LMI Aerospace’s profit increased 11 percent in the first quarter as sales in both its engineering services and aerostructures business units grew.
The St. Charles-based aircraft parts manufacturer reported a $4.8 million profit, or 41 cents a share, for the first quarter that ended March 31, up from a $4.2 million profit, or 37 cents a share, a year ago short term personal loan.
LMI Aerospace’s sales grew to $66.7 million in the first quarter, up 9.6 percent from $60.9 million a year ago.
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A $34 million lawsuit by Bank of America against Michael and Steven Roberts is the latest in a string of troubles facing the brothers.
The two former St. Louis aldermen built a business encompassing TV stations, hotel properties and other real estate developments across the country.
But that enterprise is under financial stress, hurt by the downturn in commercial real estate. The broadcasting arm is in bankruptcy, several real estate developments have stalled or been sold, and Missouri has sued their businesses over unpaid sales taxes.
It’s also not clear how the lawsuit might affect St. Louis city’s support for the brothers’ redevelopment project in the area around Kingshighway and Delmar Boulevard. The Roberts brothers are hoping to get $3.8 million in tax increment financing to help fund the $12.8 million retail project.
The latest fray happened Tuesday, when Bank of America filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the brothers defaulted on a loan used to renovate six hotels they own in five states.
The bank says Michael and Steven Roberts signed as guarantors on the loan, which totaled $43 million when issued in 2007. The Roberts brothers are each 50-percent guarantors on the loan, according to court documents.
Bank of America claims the brothers now owe $34.28 million in principal and $376,049 in interest on the loan to renovate hotels in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Shreveport, La., Spartanburg, S.C. and Tampa.
Michael and Steven Roberts did not return calls for this story.
In the lawsuit, the bank also alleges the Roberts brothers owe over $300,000 in unpaid real estate taxes on the hotels in addition to mechanics’ liens that haven’t been satisfied, putting them in breach of the terms of the loan.
According to a loan modification document, the Roberts brothers agreed to new loan terms in August 2011. The modification required the brothers to pay the delinquent real estate taxes on the hotels from 2009 and 2010.
However, the bank alleges the terms were not met, which triggered the lawsuit.
“Despite having notice of the events of defaults, defendants have failed to pay Bank of America their shares of the outstanding indebtedness overdue and owing under the guaranties and other loan documents,” the lawsuit states.
A Bank of America spokeswoman declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Several of the websites belonging to Roberts’ hotels boast of recent multimillion-dollar renovations that added deluxe bedding, flat-screen TVs and new furniture no faxing pay day loans. The hotels operate under several flags, including Holiday Inn, Marriott, Clarion and Crowne Plaza.
Michael Roberts is CEO of the Roberts Cos., a group of privately held businesses based in St. Louis that include hotels, condo developments and TV stations. His younger brother, Steven Roberts, is president.
The company’s real estate holdings include a $70 million condo tower in downtown St. Louis that sits empty more than two years after construction completed.
Another business, Roberts Broadcasting, filed for bankruptcy in October. Roberts Broadcasting owns four television stations: WRBU-Channel 46 in St. Louis, WZRB in Columbia, S.C.; WRBJ in Jackson, Miss.; and WAZE in Evansville, Ind.
It is seeking to sell some of the stations to satisfy debts. In the bankruptcy filing, Roberts Broadcasting lists more than $3.1 million in liabilities and $639,623 in assets.
In addition to its out-of-state properties, the hotel arm —Roberts Hotel Group — owns two hotels locally: the Roberts Mayfair Hotel at 806 St. Charles Street in downtown St. Louis and a Comfort Inn at 4630 Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End.
A year ago, the Central West End hotel stopped operating as a Hotel Indigo and ultimately switched to a Comfort Inn. And in January, the Mayfair left the Wyndham Hotels system and now operates independently.
“The separation was mutually agreed upon,” Wyndham Hotel Group’s spokeswoman Kathryn Zambito said in an emailed response to questions about the separation.
Last month, the state of Missouri filed two lawsuits against Roberts Cos. subsidiaries in St. Louis County Circuit Court, seeking back sales taxes on both local hotels. A spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Revenue declined to comment on the cases, but said a hearing is set for April 10.
The Roberts brothers also owned another hotel property locally, the former WS hotel at 400 Washington Avenue, that they had planned to turn into an extended stay hotel property. The brothers ultimately abandoned the plan and sold the property to another developer this year, Brian Hayden, who is converting it to apartments.
Prime Minister Mario Monti’s government has approved new labor rules hotly contested by Italy’s major trade union confederation.
Monti refused to weaken measures making it easier to fire workers despite political opposition and threats of a nationwide general strike.
The prime minister instead pledged to monitor for abuses of the new rules. But he added that a court could no longer force companies to rehire workers laid off for economic reasons, even if the employer’s case is not proven in court. A judge can instead order damages no faxing payday loan.
The reform is much broader _ including a new unemployment compensation system and limits on temporary workers to encourage permanent employment.
