News
WASHINGTON – After losing several appeals, the National Association of Manufacturers released the names of 65 companies that provided significant funding to the trade group for first-quarter lobbying activities.
NAM tried to keep the names secret, but ultimately lost an appeal to the Supreme Court for a stay against disclosing the names. A new lobbying law requires trade groups and coalitions to divulge names of members that give more than $5,000 in a quarter for lobbying activities.
The failure to comply was $250,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.
In its April 30 amended report, NAM provided a Web site link to funders’ list. It also revealed first-quarter lobbying expenditures of more than $2.2 million.
Donors included the American Petroleum Institute, AT&T Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Northrop Grumman, Clorox and U.S. Steel, among others. Individual contributions or their specific lobbying activities are not specified.
In the first quarter, the group lobbied patent reform, taxes, trade agreements, climate change, energy-related legislation, transportation, tort reform, high-speed Internet deployment, health and immigration reform.
NAM lobbied Congress, White House, U.S. Trade Representative's office and the Defense, Treasury and Commerce departments, among many others.
NAM, with about 11,000 members, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the lobbying law, and is still appealing an April 11 decision by a federal judge who rejected its argument that a provision violates First Amendment rights.
NAM tried to keep the names secret, but ultimately lost an appeal to the Supreme Court for a stay against disclosing the names. A new lobbying law requires trade groups and coalitions to divulge names of members that give more than $5,000 in a quarter for lobbying activities.
The failure to comply was $250,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.
In its April 30 amended report, NAM provided a Web site link to funders’ list. It also revealed first-quarter lobbying expenditures of more than $2.2 million.
Donors included the American Petroleum Institute, AT&T Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Northrop Grumman, Clorox and U.S. Steel, among others. Individual contributions or their specific lobbying activities are not specified.
In the first quarter, the group lobbied patent reform, taxes, trade agreements, climate change, energy-related legislation, transportation, tort reform, high-speed Internet deployment, health and immigration reform.
NAM lobbied Congress, White House, U.S. Trade Representative's office and the Defense, Treasury and Commerce departments, among many others.
NAM, with about 11,000 members, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the lobbying law, and is still appealing an April 11 decision by a federal judge who rejected its argument that a provision violates First Amendment rights.
A federal appeals court and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the group's requests for stays.
YAVNE, ISRAEL – Orbotech Ltd. reported revenues for the first quarter totaled $100.5 million, up 14.3% year-over-year, and down about 3% sequentially.
Net income was $3.7 million, compared to a net loss of $1.1 million in the fourth quarter, and net income of $5.6 million in the same period of 2007.
Sales of equipment to the PCB industry, relating to assembled PCBs, were $8.1 million, down 2.4% sequentially, and up 16% year-over-year.
CEO Rani Cohen said, “Our financial results for the quarter, particularly in our PCB business, reflect the challenging global economic environment. On the other hand, we continue to benefit from the strength in the LCD industry, which has led to large orders from LCD manufacturers. Given the ongoing weakness of the dollar, we are continuing to monitor our expenses very closely in order to maintain and improve margins.”
MELVILLE, NY – Nu Horizons Electronics said net sales from continuing operations for the fourth quarter were $193.18 million, up 24.3% compared to last year. Sales in its core components distribution business increased 28.2%.
Net income for the quarter was $424,000, down almost 19% year-over-year.
For the fiscal year ended Feb. 29, revenues increased to $747.2 million, up 11.8% year-over-year. Distribution sales increased 20.1%. Net income was $2,519,000, down 67.4% from the same period last year.
Chairman and CEO Arthur Nadata said, “We are executing well on our sales growth strategy with 42% growth in Asia, 106% in Europe and 11.8% total sales growth year-over-year. We continue to invest in Germany and expect this to fuel future growth in Europe.”
Professional fees continue to adversely affect earnings, he said.
