Tulsa World: Week in review

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Week in review
A look back at the week's top stories

Angie DeVore-Green sits inside her music bar, Enso, one of three clubs she is opening at 104 S. Detroit Ave. The smaller one will become the Electric Circus, a DJ and dance venue, and the larger will be called the IDL Ballroom. STEPHEN HOLMAN/Tulsa World

By Staff Reports
Published: 11/8/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 11/8/2009 4:42 AM

AAON profits fall again despite cut in work force

Profits fell for the second straight quarter at AAON Inc., and the Tulsa company revealed Monday that it has trimmed about a quarter of its work force during the last year, including about 140 people in Tulsa.

AAON, which makes rooftop heating and air-conditioning units, said third-quarter earnings were down 8 percent from the year-ago period to $7.7 million. It also said its work force is now leaner by about 380 people.

Compared with a year earlier, third-quarter sales were down 26 percent to $58.5 million.

"We expect the downturn in the economy, which we experienced to an even greater extent in the third quarter, will continue to impact our business for the foreseeable future," CEO Norman Asbjornson said.

For the year, sales are down 13 percent and earnings down 4 percent. AAON executives expect the rest of this year, as well as next year, to be rough for the industry.

— Kyle Arnold, World Staff Writer

Site Selection magazine ranks state No. 18

Site Selection magazine has ranked Oklahoma No. 18 on its Top Business Climate for 2009 list.

The ranking of the top 25 states is based, in part, on a survey of corporate real estate executives as well as a plant database that tracks new and expanded business facility activity.

North Carolina had the No. 1-ranked business climate, followed by Texas and Virginia.

Oklahoma's ranking rose from No. 24 in 2008. In 2007, the state ranked

No. 15.

— Laurie Winslow, World Staff Writer

Gas shipments boost Magellan's third quarter

Record gasoline shipments helped Magellan Midstream Partners LP record a third-quarter profit of $54.2 million, the Tulsa storer and transporter of refined petroleum announced Tuesday.

Net income was still down from the $69.4 million generated in the same three months last year. The third quarter of 2008, however, benefited from unusually high product margins, officials said.

Once those product margins and other accounting implications are excluded, Magellan actually had higher earnings in this year's third quarter.

Gasoline shipments set a quarterly record and were 7 percent higher than 2008's third quarter, even excluding the negative impact of Hurricane Ike last year.

Magellan's pipeline and terminal assets move refined petroleum products north from the Gulf Coast.

— Rod Walton, World Staff Writer

Earnings, revenue fall at Matrix Service

Matrix Service Co. of Tulsa said Tuesday that net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 dropped to $4.5 million, or 17 cents per fully diluted share, on revenues of $137.7 million.

Operating results in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30, included a charge related to a legal matter of $1.2 million, or 3 cents per fully diluted share, the company said.

For the same period a year earlier, net income was $9.5 million, or 36 cents per fully diluted share, and revenues were $186.7 million.

-From Staff Reports

Lower natural gas prices hurt ONEOK profits

ONEOK Inc. and its subsidiary, ONEOK Partners LP, reaped significant third-quarter profits despite lower natural gas prices compared with the same time last year, the Tulsa companies announced Tuesday.

ONEOK Inc.'s net income totaled $48 million while ONEOK Partners' profit hit $121.5 million.

Both natural gas companies' quarterly profits were down from 2008's third quarter, however, because of lower commodity prices, officials said.

ONEOK Inc.'s net income in the most recent quarter was 45 cents per diluted share, compared with $58 million, or 55 cents per diluted share, in the same period last year.

Net income for the nine months ending Sept. 30 was $212 million, or $2.00 per diluted share, compared with $243.7 million, or $2.30 per diluted share, in the same period last year.

ONEOK Partners's most recent quarterly net income compared with $203.9 million in the same period in 2008.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, net income at ONEOK Partners was $318.6 million, or $2.67 per share, down from $503.4 million, or $4.93 per share, in the same period in 2008.

— Rod Walton, World Staff Writer

Unit Corp. earnings down two-thirds from 2008

Unit Corp. of Tulsa announced Tuesday that it had net income of $31.4 million, or 66 cents per diluted share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $92.3 million, or $1.96 per diluted share, in the same period of last year.

