Discount cigarettes

Vibo Corp., which sells discount cigarettes, agreed to pay as much as $1.7 billion over 10 years to U.S. states, including North Carolina, as it joins larger tobacco companies in a settlement over health-care costs related to smoking.

Vibo, based in Miami, will make an initial payment of $78 million to the 46 states, New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey said in a statement. Vibo, which sells GT One and Bronco cigarettes, is the largest company that had not been part of the 1998 settlement, Harvey said.

Standard & Poor's cuts US Airways credit rating

ARLINGTON, Va. - US Airways Group Inc.'s credit rating was cut by Standard & Poor's yesterday because of concerns that the airline may not get concessions from its workers soon enough to avert another bankruptcy filing, the credit-ratings company said.

The rating was reduced to CCC from CCC+, placing it eight levels below investment grade. Standard & Poor's has lowered it three times this year.

US Airways, the seventh-largest U.S. carrier, wants agreements by Sept. 30 with three unions on $800 million in cuts as part of $1.5 billion in annual reductions. The carrier has lost $317 million since emerging from Chapter 11 protection in 2003.

US Airways may default on its $1billion loan, most of it backed by the federal government, unless it gets labor concessions by Sept. 30, S&P analyst Philip Baggaley said.

VF Corp. names new head of Nautica sportswear unit

GREENSBORO - VF Corp. said yesterday that it has named Denise Seega as chief executive of its Nautica unit, replacing David Chu one year after VF's purchase of the sportswear business.

Seegal served as president of Liz Claiborne Inc. from 1996 to 2000 and most recently was head of the Sweetface Fashion Co.

Chu, who founded Nautica 21 years ago, is leaving to pursue other interests, the company said.

VF bought Nautica for $515.4 million in August 2003 to gain a greater presence in such chains as Bloomingdale's. Nautica has a flagship store at Rockefeller Center in New York and a wholesale business.

Defendant pleads guilty in mortgage-fraud case

CHARLOTTE - Another defendant connected to a $23 million home-mortgage-fraud case has pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Eric Clinton Crawford pleaded guilty Thursday before a magistrate judge in Charlotte to conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud and to launder money.

Crawford, 41, was vice president of Mega Group, one of the companies that investigators contend solicited people to invest in improper real-estate deals.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of between 97 and 121 months in prison. Crawford also agreed to pay restitution and possibly testify in court. A judge will determine Crawford's sentence later.

Easley asks for limits on Chinese sock imports

RALEIGH - Gov. Mike Easley wants the Bush administration to impose new restrictions on Chinese sock imports so that North Carolina companies can better compete against overseas products.

In a letter this week to an administration official who helps implement textile agreements, Easley asked for safeguards that would give state manufacturers time to increase production capacity and develop new markets.