Business news in brief

Beneficial Bank, the biggest bank headquartered in Philadelphia, reported its biggest quarterly profits in more than a year. CEO Gerry Cuddy said he still had a subdued outlook on the economy. Profit was $4 million, or 5 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30. The bank's loss in the same period a year ago was $21.7 million, or 28 cents per share. - Harold Brubaker

The Hershey Co. reported a 9 percent increase in its third-quarter profit, citing higher prices and stronger-than-expected Halloween sales. Adjusting for a pretax gain on a sale of trademark rights, the results met analysts' expectations of 84 cents per share. Revenue also met expectations, rising 5 percent to more than $1.62 billion. - AP

Airgas Inc. boosted its earnings outlook for the fiscal year ending in March. The Radnor distributor of industrial and specialty gases said it expected full-year earnings to be in the range of $3.97 to $4.07 per share, up from a July projection of $3.90 to $4.05 per share. Revenue in Airgas' quarter ended Sept. 30, was $1.19 billion, up 12 percent from the same period a year ago. Profit climbed 17 percent, to $77.7 million. - Harold Brubaker

AstraZeneca P.L.C., the U.K. drugmaker with facilities in Wilmington, raised its profit forecast after third-quarter net income more than doubled, helped by gains from the sale of its Astra Tech dental-implant unit. Net income rose to $3.48 billion from $1.55 billion a year earlier, and matched estimates. Sales rose 4 percent to $8.21 billion. AstraZeneca recently laid off about 400 people from its U.S. operations, most of them in Wilmington. - Bloomberg News

Parametric Associates L.L.C. said it completed installation of eight electric-car-charging stations in its Convention Center Garage at 11th and Arch Streets in Center City. The installation is a first for a public garage in Philadelphia, the company said. Each stations can service two cars at a time. The 706-car garage also serves the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel. - Reid Kanaley

ViroPharma Inc., of Exton, said it agreed to acquire DuoCort Pharma AB, a private company based in Helsingborg, Sweden, to expand ViroPharma's orphan disease commercial product pipeline. The deal is partly contingent on several governmental approvals related to the drug Plenadren, used for treatment of adrenal insufficiency in adults. On closing, ViroPharma, a biotechnology company, will pay $33.6 million. In addition, there are contingent milestone payments of up to approximately $131 million. - David Sell

Turkish pine nuts sold in bulk at Wegmans grocery stores have been linked to a salmonella outbreak that sickened 42 in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and four other states. Wegmans Food Markets Inc. said it has recalled 5,000 pounds of pine nuts. They were sold between July 1 and Oct. 18. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 26 people were sickened in New York, eight in Pennsylvania, four in Virginia, two in New Jersey and one person each in Arizona and Maryland. No deaths have been linked to the outbreak. - AP

Wakefern Food Corp., the New Jersey cooperative composed of Shop Rite supermarket owners, said it named Joseph Sheridan, a 35-year company veteran, president and chief operating officer. He replaces Dean Janeway. The Keasbey, N.J.-based corporation also said it logged a record $12.8 billion in retail sales during the fiscal year that ended Oct. 1. That represented an 8.5 percent increase. - Maria Panaritis

BP Wind Energy has reached a $750 million deal with General Electric Co. to supply and maintain 350 turbines for wind farms in Pennsylvania and Kansas. Houston-based BP Wind Energy says GE has agreed to deliver 88 turbines to the Mehoopany Wind Farm, located 20 miles northwest of Scranton. The 262 other turbines are meant for BP's Flat Ridge 2 Wind Farm, about 60 miles southwest of Wichita, Kan. - AP

Citigroup Inc.'s $285 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission was questioned by a federal judge who asked both sides to justify the accord as fair. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff set a hearing on the matter for Nov. 9. Citigroup agreed this month to pay the money to resolve SEC claim that the New York-based company misled investors in a $1 billion collateralized debt obligation linked to risky mortgages. - Bloomberg News

Hewlett-Packard Co. said it decided against spinning off or selling its Personal Systems Group unit. The PC manufacturer said it reached its decision after evaluating the strategic, financial, and operational impact of spinning off the business unit, which manufactures desktop and notebook computers for consumers and businesses. HP president and CEO Meg Whitman said keeping the unit within the company was right for the company, its customers, shareholders, and business partners. - AP

Lawyers for women who originally sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for sex discrimination on behalf of one million coworkers nationwide have amended the lawsuit, limiting it to gender-bias claims by California workers. The filing comes four months after the U.S. Supreme Court barred the case as a class action covering all U.S. stores, saying the women failed to prove the retailer had a nationwide policy that led to gender discrimination. The new filing alleges that Wal-Mart blocked women in California from promotions and paid them less. - Bloomberg News

Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. said it will cut the number of salaried workers at its cigarette business and related service subsidiaries by 15 percent as cigarette sales continue to decline industrywide. The owner of the nation's largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, announced plans to trim $400 million in annualized costs by the end of 2013. Altria, based in Richmond, Va., would not say how many people would be impacted by the layoffs. It has 10,000 U.S. employees. - AP