Dairy Mart Convenience Stores Inc., an operator of 547 retail stores in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and four other states, said it will sell or close 200 stores in a bid to improve its profitability and reduce debt.

        Dairy Mart operates nearly 40 stores in the Greater Cincinnati market.

        Company officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

        Shares of the Hudson, Ohio-based company rose five cents to $3.55. The announcement was made after the close of trading.
       

Cedar Point owner plans buy

               Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP, which owns Cedar Point and other amusement and water parks, plans to buy closely held Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park from Michigan's Adventure Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

        The park, near Muskegon, Mich., gets more than 400,000 visitors a year, mostly from central and western Michigan and eastern Indiana, Cedar Fair said.

        The purchase, which will add to earnings this year, should be completed this month, spokesman Brian Witherow said.

        The company also operates Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif., and Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Mo.
       

U.S. Bancorp to buy Nova

               U.S. Bancorp, which Firstar Corp. bought this year, will pay $2.1 billion in stock to acquire Nova Corp., an Atlanta-based credit card processing company.

        The deal allows U.S. Bancorp to expand in a business with a faster growth rate than lending. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp will pick up a business with 90,000 large merchants, 560,000 smaller ones and annual revenues of about $1.6 billion.

        U.S. Bancorp, one of Cincinnati's largest banks operating under the Firstar name, is among a handful of major banks that compete in the processing business with Fifth Third Bancorp's Midwest Payment Systems and National City Corp.'s National Processing Inc.

        - From staff and wire reports

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