Also

* Carl Ware, Coca-Cola’s director of global affairs and the beverage giant’s highest-ranking black executive, said he plans to retire at the end of next year. Ware, 58, will become a senior advisor to Coke Chairman and Chief Executive Douglas Daft after his retirement. Ware led Coke’s efforts to improve diversity over the last three years as it battled a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by black employees that was later settled for a record $192 million.

* Costco Wholesale Corp. said its fiscal first-quarter earnings were flat as a slowdown in consumer spending and the reorganization of its Canadian business kept profit growth in check.

Net income in the three months ended Nov. 25 was $129.7 million, or 28 cents a diluted share, compared with $129.5 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier.

* Honda Motor Co. said it will add the Pilot mid-size sport-utility vehicle to its U.S. lineup in mid-2002 as the second-largest Japanese auto maker tries to accelerate sales gains in the biggest auto market.