LanVision Systems boosted profits by slashing costs. Multi-Color increased its label offerings and its market penetration. Ceco Environmental finally started seeing the benefits of its acquisition of Kirk & Blum two years ago.

Ceco Environmental Co. officers Richard Blum (right), the president, and Marshall J. Morris, chief financial officer, tour the production floor where the company makes industrial ventilation and pollution control systems. (Dick Swaim photo) | ZOOM |

        The winners each have their own story. But the losers share one: recession.

        A weak economy and weaker stock market took down some venerable Greater Cincinnati names in 2001. Stock in Broadwing fell 58.4 percent for the year, Provident Financial Group Inc. declined 29.9 percent, and Kroger Co. closed down 22.9 percent.

        They were among 37 of the Enquirer 80 Index of local interest stocks that finished 2001 in negative territory.

        But buoyed by the index's 43 gainers, the Enquirer 80 as a whole finished up 6.5 percent and handily beat major indexes.

        “Some of it's a quality thing,” said Marilyn Osborn, investment adviser with Bartlett & Co., downtown.

        But some also were recovering from “near-death experiences,” Ms. Osborn said. LanVision Systems finished 2000 at 72 cents a share, the lowest-priced local issue at the time. It was the biggest gainer is 2001, climbing 495.5 percent.

        Other companies topping the list also were small companies, following the national trend. Smaller companies tend to do better coming out of recessions, Ms. Osborn said.

        But the biggest commonality among 2001's winner stocks was profits. For different reasons, each saw its profits boom in a year many others busted.

        Biggest loser Broadwing, the parent company of Cincinnati Bell, is expected to announce this month that it lost money for the ninth consecutive quarter. Delta Air Lines, down 41.7 percent, expects it lost money in 2001 for the first time in seven years.

        But look at LanVision again. The medical records software maker lost money or posted zero earnings per share on continuing operations for 19 consecutive quarters before recording a profit in the period ended January 2001.

        “We had a big hole we climbed out of,” said Brian Patsy, LanVision's chairman and CEO. “We spent the last three years in a remarkable transition.”

        The company switched to distributors from the direct-sales force it spent so much time and money to build. The move allowed it to slash costs while keeping revenues steady.

        Mr. Patsy said that transition alone accounts for much of the company's turnaround in profits — actually making money instead of losing in four of the last five quarters — and the fivefold stock price increase, to end the year at $4.28.

        But he said there's more to come. Revenues are expected to rise next, as hospitals rush to comply with new federal regulations on patient privacy and medical record confidentiality.

        “The vectors are coming together here,” Mr. Patsy said. “We're in the best position we've ever been in in the entire life of the company.”

        Gaining 219.4 percent, Multi-Color Corp. finished the year second behind LanVision — after reporting in October a 68 percent increase in fiscal second-quarter earnings. The company attributed the earnings gains to greater variety in its label offerings and increased market penetration.

        Third place went to General Cable Corp., a Highland Heights company that makes cable for communication and energy markets. An exception to the positive profit picture, General Cable struggled this fall and warned analysts it would earn less money than expected.

        But the company also has made significant strides in reducing its debt, said Martin Malloy, analyst at Hibernia Southcoast Capital. It also is well-positioned for a national economic recovery.

        Indeed, the stock rose 33 percent in the fourth quarter, completing a 195.2 percent annual gain to close Monday at $13.10. “Should the economy turn positive, General Cable should benefit,” Mr. Malloy said.

        Dayton electronics retailer Rex Stores was the fourth top gainer for the year, rising 152.8 percent to Monday's close of $28.01. The company reported last month that it's earnings per share had increased 72 percent, helped mostly by increasing margins and decreasing interest expenses.

        Analysts expect Rex Stores earnings to grow continue growing at a double-digit pace.

        Ceco Environmental's earnings were held back because of the recession in 2001, though the air-quality system firm posted last fall its second quarterly profit in two years. Ceco bought local company Kirk & Blum in December 1999, moving its headquarters to Cincinnati and assuming most of its management.

        The synergies of that merger are just now being realized, Rick Blum, Ceco's president, said. Ceco's equipment and technology, along with Kirk & Blum's systems expertise, allowed the new firm to win $8 million in contracts that neither company would have gotten individually, Mr. Blum said.

        Ceco was the fifth top gainer, up 140 percent for the year.

        “It's still coming — we're not where we want to be by any stretch of the imagination,” Mr. Blum said. “We haven't realized our full potential.”

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