April 28, 2009 in Business

Business in brief: Companies team up to make evaporators

• Print
• Email
• Share

Colmac Coil Manufacturing Inc. of Colville and Baltimore Aircoil Co. have formed an alliance to manufacture and distribute Aircoil evaporators.

In a prepared statement, the companies said the pact will enhance their combined manufacturing capabilities and product mix.

“The two companies are leveraging Colmac’s innovative technology and engineering expertise with BAC’s strong brand, manufacturing know-how and extensive distribution network,” Colmac President Bruce Nelson said.

He said the companies make somewhat different evaporators used in industrial refrigeration systems.

Details of the agreement are still being worked out, said Nelson, adding that the deal is positive for his 37-year-old company.

Bert Caldwell

Chicago

Boeing CEO says slump is rare event

Boeing Co. Chairman and chief executive Jim McNerney assured shareholders Monday that the company is in strong shape to ride out the “once in a lifetime” downturn that has walloped its profits, jetliner orders and stock price.

Putting an upbeat spin on a slump that has hit both the aerospace company and its customers hard, he cited as reasons for optimism Boeing’s huge backlog of orders, diversification between commercial airplanes and defense and its continued, albeit halting, progress on the 787.

McNerney also reiterated that that oft-delayed new passenger jet will take to the air before the end of June.

Associated Press

NEW YORK

U.S. newspapers’ circulation plunging

U.S. newspapers are losing circulation faster than ever, compounding the pain of an industry reeling from even larger drops in the advertising revenue that pays most of the bills.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations said Monday that average sales of newspapers declined 7.1 percent in the October-March period from the same six-month span in 2007-2008. The comparison is drawn from 395 daily U.S. newspapers that reported in both periods.

It’s the most severe downturn since newspaper circulation began to crumble in the early 1990s. The erosion has been accelerating during the recession of the past 16 months: U.S. newspaper circulation decreased 4.6 percent in the April-September period of 2008 after falling 3.6 percent in the October 2007-March 2008 span.

In the most recent report, 11 of the 25 largest newspapers sustained double-digit declines in average weekday circulation. The New York Post was hit hardest, with its weekday circulation plunging more than 20 percent, or about 144,000 copies, to 558,140.

Associated Press

No comments on this story so far. Add yours!