The company said it expects revenues to grow in the mid-single digits. Operating profit growth will be in the low-single digits and operating free cash flow will be about $620 million, according to the company’s projections.

Pepsi Bottling also said that it will earn $1.02 to $1.06 a share in the third quarter. That would be 4 to 7 percent more than last year.

Revenues will rise 3 percent, the company said.

Haights Cross Communications Inc., the White Plains company that publishes educational and library materials, said it has completed the sale of its Sundance/Newbridge Publishing business to Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc. of Lanham, Md. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

White Plains-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which has been hit hard by the weakness in the U.S. economy, today announced a shake-up of its senior management team.

The company said one executive, Matt Ouimet, is leaving the company. Matthew E. Avril, the co-president of Starwood Vacation Ownership, will succeed Ouimet in the role of president of the company’s hotel group.

Avril, 47, will move to Starwood’s White Plains headquarters and oversee hotel operations worldwide. Avril, who has been with the company for 16 years, will also oversee the global sales organization.

Sergio Rivera, who has been co-head of Starwood Vacation Ownership, will now have sole responsibility for the business. Rivera, 46, the president and managing director of real estate development and co-president of vacation ownership, will become the chief executive of vacation ownership.

Rivera has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and more than 17 years with Starwood and its corporate predecessor.

Starwood, whose brands include Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis, earned $105 million, or 56 cents a share, in the second quarter, a drop from $145 million, or 67 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues were little changed.

Starwood said in a statement the moves are intended to put the company in a position for long-term growth.

Global buyout firm Advent International of Boston said it bought a 38 percent stake in Amscan Holdings Inc. of Elmsford, a major manufacturer, distributor and retailer of party goods and accessories in the United States.
The deal’s value was not disclosed. Last year Amscan had gross revenues of $1.7 billion. The investors who sold shares to Advent included Berkshire Partners and Weston Presidio, who both retain some ownership in Amscan, a company spokesman said.
Amscan Chief Executive Officer Gerry Rittenberg said Advent International has a long history of investing in the specialty retail sector. Amscan runs a network of more than 950 stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico under the brand names Party City, Party America, Factory Card & Party Outlet, The Paper Factory and Halloween USA.
In 2004, funds run by Goldman Sachs & Co. said they would sell their 71 percent stake in Amscan to Berkshire Partners and Weston Presidio in a deal valued at $540 million.

PsychoGenics Inc. of Eastview named John McCall to its Scientific Advisory Board, reflecting the company’s growth in the areas of drug discovery and development. McCall has more than 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry including senior positions at Pfizer, Pharmacia and Upjohn, the company said. McCall is president of PharMac LLC, a consultancy in Boca Raton, Fla.

Pepsi Bottling Group of Somers will manufacture and distribute Orange Crush and its related brands at PBG operations nationally under a licensing deal the bottler announced yesterday with Crush’s owner, Dr Pepper Snapple Group in Plano, Texas.

Crush has been around since 1906, but it is not a large brand. It accounted for just 15 million cases out of 10 billion cases of soft drinks sold last year, said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest in Bedford Hills.

Distribution currently is spotty around the country, but that’s likely to change with yesterday’s announcement, he said. Pepsi Bottling Group has operations in all or part of 41 states and the District of Columbia. The licensing deal gives PBG a perpetual right to the brand in about 80 percent of its territories.

“They get a small but well-known flavored soda brand, which has good potential for growth,” Sicher said.

Crush is available in less than 40 percent of the U.S. market, but the deal will nearly double that penetration, Pepsi Bottling Group said. Distribution will start in 2009. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The company already makes and distributes Crush in Canada.

“Our success with the Crush brand in Canada makes us feel good about the outlook in the U.S.,” PBG spokesman Jeff Dahncke said.

Orange and grape flavors account for a 5 percent share of the U.S. carbonated soft drink market, the company said. PBG, the world’s largest distributor of PepsiCo Inc. soft drinks, also distributes Dr Pepper.

