Business Notebook

Boeing announced a big order for its forthcoming 737 MAX jets from Panama’s Copa Airlines to coincide with the attendance of President Barack Obama at a political summit in Panama City.

The jetmaker booked the order for 61 MAXs earlier and listed it on its order website, but the airline customer was not identified until now.

An analysis of the order website shows that COPA at the same time canceled a previous order for five current model 737NGs, so the net new order is for 56 airplanes.

The net order is worth about $6.2 billion at list prices. However, based on market pricing data from aircraft valuation firm Avitas, the real value of the deal after standard discounts is about $2.9 billion.

QVC fined for worker’s death

QVC has been fined $4,500 and its safety program found deficient after a workplace fatality in November, the state’s workplace regulators have decided.

The S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation found that on Thanksgiving Day, Agnes Ann McKithen Carter, a warehouse assistant, was retrieving items on a forklift 30 feet in the air at the warehouse distribution center when a recently trained forklift operator struck her forklift. Carter, 45, was harnessed to the lift and fell with it.

The newly trained worker “was not looking in the direction of travel while operating it from the seated position on the product aisles,” according to the citation issued March 31.

Businessman faces tax charges

Perry Dean Barefoot of Chesterfield County was arrested Friday for the second time in less than five months for operating his business without a retail license, the state tax collection agency announced.

Barefoot, 42, was previously arrested on Dec. 3, and pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 17, the state Department of Revenue said. Friday’s arrest was on one count of operating without a license. He faces up to 30 days and a fine of $200.

IN BRIEF

▪  Nissan and BMW are recalling more than 94,000 vehicles because the fuel pumps can fail and cause stalling. The recalls cover 76,000 Nissan Rogues from the 2014 model year and another 18,000 BMW 2, 3 and 4 series models from 2014 and some 4 series cars from 2015.

▪  The average profit of the nation’s auto dealers rose 6.7 percent last year to nearly $1.1 million, but the average profit margin remained at 2.2 percent, the same level it has been since 2012, according to the annual report from the National Automobile Dealers Association. But to achieve that profit margin dealers are relying more than ever on used car sales and their service and parts departments.

▪  An online rush replaced the traditional overnight queues outside Apple stores Friday as the iconic tech company began taking orders and letting shoppers get their hands on its much-vaunted smartwatch for the first time.

From Wire Reports.

This story was originally published April 10, 2015 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Business Notebook."