Recall: Portable Electric Heaters
107,500 of them made by Lasko Products. More.
ManuFacts
ABB—the company’s 2010 results came out last week: Orders up 18%, revenues
6% higher in Q4. Full-year FY10 revenues were $31.6 billion, down .6% from FY09.
During FY10, ABB acquired Baldor Electric and Ventyx (a software supplier),
and increased its ownership of ABB India (from 52% to 75%).
ACQUISITION TARGETS—having concluded that Siemens is about to buy one
or more companies, a
Feb. 17 Investopedia.com article started lining up possible targets—including
Alstom, Andritz, Rexel, Invensys, and Nexans.
COOPER vs. RUUD—a unit of Cooper, Illumination Management Solutions,
has taken Ruud Lighting to court. Read a bit about it here.
DANAHER—sales in 2010 rose 18% at this conglomerate to $13.2 bilion.
DIVIDEND HIKES—
- Cooper Industries—to $1.16/share annually, up 7%.
- Hubbell Inc.—to $1.52/share each year, up 6%.
EMERSON—“Is Emerson Electric the Perfect Stock?” The Motley Fool asked
the question and answered it here.
FCI UP FOR SALE—a Feb. 17 Bloomberg.com article claimed that Bain Capital
“is weighing a sale or an initial public offering of FCI, a French maker of
electrical connectors valued at about [$2.2 billion].” More.
GE + FUJI—General Electric and a subsidiary of Fuji Electric Holdings
have formed a new joint venture, GE Fuji Meter—in Japan—to sell electric utility
meters in that country.
HONEYWELL—2010 sales were $33.4 billion, up 8%. Honeywell Automation
and Control introduced 400-plus new products in 2010, it said. That operation
is the company’s largest, with $13.75 billion in 2010 sales (vs. $10.68 billion
for Aerospace).
LEGRAND—sales rose 8.7% in 2010, as expressed in euros, to roughly $5.3
billion. The company said its targets for 2011 included “5% organic growth rounded
out with acquisitions.”
LIGHTS OF AMERICA—a Federal Trade Commission release
on its case against Lights of America said it added “factual details” to the
original FTC complaint.
PHILIPS BUYS—Philips will acquire Amplex A/S (of Denmark), which provides
“energy-efficient solutions”—controls for streetlights.
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC—full-year sales in 2010 were up 24% to roughly $27
billion. Sales in North America rose 21%. The company said that it projected
“organic” sales growth of 6% to 9%.
SIEMENS + ENPHASE (and you?)—Siemens Industry has signed “a supply and
distribution agreement” with Enphase Energy. Siemens will sell Enphase’s “next
generation of solar microinverter technology through Siemens’ nationwide network
of electrical equipment distributors.”
SIEMENS & INDIA—according to a Jan. 31 Reuters.com article, Siemens
will raise its stake in its “booming Indian subsidiary” from 55% to 75%. Cost:
$1.4 billion.
TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH—this company, already in the news because it has
resisted a tentative takeover offer from Coleman Cable, disclosed last week
that Owen Farren (board chair, president, and CEO) had resigned these positions
“to pursue other interests.”
TYCO INTERNATIONAL—Q1 sales here rose 5% to $4.38 billion. The Electrical
& Metal Products op, which is to be sold off soon, had $347 million in sales
in Q1 (which ended Dec., 24, 2010)…up 17%. Sales were up 10% to $2.1 billion
in the Security Solutions unit.
USI—Universal Security Instruments ended Q3 of FY11 on Dec. 31, 2010.
For the nine-month period, sales were $9.87 million, down from $20.1 million
at the same period in 2009. The decline is blamed on “the loss of a large national
retail customer.”
Lighting Supplier News
Daintree Networks—launched the “ControlScope Connected Partner
Program,” which, it said, will “encourage manufacturer collaboration and development
of lighting products using the ZigBee wireless standard.”
Cree—says the TrueWhite light, which uses 10 watts and can last
25,000 hours, “will provide 800 lumens, or about the same amount of light as
a standard 60W incandescent bulb.” More.
Energy Focus—will receive a $1 million Ohio Third Frontier Photovoltaic
Program grant “to develop high-performance stand-alone solar-powered outdoor
lighting solutions.”
Full Spectrum Solutions—this Jackson, Mich., company “created
a light pole for parking lots that uses induction lighting and is powered by
a small solar panel and a wind turbine,” according to the Jan. 14 Jackson
Citizen Patriot. After finding it on the Internet, NASA contacted the company
and is using the Full Spectrum product.
GE Lighting—promoted halogen lights to replace incandescents,
according to this short
item on Cnet.com.
Hubbell Lighting—is offering eight courses this year, summarized
in this release.
They also are or will be posted to Tedmag.com’s Calendar.
InfoSpi buys NexPhase Lighting—NexPhase was a privately held
company that develops “high-quality LED lighting fixtures and control systems
for commercial applications.” InfoSpi’s company description says it exists to
develop solutions “to some of the most significant environmental challenges
facing industries and governments.” Also, InfoSpi has stock traded on the pinksheets
(symbol ISPI.PK). Now, InfoSpi owns NexPhase.
Litecontrol—has, for the fourth year in a row, earned Cradle-to-Cradle
Certification, it said.
Lutron Electronics—opened a global specification office in New
York City.
Philips—the company “predicts LEDs will take 50% of the lighting
market by 2015,” an article
on TechCrunch.com reported. Separately, a company release
said that its new AmbientLED 12.5W bulb “has met or exceeded the light quality
and energy-efficient requirements for a 60W LED equivalent set forth by Energy
Star.”
PowerSecure International—the company said more than 30 electric
utilities and municipalities have purchased its new SecureLite, a family of
LED-based street lights.
Tyco Electronics Lighting—an “Introduction to Solid State Lighting,”
written by Rob Rix, vice president, can be found here.
US Lighting Tech—said it had shipped the 100,000th
unit of the Jersey Series Cobrahead to Public Service and Enterprise Group (this
took place in less than 12 months).
Separately, a story in Orange County Business Journal (Oct.
25, 2010) put the company’s 12-month sales at $24 million, growth of 4,659%
over two years.
WAC Lighting—the company said it is now supporting the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation.
Watt Stopper—made a $10,000 contribution to the University of
California at Davis to help endow the new Arthur H. Rosenfeld Chair in Energy
Efficiency.
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