Hypres Inc. of Elmsford, a developer of superconducting microelectronics technology and digital radio-frequency products, said it has delivered two Digital-RF receiver systems to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research. The systems are test beds for evaluating digital radio-frequency technology for wireless communications applications such as satellite and tactical communications, signals intelligence, electronic warfare and software-defined radio. Hypres has been working with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command on contracts related to the continued development of digital radio-frequency technology. Work on the two test bed systems was supported through an Office of Naval Research small business innovative research contract valued at $650,000. Deborah Van Vechten, the technical representative at the Office of Naval Research, said Hypres’ Digital-RF technology is relevant to the Defense Department’s goal of seamless military communications.

IBM Corp. plans to announce today that it will invest $300 million to expand its business continuity and resiliency unit amid growing worldwide demand for a service that helps companies operate in case of a natural disaster, power outage or terrorist strike.

The Armonk-based computer giant plans to build 13 new “business resilience centers” in 10 countries around the world by year’s end to give its clients speedy access to their data when their own offices or operations are disrupted.

Companies will have immediate access to their data, which will be stored in electronic “vaults” at IBM’s worldwide centers. Earlier this year, IBM completed a deal to buy Arsenal Digital Solutions, which supplied technology used in the vaults.

Philippe Jarre, general manager of business continuity and resiliency services, said IBM’s increasingly global customer base is asking for new centers where IBM did not need them before. Customers are becoming less tolerant of any outage in their computer networks or disruptions in their business, Jarre said.

IBM’s business continuity and resiliency unit has seen increased demand in the years since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which put the need for this service in the minds of top executives.

“After 9/11, a lot of customers were not able to recover – not the IBM ones – but the customers are now more and more demanding to be sure they will be able to recover,” he said.

Among the new sites are Warsaw, Poland; Izmir, Turkey; Beijing and Shanghai, China; Cologne, Germany; Milan, Italy; Tokyo; Hong Kong; Paris and London. A new New York City-oriented center will open in New Jersey, 25 miles from Manhattan.

Today, a facility in Sterling Forest is IBM’s primary disaster recovery site for clients in New York City and New England.

The fortress-like data center 40 miles outside New York City has helped IBM clients recover from a wide array of disasters, including hurricanes, floods, insect infestations, fires and terrorist attacks.

IBM has more than 150 business resilience centers around the world.

Purchase-based PepsiCo Inc., Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Co. and Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based Unilver have formed a new licensing agreement for the manufacture, marketing and distribution of Tazo Tea ready-to-drink iced teas, juiced teas and herbal infusions. Tazo’s line will become part of the Pepsi-Lipton tea partnership and expands the joint venture between PepsiCo and Uniliver. Starbucks’ relationship with PepsiCo dates to 1994, when the two companies formed the North American Coffee Partnership. Tazo was purchased by Starbucks in 1999.

Acorda Therapeutics Inc., the pharmaceutical company in Hawthorne, said this morning that Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. has exercised its option to buy an additional 600,000 shares of Acorda stock at the public offering price of $28.50 a share.
The decision by Deutsche, the underwriter of the offering, increases the size of the offering to 4.6 million shares.

The Journal News cut 12 jobs today citing further erosion in ad revenue from retail, housing, automotive and employment sectors of the economy.

The cuts were part of a larger plan by the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett Co. Inc., to eliminate 1,000 jobs across the company’s 84 news properties in its Community Publishing division, which includes The Journal News and LoHud.com.

The number of positions eliminated at each newspaper was determined locally, McLean, Va.-based Gannett said.

ITT Corp. of White Plains said its Communications Systems business has gotten a five-year contract that could be worth up to $490 million to provide communications and electronics equipment and services to international customers.

The company got the contract from the U.S. Army Electronics Command through the Foreign Military Sales program. The program allows for the selling of U.S. defense equipment, services and training to American allies.

The fifth year of the contract contains an option for a sixth year.

“We look forward to doing our part in helping provide U.S. allies with the communications necessary for a strong defense,” Ken Peterman, the president of ITT Communications Systems, said.

The products will be made in Fort Wayne, Ind. and the United Kingdom.

Acorda Therapeutics Inc., the Hawthorne company that sells a drug for people with multiple sclerosis, said the 4 million shares that will be offered to the public will carry a price of $28.50 apiece. The shares are being offered by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. as underwriter.

The company has granted the underwriter the option to buy an additional 600,000 shares at the offering price to cover any over-allotments.

