Business Digest

In the Region

Community Bank shareholders back Mercantile takeover

Mercantile Bankshares Corp.'s acquisition of Community Bank of Northern Virginia was approved by shareholders yesterday, and the deal is expected to close tomorrow.

Mercantile, Maryland's largest independently owned bank, agreed in January to buy Community Bank for $212 million. More than 80 percent of Community Bank's outstanding shares were voted in favor of the merger, which has already received approval from state and federal bank regulators.

Mercantile, which has more than $14 billion in assets, will expand into the Virginia counties of Loudoun and Fairfax with the acquisition.

Wise Metals Group's loss widened in first quarter

Wise Metals Group, continuing to feel the effects of higher raw material and energy costs, said yesterday that its first-quarter loss increased to $6.2 million, from $5.8 million a year earlier.

The Baltimore-based producer of aluminum can sheet did, however, manage an operating profit for the quarter, and sales rose about 12 percent to $221.6 million.

After adjustments for accounting changes, privately held Wise lost $2.6 million for the quarter, compared with a profit of $900,000 in the corresponding period last year. The principal difference, it said, was increased interest expense from a bond offering in May 2004.

Sinclair to get $7 million in Tri-Cities station sale

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. has agreed to sell the broadcasting assets of WEMT-TV in the Tri-Cities market of Bristol, Va., Johnson City, Tenn., and Kingsport, Tenn., to BlueStone Television Inc.

The Hunt Valley television broadcasting company will sell the license assets of WEMT-TV to Aurora Broadcasting Inc. The total purchase price for the two transactions is $7 million, of which $5.6 million is for the non-license assets. The sale of the license assets for $1.4 million is subject to Federal Communications Commission approval.

Avatech revenue, profit surge in fiscal 3rd quarter

Avatech Solutions Inc. of Owings Mills said yesterday that it earned $2 million, or 14 cents per share, in its fiscal third quarter, which ended March 31, up from net income of $150,899, or 1 cent a share, a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter was $10.4 million, up 33 percent from the $7.8 million it posted a year earlier.

Avatech markets software and technology services for the manufacturing, building-design and engineering markets.

Australia says it still might buy 100 JSF jets

Australia may still buy as many as 100 of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Joint Strike Fighters, Defense Minister Robert Hill said yesterday, a month after U.S. congressional investigators said the aircraft's cost has risen 23 percent, to $100 million from the $81 million expected when development began in 2001.

The proposed purchase can still be done within the original budget, Hill said in a speech in Australia. He didn't provide cost estimates, according to a copy of his remarks posted on the ministry's Web site.

Australia is planning to replace its fleet of F/A-18 Hornets and F-111s with the Joint Strike Fighter, and committed $150 million in 2002 to help finance its development.

Dialysis Corp. of America reports 12.7% gain in 1Q

Dialysis Corp. of America posted earnings yesterday of $324,000, or 4 cents a share, for the quarter that ended March 31. That's a 12.7 percent increase over the $288,000, or 3 cents a share, it earned in the first quarter of 2004.

The Linthicum-based company said revenue rose to $10.6 million, up 23 percent from $8.1 million in the year-earlier quarter.

The company, which operates 23 kidney treatment centers in Maryland and six other states, said profits from existing centers were offsetting the cost of new centers. It has five centers under construction and is negotiating for additional locations.

Optelecom's net down but revenue is record

Optelecom-NKF Inc. of Germantown reported yesterday fiscal first-quarter net income of $150,808, or 5 cents a share, down from net income of $303,425, or 9 cents per share a year earlier.

Part of the drop was $200,000 of nonrecurring charges related to the acquisition of NKF Electronics in the quarter. With those charges factored out, Optelecom said it had operating income of $310,161 in the quarter, which ended March 31.

Revenue rose to a record $5.49 million in the quarter, up 31 percent from revenue of $4.18 million a year ago.

Sarbanes-Oxley expense blamed for OPNET loss

OPNET Technologies Inc. of Bethesda reported yesterday a net loss of $651,000, or 3 cents a share, for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31. That compares with a net profit of $2.03 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue was a record $17.18 million, up from revenue of $16.32 million for year-earlier quarter.

OPNET attributed the loss in the face of record revenue to $1.8 million it spent to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley anti-fraud law, and said the impact on its earnings is expected to "significantly decrease" in fiscal 2006.

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