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Business Digest
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Providence-based Nortek Inc. has reported 2006 net sales from continuing operations of $2.2 billion, up 13.2 percent from $1.96 billion in 2005. Operating earnings were $267 million, compared with $237.2 million in 2005. The company said acquisitions contributed approximately $213 million in net sales and $23 million to operating earnings for the year ended Dec. 31, 2006. For the fourth quarter, Nortek reported net sales of $541 million, an increase of 7.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2005. Operating earnings were $37.6 million, compared with $69.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. As of Dec. 31, Nortek had approximately $57 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and had $10 million of borrowings outstanding under its $200-million revolving credit facility. Nortek, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nortek Holdings Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTK Holdings Inc., is a manufacturer of residential and commercial ventilation, HVAC and home technology convenience and security products.
A joint venture between Providence-based Textron Inc. and Boeing Co. to build the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey has been awarded $1.8 billion by the Navy to begin early acquisition of components to build and deliver 26 models of the aircraft. The work, which wasn’t competitively bid, is expected to be completed in 2010, according to a Defense Department statement. The V-22 and its variants are being built for both the Air Force and the Marines, which is technically part of the Navy. The announcement covers 21 MV-22s for the Marines and 5 CV-22s for the Air Force. The plane is designed to hover and land like a helicopter and fly straight like an ordinary airplane, with wings that tilt to position rotors in either hover or flight mode.
The Providence Metallizing Co. Inc. (PMC), of Pawtucket, has paid a fine of $52,700, as well as completing a “supplemental environmental project” worth at least $96,198, to settle federal Environmental Protection Agency allegations of Clean Air Act violations. After an inspection, the EPA determined that the company failed to comply with various reporting and work-practice requirements. The agency claimed that PMC failed to maintain the operating temperature of its thermal oxidizer at or above the minimum temperature established in its permit on five days from October through December 2003. The thermal oxidizer, which had been necessary for PMC to meet its required emission limits, was shut down in July 2006 and now complies with emission limits by eliminating some of its process lines and by using compliant coatings for others.
RightPath Payments Inc. said it has signed a definitive alliance agreement with Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC, giving that company the exclusive right to market and sell RightPath’s flagship product, Business Payment Connection, to financial institutions in the United States. “Crowe is the premier accounting and consulting firm for the banking industry. With this agreement, our companies have a unique opportunity to combine Crowe’s industry knowledge and delivery expertise with RightPath’s BPC to offer a high-quality, much-needed product to banks’ small business arsenal,” stated Dennis Lynch, chief executive officer and chairman of RightPath Payments.
Warwick-based Atrion Networking Corp., a systems integrator and network services provider, has recently joined the APC-MGE Gold Certified Partner Program. Atrion’s certified technical professionals are now capable of designing and implementing data-center power, cooling and management solutions using West Kingston-based APC-MGE’s online configuration tools. Atrion now can design systems up to 80kw, which gives the firm the ability to provide its customers with InfraStruXure architecture for data centers, integrating power, cooling, rack, management and services to allow the selection of standardized components. APC-MGE is a $3-billion global provider of critical power and cooling services and a company of France’s Schneider Electric.
Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co., which both have units in Rhode Island, have probably lost millions of dollars in performance bonuses on an experimental missile-tracking program because of cost overruns, according to the Pentagon. The $900-million development contract awarded to Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and Waltham, Mass.-based subcontractor Raytheon is projected to run $140 million over budget, government program manager Colonel Christopher Pelc said in a March 26 e-mail. That means the companies will probably lose out on bonuses that could have totaled as much as half of any savings achieved, Pelc said. “The program experienced quality and workmanship problems” with Raytheon, which is developing the satellite sensors for detecting and tracking missile launches aimed at the U.S., the Government Accountability Office said in a March 30 report. Northrop Grumman spokesman Bob Bishop and Raytheon spokeswoman Sabrina Steele referred all questions about the program to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
East Providence-based EFD Inc.’s Solder Paste Group has won Circuits Assembly magazine’s Service Excellence Award for the fourth year in a row. The company competed in the “Solder Materials Supplier” category and received the award during the recent APEX Electronics Exposition in Los Angeles, Calif. Winners are determined solely by customer responses to an independent survey in which they are asked to honestly evaluate their satisfaction. EFD is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nordson Corp., a producer of precision dispensing equipment.
…The Smithfield Advisory Group will meet Thursday at 8 a.m. at Bryant University, Papitto Dining Room in the Bryant Center, 1150 Douglas Pike, Smithfield. For more information, call Paul L. Ouellette, vice president of Community Development/Workforce Training (401) 334-1000, ext. 117 or go to richamber.com
…The International Yacht Restoration School will hold its first open house Saturday, April 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the school’s new satellite facility, 457 Franklin St., Bristol. The IYRS Marine Systems Program offers training in installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting onboard systems such as electrical, steering, plumbing and propulsion. For information call Jay Picotte at (401) 848-5777, ext. 203 or go to www.jpicotte@iyrs.org.
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