Business news in brief

Pennsylvania environmental regulators gave permission to a natural gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking-water wells were tainted with methane. Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has been delivering water to homes in the northeast village of Dimock since January 2009. The Houston-based energy company asked the Department of Environmental Protection for approval to stop the water deliveries by the end of November, saying Dimock's water is safe to drink. Residents who are suing Cabot in federal court say their water is still tainted with unsafe levels of methane and possibly other contaminants from the drilling process. They say the DEP had no right to allow Cabot to stop paying for replacement water. Cabot also has asked the DEP for permission to resume drilling in Dimock. - AP

Campbell Soup Co.'s factory in Sacramento, Calif., will be home to a 14-acre solar array under a 20-year deal with American Capital Energy, which will build and operate the 2.3-megawatt solar facility, Campbell said. Campbell, of Camden, will lease the land to American Capital Energy and buy all of the electricity generated by the solar panels. The solar facility is expected to provide about 10 percent of the soup, sauce, and juice factory's electricity and save Campbell about $100,000 a year. Campbell announced a similar, though larger, facility at its plant in Napoleon, Ohio. - Harold Brubaker

Janitors and building engineers who clean and maintain Center City's office towers will meet Saturday to vote on a four-year contract after their union, the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ and the Building Owners Labor Relations group, which negotiates on behalf of Center City building owners, operators, and cleaning contractors reached a tentative agreement late Tuesday night. The contract provides a cumulative raise of 7 percent and retains employer contributions to health and pension benefits. The building owners will meet Friday. - Jane M. Von Bergen

SEI Investments Co., Oaks, said its quarterly earnings fell 13 percent as the operating profit at its private banking business tumbled. SEI Investments reported net income of $49.2 million, or 27 cents per share, for the July-to- September period. That was down from earnings of $56.4 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected slightly higher earnings of 28 cents per share, on average, in the latest quarter. Revenue rose 6 percent to $233.2 million, short of analysts' consensus estimate of $236.9 million. Shares fell 6.54 percent to $14.44. - AP

Susquehanna Bancshares Inc., of Lititz, increased its quarterly dividend by one cent per share, to three cents. It was the second dividend increase this year. The dividend is payable Nov. 21 to shareholders of record Nov. 1. The bank, with $6.1 billion in assets, has 240 branches in the Mid-Atlantic region. - Reid Kanaley

Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $285 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of a complex mortgage investment just as the housing market was starting to collapse. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the bank bet against the investment in 2007 and made $160 million in fees and profits. Investors lost millions. Citigroup neither admitted nor denied the SEC's allegations. Goldman Sachs & Co. paid $550 million to settle similar charges last year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. resolved similar charges in June for $153.6 million. All the cases have involved complex investments called collateralized debt obligations. - AP

Major airlines are joining in a widespread airfare increase. The hike was initiated by Delta Air Lines Inc. late Tuesday when it raised most domestic round-trip fares by $4 to $10. By early Wednesday, every other major airline had raised fares, including Southwest. Airlines have now tried to raise prices as many as 19 times this year. Half of those attempts have failed. The ones that have succeeded have brought average fares up by $58 to $70, said Citi analyst Will Randow. - AP

Abbott Laboratories, the maker of infant formula, heart stents, and prescription medicines, will split in two as optimism about drug companies' growth wanes. Abbott, based in Abbott Park, Ill., said it would break up next year, with one company focusing on the development and sale of prescription drugs. The other will concentrate on generic medicines, medical devices, and infant formulas that come with lower profit margins and less risk. News of the breakup overshadowed Abbott's disclosure that it set aside $1.5 billion to cover a potential settlement for illegal drug marketing. Shares rose 81 cents to $53.25. - Bloomberg News

Worker skepticism about having enough money to retire comfortably took a nose-dive in a new national survey. Just 23 percent say they're very confident about being able to pay basic living expenses in retirement. That's down from 46 percent in 2008. The survey by Sun Life Financial Inc., which has conducted its Unretirement Index survey since 2008, shows persistent economic uncertainty and a volatile stock market have workers increasingly doubtful they'll be able to retire when they had hoped. The steep plunge in the index comes after three years of stability. - AP

C Spire Wireless will start selling Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4S in a few weeks, becoming the fourth wireless carrier in this country to do so. C Spire is the country's eighth-largest phone company, so it's a major coup. So far, only the three biggest carriers sell the iPhone in this country. C Spire is bypassing the rest, including T-Mobile USA and U.S. Cellular, in getting the right to sell the popular smartphone. C Spire has a million subscribers in Mississippi as well as the Memphis, Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla., areas. - AP

The average seven-day yield on taxable money-market funds was 0.02 percent this week, unchanged from last week, according to iMoneyNet Inc. A seven-day yield is an annual yield that is based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average yield on tax-free funds was unchanged at 0.01 percent this week. - Reid Kanaley