Business news in brief

Proxy Governance Inc. threw its support yesterday to two activists vying for spots on the eight-person board of Charming Shoppes Inc. The Bensalem apparel retailer, which runs Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug stores, is in a proxy fight with Crescendo Partners and Myca Partners, both of New York. Proxy Governance said it supported dissidents Michael Appel and Robert Frankfurt, but did not support the election of Arnaud Ajdler. The firm cited the company's relatively poor financial performance and stock-price slide during the last year. Shares fell 62 percent from Jan. 3, 2007, to April 29, 2008. Charming Shoppes has said it is a victim of the overall economic downturn and has taken steps to restructure its business. Another firm, Egan-Jones Proxy Services, urged support for all three Charming Shoppes incumbents, the retailer announced. The annual shareholder meeting will be held next Thursday.

- Maria Panaritis

Cephalon Inc.'s profit fell 48 percent as the Frazer company faltered in shifting patients from Actiq, a pain product that faces generic competition, to a similar drug that does not. Net income fell to $38.9 million, or 52 cents a share, from $75.2 million, or 99 cents a share, a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The earnings beat analysts' estimates. Cephalon shares rose 95 cents, or 1.52 percent, to close at $63.36 before the earnings statement. Revenue grew 1.4 percent, to $443 million from $437 million a year earlier.

- Bloomberg News

Shares in Radian Group Inc. jumped more than 14 percent yesterday after the Philadelphia insurer of mortgages and bonds said it had secured amendments to its revolving-credit facility that eliminated the credit-ratings requirement and relaxed rules on the minimum net worth that Radian must maintain. In exchange, Radian agreed to a reduction in the facility to $250 million from $400 million. Radian also agreed to put up collateral on the previously unsecured line of credit. Radian needed to negotiate the changes after certain of its credit ratings were cut last month. Radian's shares closed up 78 cents at $6.18.

- Harold Brubaker

Merck & Co. Inc., which has major operations in the Philadelphia area, faces as many as 100 new lawsuits contending it failed to warn that its osteoporosis drug Fosamax may cause irreversible jaw rot, a patients' lawyer said. Merck already faces more than 400 suits in federal and state courts alleging defects in the drug. Merck, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., has denied the allegations. "There is no scientific evidence that Fosamax causes" jaw-tissue death, Merck spokesman Ron Rogers said. Separately, the drugmaker said it had extended to June 30 the enrollment deadline for eligible claimants seeking to be included in the company's $4.85 billion Vioxx painkiller settlement.

- Bloomberg News

South Jersey Industries Inc., a Folsom, N.J., gas company, said it expected a profit this year of $2.22 to $2.30 a share. That is 6 percent to 10 percent above its 2007 earnings of $2.10 a share. However, the 2007 result was down from earnings of $2.44 a share in 2006. SJI attributed the expected gain for this year mostly to strong performance in its energy asset-management and marketing businesses.

- Paul Schweizer

PhotoMedex Inc., Montgomeryville, said it had received notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market that it was not in compliance with the exchange's $1 minimum bid-price requirement. The notice - required when a company's share price is below $1 for 30 straight trading days - jeopardizes PhotoMedex's continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Market. PhotoMedex shares have been below that level since March 12. For now, the stock will continue to trade on the Global Market exchange. The company will have until Oct. 22 to comply with the price rule or be delisted. Its shares closed down 5 cents at 89 cents. PhotoMedex provides contract medical procedures to hospitals, surgi-centers and doctors' offices.

- Paul Schweizer

In a national customer-satisfaction survey of 107 health plans, Highmark Inc. took top honors for a region that combines Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Pittsburgh insurer and Philadelphia's Independence Blue Cross, both nonprofit groups, are waiting for state regulatory approval for a proposed merger. The survey of 37,060 members of large health plans was conducted in November and December by J.D. Power & Associates, which measures customer satisfaction for many types of businesses.

- Jane M. Von Bergen

Werther Partners L.L.C., New York, a private-equity firm, has bought the Philadelphia sugar-free candy marketer Sorbee International Ltd. from the Stone family for an undisclosed price. The Stones own Medical Products Laboratories Inc., a Northeast Philadelphia mouthwash-maker that licenses Crystal Light and Country Time drink powders from Kraft Foods Inc. Werther founder Dan Werther, who will run Sorbee, is a former executive at Ron Perelman's holding company, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.

- Joseph N. DiStefano

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is awarding grants worth $9.5 million to Pennsylvania communities, including $6 million to Philadelphia neighborhoods. The grants are meant to help cities stimulate economic development in abandoned or underused commercial facilities in areas with environmental contamination. Grants of $2 million each will go to the Mill Creek and Walnut Hill neighborhoods, the Essington Avenue Brownfield project, and the Schmidt's Development project. The Essington Avenue project will be the new location for the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market.

- Stacey Burling

ARC Wheeler, a joint venture of ARC Properties, Clifton, N.J., and Wheeler Bros. Holdings L.L.C., Philadelphia, has sold the eight-story Alison Building at 1805-09 Walnut St. on Rittenhouse Square to a unit of Kimco Realty Corp., New York, for $25.5 million, said Shawn Lyons, president of Precision Property Group L.L.C., who said he represented both sides in the sale. ARC Wheeler is building the neighboring 10 Rittenhouse Square condominium tower. Kimco is transferring the lease on the Barnes & Noble bookstore on three lower floors to Pearl Properties, Philadelphia. Kimco plans condominiums and a spa for the upper floors.

- Joseph N. DiStefano

Federal regulators agreed to temporarily cap a growing subsidy program that paid nearly $1.2 billion last year to cell phone companies that do business in rural areas. The Federal Communications Commission voted, 3-2, to limit payments to wireless carriers from the Universal Service Fund, which is supported by a tax on the phone bills of most Americans. The move is bad news for rural cellular carriers, which rely on such payments for a substantial part of their revenue, but it benefits big telephone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., whose customers are the largest contributors to the fund.

- Bloomberg News