P.M. Executive Briefing - Mar. 27
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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Earth, Wind and Fire
A new report from House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.) charges that a sizable Environmental Protection Agency enforcement action against seven large diesel engine makers last year was an effort to cover up a failure to enforce diesel emissions standards for six years, starting in 1991.The seven companies paid a $1 billion settlement on charges that they had put "defeat devices" on engines to allow them to get through emissions tests without reducing pollutants.
The EPA's Sylvia Lowrance called the report "perplexing at best," saying no earlier administration had fought diesel pollution harder and that part of the 1999 settlement will make diesel engine tests stricter and harder to pass by cheating.
A Clinton Administration source contended that the committee report is really meant to be a way for Republicans to counter any positive statements Vice President Gore makes on the campaign trail regarding the administration's record on the environment. Washington Post (03/27/00) P. A25; Brown, Warren
A Drive to Succeed
ESCO Transportation President and CEO Robert Weaver, who was hired away from Hub Group last year by ESCO founder Edwis Selph, has planned a strategy for fast growth via acquisitions. Weaver plans to buy more local haulers by offering them the cutting-edge technology that ESCO possesses and many small- or medium-sized companies cannot afford."We bring in contract negotiation, drivers, and a culture that allows them to do what they do best operate locally," he said.
The company is mainly interested in expanding its intermodal segment, whose many small trucking firms do not have technology, he says, adding that many owners of older small intermodal companies are looking for a graceful way out of the business.
Over the next five years, ESCOintends to buy as many as three firms per year via stock transactions.
Meanwhile, a two-year deal with Union Pacific will make ESCO the local intermodal link between UP and manufacturers in the Fort Smith, Ark., area. Houston Business Journal Online (03/27/00); Wooding Jr., Walker C.
Online Tracking Products Provider At Road Seeks IPO
The online GPS tracking provider At Road filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday for an IPO, which the company hopes will garner up to $104.65 million.Over 7,000 vehicles in fleets of as many as 350 vehicles were using At Road products at the end of last year; delivery services, taxis, food distributors, and others in addition to trucking firms were using them.
The company saw net losses of $13.5 million in 1999 on revenue of roughly $906,000, and data terminal maker Orient Semiconductor Electronics has an 8.8% share of At Road, according to the prospectus. The prospectus did not include a proposed price or number of shares offered for the IPO. Reuters (03/27/00)
Volvo Leases More Office Space at Airpark Office Complex
Volvo Commercial Finance is taking on an additional 50,500 square feet in the Airpark complex in Greensboro, N.C., where Volvo Truck Finance North America and Volvo Trucks North America have their headquarters. The additional space brings the total amount of space leased by Volvo at the Airpark, an office complex managed by the real estate investment trust Highwoods Properties, to 115,000 square feet. Triad Business Journal Online (03/27/00)© copyright 2000 INFORMATION, INC. Terms of Service
