Credit edges up in Q3
Connecticut”™s credit conditions showed a mild rebound according to the third-quarter 2011 CBIA/ Farmington Bank Credit Survey, with the credit availability index rising more than three points to a 16.8 level.
While that reversed modest declines through the first six months of 2011, credit conditions remained below their level for the third quarter last year.
Just under half of survey respondents expect that near-term credit conditions will deteriorate in the coming months, with 10 percent expecting things to improve and the rest predicting credit availability will remain unchanged. The survey carried a margin of error of plus or minus 6.2 percent.
Only 17 percent of those polled stated that an improvement in credit would result in them hiring employees and about a third tapped credit in the past three months.
“I can”™t recall an economic recovery where there was so much underlying uncertainty, and that is clearly problematic,” said Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist at New Haven-based DataCore Partners, in a prepared statement. “Many businesses have postponed new hiring and are taking a wait-and-see approach to the current cycle.”
Butler out the door at CL&P
Jeff Butler is out as president of Connecticut Light & Power, after two freak storms this fall left some residences in the dark for a week or more.
Chuck Shivery, CEO of CL&P parent Northeast Utilities, said he “reluctantly” accepted Butler”™s resignation, which comes just a few years after the longtime Pacific Gas & Electric veteran joined Northeast Utilities. The company named James Muntz as Butler”™s replacement, reporting to CL&P CEO Lee Olivier.
CL&P also named William Quinlan senior vice president of emergency preparedness, a new position, with Quinlan most recently having held the role of vice president of customer solutions. And the company named Dana Louth to the position of vice president of infrastructure hardening, to find ways to make the company”™s systems better able to withstand storms.
Hartford-based Northeast Utilities hired Chevy Chase, Md.-based Davies Consulting Inc. to evaluate CL&P”™s preparedness and response to the October nor”™easter and Tropical Storm Irene, with preliminary findings due in January.
Reports: Norwalk approves site plan
Norwalk”™s zoning commission reportedly approved a 150-vehicle garage for Waypointe, a mixed development on West Avenue, with the garage slated for 15 Merwin St. at the site of a warehouse formerly used by Fairfield-based Bigelow Tea Co.
Waypointe was envisioned by Norwalk-based Stanley M. Seligson Properties, which later brought in financial partners in Belpointe Capital L.L.C. and MacFarlane Partners. The initial two phases of the project are to include 430 units of housing and more than 50,000 square feet of commercial space.
DOL probes Chelsea Piers subcontractor
The Connecticut Department of Labor issued a stop-work order to American Building L.L.C., following a fatal fall at the Chelsea Piers entertainment complex under construction in Stamford.
The DOL revealed it is investigating American Building after two workers said they were unable to cash paychecks totaling nearly $7,000 from the Trumbull-based company in order to cover funeral expenses for their brother Javier Salinas, who died in the Oct. 25 accident.
The DOL issued stop orders to two other contractors working at the 1 Blachley Road site in Stamford, saying they as well as American Building had misclassified workers as independent contractors.
American Building is a subcontractor for AP Construction, itself an affiliate of the Stamford-based Ashforth Co. The two other companies cited, G.J. Courchy of New York and North Carolina-based Coritas, are subcontractors for Merritt Contractors Inc. of Bridgeport.
Ethics awards for small businesses
The Monroe-based heating oil company Sippin Energy Products won the Connecticut Better Business Bureau”™s Torch award for marketplace ethics, with New Haven-based Materials Testing Inc. sharing the award.
The Wallingford-based Connecticut BBB also gave awards for excellence in website marketing to Saatva Inc., a mattress retailer in Westport, and the Darien-based general contractor Stephen C. Gidley. And Shelton High School senior Kristina Meyers received a student ethics award and $2,500 scholarship.
“The Torch award ”¦ recognizes businesses that go far beyond standard marketplace practices and serves as a reminder to consumers that there are companies that strive to create an environment in which businesses and consumers can trust each other,” said Paulette Scarpetti, president of the Connecticut BBB, in a prepared statement.
GE sets sights on Bay Area
General Electric Co. chose northern California as the site for a new software center, with plans to hire 400 developers and supporting staff.
The center will be located at San Ramon, outside Oakland, and will coordinate efforts by some 5,000 software developers to produce and improve industrial applications.
Fairfield-based GE has opened two large software operations over the past two years, an advanced manufacturing software center near Detroit with nearly 1,000 workers and an information technology security center in the Richmond, Va. area.
Frontier hooks up with AT&T
Frontier Communications Corp. will sell wireless plans from AT&T Corp. under a three-year agreement.
Frontier sells traditional telephone and Internet service in New York and some three-dozen other states, though not Connecticut where it has its headquarters in Stamford. The company also resells satellite TV service, as well as a limited number of FiOS TV subscribers it picked up in a large acquisition last year of rural accounts from Verizon Communications Inc.
Frontier said it plans to sell AT&T Mobility offerings as a bundled service with its other plans.
Trans-Lux raises $8.3 million
Trans-Lux Corp. said it successfully completed a financial restructuring that included $8.3 million in new financing to help recapitalize the company.
The Norwalk-based company sells large LED video display systems and LED lighting applications. It reported a $1.6 million loss in the second quarter on $5.1 million in revenue and closed the quarter with some $600,000 in cash among assets totaling $31 million.
In mid-November, Trans-Lux delayed filing a quarterly report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, stating it needed to procure additional information without providing additional details.
“For well over a year now we have been working with our debt and stakeholders to create a positive and viable way forward,” said CEO J.M. Allain, in a written statement. “We believe that the successful resolution of our restructuring plan puts us on a solid financial foundation and gives us the working capital to make much needed investments in strategic areas.”
