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Brooke Corp. will delay the filing of its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission because of a subsidiary’s pending sale to First Life America Corp.

Overland Park-based Brooke Corp. (Nasdaq: BXXX) said in a filing Wednesday with the SEC that its Brooke Capital Corp. (AMEX: BCP) subsidiary’s agreement to sell all its capital stock to First Life, announced Monday, requires the presentation of First Life’s financial results as discontinued operations.

This delayed Brooke Corp.’s completion of its quarterly financial report.

Nucor Corp. reports a 68 percent increase in second-quarter earnings to $580.8 million, or $1.94 per diluted share, up from $344.9 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, a year ago.

Sales grew 70 percent to $7.09 billion from $4.17 billion in the second quarter of 2007.

The Charlotte-based steel maker says its average sales price per ton increased 24 percent for the year. Total tons shipped grew 38 percent to 7.73 million.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) attributes the increase in sales and earnings to acquisitions during the last 18 months, including Harris Steel Group Inc. in March 2007 and The David J. Joseph Company in February.

Nucor incurred a $214 million charge to value inventories using the last-in, first-out method of accounting. In last year’s second quarter, the company incurred a LIFO charge of $66.5 million.

The company expects third-quarter earnings of $1.80 to $1.85 per diluted share. Nucor earned $1.29 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2007.

Cappellino Towne Buick Saab Hummer has acquired the Pontiac GMC franchise in a transaction that brings most of GM's best-known brands together under one roof.

The purchase, for an undisclosed price, involves the Pontiac and GMC businesses from James Culligan, but not the Volvo franchise, which Culligan retained.

The dealerships involved are both in Clarence — Cappellino's at 5411 Transit Road and Culligan's at 8129 Main St.

The Pontiac and GMC sales and service operation will be merged next week into Cappellino's Transit Road location.

President Steve Cappellino said the acquisition gives him more new GM brands — Cappellino Buick Pontiac GMC and Cappellino Hummer Saab — at one location than any other area dealer.

"This was a purchase, yes, but more than that it had to do with GM's consolidation of brands to create one channel for Buick, Pontiac and GMC," he said.

In buying the two nameplates, Cappellino said he acquired a $4 million to $5 million inventory of about 200 new cars and trucks.

In 2007 revenue, the Cappellino and Culligan figures total an estimated $115 million to $120 million. The figure includes Cappellino's Niagara Nissan in Lockport.

About 40 Culligan managers, sales people and certified technicians will relocate to Cappellino's Transit Road site, where the expanded workforce will exceed 100.

The Culligan acquisition is Cappellino's fourth in less than seven years. The family of dealerships added Hummer of Buffalo in 2001, Niagara Nissan on South Transit Road in Lockport in 2003 and Saab in 2006.

The original Towne Buick, established in Buffalo by Cappellino's father, Frank, in 1969, moved from its first location at Delaware and Hertel avenues to the current site 18 years ago.

A brother of Steve, Gary Cappellino, is vice president of the business.

Culligan Pontiac GMC traces its roots to 1932 when Cas Culligan founded Culligan Motors as a Pontiac dealership.

His nephew, Jim Culligan, later assumed ownership and operated the business as Jim Culligan Pontiac GMC Volvo.

Culligan, who was a Pontiac dealer for 40 years and a Volvo dealer since 1982, said he is not retiring and plans to continue operating the Volvo dealership at its present location. The business has 40 employees.

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Horizon Lines, Inc. said Wednesday that it placed six employees on administrative leave amid a federal investigation into allegations of price fixing on shipping routes to Puerto Rico.

Two of the employees resigned, the Charlotte, N.C.-based shipping company said in a statement. Horizon is Hawaii’s second largest ocean-shipping company.

On April 17, federal authorities entered the offices of Horizon and other shippers with search warrants and grand jury subpoenas relating to an investigation of pricing practices on Puerto Rico routes. Horizon Chief Executive Chuck Raymond has emphasized that neither the company nor any employees have been charged in the investigation.

"The company continues to fully cooperate with the Department of Justice in its investigation," Horizon Lines (NYSE: HRZ) said in the statement on Wednesday.

Four federal lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed by customers who paid for shipping on Horizon, Sea Star Line, Crowley Maritime Corp. and Trailer Bridge Inc. The lawsuits, three in Florida and one in Puerto Rico, allege the shipping lines conspired for the last four years to fix prices on trade routes to Puerto Rico.

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U.K. home values fell for an eighth month in May and will probably drop further, Hometrack Ltd. said.

The average cost of a residential property in England and Wales slipped 0.5 percent to 172,200 pounds ($341,000), the London-based research company said today in a statement. Prices fell 1.9 percent from a year earlier, the biggest decline since November 2005.

“The `buyers' strike' continues,'' said Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, in a statement. “Pricing looks set to remain under downward pressure over the coming months.''

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King predicted this month that property values are “likely to fall further'' and said there is a risk that the U.K. economy may contract. The construction industry dragged down economic growth to the slowest pace since 2005 in the first quarter and homebuilders are cutting tens of thousands of jobs.

The percentage of sellers' asking prices being achieved slipped to 92.3 percent this month, the lowest since the survey began in 2001, Hometrack said today. Average time on the market increased to 9.8 weeks from 5.8 weeks a year ago.

