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Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Six Flags to look into park options

VALENCIA -- Six Flags Inc. announced Thursday it will explore ``potential strategic options'' for six of its theme parks, including Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor in Valencia.

``Although the company cannot predict when, or if, any specific transaction will occur with respect to these properties, potential options include a sale of the parks as going concerns in a single transaction or a series of transactions, dismantling and re-utilizing certain rides and attractions and selling the underlying land for real estate development purposes, as well as other potential alternatives,'' a Six Flags statement said.

The New York-based company said the decision follows a ``comprehensive review'' of its assets.

27 percent profit rise for Oracle

SAN FRANCISCO -- Business software maker Oracle Corp. on Thursday said its fiscal fourth profit rose 27 percent on record revenue as sales surged across most of its business lines and geographic regions.

Net income for the three months ending May 31 rose to $1.3 billion, or 24 cents a share, compared with $1.02 billion, or 20 cents, in the same quarter of last year. Revenue grew 25 percent to $4.85 billion from $3.88 billion. The results were largely in line with estimates issued last week, when the Redwood Shores-based company said it expected to beat an earlier financial forecast.

Excluding acquisition expenses and other costs, Oracle earned 29 cents per share, 1 cent higher than the average estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Financial. Sales also beat Wall Street estimates of $4.7 billion.

Chain to be sold to partnership

NEW YORK -- Federated Department Stores Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to sell its famed Lord & Taylor department store chain to a property development firm for almost $1.2 billion in cash.

Federated said its board has approved the sale to Purchase, N.Y.-based NRDC Equity Partners LLC, which is a partnership between principals of Apollo Real Estate Advisors L.P. and principals of National Realty & Development Corp. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, pending regulatory approvals.

The $1.195 billion deal includes 48 Lord & Taylor stores, including the flagship store in Manhattan, as well as a distribution center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

NRDC said it plans to run Lord & Taylor as a specialty department store chain and to keep L&T's management team.

Indicators point to cool economy

NEW YORK -- A widely watched gauge of economic activity slipped in May, the Conference Board said Thursday, suggesting the nation's economy is likely to cool in the coming months.

Also indicating that economic growth is losing steam, the Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits climbed by the largest amount in five weeks.

The Conference Board, an industry-backed research group, said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators fell 0.6 percent to 137.9 in May after it declined 0.1 percent to 138.7 in April.

It was the index's third decline in six months, and the lowest figure since a reading of 136.9 in October. The drop in the index comes as gasoline prices run high, interest rates creep up and the home sales market grows tepid.

The Labor Department's report Thursday showed that 308,000 people filed for jobless benefits last week, a bigger-than-expected rise of 11,000 from the previous week.

Officials begin probe of airlines

LONDON -- British and U.S. authorities are investigating alleged price-fixing in passenger fares and fuel surcharges by British Airways PLC and other airlines, the carrier said Thursday, and two senior executives have been placed on leave.

BA said it was assisting the Office of Fair Trading and the U.S. Department of Justice, but it provided no other details. Other airlines including Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines and American Airlines said they were cooperating with the probe.

Two BA executives -- commercial director Martin George and head of communications Iain Burns -- have been given leaves of absence.