Fortune tabs Bucyrus among Fastest Growing Companies; Magnetek caps a losing fiscal year; Mercury Marine will bring 200 more jobs to Wisconsin in 2011
Fortune tabs Bucyrus among Fastest Growing Companies
South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc. has been named on Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies in the world.
For the full list, click http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2010/full_list/
Bucyrus ranked 9th on the list. The company ranked 27th on the list in the previous year. Fortune said Bucyrus has posted annual growth in earnings per share of 142 percent over the past three years.
“Bucyrus International makes giant shovels and other equipment for mining coal, copper, iron ore and other minerals. With more than 70 percent of sales for projects outside the U.S., the Milwaukee-based company kept revenues growing last year amid low commodities prices and tough credit conditions,” Fortune reported. “In February, the firm finalized its purchase of Terex Corp.’s surface-mining equipment business, which expanded Bucyrus’s product line and Asian presence. Acquisition costs took a bite out of earnings for the most recent quarter, but the deal also led to a 30-percent increase in the company’s order backlog for the first half of the year.”
Bucyrus was the only Wisconsin-based company on the list.
Magnetek caps a losing fiscal year
Magnetek Inc. reported a fiscal fourth quarter loss of $468,000, or 1 cent per share, compared with a net profit of $285,000, or 1 cent per share, in the same period a year ago.
The Menomonee Falls-based manufacturer of digital power and motion control systems reported quarterly net sales of $24.3 million, up from $20.0 million a year earlier.
Including results of discontinued operations, the company recorded a net loss of $5.1 million, or 16 cents per share, for the full fiscal year in 2010, compared with net income of $3.3 million, or 11 cents per share in fiscal 2009.
"We’re very encouraged by both our incoming order rate and our sales growth in the fourth quarter, and are pleased to report that our continuing operations returned to profitability. Each of our primary served markets experienced a sequential increase in sales over third quarter levels. Sales of wind inverters for renewable energy applications grew to nearly $6 million in the fourth quarter and comprised nearly 25 percent of total company revenue. We continue to believe renewable energy markets present our greatest near-term growth opportunities, as evidenced by our growth rate in the fourth quarter," said Peter McCormick, Magnetek’s president and chief executive officer.
Mercury Marine will bring 200 more jobs to Wisconsin in 2011
Mercury Marine has been granted $5 million in performance-based state incentives in exchange for 200 new jobs being created at the company’s Fond du Lac manufacturing facility. Mercury Marine originally planned to locate the 200 assembly jobs in Mexico.
“It is great that Mercury Marine has agreed to move these 200 jobs originally slated for Mexico to Fond du Lac,” said Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. “The company’s decision recognizes the strength of Wisconsin’s workforce and economy and shows that Wisconsin can compete with Mexico or any other location in the world to attract new jobs and investment. We have worked hard to make sure that Wisconsin is a great place to do business.”
Mercury Marine decided last year to consolidate its operations in Fond du Lac, rather than Stillwater, Okla. The company will close its Stillwater plant by the end of 2011. With the consolidation of the facilities and market growth, the company’s employment in Wisconsin is expected to grow to more than 2,500.
