Armco

Armco Inc. and Cyclops Industries, Inc., both manufacturers of stainless steel, today announced an agreement in principle for Cyclops to merge with a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Armco. Under the agreement, Armco would pay $22 a share or approximately $156 million for the 7.1 million outstanding shares of Cyclops common stock. To fund a portion of the merger cost, Armco also announced an agreement in principle with New York-based Alleghany Corp., a financial services company and a substantial Cyclops stockholder, to sell Alleghany $100 million of a new Armco 10 percent convertible preferred stock.

Is the future of a new East Baltimore becoming evident on Washington Street just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital? On a long walk through this decimated and emptied neighborhood, it was easy to see where nearly 1,200 houses (on 100 acres) were knocked down. The empty space created by all that demolition provokes strong emotions. I thought of how the Inner Harbor looked in the mid-1970s or the Charles Center in the 1960s.

Armco Inc. and Cyclops Industries Inc. are hoping they can take their two money-losing companies, combine them and come out with one strong, profitable stainless steel business."

Kvet Strakes, former head of Armco Steel's payroll department and a community volunteer, died of Alzheimer's disease May 8 in Naples, Fla. She was 82 and had lived in Towson. Born Kvet Beaujorkova in Czechoslovakia, she immigrated to the United States in 1952 after her husband was killed in World War II. She took a job with Armco Steel in Baltimore, where she became head of the payroll department. She resigned from Armco when she married George Strakes in 1963 and took a job at his company, Strakes Advertising.

Armco Inc. and Cyclops Industries, Inc., both manufacturers of stainless steel, have announced an agreement in principle for Cyclops to merge with a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Armco.Both Armco and Cyclops have operations in Baltimore. Lee Bland, an Armco spokesman, said the merger would not affect the local companies, which make different kinds of stainless steel products.Eastern Stainless Corp., a subsidiary of Cyclops, makes stainless plate at a plant on Rolling Mill Road.Baltimore Specialty Steels Corp.

Shareholders of Pittsburgh-based steelmaker Cyclops Industries Inc., overwhelmingly approved yesterday the sale of their company to Armco Inc., a steel company based in Parsippany, N.J.Both companies have stainless-steel plants in Baltimore.The merger is expected to be completed today after Armco shareholders approve it at their annual meeting in Parsippany. Armco is paying $156 million in cash and stock for Cyclops.Armco also announced yesterday that it lost $30.5 million, or 37 cents a share, during the first quarter, a significant improvement over the 1991 first quarter, when the company lost $39.6 million, or 47 cents a share.

Armco Inc., the Parsippany, N.J.-based stainless steelmaker with an operation in Baltimore, lost $8.5 million in the fourth quarter, or 12 cents a share, compared to a profit of $15.5 million, or 15 cents a share, in the 1989 fourth quarter.Sales during the fourth quarter were $414 million, a 5.3 percent drop from the previous fourth quarter when sales were $416.2 million.For the year, the company lost $89.5 million, or $1.10 per share, compared to a net income of $165 million, or $1.78 per share, for 1989.

Armco Inc. and Cyclops Industries Inc., two companies that are poised to merge, are studying linking Armco's Baltimore operation with that of Cyclops' plant in suburban Pittsburgh.Such a combination is seen as a way of bolstering the two struggling operations. But executives at the two companies said it was too early to say what form the arrangement would take or how it would affect the Baltimore work force.A union official in Maryland, however, said linking the two plantscould mean fewer jobs at the Baltimore plant in exchange for a healthier operation.

Stock analysts were disappointed with the earnings of Armco Inc., which reported that it lost $8.5 million in the fourth quarter, or 12 cents a share, compared with a profit of $15.5 million, or 15 cents a share, in the 1989 fourth quarter.Armco, the Parsippany, N.J.-based stainless steelmaker with an operation in Baltimore, had fourth quarter sales of $414 million, a 5.3 percent drop from the previous fourth quarter when sales were $416.2 million.Charles Bradford, a steel analyst with UBS Securities Inc., a institutional brokerage firm in New York, said he was particularly disturbed by the loss of $30 per ton on the company's regular steel production.

Republic Engineered Steels Inc., an employee-owned steelmaker based in Massillon, Ohio, said yesterday that it would buy the long-troubled Baltimore Specialty Steels Corp. plant on East Biddle Street.Republic declined to say how much it had agreed to pay for the local stainless steel plant, which is owned by Armco Inc. The company also declined to give details on what the purchase would mean for the approximately 40 Baltimore employees.But Jim Harmon, who represents the United Steelworkers union members at the plant, said he was glad the plant would be sold because of indications that Republic will restore some of the 850 jobs that have been lost at the plant in the past five years.

