Manufacturer News: 8.31.2010

Financial Snapshots

AETI—American Electrical Technologies sales in the year’s first half were down 36.5%, to $17.9 million. The company blamed weakness in traditional markets, but claimed to be seeing “signs of improvement” in those same markets.

COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS—sales rose 2% in the first six months, to $56.5 million. The company also declared $.29 in dividends in the year’s first half, vs. $.24 to each share one year earlier.

ENERGY FOCUS—the company has remade itself—doing more energy-efficiency work, thanks in part to an acquisition. That showed in the year’s first half, with net sales of $17.3 million, up from $5.8 million one year earlier.

NEXXUS LIGHTING—sales rose 22% in the first half to nearly $6.9 million. Said Nexxus: Sales of our new Array LED lamps offset the decline in sales of our legacy commercial and Lumificient products, which primarily resulted from significant decreases in commercial construction and much lower new signage activity across the United States.

POWERSECURE—first-half revenue of almost $59 million soared 31.5% compared with the same period last year. Q2 “interactive distributed generation” revenues rose 55%, the company said, dwarfing an 11% same-comparison growth in LED lighting product sales.

USI—the loss of a single large home center customer, which accounted for 50% of sales at Universal Security Instruments, drove sales in its fiscal Q1 (ended June 30) down by almost 38%, to $3.68 million. From CEO Harvey Grossblatt: “We believe the current quarter represents the nadir of our transition from the company’s existing technology to new technology.”

ManuFacts

ACTIVE POWER—when the stock of Active fell below $1.00, it was in danger of losing its NASDAQ listing. On Aug. 9, it issued a reliance to say it was back in compliance. The Aug. 27 close was $1.09.

ALCAN CABLE—has been declared qualified by CTC Cable (subsidiary, Composite Technology) to manufacturer ACC conductor, meaning, according to a release, that Alcan “can now supply product to its existing utility customers as well as to CTC Cable.”

BELDEN GETS CREDIT—Belden now has a credit agreement that “allows for revolving loans, swingline loans, and letters-of-credit” of up to $165 million.”

BEST PLANTS FINALISTS—Industry Week magazine named the 20 finalists in its 2010 Best Plants competition (Aug. 18). Among the nominees: General Cable (two plants).

CARLO GAVAZZI—all the company’s manufacturing facilities are now certified to ISO 14001:2004 (which is about environmental management).

ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICES—the company is realigning its solar manufacturing capacity. Lost: 140 jobs.

HUBBELL INC.—the company has moved its HQ to Shelton, Conn., according to the Fairfield County Business Journal, “taking 100 employees across the county border from Orange to New Haven County, and is consolidating another 200 employees in Shelton from locations in Bridgeport, Milford, and Stonington.”

IEWC—that’s now the official name for Industrial Electric Wire & Cable. From Paul Bryant, chief commercial officer: “The company’s growth necessitates this change.”

LUMENERGI—the San Francisco Business Times report Aug. 25 that Lumenergi, “which makes networked lighting systems,” raised $12.7 million from venture capitalists and will use the cash “to expand into large-scale commercial and industrial buildings in regions with high energy use.” The actual funds will go to hiring sales, marketing, and customer-service employees.

TYCO ELECTRONICS—this is a different company from the one below. On Aug. 24, it said it had extended the expiration of its tender offer for all shares of ADC to Sept. 20. As of Aug. 23, holders of 86.6% of ADC shares had tendered.

TYCO INTERNATIONAL—this company (symbol TYC) has been added to the S&P 500 index, effective Aug. 26.

Acquisitions & Aftermath

CommScope invests in Hydrogenics—CommScope will buy up to $8.5 million of the shares of Hydrogenics (trades in Canada under the symbol HYG.TO). The company makes fuel cell products. An Aug. 12 release noted that CommScope purchased 879,383 shares for $3.2 million (a price of $3.68 per share).

All figures in this item are in U.S. dollars.

Why make such an investment? The companies are to work together to “jointly develop modules for telecom-related backup power applications,” according to a Reuters item.

Honeywell—on its acquisition of E-Mon LLC

Millstein letter—from the Aug. 20 Philadelphia Business Journal, this quote from a letter from Donald Millstein, E-Mon’s president: “E-Mon is still E-Mon, the management team is still in place, the regional sales managers and employees you count on will continue to support you.” The newspaper noted that E-Mon’s “fewer than 50 employees” will be kept on by the acquirer.

New owner—The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that this is the third time E-Mon has been sold in 10 years. In 2001, Millstein sold it to Hunt Power, only to buy it back in 2007 (with backing from a private equity firm). While the newspaper could not discover what was paid this time, Millstein told a reporter “it was more than last time.”

Rise of the green giants—the Honeywell acquisition of E-Mon was positioned (by Greentech Media) as “another step along the way in one of the big trends of 2009 and 2010, the rise of the green giants.” The article noted that E-Mon “works with 1,500 distributors.”

Other Honeywell news:

Acquisition of Sperian—the company continues to move forward in its acquisition of Sperian Protection, acquiring 27.53% of Sperian’s share capital from big stockholders (as of Aug. 10) and obtaining regulatory approval for the buy.

Boosts forecasts—Honeywell now expects a better economic environment, the Financial Times reported July 23, moving its expectations for earnings-per-share to $2.50 on the high side, from an earlier $2.45. Revenues for 2010 will still be $4 billion below what Honeywell produced in 2008.

IDEAL adds SK Hand Tools—IDEAL INDUSTRIES said that it had acquired SK Hand Tools, “one of America’s leading manufacturers of tools for the professional mechanic.”

Nidec buys Emerson’s motor unit—from the Emerson release:  Included in the sale are two Emerson Motor Company businesses—Emerson’s Commercial and Industrial Motors (CIM) and Emerson Appliance Motors and Controls (EAMC). Combined, these businesses accounted for more than $800 million in sales in fiscal 2009.

Who is Nidec? An $8 billion Japanese company.

Philips buys Burton—Royal Philips Electronics has acquired Burton Medical Products, which provides “specialized lighting solutions for healthcare facilities.” The seller: Glamox ASA of Norway. Neither the sales price nor Burton’s annual sales volume was included in a release.