GLITR Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Your report for Tuesday, November 9, 2009

Plex systems receives $6 million equity investment
Auburn Hills-based Plex Systems Inc., provider of the No. 1 rated ERP software for manufacturers, Monday announced the company has received an investment totaling $6 million from multiple sources. Plex will use the growth capital to build on its strong customer base, expand its product development, and accelerate sales and marketing efforts. Funds advised by Apax Partners, a global private equity firm that has been an investor in the company since 2006, have invested $5 million. Additional investors include company management and the founding investors. More.

Unique methane-to-methanol technology now for sale
Petoskey's Walter Breidenstein says he has decided to put his GasTechno technology, which converts methane waste gas into a variety of fuels, up for sale. In an e-mail to colleagues, Breidenstein said he has "decided to seek out a buyer, or sell the company to a larger global energy company." He says much of the potential value of the company will be determined at a global summit on climate change and environmental policy in Copenhagen Dec. 7-18. More.

Compuware completes acquisition of Gomez
Detroit-based Compuware Corp. Monday completed its acquisition of Lexington, Mass.-based Gomez Inc. The closure of the $295 million cash transaction brings about 270 new employees to Compuware, including the complete Gomez leadership team. Jaime Ellertson will remain with the organization and serve as President of Gomez, the Web Performance Division of Compuware. Compuware will retain the Gomez brand, technology portfolio and business model while moving purposefully to achieve additional technical, sales and marketing synergies. Compuware expects the acquisition to be operationally accretive this fiscal year. The combination of the companies’ significant SaaS revenues makes Compuware the world’s leading SaaS infrastructure management provider. More.

Fiat scraps Chrysler electric vehicle program
Fiat SpA, which owns a controlling 20 percent stake in Chrysler Group LLC, has killed the American company’s electric vehicle development group, according to a report in Reuters noted by AutoTech Daily. As a result, the company says, engineers assigned to the company’s former Envi (for environment) unit is being reassigned to more traditional vehicle programs. Lou Rhodes, who had headed the unit, will become the group line executive in charge of electric car development for Chrysler and Fiat. The company says it will develop more efficient cars and trucks with Fiat's advanced gasoline and diesel models. More.

FedEx orders 51 more Azure Dynamics hybrid electric vans
Oak Park-based Azure Dynamics Corp. said Monday that FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., has purchased 51 additional Azure Balance Hybrid Electric walk-in vans to be delivered in November and December 2009. Most of the 51 vehicles will be put into service at the first FedEx all-hybrid facility in Bronx, N.Y. FedEx has had 20 previously purchased Azure walk-in vans in active service at a number of California stations for the past year. More.

Frontier awards $2 million grant to Michigan State, Michigan Tech
Frontier Renewable Resources, the Michigan-based company building the state's first cellulosic ethanol plant in the Upper Peninsula, has provided a $2-million grant designed to strengthen the sustainable wood fiber supply, develop greater efficiencies in the harvest and transportation equipment and processes, and further reduce costs for the cutting edge project. The grant will fund critical research by Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University that brings the next-generation ethanol facility closer to construction. Frontier Renewable Resources is a joint venture between Mascoma and J.M. Longyear, with support from the federal and state governments and major U.S. corporations. Frontier will build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Chippewa County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that will be operational in 2013, producing up to 40 million gallons of low-cost, low-carbon cellulosic ethanol a year. More.

Kuka Systems gets $100 million assembly line order
The Sterling Heights automation company Kuka Systems North America reported an order from Northrop Grumman Corp. worth more than $100 million for installation of an integrated assembly line for the F-35 Lightning II jet fighter program, the largest order ever received by the company. Kuka said it's also believed to be the first time a major aerospace manufacturer has contracted with a vendor to supply and install a complete assembly line and underscores how major aerospace companies are embracing large-scale automation. More.

