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H2O Innovation secures loan to repay convertible unsecured debenture
NEWS/IN BRIEF
Lydall divests Affinity
L
ydall Inc has completed the sale of Lydall Industrial Thermal Solutions Inc (Affinity), a designer and manufacturer of high performance industrial chillers and heat exchangers to Lytron Inc for US$14 million. “The divestiture of Affinity is clearly in line with our efforts to transform Lydall into a more focused organisation,” said Dale Barnhart, CEO and president of Lydall. “With our strong balance sheet, new credit facility and the proceeds from this sale, Lydall is very well positioned to pursue its organic growth initiatives as well as potential acquisitions,” Barnhart added. Lydall is now focused on specialty engineered products for the thermal/acoustical and filtration/separation markets. For further information, visit www.lydall.com
Desal market to exceed US$13bn in 2015
W
orld demand for water desalination products and services is expected to increase 9.3% annually to reach US$13.4 billion in 2015, according to World Water Desalination, a new study from The Freedonia Group Inc. While the global economic downturn has slowed growth in new desalination capacity, there will be strong gains in nearly every significant desalination market and particularly in the Asia/Pacific region. The Middle East and North Africa currently account for about two-thirds of global demand for desalination products and services. Freedonia expects reverse osmosis and other membrane-based technologies to increase their share of the market in the Africa/Mideast region, especially in countries with water shortages that also lack abundant domestic energy supplies, such as Algeria and Israel. In the US, which is the largest market outside the Middle East, Freedonia says that population growth and economic development in areas with insufficient water supplies (or brackish water supplies) will boost demand for membrane elements and other products used in membrane systems.
July 2011
Much of the Asia/Pacific region growth will be in China and India. World Water Desalination is available for US$5900 from The Freedonia Group Inc. For further information, visit www.freedoniagroup.com
Duoyuan Global Water delays filing annual report
C
hina’s Duoyuan Global Water Inc’s will delay filing its annual report with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2010 until an ongoing investigation has been completed. The Form 20-F filing was originally due on 30 June 2011. The Special Investigation Committee of the company’s board of directors is conducting an independent investigation into certain accounting and financial reporting matters. Duoyuan Global Water says that the investigation continues to make progress and currently includes review of documents, interviews of key personnel and examination of financial records. Trading in the company’s ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange was halted in April 2011. Duoyuan Global Water is optimistic that trading will resume once the special investigation has been completed and the annual report has been filed. For further information, visit www.duoyuan-hq.com
H2O Innovation secures loan to repay convertible unsecured debenture
H
2O Innovation Inc has entered into a C$2 million loan agreement with Le Fonds de développement de la Confédération des syndicats nationaux pour la coopération et l’emploi (Fondaction). H2O Innovation intends to use a portion of the loan to repay the convertible unsecured debenture issued in favour of an institutional investor as part of a private placement completed in July 2008.
In Brief • Buffalo Filter has completed its brand new state-of-the-art corporate headquarters in Lancaster, New York. The first shipments have left the new 50 000 sq ft facility. www.buffalofilter.com • Construction work has started on GEA Westfalia Separator Group’s new separator production building in Oelde, Germany. www.westfalia-separator.com • Dutch advanced water treatment technology firm PWN Technologies (PWNT) is planning to establish its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. www.pwntechnologies.nl • Sinomem Technology Ltd was delisted from the Official List of the Singapore Stock Exchange on 30 June 2011, following Clean Water Investment Ltd’s acquisition of the membrane technology company (see Filtration Industry Analyst, March 2011). www.sinomem.com • Donaldson Co’s Nicholasville, Kentucky plant has received the Governor’s Safety and Health Award from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet for the second year. The award gives special recognition for outstanding safety and health performance. “This award demonstrates our continued commitment to creating and maintaining a safe work environment for our employees,” said Tony James, Donaldson Nicholasville plant manager. “For the past three years, our 240 employees worked over 1.2 million hours without a single Lost Time Incident. This translates into higher productivity and employee morale in the workplace.” www.donaldson.com • Lydall Filtration/Separation Inc has announced a general price increase for orders shipped on or after 12 September 2011. This is due to continuing increases in raw material costs such as glass fiber, resins, energy and freight. The price increase covers all products and areas of Lydall Filtration/ Separation’s global business, varying by product line. Microglass products will see increases of 6–8%. Prices of synthetic products will increase up by to 12%, depending on the structure of pricing agreements currently in place. www.lydall.com
Filtration Industry Analyst
5
DIVIDENDS/NEWS
