Georgia Bank & Trust owner reports lower third-quarter income
Southeastern Bank Financial Corp., the holding company for Georgia Bank & Trust of Augusta and Southern Bank & Trust of Aiken, reported Friday that its third-quarter income was $740,000, or 11 cents per share, compared with $1.9 million, or 31 cents per share, in the third quarter last year.
Total assets at the end of Sept. 30 were $1.5 billion, up 4.6 percent from the beginning of the year.
Total deposits were $1.3 billion at the end of September, up 10 percent from the beginning of the year. The amount of foreclosed property being held by the financial firm continues to increase.
The company held $15.6 million in foreclosed property at the end of the quarter, compared with $13.8 million in June and $377,000 in September 2008.
Billionaire gives CIT $1 billion credit line
NEW YORK --- Commercial lender CIT Group Inc. said Friday that billionaire investor and bondholder Carl Icahn agreed to support the company's restructuring plan amid reports CIT might soon file for bankruptcy protection.
Mr. Icahn also agreed to provide CIT with a $1 billion line of credit.
CIT, one of the largest lenders to small and midsize businesses, has been trying to reduce its near-term debt burden by $5.7 billion.
On Wednesday, CIT received a $4.5 billion line of credit from lenders and other bondholders who had already provided it with $3 billion in financing over the summer.
Thursday marked the last day most CIT debtholders could agree to exchange their bonds for new debt that matures later and stock. The company said earlier Friday that it was still tabulating the votes.
IPhone without WiFi makes debut in China
BEIJING --- Apple's iPhone made its long-awaited formal debut in the world's most populous mobile phone market, without WiFi and at higher prices than widely available black market models.
Apple's local partner, China Unicom Ltd., started selling iPhones equipped for third-generation service Friday night at 2,000 stores in areas as farflung as Tibet. Chinese news reports say Unicom hopes to sell 5 million in three years.
The company faces competition from an unusual source: unlocked iPhones brought in from abroad that have WiFi. There are already an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million such phones using China Mobile 3G service that allows Internet access.
Unicom's prices range from 4,999 yuan ($730) to 6,999 yuan ($1,025) for the high-end, 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS. That is 20 percent above what's charged by merchants at Chinese street markets for a 3GS with WiFi.
In other news
WAL-MART AND TWO OTHER top retailers said Friday that they are suspending business with Adkin Blue Ribbon Blueberry Co., a large southwestern Michigan blueberry grower, after investigators found children as young as 6 working in its fields.
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