Executive Business Briefing

Here is a look at more of Tuesday's top business stories:

Alltel buys wireless properties of CenturyTel

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., March 19 (UPI) -- Rural telephone service provider Alltel Corp. said it reached an agreement to acquire all the wireless properties owned by CenturyTel Inc. for $1.65 billion in cash.

Alltel made an unsolicited bid to acquire Monroe, Louisiana-based CenturyTel in August of last year for $5.9 billion in cash and stock, but CenturyTel rebuffed the offer.

The deal for CenturyTel's wireless assets, Alltel said, will add more than 700,000 customers and expand its wireless footprint into highly complementary new markets across Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and Wisconsin.

As part of the deal, Alltel said it has withdrawn its bid for CenturyTel and signed a one-year "standstill" agreement during which it will not bid for the company.

CenturyTel has agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Alltel in return.

The deal is expected to slightly dilute Alltel's earnings this year and to close in the third quarter.

"This transaction will grow our wireless business and is highly complementary to our existing operations," said Joe Ford, Alltel's chairman and chief executive officer. "This is a good opportunity to add wireless properties with significant potential for increased scale and scope at an attractive purchase price."

When completed Alltel said it would have 7.4 million wireless customers in 24 states.

Also included in the transaction are minority partnership interests in cellular operations of 2 million proportionate POPs, or potential customers, and PCS licenses covering 1.3 million POPs in Wisconsin and Iowa.

Alltel will finance the deal through a combination of debt and equity or equity-linked securities.

The company said it has received committed interim financing from Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, in addition to existing credit facilities that can be used for both this transaction and Alltel's pending acquisition from Verizon of 600,000 Kentucky wireline customers.

When completed the deal will expand Alltel's wireless footprint through the addition of new markets that include Monroe and Shreveport, La.; Jackson, Miss.; Lansing, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Mich.; Appleton, LaCrosse and Eau Claire, Wis.; and Texarkana, Ark. and Texas.

Earnings fall at Goldman Sachs

NEW YORK, March 19 (UPI) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., one of the nation's leading investment banks, said its first quarter net income for the period ended Feb. 22 fell to $524 million, or 98 cents a share, from $768 million, or $1.40 a share during the same period a year earlier.

Analysts on Wall Street had expected the firm to post a net income of 89 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

It was the fifth consecutive quarter that profits declined at the firm.

"Weakness in the capital markets, compounded by an erosion of corporate and investor confidence, has depressed activity in a number of our most important businesses," said Henry M. Paulson, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer.

The firm said net revenues in its Global Capital Markets segment, which includes Investment Banking and Trading and Principal Investments, fell 33 percent from the same period last year to $2.22 billion.

Net revenues in its Investment Banking were $893 million, compared to $797 million for the fourth quarter of 2001 and $1.15 billion for the first quarter of 2001.

"While we have seen some encouraging economic data of late, the current environment remains very challenging," Paulson said. "We will continue to manage the franchise with discipline and, as always, focus on the needs of our clients."

The firm said the reduction in Investment Banking net revenues was due to lower levels of activity across nearly all sectors, particularly communications, media and entertainment, high technology and healthcare.

Net revenues in Financial Advisory dropped 37 percent from record first quarter 2001 results to $457 million, reflecting significantly reduced industry-wide activity in mergers and acquisitions.

Net revenues in the firm's Underwriting business were $436 million compared to $415 million for the same 2001 period, as increased net revenues from equity underwriting were partially offset by lower net revenues from debt issuances.

Goldman Sachs said net revenues in Trading and Principal Investments fell 38 percent from the same period last year to $1.33 billion.

Net revenues in Equities plunged to $105 million from $1.18 billion for the record first quarter of 2001, primarily due to lower net revenues in the firm's European and U.S. shares businesses, including the negative effect of a single block trade, as well as reduced market volatility and customer flow in equity derivatives and the continuing impact of decimalization.

Earnings improve at Levi Strauss

SAN FRANCISCO, March 19 (UPI) -- Levi Strauss & Co., the privately held jeans maker, said its fiscal net income for the period ended Feb. 24 rose to $44 million from $30 million a year earlier.

The company said the increase was primarily attributable to lower interest expense and gains from the company's foreign exchange and interest rate management activities.

"We've had a good start," said Chief Executive Officer Phil Marineau. "We hit the first-quarter operational and financial goals that we set for ourselves. The turnaround is on track."

The San Francisco-based clothier said operating income, or income before taxes and interest expense fell 13 percent to $106 million from $121 million during the same period a year ago.

First-quarter sales at Levi, which makes its earnings public because of its outstanding corporate debt, dipped 6 percent to $935 million from $996 million.

The company's debt was largely unchanged during the quarter at $1.96 billion.

Marineau added: "We're seeing growth in Europe and portions of our Asia Pacific business, and continued improvement in our U.S. volumes. We still anticipate some bumps in the road over the coming months, but we expect to stabilize sales worldwide by the end of the year, while continuing to deliver strong performance on our other financial measures."