Conseco disclosure statement approved

A judge on Tuesday approved Conseco Inc.'s disclosure statement, setting the stage for the company to emerge from federal bankruptcy protection later this spring.

The disclosure statement, a document that will be used by creditors and others to sort through the company's reorganization plan, details the factors that led to the bankruptcy filing and sets forth a proposal regarding how claims and equity interests will be handled.

Conseco, of Carmel, Ind., filed for bankruptcy late last year after an aggressive acquisition strategy left it with more than $6 billion in debt.

DHL Airways names chairman and CEO

DHL Airways, the Erlanger-based domestic airline that carries air freight for DHL Worldwide Express, Tuesday named former Northwest Airlines executive John H. Dasburg chairman and chief executive officer.

Dasburg, the president and CEO of Northwest for 10 years and most recently the chairman, president and CEO of Burger King, replaces Joe O'Gorman, who died in August 2002.

DHL Worldwide Express is the world's largest overnight air freight company, but is a distant third locally. It operates its domestic hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Arbitration case takes toll on Krispy Kreme

A $9.1 million arbitration judgment in a franchise dispute took a big bite out of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc.'s quarterly earnings, which would have risen by a third if it had not lost the arbitration case, the company said Tuesday.

The chain, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., said net income for the fourth quarter fell to $5.6 million, or 9 cents a share, from $8.3 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier.

The quarterly results included a one-time $9.1 million pretax charge related to an arbitration judgment in the company's dispute over ownership rights of one of its franchisees.

Without the charge, earnings rose to $11.3 million, or 19 cents per share, which was an increase of 36 percent over the same quarter last year.

Shares of Krispy Kreme fell $1.85, or 5.3 percent, to close Tuesday at $33.10 each on the New York Stock Exchange.

Krispy Kreme opened 28 new stores in the fourth quarter, and now has 276 stores at the end of fiscal 2003. The company expects to open 77 new factory stores in the current year, as well as 10 new bakery-cafe or satellite locations.

Systemwide sales rose 25.9 percent to $213.3 million and total company revenue rose to $136.8 million, from $117.1 million the year before.

Staff/wire reports