Business news briefs | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Boyer Co. acquires

Questar building

The former Questar Corp. headquarters building in downtown Salt Lake City has been purchased by The Boyer Company. Cushman & Wakefield | Commerce, a Utah-based commercial real estate services firm that helped arrange the sale, said Boyer purchased the building from Starwood Capital of Washington, D.C.

Body Shop opening

at Fashion Place

The Body Shop is opening at Fashion Place Mall in Murray on Feb. 9. The first 50 customers in line when the store opens at 10 a.m. will receive a free body butter, valued at $19. In addition, shoppers may enroll in the Love Your Body rewards program that saves customers 10 percent on qualifying purchases, and includes a free gift on shoppers' birthdays.

Harmons lauded for

anti-smoking effort

Bob and Randy Harmons, co-owners of Harmons Grocery Stores, receive a Friend of Public Health Award for removing tobacco products from supermarket shelves. The Weber-Morgan Health Department and the Coalition for Tobacco-Free Utah honored the brothers for helping raise awareness of tobacco health risks. Harmons operates 16 stores throughout Utah.

Pioneer Oil posts

fiscal 2012 loss

Pioneer Oil and Gas, South Jordan, said revenues for its 2012 fiscal year ended September 30 were $968,038 compared to $1,254,186 for 2011. It posted a loss of $1,104,988 or $.15 per share versus a loss of $388,901, or $.05 per share, for fiscal 2011. The company said the loss was caused primarily by a non-cash write-off of the value of our resale lease inventory of $763,965 and lower natural gas prices.

General Electric

Q4 earnngs rise

General Electric Corp.'s fourth quarter earnings rose 8 percent and revenue rose 4 percent, thanks to strong growth in emerging markets. It reported net income of $4 billion for the quarter, the result of increased profits at all seven of its industrial segments, with growth topping 10 percent at four of them — oil and gas, energy management, aviation and transportation.

HSBC pays to settle

fraud complaints

British bank HSBC will pay $249 million to settle federal complaints that its U.S. division wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who should have been allowed to stay in their homes. The deal with the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is similar to deals with 12 other banks that ended a review of loan files required under a 2011 federal action.

Venture funding

declined in 2010

A new study shows that funding for business startups declined 28 percent in 2012 to $3.28 billion, the first time that's happened in three years, as venture capitalists spent less money on fewer deals. Capital intense sectors like clean technology and life sciences were among the hardest hit, according to a MoneyTree study.