Native computer pioneer dies
Perhaps Fairfield County”™s greatest export to the computer age died on Feb. 6, after Digital Equipment Corp. founder Kenneth H. Olsen passed at the age of 84 in Lincoln, Mass.
Born in Bridgeport and growing up in Stratford, as a teen Olsen worked in local machine shops while tinkering with radios. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946, he enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he worked on government-backed computer development projects at MIT Lincoln Lab.
In 1957 with Harlan Anderson, Olsen launched Digital Equipment ”“ at its height the company employed more than 130,000 people but faltered as Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. and other rivals produced faster microprocessors.
Still, Digital Equipment alumni went on to create an army of major computer and networking companies along Massachusetts”™ famed Route 128 technology corridor.
Olsen was inducted into the National Inventor Hall of Fame in 1993.
Toll Bros. breaks ground in Danbury
Toll Bros. held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of its Danbury residential development Rivington by Toll Brothers, which could include up to 1,080 townhouses and condominiums.
The first phase of Rivington ”“ dubbed The Hills ”“ includes 114 residences with swimming pool and cabana.
Rivington will also feature a retail center, a clubhouse and hiking trails on some 250 acres of wooded land.
Shumway closes shop to outside investors
One of Fairfield County”™s most prominent hedge funds is cashing out investors, according to a Bloomberg News report citing a company letter to investors.
Greenwich-based Shumway Capital Partners, whose assets under management are estimated at some $8 billion, is returning outside investors”™ funds as its founder Chris Shumway steps down as chief investment officer. Shumway Capital employs some 100 people.
New fund debuts in Connecticut
The head of the Connecticut Venture Group is bringing a new fund to the state to invest in high-growth small businesses, also providing advisory services for accessing state tax credits and other available money.
Enhanced Capital Partners Inc. is led by CVG Executive Director Liddy Karter, who also runs Karter Capital Advisers in Old Lyme.
With a half-dozen offices nationally, including one in New York City, Enhanced Capital Partners runs investment funds that utilize different tax credit incentives at the state and federal level. To apply for funding in Connecticut, businesses must have their main business operation in the state, have fewer than 250 workers and must either have 80 percent of their work force in Connecticut, or pay 80 percent of its payroll to individuals who live here.
State in woeful position on debt
Connecticut carries more debt on a per capita basis than any state in the nation, according to a study by the New York Times that included the impact of future pension obligations.
At nearly $9,400 per resident, Connecticut was the runaway leader on the index, ahead of Hawaii and Massachusetts whose debt was below $8,000 per resident.
Connecticut ranked third among states as ranked according to debt as a percentage of gross domestic product at 15.2 percent.
W.R. Berkley posts gains
W.R. Berkley Corp. increased net premiums 11 percent in the fourth quarter to $919 million, mostly driven by new business abroad. For 2010, net premiums rose 3 percent to approach $3.9 billion.
The Greenwich-based company underwrites specialty lines of insurance and reinsurance used by other carriers to hedge risk. W.R. Berkley profits in the fourth quarter totaled $127 million and $449 million for the year.
In a conference call with investment analysts, CEO William Berkley said the Australian cyclone and floods could have a tangible impact on the worldwide insurance industry.
“The floods alone would have had an impact on the market,” Berkley said. “The cyclone in addition could have (a) real adverse impact to it, and it could really make quite a difference. The magnitude of reinsured losses is certainly going to be in the multi-billions of dollars.”
URI eyes the corner
The pace of job cuts at United Rentals Inc. slowed in 2010, with the company reducing its work force by 500 jobs last year to give it a total of 7,500 workers at the end of December, and promising an end to restructuring by the close of 2011.
A $21 million loss in the fourth quarter wiped out what would have been a profitable 2010 for United Rentals, as the company recorded a net loss of $26 million as revenue dropped 5 percent to $2.2 billion. Fourth quarter revenue rose 7 percent however to $597 million.
“Our plan has headcount not changing dramatically over the course of the year,” said Bill Plummer, chief financial officer of United Rentals, in a conference call with investment analysts. “The challenge with headcount is that we are coming off of the prior couple of years where we have restrained merit increases, and so merit increases are going to come back in 2011 ”¦ We”™re going to have to manage through the course of the year.”
Rapid growth for Odyssey
Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corp. expanded its work force by nearly two-thirds last year to 660 employees, thanks in part to a pair of acquisitions and the opening of additional offices in China and Japan.
The company has some 90 employees at its Danbury headquarters. Odyssey provides logistics and transportation services for the chemical and process manufacturing industries. Revenue was up 28 percent last year; Odyssey did not specify how much in actual sales it took in.
Harman readies China plant
Sales for Harman International Industries Inc. rose 3 percent in its second fiscal quarter to $956 million, a period during which the Stamford-based company reached a $1.2 billion deal to supply auto infotainment systems to Volkswagen AG.
“(The) automotive business is by nature a little choppy,” said Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal, in a conference call. “But ”¦ we expect it to go in only one direction at least in the next three to four years.”
During the quarter, the company aired plans to close a factory in Missouri and shift the work to Kentucky; Harman also broke ground on a new development and manufacturing plant in China that will eventually be its largest site in the world.
Branding company declares bankruptcy
MNA Creative Inc., a branding company based in Danbury in business for more than 30 years, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection from creditors,
Founded in 1979 as Macey Noyes Associates, the company lists a wide range of name-brand companies in its portfolio, including Bethel-based Duracell, Stamford-based Pitney Bowes Inc., and PepsiCo of Purchase, N.Y.
Emcor acquires N.C. company
Emcor Group Inc. acquired Bahnson Holdings Inc., a mechanical construction services company based in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Emcor provides a range of building maintenance services on an outsourced basis; the Norwalk-based company recently won a contract to install new mechanical systems as part of a renovation at St. Vincent”™s Medical Center in Bridgeport.
Emcor did not immediately disclose what it paid for Bahnson, which had $155 million in revenue last year providing mechanical, HVAC and industrial refrigeration systems.
Marcus Dairy Bar put out to pasture
The Marcus Dairy Bar diner closed its doors in Danbury, after opening in 1948 and in time becoming a magnet for motorcyclists and vintage auto enthusiasts. The Marcus family sold the property for redevelopment as a shopping center.
