Business in brief: Potlatch loses $29.8 million
Potlatch Corp. reported a first-quarter loss of $29.8 million resulting from charges associated with the pending sale of the company’s hybrid poplar farm in Boardman, Ore.
Potlatch is selling the poplar farm for $65 million, but recorded an after-tax charge of $33.1 million on the sale for asset write-downs and other costs. The sale is expected to close by the end of June.
The first quarter results, released Thursday, compared to earnings of nearly $61.7 million for Potlatch during the first quarter of 2006, which included a $51.2 million tax benefit from the company’s conversion to a real estate investment trust.
In other news, Potlatch finished inventorying 15,000 to 20,000 acres of timberlands during the first quarter that will be put on the market this year, said Mike Covey, the company’s chairman and CEO.
Lower prices for lumber continued to affect Potlatch’s sawmill operations during the first quarter. A major repair to a boiler in the company’s Lewiston mill also have an impact on pulp and paperboard output.
Hayden
Group developing condo project
Hayden Business Partners LLC is developing a $6 million business condo project near Coeur d’Alene Airport.
Aero Business Park will contain 32 units built in four phases. The first eight units will have a grand opening on Saturday and Sunday. The second phase is under construction. Each comes with an 800-square foot office area, high-speed Internet access and overhead garage door.
The units start in the $170,000 range, said Trevor Young, commercial broker for Century 21 Beutler & Associates. The size varies from 2,000- to 4,600-square feet.
Sandpoint
Job fair planned for fairgrounds
More than 50 companies will take part in a May 2 job fair at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.
The event runs from noon to 6 p.m.
Idaho Commerce & Labor and the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce are hosting the event, with the help of various sponsors.
Health care, tourism, retail, manufacturing, banking, education and government will be represented at the fair. Job seekers should bring resumes and dress for “on the spot” interviews, said Judy Baird, chamber director.
Washington
Compromise urged on patent reform
Lawmakers are urging the pharmaceutical and high technology industries to forge a compromise on a proposed patent reform bill.
At a congressional hearing Thursday, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., said the goal of legislation he introduced April 18 is to address “the inability of the current patent laws to accommodate different business models,” rather than to favor one industry over another. Berman chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, which held the hearing.
Software and high-technology business groups strongly support Berman’s proposal while pharmaceutical and biotech trade groups have expressed misgivings about many of its provisions.