Dividends • Cummins Inc has increased its quarterly cash dividend on common stock by 52% to US$0.40 per share from US$0.2625 per share. The dividend is payable on 1 September 2011 to shareholders of record on 22 August 2011. Cummins last raised its dividend in July 2010. “Cummins had its most profitable year in its history in 2010 and we expect that 2011 will be an even better year,” said Cummins chairman and CEO Tim Solso. “As a result, we are further rewarding our shareholders for their support.” www.cummins.com • Pentair Inc’s regular quarterly cash dividend of US$0.20 per share will be paid on 12 August 2011 to shareholders of record on 29 July 2011. www.pentair.com • A US$0.175 per share dividend will be paid on 19 August 2011 to Pall Corp shareholders of record on 5 August 2011. www.pall.com • An ordinary dividend of SEK1.50 per share was paid to Nederman shareholders in the second quarter, amounting to a total payment of SEK17.5 million. www.nederman.com • Hamworthy’s board is recommending a final ordinary dividend of 6.73p per share. If approved by shareholders this would result in a total dividend declared in respect of the year of 10.09p per share when added to the interim dividend of 3.36p per share paid in December 2010. www.hamworthy.co.uk • Crane Co has announced a 13% increase in its quarterly dividend to US$0.26 per share from US$0.23 per share. The dividend is payable on 9 September 2011 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on 31 August 2011. The indicated annual dividend rate will now be US$1.04 per share. www.craneco.com • Eaton Corp’s quarterly US$0.34 per common share dividend wil be paid on 26 August 2011, to shareholders of record on 8 August 2011. Eaton has paid dividends on common shares every year since 1923. www.eaton.com
6
Filtration Industry Analyst
The loan will bear interest at an annual rate of 11% and will be repaid in 48 monthly installments from July 2012. H2O Innovation will repay the loan and the installments with its working capital and other liquidities. As additional consideration for the loan, H2O Innovation has issued 1 million common share purchase warrants. Each Fondaction warrant entitles Fondaction to purchase one common share of the share capital of the company at a price of C$0.50 for 30 months following the closing of the transaction. Fondaction invests in Québec SMEs in order to help in maintaining and creating jobs in Québec, in a sustainable development perspective. For further information, visit www.h2oinnovation.com and www.fondaction.com
ProSep extends product range
W
ith the launch of a customised seawater treatment and water injection offering, ProSep Inc can now provide the oil & gas industry with treatment equipment at every stage of upstream processing. “Our Seawater Treatment and Water Injection subject matter experts now offer our clients in-house expertise in conventional solutions which involve the use of media filters as well as in the latest technology of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. In the context of increasingly challenging production environments, this is a promising addition to ProSep’s extensive range of technologies as water injection is a key process to stimulate oil recovery and we estimate this market’s annual value to represent approximately US$500 million,” said Jacques Drouin, ProSep president and CEO. For further information, visit www.prosep.com
Joint venture promotes bio-desulphurisation
S
hell and Dutch water purifier Paques Holding BV, have formed a 50/50 joint venture, Paqell BV, to focus on marketing biological desulphurisation in the oil and gas sector for high pressure gas applications using Paques’ THIOPAQ O&G (Oil & Gas) technology.
The Thiopaq process uses natural occurring bacteria for sulphur recovery and produces biosulphur for direct land use in fertilizer and fungicide applications, or standard Clausquality sulphur. It is suitable for use with gas, natural gas, flared gas, acid gas, and oil refining. Thiopaq has been deployed by Paques in the water business for atmospheric biogas desulphurisation since the early 1990s. Following an alliance with Shell in 1997, Paques deployed the process in the broader oil and gas industry, particularly in large scale H2S removal and sulphur recovery. “This joint venture is the achievement of our strategy of continuous innovation and forming partnerships for product and market development. We therefore look forward to an even closer cooperation with Shell,” said Rob Heim, managing director of Paques Holding. A research and development programe will be concluded by the end of the year. Once the programme is successfully completed, Paqell will operate from the Watercampus in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. In the meantime, Paqell will be based in Leeuwarden, Amsterdam and Balk in the Netherlands. For further information, visit www.paqell.com and www.shell.com
Energy Recovery consolidates manufacturing operations
E
nergy Recovery Inc is moving its pump and turbocharger assembly operations from Michigan to the company’s existing headquarters and production centre in San Leandro, California. Energy Recovery expects the consolidation to significantly reduce costs, improve efficiencies and enhance research and development efforts. “While we regret the impact of the plan on our Michigan employees, consolidation is the right decision for our shareholders and customers,” said Thomas Rooney, CEO of Energy Recovery. “This is a great opportunity for the company to streamline its manufacturing operations, reduce production costs and improve its financial performance. In keeping with our corporate strategy to diversify into new strategic market segments of large addressable size, the consolidation will also allow us to accelerate the launch of next-generation products.” For further information, visit www.energyrecovery.com
