Business news in brief

Total

employment compensation

rose 3.1 percent in the Middle Atlantic states and 3.0 percent nationwide in the latest 12 months - less than the inflation rate of 5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The Mid-Atlantic comprises Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Employee compensation - pay and benefits combined - failed to keep up with inflation in the 12-month period ended in June as prices for energy, food and other commodities soared. The survey covers workers in private industry.

- Paul Schweizer

Medical-products-maker

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc.

said profit rose 10 percent during the second quarter, buoyed by higher sales of pharmaceutical products and a onetime payment. For the quarter ended June 30, the Chester County company earned $28.7 million, or 82 cents a share, compared with profit of $26 million, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 6 percent, to $279.3 million from $263.7 million. During the quarter, the company received a $6.6 million payment from Nektar Therapeutics for reimbursement in a prior partnership deal. Excluding a mix of charges and gains, the company said adjusted profit totaled 73 cents a share.

- AP

Checkpoint Systems Inc.

, Thorofare, said it earned $14.4 million, or 36 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with $15.1 million, or 37 cents a share, in the same quarter of 2007. Its revenue was up 20.7 percent, to $236.2 million from $195.7 million a year earlier. "The decline in second-quarter gross margins when compared with the same period in 2007 resulted from increasing raw material and energy costs across our business lines and production issues that are being addressed," said chief executive officer Rob van der Merwe. The company provides products such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that prevent theft and make managing inventories more efficient.

- Henry J. Holcomb

Johnson & Johnson

has agreed to pay $511,000 in fines to the U.S. government for failing to report that one of its plants had imported a drug containing pseudoephedrine. The fine stems from violations of federal drug laws at what is now a Johnson & Johnson facility in Lititz, Pa., that imported Benadryl-D, a product containing pseudoephedrine, 73 times from 2001 to 2005. Federal drug laws require reporting of such imports because pseudoephedrine can be used to make methamphetamine. A Johnson & Johnson representative said the company had no comment, except to note that the plant was owned by another company, Warner-Lambert Co., when the violations took place.

- Miriam Hill

CSS Industries Inc.

, Philadelphia, said a subsidiary had bought most of the business and assets of Hampshire Paper Corp., a manufacturer and supplier of waxed tissue, paper and foil to the wholesale floral and horticultural industries for $10.25 million. CSS said Hampshire, which will keep its headquarters in Milford, N.H., is expected to add slightly to fiscal 2009 earnings. CSS' products include gift wrap, gift boxes, and boxed greeting cards.

- Harold Brubaker

Aqua America Inc.

, the Bryn Mawr water and sewer utility, said it had expanded its Indiana operations. A subsidiary there has completed its purchase of

South Haven Sewer Works

in Porter County that has 4,000 customers. It valued the company at $9.7 million and said it would spend $3 million over the next three years on improvements. Shares closed up 78 cents, 4.92 percent, at 16.62.

- Henry J. Holcomb

Tenet Healthcare Corp.

says its loss narrowed in the second quarter, partly because of better contract terms with managed-care providers and growth in admissions. The Dallas company, which operates Hahnemann University Hospital and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, says it had a loss of $15 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with a loss of $30 million, or 6 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier. Thomson Financial says analysts expected a loss of 1 cent a share on revenue of $2.29 billion. The hospital operator says revenue rose 6 percent, to $2.18 billion from $2.05 billion.

- AP

News Corp.

says fiscal fourth-quarter earnings jumped 27 percent on profit from the sale of assets and higher operating earnings in its film, cable networks and newspaper units. The media conglomerate controlled by

Rupert Murdoch

says net income rose to $1.13 billion, or 43 cents a share, from $890 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 17 percent, to $8.59 billion from $7.37 billion a year earlier. Thomson Financial says analysts it polled expected profit of 34 cents a share on revenue of $8.51 billion.

- AP

There's a new option for people annoyed at having to take their laptops out of their bags at airport security. The

Transportation Security Administration

will now allow travelers to leave their computers inside "checkpoint-friendly" cases. The new rules, set to take effect Aug. 16, are intended to help streamline the X-ray inspection lines. To qualify as "checkpoint friendly," a bag must have a designated laptop-only section that unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray machine belt and has no metal snaps, zippers or buckles and no pockets. Among the manufacturers selling TSA-approved laptop bags are

Mobile Edge

,

Skooba Design

and

Targus Inc.

- AP

The

Treasury Department

said it had hired investment firm

Morgan Stanley

to help the government assess the risks facing mortgage giants

Fannie Mae

and

Freddie Mac

. For $95,000 to cover the company's expenses, Morgan Stanley will assess the state of the mortgage market and give the government a financial profile of the two firms.

- AP