China’s industrial production rose 12.3 percent in August from a year earlier, the most in 11 months. Malaysian output fell the least in 10 months.

Tax Revenue

Indian factory output may rise by more than 10 percent in the coming months as indicated by tax-collection figures and companies’ sales, according to Nomura’s Varma.

Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s most valuable company, paid 11.6 billion rupees ($249 million) in advance taxes in the quarter to Sept. 30, 69 percent more than the April-June period, the finance ministry said Sept. 22. State Bank of India paid 18.3 billion rupees and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. provided 17.96 billion rupees. Higher tax payments indicate rising sales.

Bajaj Auto Ltd., India’s second-largest motorcycle maker, sold 14 percent more vehicles in September from a year earlier and Tata Motors Ltd., India’s biggest maker, reported a 5.8 percent increase in sales in the month.

Policy makers will have to “strike a balance” in setting interest rates and shouldn’t compromise on growth in order to tame inflation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Oct. 8.

India’s economic growth accelerated in the June quarter for the first time since 2007, with GDP increasing 6.1 percent from a year earlier. The central bank expects the $1.2 trillion economy to expand 6 percent in the year to March 2010, slower than the 8.7 percent average growth in the previous four years.

“Growth is recovering fast,” said Chetan Ahya, an economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore. There’s “more than an even chance” the Reserve Bank in this month’s monetary policy statement will increase its cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points, he added.

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CALGARY–Oncolytics Biotech Inc. shares soared Friday morning and hit a multiyear high after the Calgary-based company announced it has taken a major step forwards in researching and developing a potential cancer treatment.

Shares in the biotechnology company added 75 cents or 23.6 per cent to $3.93 in Friday morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They had traded as high s $4.10 earlier Friday, the highest intraday price since May 2006.

The gain came after Oncolytics said it has received approval to conduct a Phase 3 trial of a treatment for head and neck cancers using the company's Reolysin drug in combination with chemotherapy.

Oncolytics president and chief executive Brad Thompson said the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is a "significant step" towards final approval of Reolysin, which he described as a “first-in-class agent."

"This (trial) provides an agreed upon path for product development from now until submission for product approval," Thompson said Friday in a conference call with analysts.

"It allows us to proceed into this Phase 3 trial with the confidence that if the trial is successful, we should be able to move forward toward product approval in the United States and also provide guidance toward the use of Reolysin in other cancer applications low rate payday loans."

Thompson added that Oncolytics has seen "strong pre-clinical and clinical evidence" supporting the use of Reolysin in combination with chemotherapy.

Reolysin uses a naturally occurring human reovirus in a process developed by the Calgary-based biotechnology company.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to allow Oncolytics to conduct a two-stage trial at multiple clinical centres to test Reolysin.

Some patients will receive the company's drug in combination with two chemotherapy drugs – paclitaxel and carboplatin – while other patients will receive only the chemotherapy and a placebo.

The first stage of the trial is designed to enrol 80 patients and the second stage is to enrol between 100 and 400 patients, with 195 the most likely number.

The company is focused on the development of oncolytic viruses as potential cancer treatments.

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U.S. bedmaker Simmons Co is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under a plan where it will be sold to Ares Management LLC, a private-equity fund, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Atlanta-based Simmons, which is owned by buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, will likely announce the plans later on Friday, according to the paper.

Simmons, Ares Management and Ontario Teachers’ could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; editing by Simon Jessop)

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CALGARY–The Conference Board of Canada estimates profits for the country's natural gas producers will hit a 10-year low this year.

The Ottawa-based economics think-tank said Friday the gas industry's overall profit will total just $2.3 billion this year, down 60 per cent from last year and the lowest since 1999.

It also says output by Canadian gas producers will be down five per cent in 2009 from last year's level, which was 5.2 per cent below 2007 output.

"So much has changed for the natural gas industry in just one year," said Todd Crawford, an economist with the board. "Last year, revenues more than doubled over the first six months as gas prices skyrocketed. Now, low prices and the tough credit conditions have created a perfect storm that sent drilling activity in Canada tumbling this year. "

While lower natural gas prices are a benefit to consumers who will heat their homes this winter or rely on electricity produced from gas-fired generation stations, it's not certain whether all the benefits of lower prices will be passed on to gas users.

That's because many utilities and distributors have long-term supply contracts that lock them in to paying higher prices than the current spot price.

The other fallout from lower prices is that it weakens the financial state of the country's gas producers, which account for a big chunk of drilling activity in Alberta, in particular.

In its report, the Conference Board said it expects gas-sector profits will begin to grow again in 2010.

The report comes a day after the National Energy Board said it's expecting Canada's natural gas market to tighten over the next two years.

In a report Thursday, the federal energy regulator said the current downturn in Canadian natural gas drilling will put a “significant dent" in supplies between this year and 2011.

Natural gas prices have tumbled from a high of US$13 per 1,000 cubic feet in July 2008 to below US$2 per 1,000 cubic feet earlier this month, prompting many energy companies to rein in their drilling.

Prices have since rebounded somewhat, but still languish well below the levels many companies need to make their activities economically viable.

Less than half the number of rigs were working in Canada this week compared to a year go.

According to the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, there were 193 rigs active the week of Sept. 15, compared to 410 at the same time of 2008.

Production from new and existing conventional natural gas wells, which represent a big portion of North American supply, is expected to decline.

But unconventional activity in tough-to-access tight gas and shale gas reservoirs is expected to continue at modest levels into next year, as the industry hones its drilling and fracturing technology.

Overall deliverability – the ability to produce gas from new and existing wells – is expected to decline by 17 per cent by 2011.

The recession has eaten away at demand from natural gas, namely from industrial users who use the commodity for electrical generation.

However, Canadian demand is expected to rise six per cent between now and 2011, with the biggest increase coming from Alberta oilsands developers.

Natural gas is used to generate power and create steam for many oilsands projects.

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