Revenue

Philadelphia schools and the municipal pension fund would get at least $2 million a year if Penn National Gaming Inc. succeeds in its bid to build a South Philadelphia casino, Steve Snyder, senior vice president of corporate development, told City Council on Thursday. For the first time, officials of the Wyomissing, Pa., gaming company publicly spelled out its unique casino proposal - one of six under consideration by the state's Gaming Control Board for the city's second gaming license.

Entercom Communications Corp., the Bala Cynwyd-based radio-station owner, said second-quarter revenue fell 1 percent, to $104.7 million. The financial results were released late Monday. Shares were down 24 cents, to $6.04 in Tuesday afternoon trading. A onetime income tax benefit for the quarter that ended June 30 boosted net income to $48.7 million, or $1.29 per share, from $14.3 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted income fell 11 percent, to 31 cents per share.

If June revenue numbers released Tuesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement are a barometer of how well a casino will perform in the slower winter months in Atlantic City, then the new Revel is in trouble. June is a peak month at the Jersey Shore resort, and the mega casino generated $14.9 million on total gambling revenue, ranking it 8th among the city's dozen gambling halls for the third consecutive month since it debuted April 2. By comparison, market leader Borgata pulled in $53.3 million last month, about three and a half times more than Revel.

New Jersey Turnpike revenue for the year through October was $47.1 million below forecasts, Bloomberg News reported. It said the turnpike authority collected $934 million in the first 10 months of 2011. Officials said, according to Bloomberg, that bad weather and high gasoline prices contributed to reduced use of toll roads by motorists.    - Inquirer staff

The continued soft labor market kept revenue down at CDI Corp., a national staffing company based in Philadelphia. The economy's gains in the third and fourth quarter "did not translate into any real improvement in our business," chief executive officer Roger H. Ballou said in a conference call yesterday to announce fourth-quarter and full-year results. Annual revenue fell from $1.2 billion in 2002 to $1.1 billion last year, although the company swung from a loss of $9.4 million a year ago to a profit of $22.5 million.

Urban Outfitters Inc., the hipster retailer headquartered at the Navy Yard, reported Monday that it had record quarterly revenue and a 39 percent increase in profit after reining in store markdowns. The revenue results nevertheless missed analysts' expectations. The company released its numbers after the stock market closed Monday, and shares fell in aftermarket trading. For the three months ended April 30, Urban said it earned $47.1 million, or 32 cents per share, on sales of $648.2 million.

Reds owner Marge Schott is about $3 million behind in payments to Cincinnati for home-game revenues, the city manager said yesterday. John Shirey told the City Council that Schott is withholding the money until she gets a new lease for Riverfront Stadium. Schott also wants a new baseball-only stadium downtown. Shirey told the council that Schott had not paid the city its share of revenues from admissions, concessions and program sales since August 1994. A team spokesman said that Schott would have no comment.

THE CAREER of M. Christine Murphy made it clear to anyone who doubted it that women make good bosses. Back in the administration of Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Christine, who was the revenue commissioner, was cited as one of the six female city officials who were really running the city. "The city's revenue commissioner is the keeper of the bank vaults," an Inquirer writer noted in 1988. "Knowing how much tax money is actually flowing into city coffers, she is in a powerful backroom position to tell the mayor how much is left to pay bills and salaries.

Despite the much-anticipated addition of the Revel mega-casino, Atlantic City saw a heavy decline in gambling revenue last month, prompting some operators to question openly whether the $2.4 billion newcomer would provide the economic lift the resort had hoped for. The city's total gambling revenue was $263 million in May, down 9.5 percent compared with a year ago. Excluding Revel, revenue declined 14.3 percent. "Revel's results came in weaker than expected," said gambling analyst John Kempf of Wells Fargo Securities L.L.C.

Medical device company Kensey Nash Corp., of Exton, said income for the quarter ended June 30 was up 25 percent to $5.9 million, or 60 cents per share, on revenue of $21.9 million. That compares with $4.7 million, or 41 cents per share, on $20.5 million in revenue a year earlier. The latest results were for the company's fiscal fourth quarter. Company shares jumped on the news. They were up $1.42, or 6.2 percent, to $24.28 in early afternoon trading. Full-year results had lower earnings but better results per share.

Campbell Soup Co. shares tumbled Monday despite a rebound in U.S. soup sales and an increased earnings forecast for the fiscal year that ends in July. The Camden company's shares closed at $45.78, down 3.88 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange, but remain at a level last seen in the late 1990s. Overall revenue was up 15 percent in the quarter ended April 28, to $2.09 billion, with 11 percentage points of the gain from Bolthouse Farms, which Campbell bought for $1.55 billion last summer.

