Mass. pension fund off $2 billion

The Massachusetts state pension fund lost $2 billion last month, bringing its loss for the year to $16.1 billion, the worst performance since it was formed, officials said yesterday. The drop brings the assets under management in the fund, which is controlled by state Treasurer Timothy Cahill, to $37.6 billion, according to a memo from Stan Mavromates, the chief investment officer. He said the fund’s emerging-markets portfolio is leading the decline, falling 58.6 percent so far this year. The return on the fund, which is used to pay the pensions of public sector retirees in Massachusetts, is down 30.1 percent for the year through the end of last month, according to Mavromates. Before this year, the worst year on record was 2002, when the assets under management dropped 8.9 percent, according to information obtained from the treasurer’s office.

KVH gets $3.5-million gyro order

Middletown-based KVH Industries Inc. has received a new $3.5-million order for its precision fiber-optic gyros for use in stabilized remote-weapon systems. Shipments are expected to begin in the first quarter of next year. Remote-weapon stations substantially improve crew safety and weapon accuracy by allowing gunners to operate, aim and fire the weapon from inside their vehicles, taking the gunners out of turret positions, where they are exposed to fire. KVH’s gyros provide precise optical stabilization and weapon-recoil control for the remote units while ensuring that the weapon stays on target whether the vehicle is stationary or on the move. The company’s fiber-optic guidance and sensor systems are used in an array of commercial and defense-related stabilization, navigation, autonomous-vehicle and precision-guidance applications.

WorldPay confirms computer infiltration

Atlanta-based RBS WorldPay, the U.S. payment processing arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which is the parent company of Providence-based Citizens Financial Group, has announced that WorldPay’s computer system had been improperly accessed by an unauthorized party. In response, the company has urgently taken a number of important steps to mitigate risk. The issue, which affected prepaid cardholders and other individuals, was identified Nov. 10 and law enforcement agencies and federal regulators were notified shortly thereafter. The company’s internal security professionals and outside experts are working with federal and state law enforcement authorities in an investigation. The affected prepaid cards include payroll cards and open-loop gift cards. Personal information associated with certain payroll cards may have been improperly accessed. PINs for all enabled cards have been or are being reset. Affected individuals are being notified and information has been posted on the RBS WorldPay Web site, www.rbsworldpay.us. Cardholders will not be responsible for unauthorized activity. The company is offering affected individuals whose Social Security numbers may have been affected a complimentary one-year membership in a national subscription credit-monitoring service that provides access to individuals’ consumer-credit reports and daily monitoring of their credit files from all three national consumer reporting agencies.

L.L. Bean weighing layoffs

Hit hard by the recession, Maine’s L.L. Bean is considering company restructuring, cost cutting and even layoffs to deal with weak sales. The Freeport-based catalog retailer said it expected to miss its holiday sales target by 10 percent or more, and didn’t expect the situation to improve in the new year, Chris McCormick, president and chief executive officer, wrote in an e-mail memo to Bean’s 9,400 employees. “It appears that the Grinch has stolen a substantial piece of Christmas,” McCormick wrote. Bean plans to offer voluntary retirement incentives and to open only two of eight previously planned new stores in the new year. But those steps alone probably won’t be enough to stave off layoffs, he wrote in the memo, first obtained by the Times Record newspaper. “Even with these options on the table, it is now unlikely that we will be able to avoid some level of involuntary position elimination both to support our multichannel transformation, and to resize ourselves for a smaller revenue base,” McCormick wrote.

Tougher rules for wood boilers

Starting next month, outdoor wood boilers sold in New Hampshire must be marked with an orange tag showing they burn wood as much as 70 percent cleaner than existing models. The regulations will get even stiffer in 2010, when only white-tag models, indicating they reduce particle pollution by 90 percent, will be sold. New Hampshire is the third state to adopt rules regulating the outdoor, freestanding boilers used to heat a house or pool. About 2,000 outdoor wood boilers currently operate in the state. New regulations also govern placement of new boilers to minimize the impact on neighbors. Since August, if a new boiler doesn’t get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval, it must be placed at least 200 feet from the nearest abutter and its smokestack must be 300 feet above the nearest peak. First-time offenders face fines of up to $250. Additional offenses may result in a fine of up to $500, according to Pamela Monroe, compliance bureau administrator for the state Department of Environmental Services Air Resource Division. The penalties don’t apply to existing boilers.

Auto-insurance scam warning

New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is warning consumers to beware of an insurance scam reported in the Midwest. Ayotte says consumers reported getting calls from scammers claiming there was a problem with the consumers’ auto-insurance payment. The scammer tells consumers a payment is needed immediately to avoid cancellation and asks for bank account and other personal information. New Hampshire insurance policies on passenger automobiles can be canceled only after a written, 10-day notice.

Vermont Yankee gets reprieve

A new report concludes that the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant can last past its current license expiration date of 2012, but must improve in several areas. The Department of Public Service commissioned the so-called Comprehensive Vertical Assessment of Vermont Yankee at the request of lawmakers preparing to decide whether the plant’s license should be extended for 20 years beyond its current 40-year term. “Overall, many station managerial and technical areas meet or exceed industry standards for performance. The station is operated and maintained in a reliable manner,” state consultant Nuclear Safety Associates Inc. said near the beginning of its 415-page report. But it went on to list a host of areas where the plant comes up short, in several instances calling the problems “challenges to future plant reliability.”

Maine earners lag U.S. again

A government report says Maine workers earned 4.1 percent more last year than they did in 2006. But the rise was smaller than the national figure of 5.2 percent. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis says Maine workers received $2.7 billion in total compensation last year, up from $26.6 billion in 2006. The growth rates ranged from 7.5 percent in Sagadahoc County to a low of 1.5 percent in Franklin County. The chairman of Maine’s Economic Forecasting Committee, Charles Colgan, says the figures aren’t surprising because Maine typically lags behind the nation as a whole in compensation.

Vermont to get iPhone

The Apple iPhone is coming to Vermont. AT&T said Monday that it had completed the acquisition of the Unicel mobile-phone network in Vermont. Starting in mid-January, Unicel stores in Vermont will switch over to AT&T. Starting then, former Unicel customers will be able to sign up for AT&T calling plans and exclusive devices such as the Apple iPhone. Verizon Wireless acquired the Unicel system, but federal regulators forced Verizon to shed the network in Vermont because it would have effectively left the state with one cell-phone provider.