BRIEFCASE KMART SORTS OUT VENDOR PAYMENTS.Byline: - From staff and wire services DETROIT - Kmart shoppers will have better luck finding bread and milk on store shelves than Creed's ``Weathered'' CD as the discount retailer continues to sort out its payments with vendors in its 18-month mission to shed Chapter 11 bankruptcy status. A small group of crucial suppliers, including PepsiCo Inc. and food supplier Fleming Companies Inc., are among the first getting paid as Kmart fights to keep daily operations going. Replenished merchandise means continued sales, which ultimately brings in the cash needed by debt-ridden Kmart to emerge from bankruptcy by the target date of July 31, 2003, cited in court documents. In addition, Kmart is less likely to lose customers to its competitors. Kmart received permission to pay those core vendors Tuesday, immediately after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in Chicago. The funds will come from $2 billion in debtor-in-possession financing Debtor-in-possession financing New debt obtained by a firm during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, Federal Bankruptcy Rule 4001 (c)(1). This financing is unique because it is secured, that is, it has priority over existing debt, equity and other claims. Kmart obtained from a group of banks, including JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM TYO: 8634 ) is one of the oldest financial services firms in the world. The company, headquartered in New York City, is one of the leaders in investment banking, financial services, asset and wealth management and private equity. With assets of $1. , Fleet Retail Finance Inc., General Electric Capital Corp. and Credit Suisse First Boston Credit Suisse First Boston was originally the trading name of the Financière Crédit Suisse-First Boston, a London-based 50-50 investment banking joint venture formed in 1978 between the First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse. . Earnings tumble for McDonald's CHICAGO - McDonald's Corp. earnings tumbled 40 percent in the fourth quarter, a fifth straight decline that the fast-food chain blamed on the global recession and a lingering mad cow disease mad cow disease: see prion. mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include behavioral changes (e.g. scare overseas. After seeing profits for the year decline 15 percent, company executives forecast earnings would improve significantly in 2002 - citing a renewed focus on quality, service and cleanliness in U.S. restaurants that they hope will boost long-stagnant domestic sales. Analysts are taking a wait-and-see attitude, citing weak operating margins in the United States and double-digit sales declines in Latin America and Japan. Embattled labs put end to trading LONDON - Huntingdon Life Sciences Group PLC, a research laboratory long targeted by animal rights activists, canceled trading of its shares on the London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange London marketplace for securities. It was formed in 1773 by a group of stockbrokers who had been doing business informally in local coffeehouses. on Thursday in what protesters claimed as ``a huge moral victory'' for their cause. Huntingdon has struggled to attract financial backing since complaints about the alleged mistreatment mis·treat tr.v. mis·treat·ed, mis·treat·ing, mis·treats To treat roughly or wrongly. See Synonyms at abuse. mis·treat of beagles at its British testing facilities flared into a high-profile and often violent campaign against the company's staff, investors and creditors. A group calling itself Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) is an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS),[2] Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. claims that Huntingdon's testing procedures are inhumane in·hu·mane adj. Lacking pity or compassion. in  hu·mane ly adv. - an allegation the
firm denies.
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