Regional Business Digest

REGION
F.N.B. Corp. declaresa quarterly dividend
HERMITAGE, Pa., -- F.N.B. Corp. declared a quarterly dividend on its common stock of 23.5 cents per share. The dividend is payable March 15 to shareholders of record as of March 4.
NATION
TJX: Security breachwas more widespreadthan initially thought
BOSTON -- A computer security breach by a hacker who stole TJX Cos. customer data was broader than initially feared and started 10 months earlier than first thought, the company said Wednesday.
Company executives said they saw no evidence of any exodus of customers from TJX's more than 2,400 stores after the data theft. Industry analysts agreed.
TJX initially believed the intrusion began in May 2006 and ran into last month. On Wednesday, the company said its ongoing investigation revealed that the breach started nearly a year earlier, in July 2005.
The company said it's too early to estimate its losses from the breach, which prompted banks nationwide to reissue debit and credit cards to guard against further fraud. TJX also faces lawsuits from consumers and financial institutions, and dozens of states have expressed interest in joining a civil investigation into TJX's security led by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Employers expect 8 percentrise in health-care costs
NEW YORK -- Health-care costs rose 8 percent last year, and employers expect the same rate of increase this year and next, according to results from a survey of large employers released Wednesday.
The 8 percent increases contrast sharply with the double-digit increases in health-care costs seen earlier in the decade.
Watson Wyatt conducted the study with the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit coalition of large employers focusing on health-care issues. The study covered 573 companies with at least 1,000 workers.
GM gives AT & amp;T contractfor global networking
DETROIT -- AT & amp;T Inc. said Wednesday it received a five-year, 1 billion global networking contract from General Motors Corp. to help the world's largest automaker boost productivity.
AT & amp;T will provide network-integration management services, including voice and data applications and systems support, for General Motors' worldwide telecommunications infrastructure.
The pact renews and expands a contract between AT & amp;T and General Motors.
Vindicator staff, wire reports