LOCAL BUSINESS
Goodyear exec honored
Goodyear’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, Darren R. Wells, is the Crain’s Cleveland Business magazine CFO of the Year.
Wells was named out of a field of 36 people. Crain’s said Wells’ accomplishments included leading Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s global efforts on working capital management, improving cash flow and overseeing significant capital investments. Wells also played a key role in setting the Akron tire maker’s global strategy.
Wells has been Goodyear CFO since 2008.
Crain’s judging criteria included background, unique qualities and accomplishments; leadership in strategic planning and vision, business challenges, risk management and succession planning; financial management, including monetary growth, market share gains, profitability, stability, strategic transactions and commitment to accounting standards; and external contributions to the community, financial industry and board of directors service.
ExecRank earlier this year listed Wells among America’s top CFOs for 2012.
EARNINGS
Deere misses estimates
Deere & Co., the world’s largest agricultural equipment maker, posted earnings that missed analysts’ estimates for a second consecutive quarter after sales declined 2 percent outside the U.S. and Canada.
Profit rose to $1.75 a share in the fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct. 31 from $1.62 a year earlier, the Moline, Ill.-based manufacturer said. The average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for $1.88. Net income will be about $3.2 billion in the year through October 2013, Deere said. The average of 15 estimates was for $3.26 billion.
ACQUISITION
BASF to buy Pronova
BASF SE agreed to buy Pronova BioPharma ASA in a transaction valuing the Norwegian company at $654 million to gain a leading position in Omega-3 fatty acids used in drugs and health foods.
BASF, which has Northeast Ohio operations, calls itself the world’s largest chemicals company.
The purchase would add higher-grade Omega-3, used in medicines for cardiovascular diseases, to ingredients for dietary supplements that BASF gained with the purchase of Scotland’s Equateq in May and the acquisition of Cognis in 2010. Chief Executive Officer Kurt Bock is shifting toward ingredients for health foods and other higher-margin specialty chemicals in an attempt to help shield the company from economic swings.
LABOR
Black Friday dispute
A union-backed group of Wal-Mart workers, OUR Walmart, said it had filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, asserting that Wal-Mart was making illegal threats to deter its employees from participating in protests scheduled for Black Friday.
The complaint said that a statement by a Wal-Mart spokesman, David Tovar, on Monday on the CBS Evening News — that “there could be consequences” if employees did not report for work — constituted an illegal threat meant to discourage workers from exercising their federally protected right to protest.
OUR Walmart filed papers after Wal-Mart made a labor board complaint last week, asserting that the protests that OUR Walmart is planning around the country would violate a federal law that bars picketing for more than 30 days when a union is seeking recognition.
Wal-Mart maintains that OUR Walmart’s rolling protests have continued for more than 30 days and are actually sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which helped found OUR Walmart last year. Wal-Mart contends that the food and commercial workers are seeking union recognition from the company.
Nurses strike in California
Hundreds of nurses in the San Francisco Bay area were braving rain showers to walk picket lines after going on strike Tuesday, union officials said.
Registered nurses, respiratory technicians and X-ray technicians at eight hospitals operated by Sutter Health walked off the job around 7 a.m. in what will be a two-day strike, said California Nurses Association spokesman Chuck Idelson. Nurses at two San Jose hospitals operated by Hospital Corporation of America went on strike for one day.
The strike, the seventh by CNA since September 2011, came as union leaders and hospital officials remained at odds over health benefits, sick leave and other issues.
Union officials say the hospitals want to reduce paid sick days while eliminating health care coverage for those who work less than 30 hours a week.
Compiled from staff and wire reports