On March 14, 2006, JIMMY WAYNE STREETER; 43, died in an industrial accident at W.R. Grace. He was a Union Officer with the Company as well as a Maintenance Mechanic. He had previously worked for Armco Steel and was a former instructor at Dundalk Community College. Mr. Streeter was a member of the International Chemical Union. He was devoted to Justice for the working man and was also an avid hunter and angler. He was the beloved husband of his wife Deborah (nee Petts) and a devoted father to his son Morgan.

Edward Kenneth Barney, who rose from draftsman to executive at Armco Steel Corp., died of cancer Dec. 26 at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Pasadena. The Pasadena resident was 86. Mr. Barney, who was born in Baltimore, worked at several grocery stores to help support his parents and brother while attending City College, from which he graduated in 1937. He and his wife, the former Mildred Bloomfield, grew up together. They married in 1940, the year he completed vocational school with a specialty in mechanical drawing and blueprint reading.

JOSEPH VINCENT SLECHTA, age 84, died Monday, Dec. 6, 2005 at the Berlin Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Born in Baltimore, he was the son of the late Antone J. Slechta and Josephine Blazek Slechta. He was preceded in death by his wife Dorothy Lillian Kremer Slechta in 2000. He is survived by his two sons Joseph F. Slechta of Ocean City, Anthony J. Slechta, three daughters Mary Jo Edwards, Anne S. Smith and Therese R. Tyndall. There are seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Elizabeth Votta Kent, a retired Little Italy waitress known for her outspoken style, died of a blood disorder Friday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. The Belair-Edison resident was 93. Born Elizabeth Votta in Baltimore's Little Italy, she attended St. Leo's parochial school until sixth grade, when she began working at a vegetable packing house and later at an F.W. Woolworth store. "She had a strong work ethic and always had two jobs," said a son, Joseph M. Kent of Abingdon. For many years she was a waitress at the old Hecht's Rooftop Restaurant in Northwood, then at DeNittis in Little Italy until it closed about 11 years ago. "She was known for her straightforward, no-nonsense style," her son said.

Edward A. Hagens Sr., who worked 40 years at the now-defunct Armco Steel Corp. in East Baltimore, died Friday of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the Perring Parkway Center. He was 88. Born on Exeter Street in Baltimore's Oldtown section, he attended Mount St. Joseph High School, where he played varsity baseball and basketball. Mr. Hagens was drafted into the Army near the end of World War II. He served on Okinawa, where he located unexploded mines and destroyed them. For 40 years, he worked at the Armco plant on Edison Highway near Monument Street.

Howard Haskell Simpson Rohde, a retired Armco Steel Corp. metallurgist and volunteer, died in his sleep June 19 at his Silver Spring home. He was 89. Mr. Rohde was born in Baltimore, one of 11 siblings, and raised on Mayfield Avenue. He was a 1932 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and began his career at Armco Steel as a secretary. He was trained in metallurgy at the company's Edison Highway plant and was senior metallurgist when he retired in 1977. He served with the Maryland National Guard's 110th Field Artillery, but during World War II was exempt because of his work in a defense industry.

Walter F. "Cork" O'Loughlin Jr., a retired steel company production manager, died of undetermined causes Friday at Anne Arundel Medical Center. He was 82. Mr. O'Loughlin was born in Baltimore and raised on Franklintown Road. He attended Polytechnic Institute and was a 1938 graduate of Forest Park High School. Mr. O'Loughlin then went to work for Rustless Iron & Steel Co. in East Baltimore, which later became Armco Steel Corp. He retired in the 1980s. "He worked himself up from mail boy to production manager," said his sister, Louise Gary of Sarasota, Fla. Mr. O'Loughlin, a former resident of Baltimore's Hamilton section, had lived in Annapolis since 1983.

Louis Frank III, a retired Armco Steel Corp. executive and avid sailor who cruised around the world, died Wednesday at his Annapolis home of complications from a stroke. He was 82. Mr. Frank flew fighters in World War II against Gen. Erwin Rommel's elite armored forces in North Africa and later in Italy. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart. A native of Louisville, Ky., he was a member of the Class of 1942 at Yale University, where he was president of the Yale Dramatic Society.