By Brian E. Clark
RISING
Sargento
Aided by more than $4 million in state tax credits and grants, Sargento
Foods is in the midst of a $50 million expansion that officials said
should add 500 jobs during the next five years to plants in Hilbert,
Kiel and Plymouth.
The growth will increase the number of Sargento employees by 45
percent. The figure now stands at 1,140 full-time workers.
Gov. Jim Doyle said Sargento, a family owned company, will receive $3
million in Enterprise Development Zone tax credits and $1.25 million in
additional state assistance to finance the plant expansions.
Barbara Gannon, a spokeswoman for Sargento, said the state aid was
important in making the decision to expand. “It’s always important when
you are making a $50 million” decision, she said.
MIXED
Oshkosh Truck
Oshkosh Truck Corp. beat its previous first-quarter sales mark with
$1.5 billion in sales, a whopping $500 million gain over the $1 billion
in sales logged during its first quarter a year ago.
But Oshkosh Chairman and CEO Robert Bohn said a slowing economy could
affect company growth in 2008. He said weaker municipal spending and
the after-effects of customer pre-buying of vehicles to head off higher
prices had a cooling effect on fire apparatus sales.
Net income was down 9 percent during the first quarter to $37.3
million. Oshkosh shares closed Monday at $42.92, down from a 52-week
high of $65.83.
FALLING
Modine
In the midst of a corporate restructuring effort, the struggling
Racine-based Modine Manufacturing Inc. announced it lost $47.4 million,
or $1.48 per share, in its fiscal third quarter.
David Rayburn, the company’s president and CEO, said called the most
recent quarter “tough and disappointing … for the company, most
especially in view of the continued underperformance within our
Original Equipment — North America segment.” As a result, he said
Modine anticipates closing three manufacturing plants in the United
States and one in Germany.
“Although we do not take these actions lightly, they have become
necessary in order for Modine to attain a more efficient cost base,
improve our gross margins and ensure our longer term competitiveness,”
he said.
