| News |  Putzmeister America, Inc. Wins Large Order for Additional Equipment to Panama Canal Project
STURTEVANT, WI (Nov. 4, 2011) - Putzmeister America, Inc. (Putzmeister) has announced it won orders for several additional Telebelts®, truck-mounted concrete boom pumps and Thom-Katt® trailer pumps to the Panama Canal Third Set of Locks project (Third Set of Locks). While some equipment has already shipping, it will all be on site by June 2012.
Third Set of Locks will create a new third lane of traffic along the Canal, doubling its capacity and allowing more traffic and longer, wider ships to pass through. Equipment from Putzmeister has been on site at the Panama Canal since August 2010, when the company's Special Applications Business (SAB) was contracted to provide a complete global systems approach, including its pumping and material placing equipment, to the historic project.
|  Sany Investing $25 Million More in Georgia
Changsha, China The chairman of Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., China's largest manufacturer of concrete pumping equipment, announced in a Thursday meeting with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal that the company would put a $25 million research and development center in its Peachtree City plant.
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|  Pochin is in advanced talks to sell its concrete pumping division.
Pochin decided to sell its loss-making concrete pumping subsidiary earlier this year to focus on its original core businesses of construction and property development.
Since starting with a single concrete pump in 1969, Pochin's concrete pumping division today operates the largest wholly owned fleet of mobile concrete pumps in the UK.
Concrete pumping revenues fell to £8.8m in the year to 31 May 2011, down from £9.1m the year before. Further cost cutting measures were introduced, reducing the operating loss for the year to £1.2m (2010: £2.9m loss). This was slightly worse than anticipated due to the severe winter weather, when a loss of £300,000 was suffered in the month of December 2010 alone. The company said that “every effort has been made to increase both job price and utilisation and significant progress has been achieved in moving from historic lows”. Average job price for the year rose to £581 from £570 in the previous year and utilisation rose from 72% to 73%. “Unfortunately, over capacity in the market has restricted further improvement, although the current financial year is showing better progress as more infrastructure and utility work is commenced.,” it added.
“Despite the considerable efforts made to improve operating performance, the concrete pumping division continues to be a cash drain on the group's limited resources.”
The concrete pumping division has therefore been treated as a discontinued operation in the group’s results for the year to 31 May 2011. These showed a profit on continuing activities before taxation of £700,000 (2010 re-presented: £13.7m loss). Discontinued activities showed a pre-tax loss of £4.8m (2010: £2.9m loss).
Overall group revenue was down 10% to £59.3m. Turnover in the construction division fell by 32% to £41.6m (2010: £61.0m), although the firm order book now stands at £53.0m.
As well as the concrete pumping division, several non-core properties in Pochin’s portfolio are also being sold to reduce the £23m net debt.
|  Ballina Concrete Pumping gets award
IN TOUGH economic times, the Ballina business community got to kick its heels up last Saturday night for the Ballina Shire Business Excellence Awards at the Ballina RSL Club.
Ballina Concrete Pumping took out the top gong of Business of the Year award, leaving Narelle Besseling, who owns the business with her husband Dick, very excited, and "speechless".
She praised the business' five staff for their efforts - but they were "too shy" to get up on stage in front of the 300 people at the awards night to be part of the presentation.
The annual business awards are organised by the Ballina Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mrs Besseling said entering the award gave business owners "a chance to have a really good look at your business - you see areas where you're deficient and areas where you're strong".
Ballina Concrete Pumping has previously won category awards.
The Besselings have owned Ballina Concrete Pumping for eight years, but have been in business in the concreting game locally for 30 years all up.
It was one business that benefited from the Ballina bypass work, not just in getting jobs, but also in the workplace safety training the sub-contractors received.
Meanwhile, the overall winner of the new category of People's Choice was Sublime Clothing, owned by Janelle Dean.
And a Ballina business legend, Anzac Cummings, was awarded the inaugural Don King Award, named in honour of Mr King, a local accountant who was the treasurer of the chamber before his sudden passing earlier this year.
The chamber's executive officer, Nadia Eliott-Burgess, said the award aimed to "recognise an individual in the community who has made a significant difference to the economy, business infrastructure and social fabric of the Ballina Shire community".
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