Financials sour at three Michigan tech companies
There was a lot of earnings news out Monday, none of it good. Rochester Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices Inc. reported a loss of $11.8 million or 28 cents a share in the first quarter of its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, compared to net income of $11.8 million on 27 cents a share in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. Revenue tumbled 55 percent to $42.9 million from $95.9 million a year earlier. More. Also, the Southfield IT and business process outsourcing firm TechTeam Global Inc. Monday reported net income of $900,000 or 8 cents a share for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. That's down from $1.9 million or 18 cents a share for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2008. Revenue was $52.3 million, down 18 percent from $64.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier. More. Finally, Ann Arbor-based Advanced Photonix Inc. Monday reported that its loss grew to $1.2 million or 5 cents a share for the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 25, compared to a loss of $326,000 or 1 cent per share for the same quarter of the prior fiscal year, which ended Sept. 26, 2008. Sales for the quarter were $5.4 million, down 8 percent from $5.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier. More.

THE WORLD IN TECH

Amid losses, Electronic Arts to cut 17 percent of work force
Electronic Arts plans to cut its work force by 17 percent as it tries to align its business with a transforming video game industry. The company announced the layoffs of 1,500 people just hours after it said it is paying at least $275 million to buy Playfish Inc., a maker of social online games popular on Facebook, MySpace and the iPhone. The layoffs are expected to save about $100 million a year. On Monday, EA posted a net loss of $391 million, or $1.21 a share, in the fiscal second quarter, wider than the loss of $310 million, or 97 cents per share, a year earlier. More.

EU objects to Oracle's takeover of Sun
European antitrust regulators have formally objected to Sun Microsystems Inc.'s planned $7.4 billion sale to Oracle Corp., escalating a battle over a deal that has already been cleared in the U.S. The so-called "statement of objections" that Sun received Monday from the European Commission isn't entirely surprising, since the commission already expressed concerns about possible harm to the database market from an Oracle-Sun tie-up when it launched a formal antitrust probe of the deal in September. The objection, though, ratchets up tension about the fate of the deal, which Sun badly needs to go through, and presents an interesting challenge for the Obama administration, which has vowed to vigorously pursue antitrust cases and now finds itself at odds with European regulators. More.

Deadline in Google book deal extended; Google snaps up startup
A judge has given Google Inc. more time to revise a legal settlement that has drawn government scrutiny because it would give the Internet search leader the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books. Under a change approved Monday, Google and groups representing U.S. authors and publishers now have until Friday to change an agreement reached more than a year ago. It marked the latest twist in a copyright lawsuit that the authors and publishers filed against Google's digital book project four years ago. More. Also, Google is buying mobile advertising network AdMob for $750 million, underscoring the Internet search leader's determination to ensure its marketing machine reaches the growing number of people surfing the Web on phones. More.

High court considers what can qualify for a patent
Should techniques for training horses be eligible for a patent? What about a system for choosing a jury or fail-proof method for speed dating? Supreme Court justices raised the questions Monday as they struggled to decide what types of inventions should qualify for patent protection. In a case that has put software and bioscience companies on edge, the justices debated whether processes or methods of doing business should be eligible for protection. The dispute has raised serious questions about whether software programs, medical procedures, financial transactions and other nontangible inventions should be able to obtain patents like those granted to physical devices. And it left the high court grappling with the line between abstract processes and concrete applications. More.

Stocks: Dow jumps 204 to high for the year as dollar slumps
The Dow Jones industrial average stormed to its highest level in more than a year Monday as a falling dollar boosted prices for gold, oil and other commodities. Stocks also jumped as investors grew more confident that governments around the world will keep interest rates low to help the global economy. Energy and materials stocks led the market. The major indexes rose 2 percent and the Dow jumped 200 points for the second time in three days, reaching its highest level in 13 months. The advance was further proof that investors, at least for now, aren't troubled by the unemployment rate that has now passed 10 percent. News that the Group of 20 countries will keep economic stimulus measures in place signaled to investors that rates will remain low. With U.S. rates near zero, the G-20 news lessened demand for the dollar. More. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 41.62 points or 2 percent to 2,154.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 203.52 points or 2 percent to 10,226.94. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) rose 9.5 points or 3.2 percent to 311.26. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 12.78 points or 2.4 percent to 546.79. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) rose 5.65 points or 1.9 percent to 296.95. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index (BTK) rose 5.7 points or 0.6 percent to 896.25. Finally, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) rose 23.78 points or 2.2 percent to 1,093.08.

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