20 Dec 11. Navistar’s Net Soars on Truck Segment. Navistar International Corp.’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings surged as the commercial truck manufacturer saw its margins widen and profit grow in all major segments, led by its truck business. The maker of commercial and military trucks has seen its profit improve as demand rebounded from a severe slump that started in 2007. But growing concerns about the global economy and the latest turmoil in the markets are weighing on business confidence. Navistar is working to increase revenue by expanding into new geographic markets such as India and China, and adding new products such as smaller trucks and buses. Carl Icahn in October took a 9.8% stake in the company, saying he believed the stock was undervalued. The stock rose following Icahn’s disclosure, but has since been on the decline. Mr. Icahn this year also made a big investment in specialty vehicles maker Oshkosh Corp. For the quarter ended Oct. 31, Navistar reported a profit of $255m, or $3.48 a share, up from $44m, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items such as restructuring and engineering integration costs, earnings were $3.37 a share. Revenue improved 28% to $4.32 bn. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecast earnings of $3.08 on revenue of $4.44bn. Gross margin rose to 20.6% from 18%. The company’s truck segment saw its profit surge to $287m amid record volume in Latin America during the year. The engine business swung to a profit of $58m, while the parts business delivered a 13% profit increase, rising to $87m. (Source: WSJ)
23 Dec 11. TenCate enters market for protection against road side bombs. On March 4, 2011 TenCate issued a press release announcing its cooperation with the Danish company ABDS ApS for the development and market preparation of the TenCate ABDS(TM) active blast countermeasure system, a system for the protection of army vehicles against improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs. With reference to the above press release, TenCate herewith announces an agreement with the shareholders to acquire all the shares of ABDS ApS, which will be integrated into the TenCate company as Ten Cate Active Protection ApS. Full ownership by TenCate effectively supports a timely international market introduction through producers of army vehicles in order to substantially increase the survivability protection levels of vehicles used in crisis areas. The acquisition shall be completed once Danish authorities have approved the transaction, which approval is expected shortly. Recent tests and simulations of the TenCate ABDS(TM) active blast countermeasure system have been concluded successfully. Vehicle specific tests are an essential part of the successful implementation of the system in the field. The implementation of the TenCate ABDS(TM) active blast countermeasure system is currently planned to take place in the course of 2012-2013. Based on the tests and simulations so far and their good results, it is clear that genuine interest is currently being shown by the market in several vehicle programmes. TenCate Advanced Armour (with facilities in Denmark, the Netherlands, UK, France and the US) is a specialist in vehicle armouring systems based on light weight, composite armour materials. The TenCate ABDS(TM) active blast countermeasure system offers complementary survivability protection against the effects of explosives. There is an evident need for enhanced protection, in combination with increased mobility of army vehicles. The TenCate ABDS(TM) active blast countermeasure system enables TenCate Advanced Armour to expand its capabilities in terms of advanced protection systems for vehicles to meet these market needs.
21 Dec 11. Kaman Corporation (NASDAQ-GS: KAMN – News) announced that its subsidiary Kaman Precision Products, Inc., located in Orlando, FL, and the U.S. Government have entered into an agreement to settle lawsuits related to KPPI’s prior FMU-143 fuze program. As p