“The fall in buyer confidence over the last six months has certainly impacted on transaction volumes but we do not believe this is a precursor to a major rise in forced sales and large prices falls,'' Donnell said.

End of the Boom

HBOS Plc, the U.K.'s biggest mortgage lender, said on May 2 that home values based on agreed transactions fell 0.9 percent from a year earlier, the first drop in more than a decade.

U.K. homebuilders will shrink their workforce as the 19 billion-pound industry grapples with the housing slump, Stewart Baseley, chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said in an interview last week. The rate of economic growth slipped to 0.4 percent in the first quarter from 0.6 percent in the last three months of 2007.

Home buyers are paying more for mortgages after the global credit squeeze prompted lenders to curb lending. U.K. banks increased the cost of home loans with a 5 percent down payment to the highest in more than eight years in April, failing to pass on the Bank of England's three interest-rate cuts since December.

The central bank kept its main rate at 5 percent in May, citing concern about inflation amid record oil prices. Britons should expect “quite a significant slowdown'' in economic growth this year, policy maker Andrew Sentance said on May 22.

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Hawaii residents can breathe easier — their lawmakers are on the case.

The Hawaii House of Representatives has formed a special committee to study the effects of air pollution from the Kilauea volcano.

House Speaker Calvin Say on Wednesday named eight lawmakers to the committee, most of them from the Big Island, where Kilauea has been erupting steadily since 1983.

In recent weeks the volcanic emissions, called vog, have blanketed much of the state, helped by a lack of strong trade winds. As a result, hospitals have reported an increase in respiratory problems.

The House committee will examine the vog's effects on public health and safety, agriculture, water quality, pets and other animals, and other areas.

"What is occurring is a natural disaster, but unlike a tsunami, hurricane, twister or major earthquake, it is not viewed as one," said Rep. Robert Herkes, D-Puna, N. Kona, committee chairman. "The Legislature needs to focus on the impacts on Hawaii residents such as health and safety, loss of agricultural crops or the impact on tourism and jobs, and explore all avenues of relief."

Hawaii residents should not expect immediate results from the committee, which is expected to issue a report in time for the Legislature's 2009 regular session, which begins in January.

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IHOP Corp. has reached an agreement for a $347 million sale-leaseback of company-owned real estate from its Applebee’s unit.

A new group affiliated with Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund LP, Drawbridge Real Assets Fund LP and others reached a purchase agreement for 187 company-owned restaurant real estate parcels, according to a Tuesday release from IHOP (NYSE: IHP), based in Glendale. Drawbridge funds are affiliated with Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG), an alternative asset manager that oversees about $34.2 billion.

The $347 million represents proceeds before taxes from the deal, which is expected to close by June 16. IHOP said it will use the money to pay down funded debt.

The purchase price could be adjusted based on final results of restaurant sales for the 12 months that ended April 30, but the price will be finalized by June 1, the release said. The buyers also could cancel the purchase of as much as 15 percent of the Applebee’s restaurants and adjust the price accordingly if they find material defects in the properties.

IHOP plans to franchise most Applebee’s restaurants and will be able to transfer the leases to franchisees.

The deal went through despite challenges from a weak credit market. In a first-quarter earnings report, IHOP CEO Julia Stewart warned that the credit market could affect the timing of IHOP’s plans to complete a sale-leaseback of 191 company-owned Applebee’s restaurants in the second quarter.

IHOP bought Applebee’s International Inc. for $2.04 billion on Nov. 29. The sale of Applebee’s real estate and franchising of company-operated restaurants were to help finance the purchase.

A call to IHOP was not immediately returned.

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Visitor arrivals to Hawaii will decline by 3 percent this year, twice as much as previously projected, in part because of the shutdown of Aloha Airlines and ATA, according to the quarterly economic report released by the state on Monday.

The quarterly economic report from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism expects moderate to slower growth for Hawaii this year, and in 2009.

"We believe that our economy will adjust to recent economic events and that our fundamental economic foundation remains strong," director Theodore E. Liu said in a statement.

DBEDT had previously forecast visitor arrivals to decline by 1.4 percent, but now expects that figure to be 3 percent. The agency forecasts no growth in 2009, followed by 1.4 percent growth in 2010 and 1.7 percent growth in 2011. The shutdown of the two airlines, coupled with the departure of two cruise ships, were cited by the department as the primary causes for the decline in visitor numbers.

Visitor days, which are the number of arrivals times the length of stay, are forecast to drop 2.4 percent this year, after a 1.5 percent decline in 2007, and are expected to remain flat in 2009 before starting to recover in 2010 and 2011.

Visitor expenditures are projected to remain flat this year, with less then 1 percent growth, before rebounding in 2009 with 3.6 percent growth, followed by 4.4 percent growth in 2010 and 4.7 percent growth in 2011.

The report forecasts moderate growth over the next couple of years for personal income, total wage and salary jobs, and state gross domestic product, although the projected rates of growth have decreased from the previous forecast.

The report cut the forecast for real personal income growth in half, to 0.8 percent, down from 1.6 percent. Income is forecast to grow 1.1 percent in 2009, which is also a 0.8 percent downward revision from the previous forecast.

The forecast for job growth this year was lowered by 1 percentage point, downward to 0.4 percent, from 1.4 percent, while the forecast for 2009 was revised downward to 0.8 percent from 1.3 percent in the previous forecast.

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