Compiled from staff and wire reports

Homes profitable for Inverness

The Inverness Group, a Blue Ash-based builder of houses in Cincinnati and Dayton, had record results last year.

The company had 368 sales in 2002 worth about $67.6 million, compared with 229 in sales worth $40.4 million in 2001. Building permits granted last year reached 355.

The company builds Inverness and Brighton Homes priced $120,000 to the high $200,000s. It recently expanded into Northern Kentucky.

Conseco Finance sale is approved

A federal judge Friday approved the $1.37 billion sale of Conseco Finance Corp. to a General Electric Co. unit and a venture capital firm, paving the way for Carmel, Ind.-based parent Conseco Inc. to emerge from bankruptcy.

The sale was approved in Chicago after the bidders increased their offer and overcame objections by Fannie Mae and a Warren Buffett-affiliated venture.

CFN Investments, run by J. Christopher Flowers, Fortress Investment Group LLC and Cerberus Capital Management LP, will pay $1.04 billion, which includes $772 million in cash. GE Consumer Finance will buy Conseco's Mill Creek Bank unit for $323 million.

DP&L accounting firm withdraws

Shares of DPL Inc. fell 2.5 percent after the company's Dayton Power & Light unit said its accountant will not seek to be re-elected by a board committee for this year. Shares of Dayton, Ohio-based DPL fell 31 cents to $12.10 in New York Stock Exchange trading. They have fallen by more than half the past year.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP had been Dayton Power & Light's independent accountant, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.