Total revenues were $167.4 million, versus $375.6 million for the third quarter of 2008.

For the first nine months of 2009, Unit reported a net loss of $84.0 million, or $1.79 per diluted share, compared with net income of $263.5 million, or $5.61 per diluted share, for the same nine months of 2008.

Included in the 2009 results was a $281.2 million ($175.1 million after tax, or $3.71 per diluted share) noncash ceiling test write-down that took place in the first quarter.

Excluding the write-down, net income for the first nine months of 2009 would have been $91.1 million, or $1.92 per diluted share.

Total revenues for the first nine months of 2009 were $532.6 million, down from $1.1 billion in the same period of 2008.

-From Staff Reports

Yuba plant sold again; buyer mum on future

The Tulsa manufacturer Yuba Heat Transfer LLC is being sold to its competitor SPX Corp., the second ownership change for the company in five years.

Yuba's plant at 2121 N. 161st East Ave. makes heat exchanger units for power generation plants. It employs about 300 people.

The company, which has been based in Tulsa since 1928, was sold in 2004 to Connell Limited Partnership, a holding company in Boston for several industrial manufacturing firms. Before that Yuba was owned by Alstom, a French company.

SPX, in announcing the acquisition Tuesday from its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., did not disclose its plans for Yuba or terms of the deal.

— Kyle Arnold, World Staff Writer

Jenks development to be WiFi hot zone

Village on Main, the $60 million retail, office, residential and hotel development planned for Jenks, is set to receive what could possibly become the largest privately funded WiFi hot zone in the state.

Cox Communications Inc. has agreed to provide fiber-optic infrastructure for Village on Main to connect businesses there with Internet, voice and HD video capabilities. At the same time, Cox will place up to a dozen access points for free, publicly available wireless Internet, or WiFi, said Gerald Ferguson, the director of product development at Cox Business.

"This will be the largest hot zone we've created in the state," he said.

— Robert Evatt, World Staff Writer

Profit falls by half at Arena Resources

Arena Resources Inc. announced Thursday that its third-quarter profit fell 55 percent.

The Tulsa company's net income was $12.11 million, or 31 cents per fully diluted share, compared with $26.92 million, or 69 cents per fully diluted share, for the same period in 2008.

Arena had oil and gas revenues of $36.06 million, a 47 percent decrease from the $68.41 million it received for last year's quarter.

The revenue decrease was due to significant declines in commodity prices and a slight drop in oil production volumes, partially offset by higher natural gas volumes, the company said.

-From Staff Reports

Newly purchased bank to open Tulsa branches soon

First Oklahoma Holdings Inc. completed its purchase Wednesday of Glencoe State Bank. It has moved its headquarters to Tulsa and has changed its name to First Oklahoma Bank.

The headquarters is now on the 57th floor of CityPlex Towers at 81st Street and Lewis Avenue. The building houses the bank's executive and lending offices, and by January the bank will have a full-service branch on the ground floor.

First Oklahoma also is opening a second branch at 41st Street and Rockford Avenue. A temporary, modular office will open Monday at the site of the future branch, said Tom Bennett Jr., the bank's chairman and co-CEO. The permanent branch building is expected to open in August.

The bank's full-service Glencoe office will remain open with all of its staff.

— Laurie Winslow, World Staff Writer

Home sales up in Sept. but down for year

After a rough August, Tulsa-area home sales improved significantly in September and came within two properties of matching total sales in September 2008.

Approximately 1,057 properties changed hands in September, up 9 percent from August, according to the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors.

Total year-to-date sales now stand at 8,299, down 8.7 percent from the first nine months of last year.

September's performance reverses the 15.3 percent month-over-month sales dip recorded in August. Month-over-month sales had increased in June and July.

Pending contracts, which can be an indication of the next month's sales performance, were down slightly from August but still significantly higher than the number in September 2008.

Although the average sales price of $147,202 was down from both last month and last year, the median — the point at which half the sales are greater and half are lower — was significantly above both last month and last year at $128,036.

— Robert Evatt, World Staff Writer By Staff Reports

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