The measures approved Friday by the Cabinet must still pass Parliament, where some politicians say they will seek changes.
Cisco Systems Inc. is buying digital video technology company NDS Group Ltd. for about $4 billion to enhance its video offerings to pay-TV providers and expand in emerging markets.
The purchase would be Cisco’s biggest since the company bought Norwegian teleconferencing company Tandberg in April 2010 for $3.4 billion.
In the meantime, the networking gear maker has been working on turning its business around. It missed the early stages of the economic recovery and lost out to competitors on rebounding orders.
Cisco said Thursday that buying NDS will speed up the delivery of its Videoscape entertainment platform and help it grow in emerging markets such as China and India, where NDS already does business. Videoscape lets customers watch video on mobile gadgets and laptops along with their TVs.
In addition to the $4 billion it is paying for NDS Group, Cisco will assume $1 billion of NDS debt.
San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco has been narrowing its focus by culling divisions and cutting costs through layoffs. It shuttered its consumer-oriented Flip video camera business last year but video offerings for businesses have remained a big part of its focus. It acquired Scientific-Atlanta, a maker of TV set-top boxes, in 2006 for $7.1 billion and online conference provider WebEx a year later for $3 billion.
Brian Marshall, an analyst with ISI Group, said the deal makes sense for Cisco as it focuses on video offerings for service providers. NDS, which competes with Cisco, counts pay-TV operators such as DirecTV, Vodafone, Cox and BSkyB among its customers.
NDS, based in the United Kingdom, is jointly owned by News Corp. and private equity firm Permira. Its software helps cable and satellite TV companies deliver content to subscribers’ digital video recorders, tablets, smart phones and other devices. It had filed documents as part of a planned initial public offering before agreeing to the deal with Cisco.
Cisco is acquiring NDS’ sites in Britain, Israel, France, India and China and is absorbing its 5,000 employees. The boards of both companies have approved the deal, and it’s expected to close in the second half of this year.
Marshall said that while the acquisition is a “good use of offshore cash” for Cisco, the company is paying a lot. He estimates that Cisco is paying about 25 times NDS’s earnings, while Cisco’s stock trades at about 10 times its earnings.
Cisco stock fell 29 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $19.91 in midday trading Thursday after trading as high as $20.20 earlier in the session. That was near its 52-week high of $20.49 reach about a month ago.
The services sector expanded at its fastest pace in a year in February, but new orders for factory goods dropped in January, data showed on Monday.
The Institute for Supply Management said its services index rose to 57.3 in February last month from 56.8 in January, besting economists’ expectations for a drop to 56.1.
It was the highest level for the index since February 2011 year in the services sector that accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. A reading above 50 indicates expansion for the index.
The gauge of new orders improved to 61.2 from 59.4, while the employment index eased to 55.7 from 57.4.
“It was overall a solid report,” Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York said, pointing specifically to the gain in the forward-looking new orders component.
“At this level of ISM, this is not really changing our view that you’re still looking at around a 2.0 percent year in terms of GDP, but it is holding up and this is certainly what you want to see.”
The prices paid index jumped to 68.4 from 63.5, suggesting that companies could start to be squeezed by higher input costs.
The resilience in the sector’s expansion was in contrast to data from the euro zone’s private sector earlier on Monday that showed Italian and Spanish businesses dragged the currency bloc back into decline last month cheap payday advance.
A separate report on Monday showed new orders for U.S. factory goods dropped in January by the most in over a year.
The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods fell 1.0 percent, not as much of a drop as the 1.5 percent decline economists were expecting. Still, it was the biggest decline since October 2010.
Financial markets saw little reaction immediately after the data as investors focused on China’s reduced economic growth target.
Both U.S. data points were consistent with an improving economy, said Joe Manimbo, market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington, D.C.
On factory orders, Manimbo said, “Despite the negative reading it was a little better than expectations and the prior number was upwardly revised, so again I think it’s consistent with the economy headed in the right direction.
Greece’s finance minister says all pending issues in its international creditors’ requirements for the country’s second bailout will be completed ahead of a Wednesday evening conference call between eurozone finance ministers.
Evangelos Venizelos said that “very few” issues remained and would be wrapped up before the call at 6p.m. Greek time (1600GMT) Wednesday.
The call is being held instead of a meeting between the ministers, which was called off Tuesday because Athens had not met all the requirements, including plugging a euro325 million ($427.99 million) financing gap and providing written guarantees from the governing coalition’s party leaders.
Venizelos made the comments after a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias, who he said will give up his presidential salary to help in the crisis.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) _ The leaders of the two parties participating in Greece’s governing coalition have prepared written assurances committing to implement the terms of Greece’s new bailout _ a key requirement demanded by international creditors, officials said Wednesday.
Socialist leader George Papandreou signed the letter Tuesday night, and Conservative head Antonis Samaras prepared his letter Wednesday morning and was to send it within the day, the officials said.
A meeting of eurozone finance ministers that had been expected Wednesday on Greece’s second multibillion bailout was postponed. Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the ministers’ meetings, said Tuesday night that “further technical work” was needed from Athens. This included providing the written assurances and detailing how Greece will plug a euro325 million ($428 million) financing gap, he said.
