NEW BUSINESS Atomic Playpen, Minneapolis, has become the interactive agency-of-record for Jack Link's Beef Jerky, Minong, Wis., and Pentair Inc., Golden Valley. Atomic Playpen will partner with Jack Link's advertising and PR agencies, Carmichael Lynch and Carmichael Lynch Spong, to provide integrated advertising and marketing for the Jack Link's brand. Pentair has selected Atomic Playpen to redesign Pentair.com and the Pentair corporate intranet.
RESTRUCTURING Innovex Inc., Plymouth, said that its subsidiary Innovex (Thailand) Ltd. has filed a rehabilitation petition under Thailand law asking that its business be reorganized under the Bankruptcy Act in Thailand to allow continuation of its operations while existing debts are properly restructured. A decision from the Thai Court is expected in June. The petition filing pertains only to restructuring plans of the subsidiary, Innovex Thailand. Also, Innovex is working on a restructuring agreement with Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) in which SCB will purchase at a discount all the company's outstanding bank debt, about $55 million, from Bank of Ayudhya Public Co. and TMB Bank Public Co., and will provide the company with additional working capital.
PERFORMANCE Alliant Techsystems Inc., Eden Prairie, said that it expects to record a noncash charge of about $24 million net of tax, or 71 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. The noncash charge is the result of Alliant's decision to discontinue the use of trade names associated with the prior acquisitions of Thiokol in 2001 and of the Mission Research Corp. in 2004. Alliant said it now expects full-year sales of about $4.8 billion; previous expectations were $4.825 billion to $4.875 billion. Excluding the impact of the charge, the company now expects fiscal 2010 full-year earnings per share from continuing operations to be near the upper end of its previously announced range of $8.80 to $8.90, thanks to better-than-expected operating margins, partially offset by slightly lower sales.
