Apogee plans $12 million expansion

Apogee Enterprises Inc. is allotting $12 million to an expanion of its architectural glass manufacturing capacity, its fastest growing business segment. Apogee announced its expansion plans in the same press release where it reported revenue of its architectural activities rose 21 percent during the second quarter of the company´s fiscal 2005, to $125.2 million. The company´s other main activities, making large-scale optical glass and auto glass, declined by 17 percent and 28 percent respectively to $17.7 million for optical technologies and $8 million for auto glass. For the quarter ended Aug. 28, Bloomington-based Apogee reported total revenue of $151 million, up 11 percent compared to sales of $135.8 million in the same period last year. Net earnings were $4.3 million, or 16 cents per share, compared to a loss of $1.9 million, or 7 cents per share in the previous year. Based on these numbers, Apogee chairman and CEO Russell Huffer increased its earnings guidance for fiscal 2005 to a range of 45 to 55 cents per share, up from a range of 35 to 50 cents per share. According to Yahoo Finance, the one analyst following the company is more optimistic than Apogee, predicting full fiscal 2005 earnings of 58 cents per share.