Canadian energy company Etrion Corporation (TSX: ETX) and U.S.-based solar manufacturer SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ:SPWRA) (NASDAQ:SPWRB) today announced an agreement to build four solar power plants in the Puglia region of southern Italy.

SunPower has more than 500 megawatts of solar power plants installed or under contract around the world, including Italian power plants in Milan and Faenza. In regards to today’s announced projects, SunPower is responsible for the design and construction of the plants, and will provide operations and maintenance services as needed.

Entrion’s CEO Marco Northland said SunPower’s market experience will enable the companies to meet their goals and finish the projects.

“Solar power generation will play an increasingly vital role in our efforts to build more renewable, clean energy sources. SunPower’s experienced approach to solar power plant design and construction will allow us to quickly and reliably complete these important projects,” Northland stated in the press release.

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Ford Motor Company (F) returned to profitability in the third quarter of the year by posting a net income of $873 million or 26 cents per share, easily clearing the Zacks Consensus Estimate loss of 15 cents per share as well as the year-ago loss of 6 cents per share. This was, in fact, Ford's first operating profit since the first quarter of 2008. The company, which was on the verge of bankruptcy in the middle of the year, accredited its rebound to improved product line, inviolable structural cost reduction efforts and improved results at Ford Credit. Although revenue was down 2.5% to $30.9 billion, Automotive revenue rose $100 million to $27.9 billion from the year-ago level. This was attributed to favorable net pricing and higher volumes, primarily in North America, offset partially by unfavorable exchange. Total wholesale vehicles advanced 5% to 1,232,000 units....

 

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Callidus Software Inc. (NASDAQ: CALD), the leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM), today announced that Medical Mutual of Ohio has selected Callidus Software’s Insurance Suite and Business Process Management Suite (BPM) to manage its sales performance, incentive compensation programs and broker onboarding processes. Under the agreement, signed in the third quarter

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I will be in Slovenia next week as I am taking a group of South African business people on a fact-finding mission to this uber-beautiful country. I am leading the delegation in my capacity as Honorary Consul of Slovenia for South Africa. (Click here for the Consulate’s website, including photographs of some of the most beautiful spots in the world.)

If you happen to be in Ljubljana on Monday, September 7, let’s get together at a special day the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and JAPTI have organized to facilitate interaction between our delegation and Slovenian business people. Numbers are filling up quickly, so please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in joining us. You can reach me via the “Contact” button in the top-right hand corner of the Investment Postcards site.

Blog posting will be slow (and totally absent

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The Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers recently filed an anti-trust complaint against Google Inc. (GOOG). This prompted the Italian Competition Authority to search Google’s Milan offices on Thursday, pursuant to a probe that was initiated on Wednesday. The matter is expected to be settled by Oct 15, 2010.    The news industry has undergone a sea change, with a large number of consumers using online sources. Companies have adapted by offering their content online. However, they needed a medium through which customers could be directed to their websites. Since Google was the most effective search engine, a large number of them partnered with the company.   But as it happens, they were sucked deeper into the abyss, with many readers preferring to pick up Google news stories rather than go to the newspapers’ own websites. Newspapers have come to realize that they have to stop offering content ...

First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) family of companies and America’s largest provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services today introduced RealQuest(R) Home Value Pro, a free Apple iPhone application that enables individuals to view comprehensive market data on over 140 million residential properties in the United States from the iPhone(R).

Harris Stratex Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSTX), a leading provider of wireless solutions that enable the evolution of next-generation fixed and mobile broadband networks, today announced it has signed a contract with ICOMM, one of India’s leading groups in the field of telecom, power transmission and distribution EPC, solar and infrastructure, to supply, install, commission and maintain an IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX network for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). Under the multi-year contract, Harris Stratex will supply its StarMAX(TM) WiMAX solution to extend BSNL’s public wireless access network to provide high-speed wireless

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Ford Motor Co. (F) has revealed an astounding 2% year-over-year sales gain for July when other major automakers have all reported declines. In fact, this sales gain was the company’s first since November 2007.   Ford believes the $1 billion cash incentive program known as Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) or "Cash for Clunkers" recently launched by the U.S. Government drove demand for its fuel-efficient vehicles. CARS was designed to encourage customers to replace their fuel-inefficient vehicles with efficient ones. Under the program, consumers would be able to trade in their old gas-guzzling cars and trucks for a value of up to $4,500. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealers witnessed a 9% increase in retail sales to 118,197 vehicles during the month. Ford’s most fuel-efficient vehicles include cars such as Focus (35 mpg) and Fusion (24 mpg), besides Escape SUV (24 mpg). Sales for these models rose ...

Headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, Tenneco Inc. (TEN) is a leading manufacturer and supplier of emission control, ride control systems and systems. The company recently announced that its second quarter 2009 results would be released on July 30.

In the first quarter, Tenneco had reported adjusted net losses of $29 million or $0.61 per diluted share, compared with adjusted net income of $10 million or $0.20 per diluted share a year ago. Revenues were down 38% year-over-year to $967 million, on lower OE production volumes.

Earlier, Tenneco had stated that cash generation and strict cost management remain its top near-term priorities in the face of the global economic crisis. The company plans to lower its global salary costs by a minimum of 10% each quarter, equivalent to the reduction of salary cost by about $7 million each quarter during 2009.

Senior level executives would take a larger salary

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I will find myself in Slovenia and Switzerland over the next two weeks, taking a break and soaking up some Northern Hemisphere sun with my wife Isabel and two kids, Monique (10 years) and Jean (8 years).

Blog posting will be slow (and totally absent on some days) while I am on the road and “Words” from the Wise” will take a break for the next two Sundays (June 28 and July 5). The normal blogging service will be resumed on my return to Cape Town on July 11.

However, I will be “tweeting” regularly throughout my trip. For those not familiar with the concept, a Twitter feed has been added to the sidebar of Investment Postcards where I post short comments (maximum 140 characters) on topical market issues,

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Today’s Notes reads more like a John le Carre novel than an investment newsletter. But bear with us. It tracks one of the most fascinating news stories you’ve never heard of.  The news reports are maddeningly sketchy. And the mainstream media is doing a damn good job of not reporting the story.

But it’s clear the arrests by Italian authorities of two “Japanese-looking” men allegedly attempting to smuggle $134.5 billion worth of US bearer bonds across the Swiss border is the biggest financial crime in history. And one with major implications for America’s economic security.

For those of you who don’t know, a report surfaced on Monday, June 8, on an obscure Vatican-sponsored news website, AsiaNews.it, that Italy’s financial police (Guardia Italiana di Finanza) had “seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland.”

According to the report, these

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