July 2011
Lydall divests Affinity
L
ydall Inc has completed the sale of Lydall Industrial Thermal Solutions Inc (Affinity), a designer and manufacturer of high performance industrial chillers and heat exchangers to Lytron Inc for US$14 million. “The divestiture of Affinity is clearly in line with our efforts to transform Lydall into a more focused organisation,” said Dale Barnhart, CEO and president of Lydall. “With our strong balance sheet, new credit facility and the proceeds from this sale, Lydall is very well positioned to pursue its organic growth initiatives as well as potential acquisitions,” Barnhart added. Lydall is now focused on specialty engineered products for the thermal/acoustical and filtration/separation markets. For further information, visit www.lydall.com
Desal market to exceed US$13bn in 2015
W
orld demand for water desalination products and services is expected to increase 9.3% annually to reach US$13.4 billion in 2015, according to World Water Desalination, a new study from The Freedonia Group Inc. While the global economic downturn has slowed growth in new desalination capacity, there will be strong gains in nearly every significant desalination market and particularly in the Asia/Pacific region. The Middle East and North Africa currently account for about two-thirds of global demand for desalination products and services. Freedonia expects reverse osmosis and other membrane-based technologies to increase their share of the market in the Africa/Mideast region, especially in countries with water shortages that also lack abundant domestic energy supplies, such as Algeria and Israel. In the US, which is the largest market outside the Middle East, Freedonia says that population growth and economic development in areas with insufficient water supplies (or brackish water supplies) will boost demand for membrane elements and other products used in membrane systems.
July 2011
Much of the Asia/Pacific region growth will be in China and India. World Water Desalination is available for US$5900 from The Freedonia Group Inc. For further information, visit www.freedoniagroup.com
Duoyuan Global Water delays filing annual report
C
hina’s Duoyuan Global Water Inc’s will delay filing its annual report with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2010 until an ongoing investigation has been completed. The Form 20-F filing was originally due on 30 June 2011. The Special Investigation Committee of the company’s board of directors is conducting an independent investigation into certain accounting and financial reporting matters. Duoyuan Global Water says that the investigation continues to make progress and currently includes review of documents, interviews of key personnel and examination of financial records. Trading in the company’s ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange was halted in April 2011. Duoyuan Global Water is optimistic that trading will resume once the special investigation has been completed and the annual report has been filed. For further information, visit www.duoyuan-hq.com
H2O Innovation secures loan to repay convertible unsecured debenture
H
2O Innovation Inc has entered into a C$2 million loan agreement with Le Fonds de développement de la Confédération des syndicats nationaux pour la coopération et l’emploi (Fondaction). H2O Innovation intends to use a portion of the loan to repay the convertible unsecured debenture issued in favour of an institutional investor as part of a private placement completed in July 2008.
In Brief • Buffalo Filter has completed its brand new state-of-the-art corporate headquarters in Lancaster, New York. The first shipments have left the new 50 000 sq ft facility. www.buffalofilter.com • Construction work has started on GEA Westfalia Separator Group’s new separator production building in Oelde, Germany. www.westfalia-separator.com • Dutch advanced water treatment technology firm PWN Technologies (PWNT) is planning to establish its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. www.pwntechnologies.nl • Sinomem Technology Ltd was delisted from the Official List of the Singapore Stock Exchange on 30 June 2011, following Clean Water Investment Ltd’s acquisition of the membrane technology company (see Filtration Industry Analyst, March 2011). www.sinomem.com • Donaldson Co’s Nicholasville, Kentucky plant has received the Governor’s Safety and Health Award from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet for the second year. The award gives special recognition for outstanding safety and health performance. “This award demonstrates our continued commitment to creating and maintaining a safe work environment for our employees,” said Tony James, Donaldson Nicholasville plant manager. “For the past three years, our 240 employees worked over 1.2 million hours without a single Lost Time Incident. This translates into higher productivity and employee morale in the workplace.” www.donaldson.com • Lydall Filtration/Separation Inc has announced a general price increase for orders shipped on or after 12 September 2011. This is due to continuing increases in raw material costs such as glass fiber, resins, energy and freight. The price increase covers all products and areas of Lydall Filtration/ Separation’s global business, varying by product line. Microglass products will see increases of 6–8%. Prices of synthetic products will increase up by to 12%, depending on the structure of pricing agreements currently in place. www.lydall.com
Filtration Industry Analyst
5
DIVIDENDS/NEWS
