Jan 12, 1999

Water-treatment industry falters

NEW YORK (Dow Jones News) -- Economic troubles in Asia, a soft microelectronic market and negative currency translation hampered business for many water-treatment and filtration companies in 1998, culminating in weak results for the recently ended quarter. In an industry bulletin, Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst William Genco pointed out that acquisition activity slowed dramatically in the water-treatment sector in the second half of 1998 and likely won't pick up next year as both U.S. Filter Corp. and Waterlink Inc. will be busy integrating acquisitions. For the most part, the stocks, reflecting the difficult business conditions, had a "rough" year, said Richard C. Eastman, an analyst with Clearly Gull Reiland & McDevit. The 15 companies in his index, on average, were off 13 percent for the calendar year, compared with a 4 percent drop for the Russell 2000. Business for Millipore Corp., a major supplier of filtration systems to the analytical laboratory, biopharmaceutical and microelectronics markets, has been particularly difficult. Analysts polled by First Call Corp. project earnings for Millipore's fourth quarter dropping nearly 80 percent to 13 cents a share, from 48 cents. Ionics Inc., one of the leading providers of ultra pure water for the semiconductor market, has been "hammered by a downturn in microelectronics over the past 12 to 15 months," Eastman said. As a result, the company's fourth quarter should be 34 cents a share, compared with 42 cents a year ago, according to First Call. Among those companies expected to report stronger earnings than a year ago include industry leader U.S. Filter. Analysts expect the Palm Desert, Calif., company to earn 37 cents a share for its fiscal third quarter, up 20 percent from the year-ago's 31 cents, according to First Call. Osmonics Inc., of Minnetonka, Minn., should see a 38 percent jump in fourth-quarter earnings to 11 cents a share from 8 cents a year ago, according to First Call.

Toyota, GM discuss eco-friendly cars

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Co. are in discussions about jointly developing environmentally friendly vehicles. The Japanese and U.S. automakers have been in talks on such a venture since the middle of last year, when GM made a proposal for technical cooperation to develop advanced vehicle technologies. The agreement on joint developments could come this spring, Toyota officials told Japan's Kyodo news agency Monday. But GM spokesman Ed Lechtzin said Monday that there's no deadline for reaching an agreement. "We're simply talking in a whole lot of areas on what each company might be interested in," he said. The technical collaboration could involve hybrid vehicles, clean emission engines and fuel cells, Lechtzin said. Toyota and GM already cooperate on a number of projects, including a California-based joint venture to produce passenger cars and the marketing of GM's Cavalier sedans and coupes through Toyota's sales network in Japan.

Preston Gates & Ellis

Preston Gates & Ellis announced 12 new associates have joined the firm in the Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Hong Kong offices. The new Seattle associates are: Warren Clemans, business and intellectual property law; Jason Holtman, high-tech litigation and antitrust law; Myriam Jaidi, municipal law; Harold Taw, business and intellectual property; Paul Balkan, litigation, and Neil Meyers, business law.

Jan 08, 1999

design>HOVIE

Hovie Francisco Hawk recently opened design>HOVIE, an international creative studio specializing in communications graphics for the Web, print and display, in Ballard. Hovie formerly served as creative director at Bensussen Deutsch & Associates.

Land use law update

Seattle law firm Foster Pepper & Shefelman is hosting the Annual Real Estate & Land Use Update from 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers, 1400 Sixth Ave. Among the topics are real estate legislation and case law, changing real estate capital markets, a Growth Management Act update, key land-use decisions and a summary of the Model Toxic Control Act. Cost is $50 per person or $35 for materials only. Registration is required and can be made by contacting April Colaluch at (206) 447-2881.

Jan 06, 1999

ABKJ

Andersen Bjornstad Kane Jacobs has promoted Michael Bramhall, James Morris, and C. Stephen Yu to the level of associate and has appointed Pong Jongitirat, Ricky Langford and Amar Nagpal to the board of directors. Bramhall has been with the firm since 1989, and has worked as a structural engineer on a variety of major Microsoft projects, including the Augusta Campus. He is now working in the Enlisted Dining Facility at the Naval Station in Bremerton. Morris, who joined the firm in 1991, specializes in the design of retaining walls and sheet pile or soldier pile bulkheads, marine structures and industrial buildings. He is currently in charge of construction support services for bridges on the Alderwood Mall Boulevard connector project and marine structures for the U.S. Coast Guard in Bellingham. Yu is now working on the structural design of Lincoln Square in Bellevue, Harrison Memorial Hospital in Silverdale and Pioneer Grand Central in Manila. Jongitirat has 25 years of experience in engineering and is currently overseeing the seismic retrofit of several bridges, including the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge. Langford is the head of ABKJ's program management department. Her experience includes a broad range of project types. Nagpal is the controller of ABKJ. He has been with the firm since 1991.

Jan 05, 1999

Rossotto is WEC's legal eagle

SEATTLE -- Michael Rossotto is the new director of the Washington Environmental Council's legal program. He previously worked as a grassroots organizer for Friends of the Earth, was a staff attorney for the Government Accountability Project, was executive director of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, and served on the project development team for Sound Transit's Link light rail system. At WEC, one of Rossotto's primary duties will be to recruit and support volunteer attorneys to work on behalf of the organization and its members. Interested attorneys can contact him at (206) 622-8103.

Dec 30, 1998

Rock mechanics symposium

The American Rock Mechanics Association will hold the 37th U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium on June 6-9, 1999, at the Marriott Mountain Resort in Vail Colorado. This year's theme, Rock Mechanics for Industry, is of interest to engineers and geologists who deal with the properties of rock in large and small-scale construction projects, environmental projects, and waste disposal -- especially those involving drilling, tunneling, mining and quarrying. The program includes field trips to the front range of the Rocky Mountains, workshops on nuclear waste repositories, industry-government-university partnerships, hydraulic fracturing, grouting, coal pillar mechanics, and three days of technical sessions. Immediately preceding the symposium at the same location is the Third International Conference on Analysis of Discontinuous Deformation, June 3-4. Conference information will be updated regularly on the World Wide Web through the ARMA site. or contact Mark Cramer, events

BOORA

BOORA Architects of Portland has promoted three staff members to the level of associate. Joan Jasper has completed NikeTown stores in San Francisco and Seattle as well as a medical office building and private residence. She is currently at work on a medical office building in Tualatin. Chris Lee is the marketing coordinator for the 90-person firm. She has worked within the architecture industry for nine years. Michael Montagne is the CAD manager of BOORA's 90-workstation office. He practiced architecture for nine years before going into business as a computer consultant specializing in CAD system management.

Cary Kopczynski

Panos Trochalakis has joined Cary Kopczynski & Company of Bellevue as a design engineer. Trochalakis is currently working on the Avalon Hotel, Portland, and Metropolitan Park North an 11-story office building in Seattle. Rolando Mario has joined the firm as a CAD designer/drafter. Mario has over twenty-two years of technical design and drafting experience. He is currently working on Westlake Tower, a 31-story residential building starting construction this month in downtown Seattle.

W&H Pacific

Rebecca Slick has joined W&H Pacific as telecommunications planner and project manager, currently serving as project manager for the Sprint Spectrum wireless project in the Seattle area. Prior to joining W&H Pacific, Slick worked for Koll Telecommunications Services in Portland, where she was responsible for managing site development projects dealing with acquisition and zoning issues.