Acorda, which markets Zanaflex, said it plans to use the money it makes from the offering to fund the filing of an application to sell Fampridine-SR and for the costs of marketing the drug, if it is approved. That drug is also for patients with multiple sclerosis.
The company will also use proceeds for other research and general corporate purposes.

Acorda shares were trading at $28.46 at 10:10 a.m., down $1.47.

Noritz America Corp., which makes tankless water heaters, has a new, corporate headquarters for the Northeast region at 12 Skyline Drive in Hawthorne.

A subsidiary of money manager Mario Gabelli’s mutual fund company plans to go public.

Rye-based Gamco Investors Inc. said this morning that Gabelli Entertainment & Telecommunications Acquisition Corp., has notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to raise up to $200 million by offering 20 million units at $10 apiece.

Each unit consists of one share of stock and one warrant. The company was formed to acquire businesses in the media, entertainment, telecommunications and financial services industries.

A New City man has been named the president and chief executive of Henschel-Steinau Inc., a New Jersey company that designs and makes advertising displays for stores.

Gary Forman joined the company more than 35 years ago and most recently served as executive vice president of sales.
He got the top job when the 49-year-old company was sold to a group of 11 employees.

“Henschel-Steinau was built as a service oriented organization that always treats clients, suppliers and fellow employees with professionalism and respect in every aspect of our business,” Forman said in a statement released by the company. “The word ‘partnership’ is important in everything we do. That will remain at the core of our corporate philosophy as we continue to grow the business.”

ConEdison Solutions has been awarded a contract by the New York Power Authority to provide upgrades and services to the nation’s largest state-owned power utility, ConEdison Solutions said today.

Under the contract, granted through competitive bids, ConEdison Solutions will provide efficiency upgrades, including  lighting, motors and controls at NYPA plants in Westchester and New York City.

Services will include conducting feasibility studies, evaluating existing and proposed systems, developing designs, purchasing equipment, installation, supervision of installation and commissioning of equipment, said White Plains-based ConEdison Solutions, a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc.

The amount of the contract will be based on costs associated with individual projects and has yet to be determined, said ConEdison Solutions spokeswoman Christine Nevin. However, the contract’s value is estimated to be in the “low millions,” she said.

IBM Corp. of Armonk plans to build a $360 million data center at its plant in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The data center will include new technologies and services that will enable the computing giant to provide individuals with access to information and services from any device with high levels of quality and availability, IBM said.

IBM will renovate an existing building at the North Carolina campus to create one of the most technologically advanced and energy-efficient data centers in the world, it said.

Hydrive Energy LLC, the upstart drink company based in Rye, has granted Dr Pepper Snapple an equity stake in return for distributing the drinks to retailers, Hydrive announced.

Brian O’Byrne, the chief executive of Hydrive, said the deal is significant because Dr Pepper Snapple, based in Plano, Texas, is one of three beverage distributors with a national reach. The company covers 73 percent of the nation, he said.

“By hooking up with them, it means that we will have access to that level of distribution, which is huge,” he said.

Dr Pepper Snapple, which was born out of the spinoff of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages from Cadbury Schweppes plc, is distributing Hydrive in various markets in the Midwestern and Eastern United States.

Hydrive was started by O’Byrne and company Chairman Mike Weinstein in 2006. O’Byrne is the former chief executive of Yoohoo/Orangina, while Weinstein is the former chief executive of Snapple Beverages Inc.

O’Byrne said the company markets Hydrive as a health alternative to carbonated energy drinks such as Monster, Red Bull and Full Throttle. Those drinks, he said, appeal to young males who are not particularly health conscious. They are popular as mixers with the nightclub crowd.

Hydrive drinks are not carbonated and have vitamins, electrolytes and anti-oxidents. A 15.5-ounce bottle has 145 milligrams of caffeine – about the same as a strong cup of coffee – and only 30 calories, he said.

Summit Business Media has named Rye-resident Andrew L. Goodenough as chief executive of the Manhattan-based provider of information to the insurance, financial and professional-services markets.

Goodenough, 52, replaces William F. Reilly, who will continue to serve as non-executive chairman.

In September, Goodenough was named Summit’s president.