05 Jul 06. The Spanish government wants to almost double its stake in EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and bring more of the European aerospace group’s production to the country, an Industry Ministry source told Reuters on Tuesday. The source was confirming a report in newspaper El Pais which quoted an Industry Ministry report. “It’s an existing aspiration of the government to raise its stake in EADS and consequently in Airbus,” the source said. He added that a report had been circulated in the ministry several months ago contemplating Spain increasing its holding to 10 percent from 5.5 percent. Such an investment would cost about 1bn euros ($1.28bn), El Pais said. (Source: Reuters)
05 Jul 06. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has acquired Virtual Technology Corporation (VTC), a leading developer of joint, net-enabled command and control and modeling and simulation solutions (M&S). VTC has expertise in live, virtual and constructive modeling and simulation and provides ongoing mission support for the Joint Automated Deep Operations Coordination System, a critical tool that VTC developed and fielded to more than 5,000 users. The privately held company based in Alexandria, Va. Has approximately 125 employees and was recently named to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. “With VTC, Raytheon is adding cutting-edge capabilities that are critical to our customers and our position in net-centric operations and mission system integration,” said Colin Schottlaender, president, Network Centric Systems. “Its capabilities have led to the development and implementation of key solutions in some of the most complex DoD M&S programs including the Joint National Training Capability, a key component in the DoD’s training transformation architectures.”
Jun 06. ThyssenKrupp Technologies hands over its air-conditioning and ventilation business. With economic effect as of October 1, 2005, ThyssenKrupp Technologies is selling the Noske-Kaeser Group to Titan 1 Limited and Hunter Capital Group, two New Zealand investment companies. Noske-Kaeser has companies in Hamburg, New Zealand, and Argentina that equip merchant and naval vessels of all kinds with air-conditioning, refrigeration and ventilation devices, plants, and systems as well as fire-fighting and NBC protection systems, and is one of the leading providers in these fields of business. For decades now the Company has also been demonstrating its top-class technology in equipping rail and special-purpose vehicles with air-conditioning systems and in the market for refrigerated container engineering. Noske-Kaeser’s 340 employees generated sales of EUR53m in fiscal 2004/05. Titan 1 and Hunter Capital Group are New Zealand investment companies founded in 2001 and 2005, respectively.
05 Jul 06. DaimlerChrysler AG (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said on Wednesday the German-U.S. auto maker was sticking to its forecast for an operating profit of more than 6bn euros for 2006 despite sales difficulties at its U.S. Chrysler division. “The composition of our profit for 2006 between the divisions has changed a little bit — some are doing a little bit better and some a little worse. But the guidance is unchanged,” Zetsche told international media at a roundtable meeting in Tokyo.
Chrysler, the only U.S. car brand that grew in the world’s biggest car market last year, is facing a bloated inventory of unsold vehicles as drivers migrate to Japan’s top brands, which on average have a more fuel-efficient fleet of cars. Sitting on unsold inventory of 91 days, Chrysler has had to resort to the biggest discounts of any car maker this year, combining employee-level pricing with zero percent financing and a 30-day money-back guarantee. (Source: Reuters)