Black & Decker, the Towson-based home improvement and power tool company, announced a record quarter for sales for its first quarter of 2007 ? selling $1.6 billion worth of merchandise.
The regional employer of more than 22,000 said it used a 2 percent positive translation from foreign currency and a 1 percent growth in sales from the acquisition of Vector Products Inc. to its advantage.
“While only 20 percent of the firm?s sales are directly tied to new residential construction, the U.S. housing slump has forced Black & Decker?s large retail customers to reduce inventory in the wake of lower consumer spending,” John Kearney, an analyst with Morningstar, said in his April report on Black & Decker. “By shifting 70 percent of its production to low-cost countries, Black & Decker has been able to reduce overhead and expand operating margins.”
At the end of the first quarter, Black & Decker reported assets totaling about $5.28 billion, up from $5.25 billion reported a year ago.
McCormick files lawsuit
Nothing beats the original.
And Baltimore-based McCormick & Co., an international spice company, wants to make sure there are no copycats out there.
Filing a lawsuit against Weatherchem Corp., a Twinsburg, Ohio-based packaging company, McCormick alleges Weatherchem copied one of its unique design concepts. The design in question is of the grinders built into some of McCormick?s spice containers, legal documents indicated.
No timetable was announced for proceedings.
For the first quarter, McCormick reported a record $44.2 million in earnings, up $14.4 million for the quarter compared with the same time last year.
Sales also rose 7 percent for the quarter, increasing to $652.6 billion.
Both McCormick and Black & Decker are part of The Examiner Top 10, a portfolio of 10 of the largest traded companies in the Baltimore region.
