November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Bioheart, Inc. (OTCBB: BHRT) has elected Lee Jones to its board. Jones, who will serve as an independent director on Bioheart’s board, has been the chief administrative officer of the Schulze Diabetes Institute at the University of Minnesota since June 2009.
Jones served from 1997 to 2005 as president and chief executive officer of Inlet Medical, which specializes in minimally interventional laparoscopic products.
Prior to joining Inlet, she had a 14-year career at Medtronic, where she held various technical and operating positions, most recently serving as director and general manager of the company’s urology and interstim division.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) has been awarded a $21 million contract by the U.S. Army to supply various types of non-standard, or non-NATO, weapon systems for the security forces of Afghanistan.
The contract runs through fall 2010, and represents ATK's expansion into the supply of non-standard small-caliber and crew-served weapon systems.
This is ATK's third contract from the U.S. Army to supply non-standard products to the security forces of Afghanistan.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Organic Alliance, Inc. (OTC: ORGC) has promoted president and chief operating officer Parker Booth to chief executive officer effective December 1. Booth will continue to serve as president of the company.
Tom Morrison, who previously served as chairman and CEO at Organic Alliance, will remain as chairman of the firm’s board.
Salinas, California-based Organic Alliance is a provider of certified-organic and conventional fresh foods in the global marketplace.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Span-America Medical Systems, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: SPAN) board has increased the company’s quarterly cash dividend by 11%, to $0.10 per share. The dividend is payable December 4 to shareholders of record on November 20.
In a statement, company CEO Jim Ferguson said the increase, “highlights our solid earnings and cash flow performance in fiscal 2009 and our excellent financial condition.”
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Sypris Solutions, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: SYPR) Sypris Electronics, LLC subsidiary has been awarded a contract from the United States Department of Defense for its Raskl electronic key fill device. DOD uses key fill products for loading keying data into secure communication equipments.
The contract is for a five-year period with a not-to-exceed value of $200 million. It is in support of a DoD’s modernization effort to replace an aging key fill device. The Sypris product was designed and will be produced at the Sypris Electronics facility located in Tampa, Florida.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Andrea Redmond, 53, has been elected to board of insurer The Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) effective January 1, 2010. Redmond spent 20 years at Russell Reynolds Associates, where she as managing director and co-head of the firm’s chief executive officer and board services practices.
Since 2007, Redmond has been an independent consultant providing executive recruiting, succession planning and talent management services to senior executives.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Metabolix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLX) has priced a public offering of three million newly issued shares of its common stock at $9 per share. Jefferies & Co. (NYSE: JEF) and Thomas Weisel Partners (NASDAQ: TWPG) are the underwriters.
The company will see gross proceeds of around $27 million. Metabolix has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 450,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments. If the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, gross proceeds will be around $31 million. The offering is scheduled to close on November 16.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — The U.S. Navy has awarded a four-year production contract to Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) for ARC-210 radios. The contract has a potential value of $450 million over the four-year life of the program.
The company’s ARC-210 is installed on more than 180 platforms worldwide and is operating in more than 40 countries, according to Rockwell Collins. Domestically, ARC-210s are installed on a range of aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial systems across all the U.S. military services and the U.S. Coast Guard.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — PolyMedix Inc. (OTCBB: PYMX) (Current Market Cap: $56.85 Mil.) has priced a registered public offering of up to 21 million units consisting of shares and warrants for $1 per unit, for a total of up to $21 million in gross proceeds.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Bluestar Financial Group, Inc. (OTCBB: BSFG) said it has entered into a letter of intent to purchase all of the outstanding shares of YouChange, Inc., a “re-commerce” firm, in a stock for stock transaction.
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November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Frank Kollar) — Shares of the ETF Powershares QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: 
FirstAlert(tm) Daily 11/12: Wartime Lull
November 12, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Philip Holmes) — Stocks closed modestly higher after light Veterans Day trading. Financials benefitted from a sense that the economy is improving and there was even a bright point in the homebuilding sector, with Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) gaining on favorable news.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,291.26, up by 44.29 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 5.50 points on the day, to finish at 1,098.51. The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.82 points, and closed at 2,166.90.
ABC News released the results of its index of consumer comfort. The result? Consumers are more comfortable, at least for the week ended November 8. It was still a lousy result, with the index pegged at a negative 46.
At least some homebuilders are finding hope. Toll Brothers chief among them. The company’s shares gained on news that Toll had inked fourth-quarter sales results that were up 42% in units and 62% in dollars versus Q4 2008. Of note: cancellations of sales contracts are down.
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