Wednesday’s meeting had been expected to give the green light for a bond-swap deal with private creditors designed to slice some euro100 billion ($132 billion) off Greece’s debt.
The swap deal, which will take several weeks to implement, has to be finalized by March 20, when Greece faces a euro14.5 billion ($19.1 billion) bond redemption that it cannot pay.
Instead, the ministers will hold a conference call Wednesday evening, and will meet in person in Brussels next Monday.
In Athens, a government official said the issue of the euro325 million gap was expected to be resolved within the day. On Tuesday, government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the funds would come “from spending cuts from ministries, from areas including defense.”
The bond swap deal is an integral part of Greece’s second international bailout, worth euro130 billion ($171 billion) in loans, without which the country faces a default that could drag down other economically vulnerable eurozone countries and threaten Europe’s single currency itself.
The country has been surviving since May 2010 on funds from a first, euro110 billion ($145 billion) package of rescue loans. But harsh austerity measures demanded in return for the emergency loans have hammered Greece’s economy, leaving it in a fifth year of recession. Official figures Tuesday showed that the Greek economy shrank by 7 percent on the year in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The austerity measures, which have included repeated waves of tax hikes and cuts to salaries and pensions, have also led to an explosion of public anger, with strikes and demonstrations often turning violent.
On Sunday, rioters burned buildings in central Athens and clashed with riot police while lawmakers approved a new round of austerity, slashing the minimum wage and planning mass layoffs in the civil service as part of requirements for the second bailout.
World stock markets were mostly higher Thursday after the U.S. central bank pledged to keep interest rates low until late 2014 to nurture the country’s stubbornly slow economic recovery.
Benchmark oil hovered below $100 per barrel while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.
European shares were higher in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent to 5,741.56. Germany’s DAX was 0.4 percent higher at 6,451.53 and France’s CAC-40 added 0.5 percent to 3,335.07. But ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street, Dow Jones industrial futures fell 0.1 percent to 12,672 and S&P 500 futures shed 0.2 percent to 1,317.90.
Gains were muted in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3 percent to 1,957.18.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 1.6 percent to 20,439.14 on its first trading day since the Chinese New Year holiday. Benchmarks in Thailand, Singapore and New Zealand also rose.
Japan’s Nikkei was 0.4 percent lower at 8,849.47 as a weakening dollar pressured the country’s exporters. Benchmarks in Malaysia and the Philippines also fell.
Markets in Taiwan and mainland Chinese remained closed for the Chinese New Year. Markets in India and Australia were closed for public holidays.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee said it was unlikely to raise interest rates before late 2014. It had previously said it expected to keep rates low into the middle of 2013.
The Fed cut rates to near zero in December 2008, during the financial crisis, and has held them there ever since. The announcement was a sign that the Fed expects the economy, which is improving, to need significant help for three more years.
Analysts said some stock buyers rejoiced that the Fed was leaning toward promoting economic growth.
“With the FOMC sending out a strong signal that monetary policy is likely to remain accommodative for even longer than previously expected, risk assets are in a very good position,” Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said in an email.
Energy shares got a boost after crude briefly topped $100 per barrel on Wednesday. South Korea’s oil refiner S-Oil Corp. rose 3 percent, while China National Offshore Oil Corp., known as CNOOC, rose 2.2 percent in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group, China’s largest gold miner, jumped 5.6 percent amid rising prices in the precious metal.
But Japanese export shares didn’t fare so well. Low interest rates in the U.S. would likely weigh on the dollar, giving the tenaciously strong yen another unwelcome boost.
Yamaha Motor Corp. sank 2.3 percent, while Sony Corp. lost 1.4 percent. Toshiba Corp. was 1.2 percent down.
Lee Kok Joo, head of research at Phillip Securities in Singapore, said the Fed announcement would likely have only a short-term effect on equities.
“Beyond that, you still need to look at the macro picture,” he said, referring in particular to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. “Things are still pretty uncertain in the European region.”
Greece, which faces an important bond repayment deadline in March, is struggling to reach a deal with creditors to prevent a chaotic default on its massive debts. A default could trigger a financial crisis in Europe and beyond.
Private sector investors that hold a large part of Greece’s debt are being asked to swap their existing bonds with new ones of a reduced value, longer maturity and lower interest rate. Greece needs the deal if it is to avoid default this spring.
Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 37 cents to $99.77 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose by 45 cents to finish at $99.40 per barrel in New York on Wednesday. At one point it was as high as $100.40.
The prospect of low interest rates dragged on the dollar, since it reduces the returns that investors get from holding assets denominated in that currency. The euro rose to $1.3110 from $1.3084 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 77.57 yen from 77.81 yen.
Germany will keep its AAA rating at Standard & Poor
Germany and France send two key government officials to fill positions at the European Central Bank today, setting off a struggle for the job of chief economist.
Joerg Asmussen and Benoit Coeure join the ECB
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