Jacobs Lands More Contracts
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said it has been awarded three separate contracts totaling more than $40 million. The first was a five-year, $21-million contract to perform work in support of the Program Manager for the Navy Marine Corps Intranet under direction of the San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command; Jacobs received a contract from Uhde India Ltd. to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for an aluminum refinery in eastern India scheduled for completion in 2009. Contract terms were not disclosed; and the Army Corps. of Engineers awarded a contract for architectural/engineering services on projects primarily within the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division worth about $20 million over five years. Shares of the Pasadena-based engineering and architecture services firm were up 2.3 percent Tuesday to $84.24.
Radioactive Material in San Onofre Groundwater
Edison International said it has found tritium, a radioactive element, in water samples at its shutdown San Onofre nuclear power plant. Groundwater beneath the plant isn’t a source of drinking water, and the Rosemead-based utility company it is investigating the source of the tritium. As part of its decommissioning of the plant, it plans to remediate the contamination. The company said it notified state and local officials of the discovery on Monday and thought that the contamination may be attributed to events during operation. The plant ceased commercial operations in 1992. San Onofre is the 10th U.S. nuclear power plant site to report tritium leaks and the fourth in the last week, according to Dave Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Billionaire Acquires Stake in Tribune Co.
Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz acquired a 1.2 percent stake in Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, in what many see as an attempt to profit from a dispute between the media company and its largest shareholders, the Chandler family. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Peltz’s New York-based hedge fund, Trian Fund Management, bought 2.83 million shares in the Chicago-based media company, which also owns KTLA-TV (5), the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs. A Tribune spokesman said the company had no comment on the Peltz investment. For the past five months, Peltz has been in a fight with ketchup company H.J. Heinz Co. because of the company’s sagging stock price, and has been pushing for restructuring to slash $500 million in costs. Heinz management contends that such a move would cripple the company.
Arden Group Declares Dividend
Arden Group Inc. declared a regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share payable on October 20, 2006 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 29. Shares of the Compton-based owner and operator of high-end grocer Gelson’s Markets were up 1.5 percent to $107.61.
