BJ’s Wholesale Club posts quarterly profit

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. yesterday reported a nearly 26-percent increase in its first-quarter profit and raised earnings expectations for the full year, reaping the benefits of a tough economy that’s increasingly sending shoppers to discounters in search of deals. The nation’s third-largest discount warehouse club said it earned $17.19 million, or 29 cents per share, in the three months ended May 3. That’s up from a profit of $13.65 million, or 21 cents per share, a year ago, when results were boosted a penny per share from the asset sales after BJ’s closed 46 in-store pharmacies. The latest profit beat by a penny per share the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Sales excluding membership fees grew 12 percent to $2.26 billion, from $2.06 billion, slightly below analysts’ forecast of $2.27 billion. Sales at clubs open at least a year rose 9.6 percent, with gasoline sales accounting for more than a third of the gain. The Natick, Mass.-based chain of 178 clubs in 16 East Coast states now expects to post a full-year profit of $2.04 to $2.14 per share, a range that’s 6 cents per share above the company’s previous expectations offered in March. Analysts expect BJ’s to post a full-year profit of $2.06 per share, near the lower end of BJ’s updated guidance.

Learn about sustainable tourism tomorrow

We’ve heard about sustainable farming and sustainable building; ways to use resources efficiently without depleting them. There’s another sustainable market waiting to be tapped: sustainable tourism. The Blackstone Valley Tourism Council’s Sustainable Tourism Planning and Development Laboratory is hosting a primer on the concept tomorrow morning. Tourism agencies, local policymakers, educators and students, and anyone else interested in the practices of sustainable tourism, are invited to “An Introduction to Resilient Tourism,” tomorrow beginning at 8 a.m. For $35, participants will hear from a number of speakers on topics ranging from “experimental tourism” to satellite accounting. The event will be held at the Blackstone Valley Visitors Center in Pawtucket. Although the Tourism Lab is based in the Blackstone River Valley section of the state, it consists of members from around the world. Registration is required; find a schedule of events and other information on the Sustainable Tourism Lab’s Web site or call the Lab at (401) 724-2200.

Kopin receives Nasdaq noncompliance notice

Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ: KOPN) of Taunton, Mass., this week announced that it received a NASDAQ Staff Determination letter indicating that the Company is not in compliance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14) because it did not timely file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 29, 2008. Kopin has delayed the filing of its Form 10-Q pending review of a recently filed Request for Mediation made by a customer of the company. In the Request for Mediation, the customer, a privately held company based in the European Union, makes claims relating to certain representations and actions of an employee of a subsidiary of Kopin. Kopin is conducting an investigation relating to claims made in such Request for Mediation. The NASDAQ Staff Determination letter stated that as a result of the company’s noncompliance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14), Kopin’s securities will be delisted from Nasdaq at the opening of business on May 28, 2008, unless the company requests a hearing in accordance with Nasdaq Marketplace Rules. Kopin intends to request a hearing before a Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel.Kopin Corporation produces lightweight, power-efficient, ultra-small liquid crystal displays and III-V heterojunction bipolar transistors. Kopin has shipped more than 20 million displays for a range of consumer and military applications including digital cameras, personal video eyewear, camcorders, thermal weapon sights and night vision systems. The company’s HBTs, which help to enhance battery life, talk time and signal clarity, have been integrated into billions of wireless handsets as well as into WiFi, VoIP and high-speed Internet data transmission systems.

United Technologies may drop bid for Diebold

United Technologies Corp.’s new chief executive said Tuesday that the industrial conglomerate may drop its $2.6-billion bid for Diebold Inc. if it doesn’t receive more financial information from the maker of ATMs and security systems. UTC is trying to broaden its security business and expand into China, and on Feb. 29 offered to buy Diebold for $2.63 billion. United Technologies’ current operations include Otis elevators, Sikorsky helicopters and Carrier air conditioners. The chairman of Diebold quickly rejected the bid, saying it undervalued his company. Diebold in late April issued revenue estimates for the first quarter, but did not release any profit figures. The company, which also makes voting machines, has not filed completed financial statements, including earnings, since the first quarter of 2007, as regulators review how the company reports revenue. Louis Chenevert, who took over as UTC’s chief executive April 9, told analysts Tuesday that any deal required a more detailed look at Diebold’s numbers.

“We’ll not buy that property without appropriate due diligence,” he told the Electrical Products Group conference in Longboat Key, Fla. “They’ve not published financials,” he said. “For a public company, this is a must and I would say we will not get lured in and just buy a company without going in and understanding.” Chenevert said UTC likes Diebold’s business model a lot, but noted it was not “a must have.” “There might be other opportunities that show up on the radar screen in this environment that are really core to us and that’s what I will pursue aggressively at that point in time,” said Chenevert, who was running UTC’s jet engine subsidiary Pratt & Whitney two years ago when the company picked him to succeed former CEO George David, who stepped down last month.

LNG facility near Boston gets first shipment

Excelerate Energy received the first liquefied-natural gas cargo at its Northeast Gateway terminal near Boston. NV CMB SA’s 77,348-deadweight ton tanker Excellence arrived at the terminal, completed in December, on May 15, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Northeast Gateway is about 18 miles east of Boston, the company said in a statement. The terminal can send out as much as 800 million cubic feet of gas per day. LNG is gas that is super-cooled to a liquid for transport by ship to markets not connected by pipelines. The fuel is received at import terminals and converted back to a gaseous form so it can be piped to users. Northeast Gateway is Excelerate’s third LNG processing facility, joining plants in the United Kingdom and off the coast of Louisiana, according to the company’s Web site.

Army awards contract to Sikorsky Aircraft

Sikorsky Aircraft has won an Army contract to develop helicopter rotors that can withstand erosion caused by sand and rain in deserts in Iraq and elsewhere. Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., announced Tuesday that the $11.4-million contract calls for the helicopter maker and United Technologies Research Center to design prototypes of main rotor blades and tail rotor blades. The contract extends to 2011. The helicopter manufacturer is working on a design for rotor blades that can last 1,000 hours in the air in an environment of sand and rain. The rotor blades now operate for about 300 hours. Sikorsky says the new rotor, which would be used for its Black Hawk and other helicopters, would cut down on high replacement rates due to erosion.