FirstEnergy profits, income decline

FirstEnergy profits, income decline

AKRON

FirstEnergy Corp.’s profits fell 33 percent compared with last year.

The statistics were part of the Akron-based company’s second-quarter earnings report released Tuesday.

“These results are in line with our expectations,” said Anthony Alexander, First-Energy president and CEO, in a release.

“We have already made significant progress in realizing benefits from the merger with Allegheny Energy, and we remain confident that we will achieve our 2011 merger targets.”

Net income for the second quarter was $171 million, down from $256 during the second quarter of 2010.

Income declined for a variety of reasons, including power-plant shutdowns.

Local business opens new facility

NILES

Niles Expanded Metals & Plastics has officially opened its new state-of-the-art research-and-development and expanded mesh- manufacturing facility, 310 N. Pleasant Ave.

The company recently expanded its facility by 7,000 square feet and remodeled 20,000 square feet of warehouse space into manufacturing space.

The company added three new custom-designed production lines, slitting machines and specialized toll-processing equipment.

Niles Expanded develops, manufacture and distributes expanded materials.

Ohio Lottery sets new sales record

CLEVELAND

The Ohio Lottery had record sales last year, even as the state faced a sluggish recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

State officials said Monday the lottery pulled in its largest haul ever with $2.6 billion in sales during the budget year that ended June 30. The commission beat the previous year’s sales by $108 million.

It’s the 10th-consecutive year the lottery has seen a sales increase.

The lottery says it has poured $738.8 million in annual profits into a state education fund. That marks the second-largest contribution in the lottery’s history.

The largest was in 1997, when the lottery contributed $748.8 million to schools.

Lottery Interim Director Dennis Berg says more than half of the sales came from instant-ticket games.

Staff/wire reports