OHIO

OHIO
Libbey Inc.'s restructuringleaves Calif. plant closed
TOLEDO -- Glassmaker Libbey Inc. said it will close a plant in California that employs 200 workers as part of a restructuring, reducing its total work force by 140, or 3.7 percent.
Libbey expects to take a pretax charge of $24 million to $27 million related to next year's closure of the plant in City of Industry, Calif. The company said it will keep open its 35-worker service distribution center in Mira Loma, Calif.
John Meier, Libbey's chairman and chief executive, said the realignment could add $11 million to $13 million to Libbey's annual operating income beginning in 2005.
The company also said it is in the final stages of picking a site and securing a license to manufacture tableware in China. The plant is aimed at the growing Chinese and Asia-Pacific markets with production to begin in early 2007.
NATION
Kmart shares soar aftersecond-quarter profit
DETROIT (AP) -- Shares of Kmart Holding Corp. surged 17 percent Monday after the discount retailer reported a profit for the second quarter and said chairman and majority owner Edward Lampert is now free to invest the company's $2.6 billion in surplus cash.
There has long been speculation that Lampert plans to gradually dismantle Kmart as a retailer and turn it into an investment empire. The fact that Lampert is now being given the authority to make investment decisions, revealed in a quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, boosts that theory and helped propel Kmart stock to a gain of $11.15 a share to $76.05 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
Associated Press