General Dynamics wins pact for sub upgrades

General Dynamics Corp., the parent company of the Electric Boat shipyards in North Kingstown and Groton, Conn., has won a contract valued at as much as $1.79 billion to provide maintenance and upgrade services for nuclear submarines. The initial contract has a value of $285.9 million, which would reach the ceiling amount if all options are exercised, the Defense Department said in a statement on its Web site. Most of the work will be done in Groton, where both the company’s EB yard and Naval Submarine Base New London are situated Support work covered by the contract includes submarine safety design reviews, maintenance engineering and modernization of submersible systems.

Bancorp R.I. enters Treasury Department plan

Bancorp Rhode Island Inc., of Providence, says it has elected to participate in the Treasury Department’s Capital Purchase Program, a voluntary program available to healthy financial institutions that is designed to increase the flow of financing to businesses and consumers nationwide. While the extent of the company’s participation has yet to be determined, it is qualified to receive up to $30 million in additional capital. The program’s deadline for participation was Friday. “After careful review, we believe this program, as it stands today, would provide us with an opportunity to build on our third-quarter momentum and further strengthen our lending capabilities for customers,” said president and chief executive officer Merrill W. Sherman. Last month, the company reported a year-over-year increase in both third-quarter and year-to-date earnings. As of Sept. 30, its total risk-weighted capital ratio was 12.7 percent, substantially in excess of the 10 percent required to be considered “well-capitalized” by regulatory authorities.

EMC launches Internet services company

Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC Corp., the world’s biggest maker of storage computers, is starting a new company to sell Internet services that help customers store and manage personal data, files and photos. Called Decho, short for digital echo, the company will be made of up EMC’s Mozy Inc. and Pi Corp. acquisitions. EMC gets revenue of more than $10 million from Mozy’s Internet file backup service, vice president Charles Fitzgerald said. Pi, which hasn’t released any products yet, is working on software for sharing and managing information. EMC is trying to get more sales from software and services, which are more profitable than its storage computers. Like Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc., the company is seeking ways to manage data across different locations and programs. “All this data that’s gone digital, you used to just be able to dump on a single PC,” Fitzgerald said. “But now you have multiple PCs, and it’s scattered across different devices and services.” Decho, based in Seattle, plans to begin releasing services from Pi over the next six months.

FGX reports strong third quarter

Despite a weakening retail economy, sales of glasses and sunglasses pushed up third-quarter sales and earnings at FGX International, based in Smithfield. FGX (FGXI:Nasdaq) reported that net income increased to $3.9 million from breakeven in the year-ago period. Earnings per diluted share increased to 18 cents in the third quarter from breakeven in the third quarter of last year. Net sales increased 10 percent to $59.1 million in the current period from $53.9 million in the comparable period a year ago. Sales of nonprescription reading glasses rose to $36.5 million, up 18 percent. Revenues from sunglasses and prescription frames were $10.4 million, up 20 percent. However, costume jewelry sales were $5.2 million, off 24 percent. International sales were down 7 percent to $7 million. Alec Taylor, chief executive officer, said, “The momentum we experienced in the first six months of the year continued into the third quarter despite challenging economic times in which many of our retail partners experienced sales softness. Our Foster Grant and Magnivision brands are providing great value to consumers. Additionally, we continued to maintain our high gross margins in the face of inflationary pressures while once again improving on key working capital metrics.”

P&W Railroad quarterly net up over last year

Providence and Worcester Railroad Co., based in Worcester, Mass., (PWX:NASDAQ) has reported third-quarter net income of $534,000, compared with net income of $181,000 in the third quarter of last year. Diluted income per common share increased to 11 cents in the third quarter from 4 cents last year. Income before taxes in the third quarter included $484,000 of gains realized from the sale of surplus property and equipment compared with $10,000 of such gains last year. Operating revenues for the third quarter increased $840,000, or 11.5 percent, from the third quarter of last year. This increase is the result of a 14.9-percent increase in conventional freight revenues partially offset by a 34.9-percent decline in container freight revenues.

Conn. slot revenues continue decline

Slot machine income at the two Native American-run casinos in Connecticut continued to decline in October, although the drops were less steep than September’s double-digit decreases. Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand at Foxwoods reported a net slots win of $57.1 million in October. That was down nearly 7.5 percent — or about $4.6 million — from October of last year. Mohegan Sun’s slot profits were slightly higher at $65.4 million, down $6.5 million from October of last year. That’s a 9-percent decrease. The casinos pay 25 percent of their slot profits to the state, so Connecticut’s budget is affected by casino revenue decreases. Mohegan Sun is in Uncasville and is owned by the Mohegan Tribe. Foxwoods is near Ledyard and is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Univision sees grim fourth quarter

Los Angeles-based Univision Communications Inc., owned in large part by Providence-based Providence Equity Partners, said Monday that it probably would trim expenses as the Spanish-language media giant grapples with a worsening economy and a mountain of debt. “Univision, like every broadcaster, is going to be taking a very hard look at all of its expenses,” chief financial officer Andrew Hobson told analysts during a conference call to discuss the company’s third-quarter results. He warned that, despite strong TV ratings, Univision’s fourth-quarter results would be “substantially worse” than those produced during the first half of the year.

Mass. marine lab receives $15-million grant

The Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., is receiving a $15-million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The award will allow the facility to make major renovations to its three-story Loeb Laboratory, which houses lab space for graduate and postdoctoral-level courses. The grant comes on top of $10 million in promised state funds for the renovations. The state funds were included in the $1-billion Massachusetts Life Sciences Act, signed by Governor Patrick in June.

iRobot Corp. wins grants from Army, Navy

Bedford, Mass.-based iRobot Corp. has been awarded six new Small Business Innovative Research grants worth a total of $4.4 million to be financed by Army and Navy research offices. Under the contracts, iRobot will develop technology related to human-robot interaction, unmanned ground and air vehicle coordination, semiautonomous unmanned ground vehicle tele-operation and navigation, and electronics diagnostics and health monitoring. These technologies will provide increased capabilities for iRobot’s military robots by making them smarter, easier to use and integrated with unmanned aerial vehicles.