NEW PRODUCTS St. Jude Medical Inc., Little Canada, has received regulatory approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in addition to reimbursement approval, of its Atlas II implantable cardioverter defibrillator, a device used to treat patients with abnormal heart rhythms.
NEW BUSINESS Northern Technologies International Corp., Circle Pines, said that Zerust Prevencao de Corrosao S.A., its Brazilian joint venture, has signed a multiyear contract with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) to install and service proprietary corrosion-protection technologies on the roofs of an initial set of above-ground oil storage tanks at the Petrobras REDUC refinery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Lawson Software, St. Paul, said Wilcon Builders' Supply, based in the Philippines, signed a contract to use the Lawson M3 Enterprise Management System to help support the company's business and distribution operations.
PERFORMANCE
The Opus Group, a Minneapolis-based group of independent companies providing real estate development services, will eliminate about 200 positions nationwide as a result of deteriorating market and economic conditions in the commercial real estate development industry. All five independent operating companies will reduce workforces. Some geographical locations are affected more than others.
Plato Learning Inc., Bloomington, has completed its evaluation of good will, resulting in the complete write-off in fiscal 2008 of good will associated with acquisitions made in 2000 through 2003, before the company began its current software-as-a-service strategy. The full impairment of good will resulted in a fiscal 2008 noncash impairment charge of $71.9 million, and a $3.1 million tax benefit associated with the tax-deductible portion of the good will. As a result of those final adjustments, the company's fiscal 2008 GAAP net loss was $91.9 million, or $3.85 per share, compared with a GAAP net loss of $14.9 million, or 63 cents per share, in fiscal 2007.
PERSONNEL Juhl Wind Inc., Woodstock, Minn., has named retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark to its board of directors and said that Clark has agreed to chair the board of the entity Juhl Wind is planning to form its first wind farm asset fund.
Alliant Techsystems, Edina, has named Blake Larson senior vice president and president of its ATK Space Systems unit. Larson most recently served as executive vice president for the Space Systems group and the head of the company's Spacecraft Systems division within the Space Systems group.
