New Hampshire Business Review - August 18 2006

It should be a happy new year for Standex, as the Salem diversified manufacturer posted double-digit growth for its fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2006. Salem-based Standex reported revenues of $153.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006,…

Shareholders of Fisher Scientific International and Thermo Electron Corporation voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve a merger of the two firms. Formation of the new company - Thermo Fisher Scientific - is still subject to regulatory approval, but the companies expect…

Noah Mesel, president of the bankrupt shell of Riverstone Networks, resigned last Friday and agreed on Tuesday to give up more than $600,000 in compensation amid charges that he obstructed an investigation by shareholders. The controversy prompted intervention by the…

Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity fund, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vitronics Soltec from Dover Technologies International, a subsidiary of Dover Corporation. Stratham-based Vitronics Soltec, a supplier of soldering technology for the electronics manufacturing and assembly industries,…

Bottomline Technologies gave its reshuffled executives stock worth $1,600,000, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The Portsmouth-based payroll software firm gave both Robert Eberle, chief operating officer who will become chief executive officer in November, and Joseph Mullen,…

Sprague Energy of Portsmouth has been certified as a biodiesel provider by the National Biodiesel Board. The National BioDiesel Board, the trade association for the biodiesel industry, certified Sprague's ability to provide biodiesel fuel that meets or exceeds industry standards…

Second Start, a private nonprofit educational organization, will be hosting a daylong conference later this month to provide education and human services professionals with the kind of career-development information they can use to help their students and clients. The “Empowerment…

Contracts for future residential and nonbuilding construction in New Hampshire continued to decline in July as compared to the same period a year ago. But, according to a report released by construction industry publisher McGraw Hill Construction of Lexington, Mass.,…

The increase in the number women-owned businesses in New Hampshire has not been as rapid as in most other parts of the nation, according to a recent report released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration.…

The $65 million payout to top outgoing executives of Fisher Scientific International as a result of the Hampton company’s merger with Thermo Electron is worth it, the Hampton-based company says. In a response to an Aug. 29 story in NHBR…