COLUMN: BUSINESS BRIEFS

TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Bloomberg Index

Central Massachusetts

-1.14

195.46

Volume: 40,809,135

Up: 7

Down: 19

Unchanged: 3

Gainer: Double-Take Software Inc. $24.94 +$0.94 (Volume

Decliner: Sepracor Inc. $25.01 -$1.13 (Volume of 3.15 million shares)

Local

Auto hearings

BOSTON - Attorney General Martha Coakley said yesterday three automobile insurers, including Webster-based Commerce Insurance Co. and The Premier Insurance Co. of Worcester, are seeking to overcharge Massachusetts drivers by more than $100 million.

Ms. Coakley said she will schedule rate hearings into the filings by Commerce, Premier and Safety Insurance Co. of Boston, which collectively represent over 45 percent of the state's automobile insurance market. Ms. Coakley said the three insurers filed for rate reductions of only 6 percent and included inflated loss trends, excessive profit and passed on the costs of contingent commissions, a practice barred by previous insurance commissioners. Contingent commissions are payments for steering insurance contracts to certain companies.

The filings are part of the state's new managed competition insurance system, which permits insurers to establish their own rates within certain guidelines. It replaces the 30-year-old system in which regulators annually established the rates for all automobile insurers.

Staffing survey

Most Central Massachusetts employers expect to maintain their staff levels in early 2008, and few will be hiring, according to a survey released today by Manpower Inc., a staffing services company.

Manpower said in a news release that 67 percent of Central Massachusetts employers it surveyed said they expect to maintain staffing levels during the first three months of next year. Another 23 percent were uncertain of their plans. Manpower said 7 percent of companies interviewed plan to hire workers, and 3 percent expect to cut jobs.

Manpower, which is based in Milwaukee, Wis., and conducts surveys of its clients four times a year, said job prospects in Central Massachusetts appear best in services. Nondurable goods manufacturers expect to cut jobs, Manpower said.

HP purchase

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's biggest printer maker, agreed to buy Nur Macroprinters Ltd. for $117.5 million to add machines that make posters for billboards.

Nur will become part of the imaging and printing group, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard said yesterday in a statement. Nur, based in Lod, Israel, makes Expedio and Fresco printers and has customers in more than 100 countries. Hewlett-Packard, which has operations in Marlboro, has expanded into larger printers this year with this acquisition and that of MacDermid ColorSpan Inc., announced in September.

Nur makes digital color printers that cost as much as $500,000 and produce large posters for billboard, exhibition and trade-show displays as well as images for backdrops at film and TV studios. (Bloomberg News)