Urban Outfitters Inc., the hipster retailer headquartered at the Navy Yard, reported Monday that it had record quarterly revenue and a 39 percent increase in profit after reining in store markdowns. The revenue results nevertheless missed analysts' expectations. The company released its numbers after the stock market closed Monday, and shares fell in aftermarket trading. For the three months ended April 30, Urban said it earned $47.1 million, or 32 cents per share, on sales of $648.2 million.

TRENTON - As the Legislature moves toward adopting a new budget, the Christie administration and a nonpartisan budget analyst offered starkly differing projections Monday of how much revenue the state will take in. The Office of Legislative Services' budget and finance officer, David Rosen, testified before the Senate Budget and Finance Committee that revenue will fall short of Gov. Christie's projections by $937 million. But state Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff told lawmakers a short time later that the shortfall this year and next would be about $165 million and that adjustments in the budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, will more than make up for the difference.

To raise money for the desperate Philadelphia School District, Mayor Nutter proposed Wednesday to tax cigarettes at $2 a pack and raise the city's liquor-by-the-drink tax from 10 percent to 15 percent. Alongside School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. and others at City Hall, Nutter also pledged to improve city tax collections. The mayor estimated that his plan would raise an additional $95 million for schools in 2013-14 and $135 million in the second year. Nutter stressed that the money would benefit not only students enrolled in district schools but those who attend the 84 taxpayer-funded charter schools in the city.

Is it just me, or does it feel a little, I don't know, gross that, while we're awash in headlines about a "Doomsday Budget" for our public schools, a cadre of well-coiffed businessmen are sharing grandiose plans for yet another Philadelphia casino? How'd we get here? Seems as if, over the last decade, gaming has become a type of crack cocaine for a whole generation of politicians: With their budgets squeezed by economic downturn and an electorate all too willing to vote out of office anyone who considers a tax hike, our so-called leaders - rather than make the hard choices and right-size their governments - have opted for the quick-fix high of casinos, long-term consequences be damned.

ATLANTIC CITY - The dozen casinos here experienced a 12.1 percent drop in casino revenue in April, compared to a year earlier - continuing a pattern of double digit declines. The resort's gaming revenue was down 13.2 percent in January; 12.5 percent in February; and 12.8 percent in March. Total casino revenue was $228.5 million last month, compared to $259.9 million in April 2012. Ten of the 12 gambling halls reported year-over-year declines, but Revel - which had its first anniversary on April 2 - reported the largest drop at 40.1 percent.

G EOFF GROSS, 32, of Center City, is president of Medical Guardian, which sells medical-alarm systems to seniors. He started the company in 2005 in his apartment at Locust Street near 15th. In April, the fast-growing firm, which has 50 employees, moved into 12,300 square feet of new office space at 18th and Market streets. Q: How'd you come up with the idea for the business? A: My father was in the home-security business, so I got to learn about that, and medical alarms seemed like the same model.

Swarthmore College is in rare company nationally as a school that collects nearly as much or more revenue from investments as it does from students. Its $1.5 billion endowment - about $1 million per student - allows the highly ranked college to spend more on each student, but it does not fully shield Swarthmore from the economic forces threatening higher education. "When we think about the future, we're worried about . . . economic growth in this country," said Suzanne Welsh, vice president for finance and treasurer at Swarthmore.

New Jersey voters have consistently voted to preserve open space. Since 1961, they have approved 13 state bond issues for that purpose. As recently as 2009, they agreed to spend another $400 million. But most of that money is gone. Most local bond issues for open space have passed, too, even if it meant raising local taxes. Given such widespread support, it is puzzling that Gov. Christie has yet to say how, or even if, he supports land preservation. Environmentalists and former Gov. Thomas H. Kean have implored the governor to approve a dedicated funding stream to acquire additional open space, but Christie has been silent.

ATLANTIC CITY - It takes effort and money to stay No. 1. And Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the top-grossing gambling palace here every year since its debut in 2003, has been willing to put in both. Borgata is revamping its offerings once again. This time, three upscale retail stores - Misura, Carina, and Borgata Collection - have new lighting, fixtures, and color design to be more inviting to patrons. A fourth store - Antica Murrina, which sells Italian glass jewelry - opened April 12 in the Shoppes at the Water Club, Borgata's second hotel.