New Hampshire Business Review - July 21 2006

Anka Jacobs will be stepping down from her post as international training manager for the International Trade Resource Center at the Pease Tradeport on July 31. Beginning in September, Jacobs will be heading up Smuttynose Brewing Co.’s efforts to increase…

Workforce housing and lower tuition at four-year and community technical colleges were two of the issues atop the agenda of businesspeople who took part earlier this year in a series of forums sponsored across the state by the Business &…

On the heels of announcing a planned merger with Thermo Electron Corporation Hampton-based Fisher Scientific recorded record sales and earnings for the second quarter of 2006. Sales for the quarter ending June 30, 2006, were $1.47 billion, an increase of…

AlCuMet, a Londonderry-based maker of investment, permanent mold and rapid prototype castings, has agreed to pay $32,000 to the state of New Hampshire to settle charges that the firm violated the state’s Air Pollution Control Act, Air Toxic Control Act…

Unitil Corporation announced yesterday that it has filed with the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy for rate decreases for large business customers in the Bay State. The Hampton, N.H.-based utility holding company says rates are expected to drop by…

Contracts for future nonresidential construction in New Hampshire rose 3 percent in June, to some $94 million, but future residential contracts declined by 15 percent, to more than $120 million, according to McGraw Hill Construction. The Lexington, Mass.-based firm said…

Centrix Bank of Bedford says its second-quarter earnings increased 46 percent, or $700,876, up from $480,820 in the second quarter of 2005. Net income for the quarter ending June 30 also increased dramatically, rising 44 percent, or 23 cents per…

Ledyard National Bank’s board of directors has approved a regular quarterly dividend of 27 cents per common share. The dividend, approved on July 21, is payable Sept. 8 to shareholders of record on Aug. 4. Ledyard, based in Norwich, Vt.,…

Northeast Utilities has sold its competitive generation businesses in Massachusetts and Connecticut to Energy Capital Partners of New Jersey. Sale price was $1.34 billion, including the transfer of $320 million in debt. The deal includes 15 generating plants at 14…

HCA, owner of four for-profit health-care facilities in New Hampshire, yesterday agreed to be acquired in a deal that ranks as the biggest leveraged buyout in history. The company - the nation’s largest for-profit hospital operator -- said the consortium…