Dividends • Cummins Inc has increased its quarterly cash dividend on common stock by 52% to US$0.40 per share from US$0.2625 per share. The dividend is payable on 1 September 2011 to shareholders of record on 22 August 2011. Cummins last raised its dividend in July 2010. “Cummins had its most profitable year in its history in 2010 and we expect that 2011 will be an even better year,” said Cummins chairman and CEO Tim Solso. “As a result, we are further rewarding our shareholders for their support.” www.cummins.com • Pentair Inc’s regular quarterly cash dividend of US$0.20 per share will be paid on 12 August 2011 to shareholders of record on 29 July 2011. www.pentair.com • A US$0.175 per share dividend will be paid on 19 August 2011 to Pall Corp shareholders of record on 5 August 2011. www.pall.com • An ordinary dividend of SEK1.50 per share was paid to Nederman shareholders in the second quarter, amounting to a total payment of SEK17.5 million. www.nederman.com • Hamworthy’s board is recommending a final ordinary dividend of 6.73p per share. If approved by shareholders this would result in a total dividend declared in respect of the year of 10.09p per share when added to the interim dividend of 3.36p per share paid in December 2010. www.hamworthy.co.uk • Crane Co has announced a 13% increase in its quarterly dividend to US$0.26 per share from US$0.23 per share. The dividend is payable on 9 September 2011 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on 31 August 2011. The indicated annual dividend rate will now be US$1.04 per share. www.craneco.com • Eaton Corp’s quarterly US$0.34 per common share dividend wil be paid on 26 August 2011, to shareholders of record on 8 August 2011. Eaton has paid dividends on common shares every year since 1923. www.eaton.com
6
Filtration Industry Analyst
The loan will bear interest at an annual rate of 11% and will be repaid in 48 monthly installments from July 2012. H2O Innovation will repay the loan and the installments with its working capital and other liquidities. As additional consideration for the loan, H2O Innovation has issued 1 million common share purchase warrants. Each Fondaction warrant entitles Fondaction to purchase one common share of the share capital of the company at a price of C$0.50 for 30 months following the closing of the transaction. Fondaction invests in Québec SMEs in order to help in maintaining and creating jobs in Québec, in a sustainable development perspective. For further information, visit www.h2oinnovation.com and www.fondaction.com
ProSep extends product range
W
ith the launch of a customised seawater treatment and water injection offering, ProSep Inc can now provide the oil & gas industry with treatment equipment at every stage of upstream processing. “Our Seawater Treatment and Water Injection subject matter experts now offer our clients in-house expertise in conventional solutions which involve the use of media filters as well as in the latest technology of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. In the context of increasingly challenging production environments, this is a promising addition to ProSep’s extensive range of technologies as water injection is a key process to stimulate oil recovery and we estimate this market’s annual value to represent approximately US$500 million,” said Jacques Drouin, ProSep president and CEO. For further information, visit www.prosep.com
Joint venture promotes bio-desulphurisation
S
hell and Dutch water purifier Paques Holding BV, have formed a 50/50 joint venture, Paqell BV, to focus on marketing biological desulphurisation in the oil and gas sector for high pressure gas applications using Paques’ THIOPAQ O&G (Oil & Gas) technology.
The Thiopaq process uses natural occurring bacteria for sulphur recovery and produces biosulphur for direct land use in fertilizer and fungicide applications, or standard Clausquality sulphur. It is suitable for use with gas, natural gas, flared gas, acid gas, and oil refining. Thiopaq has been deployed by Paques in the water business for atmospheric biogas desulphurisation since the early 1990s. Following an alliance with Shell in 1997, Paques deployed the process in the broader oil and gas industry, particularly in large scale H2S removal and sulphur recovery. “This joint venture is the achievement of our strategy of continuous innovation and forming partnerships for product and market development. We therefore look forward to an even closer cooperation with Shell,” said Rob Heim, managing director of Paques Holding. A research and development programe will be concluded by the end of the year. Once the programme is successfully completed, Paqell will operate from the Watercampus in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. In the meantime, Paqell will be based in Leeuwarden, Amsterdam and Balk in the Netherlands. For further information, visit www.paqell.com and www.shell.com
Energy Recovery consolidates manufacturing operations
E
nergy Recovery Inc is moving its pump and turbocharger assembly operations from Michigan to the company’s existing headquarters and production centre in San Leandro, California. Energy Recovery expects the consolidation to significantly reduce costs, improve efficiencies and enhance research and development efforts. “While we regret the impact of the plan on our Michigan employees, consolidation is the right decision for our shareholders and customers,” said Thomas Rooney, CEO of Energy Recovery. “This is a great opportunity for the company to streamline its manufacturing operations, reduce production costs and improve its financial performance. In keeping with our corporate strategy to diversify into new strategic market segments of large addressable size, the consolidation will also allow us to accelerate the launch of next-generation products.” For further information, visit www.energyrecovery.com
July 2011