Tax credits for four business expansions in the Cincinnati area, expected to add more than 100 jobs in the next three years, will be considered Monday by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority:
Hy-Tek Material Handling Inc., which sells and rents material handling equipment, is seeking a 50 percent, five-year credit on a $1.6 million investment in a new, 35,000-square-foot building in Fairfield to replace a smaller, leased facility in Sharonville. The company, which also wants real and personal property tax abatements from Fairfield, said the project would add 28 jobs to the 22 it now employs. GE unit lands 10-year engine-service contract
GE Engine Services (GEES) Thursday said it won a 10-year engine maintenance and repair agreement from Continental Airlines valued at $1 billion.
The agreement, one of GEES' largest, covers CFM56 and CF6 jet engines in Continental's aircraft fleet. The CF6 engines are built solely by GE Aircraft Engines, and the CFM56 power plants are assembled in a venture of GE and Snecma of France.
The CFM56 engine service will be handled at GE's Strother operation in Arkansas City, Kan., and the CF6 work will be done in Prestwick, Scotland.
Spanish airline to buy engines from CFM
CFM International, the joint venture of GE Aircraft Engines of Evendale and Snecma of France, has won engine orders valued at more than $800 million from Iberia Airlines, Spain's national carrier and a longtime CFMI customer.
Iberia ordered more than 150 CFM56-5B - P engines to power 50 A320-family jetliners built by Airbus Industrie and 26 aircraft it holds options to buy. It's the largest order by a European airline for the twin-engine, A320-family jet, which competes with Boeing's family of 737 aircraft.
The CFM56s are assembled in Evendale and at Snecma's plant near Villaroche, France. Deliveries are slated to start next year and extend through 2004.
Chiquita-related company buys mushroom business
A company controlled by Chiquita Brands International has bought Campbell Soup Co.'s Australian mushroom business for $18 million in cash and stock.
Chiquita Brands South Pacific also has banana, berry and vegetable operations in Australia.
Campbell has been selling unprofitable businesses in the last two years and using the proceeds to buy back its stock and spend more on advertising its mainstay soups, Pace sauces and Pepperidge Farm cookies.
