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Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Catton new CEO at Mission facility

PANORAMA CITY - Carolyn Catton will now head Mission Community Hospital as chief executive officer, the medical center announced Tuesday. Previously, she served as chief operating officer and chief nursing officer of Greater El Monte Community Hospital and held numerous executive positions.

In addition to a registered nurse diploma from Methodist-Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester, Minn., she holds a bachelor's degree from University of Arizona and a master's from University of Northern Colorado.

Warner music arm tops expectations

BURBANK - Warner Music Group Corp.'s earnings surged in its first fiscal quarter, beating Wall Street's expectations despite a 4 percent drop in revenue at the record company whose artists include Green Day and Madonna.

Warner said Tuesday its earnings increased 92 percent to $69 million, or 46 cents per share, for the October-December period from $36 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue edged down to $1.04 billion from $1.09 billion.

Analysts, on average, expected New York-based Warner to post a profit of 40 cents per share on revenue of $1.09 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

KB Home reports cancellations up

Los Angeles-based KB Home said the number of canceled home orders rose in the first two months of the year while net orders for new homes fell - a trend that could force the company to adjust revenue projections if it continues.

KB's warning, made in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, comes on the heels of Horsham, Pa.-based home builder Toll Brothers Inc.'s announcement that new orders for its houses fell by 21 percent in the first quarter and home deliveries this year would be weaker than expected.

KB Home started fiscal year 2006 with a seven-month backlog of new home orders with a projected revenue value of $6.76 billion, the company said in the filing.

Delta reports loss margin narrower

ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines Inc., the nation's third-largest carrier, reported Tuesday a narrower fourth-quarter loss on a solid increase in revenue, but its results pushed its red ink to more than $12 billion since January 2001.

The company, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, said it lost $1.24 billion in the three months ending Dec. 31, compared to a loss of $2.21 billion in the same period a year ago.

The airline did not provide per-share data in its balance sheet.

Retail sales hot due to gift cards

WASHINGTON - Consumers, lured to malls by unusually warm weather and eager to spend their Christmas gift cards, boosted retail sales by a much larger than expected amount in January, with sales outside of autos surging at the fastest pace in six years.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales excluding autos were up 2.2 percent in January, the best showing in this category since late 1999. With autos included, retail sales rose by 2.3 percent, the best showing in 20 months. Overall retail sales had risen by a tiny 0.4 percent in December.

The overall increase was more than double what economists had been forecasting. They attributed the strong showing in part to the mildest January in more than a century. This prompted consumers to troop to the stores to redeem the gift cards they had received in December.

Apple set to ship new MacBook Pro

SAN JOSE - Apple Computer Inc. said Tuesday it will begin shipping this week the new MacBook Pro, the company's first laptop computer to feature an Intel Corp. microprocessor.

Apple, which is in the midst of a historic shift to Intel chips, last month introduced its first Intel-based desktop computer, the iMac G5, about six months ahead of schedule.

Analysts expect the new Intel-based Macintosh products to boost Apple's perennially small share in the U.S. PC market, which increased slightly last year to more than 4 percent as the popularity of Apple's iPod media players drove consumers to give the Macs another look.