| Middle-class autoworkers cling to way of life amid benefit cuts
Just two weeks after his 18th birthday, Randy Horter started his first factory job, helping make clutches and air conditioning systems at an auto parts plant. Since then, the 49-year-old Chrysler line worker has cobbled together a career working at various manufacturing plants and made a nice, middle-class life with his wife, Candace, who works at the same Chrysler plant in Belvidere, Ill. The couple earns about $75,000 a year, unless one or the other is laid off. They own two used cars and their home. Between them, they raised five children, now grown, and were hoping to start preparing for retirement. .
German carmakers lead in reducing CO2 emissions
BMW AG, Volkswagen AG and other German carmakers cut carbon-dioxide emissions more than European rivals last year as they struggle to reach planned European Union targets. German brands sold domestically had 2 percent lower CO2 output last year, a greater reduction than French and Japanese models sold in Europe's largest economy, said Matthias Wissmann, president of the VDA German automobile manufacturers' association, at a briefing today in Berlin. The European Union plans a cap on carmakers that will force them to reduce CO2 emissions, a gas linked with global warming. The draft proposal, which is being negotiated this year among European lawmakers, will reduce the carbon emissions to an average 130 grams per kilometer (0.6 mile) for a manufacturer's fleet by 2012, with an additional 10 grams coming from improvements in tires, air conditioning and other vehicle parts.
Stocks to buy: Blue Star, Ruchi Soya, Simplex Infra, Kalyani Steels
Kotak Securities has a ‘buy' rating on the central air-conditioning systems major Blue Star, as it feels it will report handsome earnings growth over the next two years (CAGR of 78% between FY07 and FY09). The company being in a position to offer the best requirement for central as well as commercial refrigeration equipment enabling it to maintain a leading market position in this segment, remains one of the key reasons for its bullishness.
The brokerage also feels that the stock is a play on structural themes like IT/ITeS and retail. However, the brokerage warns that appreciation in the rupee and slowdown in IT/ITeS services remain key concerns. Kotak calculates that at the current price, BSL is trading at 25.1x and 19.3 times FY08 and FY09 earnings, respectively, and on a forward EV/EBITDA basis, the stock is trading 12.6 times.
Sheriff Blotter: Woman Denies Hit & Run Despite Evidence On Car
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. -- A citizen who witnessed a hit-and-run between a silver sports car and a red Subaru in a Summit County parking lot did more than call the sheriff. The witness got a license plate number of the silver sports car before it took off. A sheriff's deputy responding to the call found a red Subaru with damage and paint scratched off. In the police report obtained by 7NEWS, the officer noted "the Subaru was pulled all the way in to the parking spot and was not sticking out into the roadway at all." The officer then went in search of the other vehicle. Using the license plate number, he tracked the vehicle to a home in the Keystone area. .
Infotech Enterprises gets higher contract prices
MUMBAI: Engineering design and geo-spatial services firm Infotech Enterprises Ltd has got 3-4 per cent higher price realisations in the current quarter from some of its large customers, a top official said on Friday.
"We have been getting higher price realisations, especially from our large customers, who appreciate and empathise with the difficult times we are passing through," Chairman and Managing Director BVR Mohan Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of a technology conference.
Price appreciations have been in the range of 3-4 percent, he added. Some of Infotech's large customers include makers of carrier heating and air-conditioning products, United Technologies Corp. and its jet engine unit, Pratt & Whitney, with whom it has multi-year engagements.
Councilor objects to DIA contractor
A Denver councilman raised objections Monday about a contractor scheduled to get $13.4 million in work at Denver International Airport, saying the company has violated the city's prevailing wage laws and does shoddy work. Councilman Chris Nevitt ended up voting to grant initial approval of the contract for RK Mechanical Inc. of Denver, but he blasted the contractor as having a bad record on the wage rules for city projects. The contract is to repair cooling towers used in the air-conditioning system at the airport. Nevitt said he would vote to grant initial approval to the contract because the work is crucial for the airport. There isn't enough time to seek another round of bids, he said. "It just sticks in my craw," said Nevitt, stressing that in the future, he wants the city to get more contractors interested in projects.
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