Business news in brief

Boosted by strong Internet retail sales to offset declines at its stores, Urban Outfitters Inc. on Monday announced earnings of $75 million for the last quarter and profit of $273 million for the year that ended Jan. 31. The Philadelphia-based retailer's results were driven partly by a 28 percent increase in comparable direct-to-consumer retail sales, which includes online transactions for apparel and accessories sold under the Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People brand names. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator, declined 2 percent over the same period a year earlier. Total net sales for the quarter were $668 million compared with $588 million a year earlier. Quarterly earnings of 45 cents a share were even with the same period a year earlier, while annual earnings per share reached $1.60 vs. $1.28 a year earlier. In after-hours trading, shares were down as much as 11 percent. - Maria Panaritis

Atlas Energy L.P., Philadelphia, announced Monday that one of its affiliates is selling International Resource Partners L.P., a metallurgical and steam-coal business, to James River Coal Co. for $475 million in cash. The Atlas Energy partnership owns some of the assets formerly held by Atlas Energy Inc., a Marcellus Shale natural gas producer that merged last month with Chevron Corp. - Andrew Maykuth

Nearly 4 percent of all U.S. flights were canceled in January as severe winter storms paralyzed most of the East. The report from the Transportation Department said the cancellation rate of 3.87 percent in January was the 13th-highest on record. At Philadelphia International Airport, on-time arrivals fell in January. This year, 71.4 percent were on-time compared with January 2010, when 77.2 percent of flights arrived on-time. Departures this past January also were down: 72.2 percent were on-time, compared with 80.4 percent in January 2010. - AP

Layoff notices have gone out to 110 more workers at the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. That leaves only three workers untouched by the deregulation that is part of Gov. Christie's Atlantic City turnaround plan. The latest notices went out Friday. Of 261 workers at the commission, 258 have gotten layoff notices. Commission spokesman Dan Heneghan said Monday that some have gotten jobs with the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, a branch of the Attorney General's Office. He said some others could still work for the agency once the governor's office approves a new staffing level for it. The job cuts are designed to save millions of dollars for the 11 casinos, which pay the workers' salaries. - AP

Air Products & Chemicals Inc., Allentown, said it was raising prices by five cents a pound on a line of surfactants. The increase was blamed on higher costs for raw materials, as were three other recent increases the company has announced on its products. Surfactants are wetting agents used in making paints, coatings, inks, and adhesives. Air Products supplies gases to energy, health-care, industrial, and technology companies. - Paul Schweizer

AstraZeneca P.L.C. is ending production of one version of its asthma drug Pulmicort immediately because of technical problems in manufacturing. The company has operations near Wilmington. SkyePharma, its technology partner for the drug, developed the formulation for the medicine - a pressured metered dose inhaler - and its royalties from the product make up about 5 percent of its revenue. Astra says the manufacturing problem is not related to the key active ingredient in Pulmicort, or to any other of its products. - AP

Owners of a South Jersey auto-racing facility say they have filed for bankruptcy so they can restructure debt. New Jersey Motorsports Park owner Lee Brahin said in a news release Monday that the Chapter 11 filing would allow the Millville facility to continue to operate. Brahin said the move included renegotiating debt with a primary lender and addition of new equity. General manager Brad Scott told the Daily Journal of Vineland that the filing would not affect the track's 2011 racing schedule. - AP

The Camden County Improvement Authority has awarded a $13.7 million contract to WPCS International Inc., Exton. The contract is for electrical power distribution, interior and exterior lighting, telecommunications, audio visual, and security for the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. WPCS is an engineering firm that specializes in communications infrastructure. Its shares closed up 8 cents at $2.83. - Chris Mondics

Consumers borrowed more in January to buy new cars but were once again frugal with credit card purchases, offering a mixed sign of their confidence in the economy. The Federal Reserve said total borrowing rose at an annual rate of $5 billion in January, or 2.5 percent, the fourth consecutive gain. Strong car sales drove the increase. The category that includes auto loans rose 6.9 percent. But credit card debt fell 6.4 percent in January, the 28th decline in the last 29 months. - AP

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department auctioned $32 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.110 percent, down from 0.145 percent last week. An additional $30 billion was auctioned in six-month bills at a discount rate of 0.155, down from 0.170 percent last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,997.22, while a six-month bill sold for $9,992.16. - AP

The Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, dipped to 0.26 percent last week from 0.27 percent the previous week. - AP