Patheon, the Canadian drug maker with headquarters in Research Triangle Park, reported an operating loss in the first quarter as revenues declined 12 percent.

The company reported revenues of $153.9 million, down from $175.7 million during the same period a year ago.

Patheon had an operating loss of $20.9 million, compared to operating income of $13.5 million in the first quarter of last year.

The company manufactures prescription drugs and provides other services, such as developing the formulation of experimental drugs. It employs about 50 in RTP. None of Patheon's nine manufacturing facilities is based in the Triangle.

IBM is going through another layoff that could last all day and into the week, according to a labor union trying to represent the company's workers.

The Alliance@IBM in New York state, where IBM is based, began receiving calls and emails from IBM workers this morning. The layoffs are scattered across various sites and affect numerous divisions, said Lee Conrad, the union organizer.

The scale of the layoffs won't be know for days, but the union reports 350 layoffs as of late afternoon, based on reports received from affected employees. The employees receive layoff notifications that reveal how many colleagues in their departments were affected and how many spared, but don't identify the other employees.

Conrad said he didn't know if anyone lost work today at IBM's Research Triangle Park site, where the company is estimated to employ about 10,000 people.

IBM reported higher net income and revenue in the fourth quarter late today.

Net income was $5.5 billion, up four percent from the same period a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter was $29.5 billion, up 2 percent from the same period a year ago. That was below the consensus of $29.7 billion of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Earnings per share for the quarter was $4.71, up 11 percent from a year ago. That beat Wall Street estimates of $4.62 per share.

IBM's revenue for the year was 106.9 billion, up 7 percent from 2010.

"We had a strong fourth-quarter performance capping a year of record earnings per share, revenue, profit and free cash flow," said CEO Ginni Rometty in a release.

IBM, which has about 10,000 workers in Research Triangle Park, is one of the region's largest employers.

IBM shares closed down 55 cents at $180.52 in trading today. The stock has increased 16 percent over the past year.
 

Cisco Systems, one of the region’s biggest employers, saw its stock close today at its highest point since February, a sign that CEO John Chambers' reorganization of the company is impressing investors.

This latest bump came after the company reported solid first-quarter earnings Wednesday.

Net sales for the three months that ended Oct. 29 were $11.3 billion, up from $10.75 billion the prior year. Minus one-time charges, net income was $2.3 billion, or 43 cents per share, compared to $2.4 billion, or 42 cents per share, a year ago.

That beat the consensus among analysts who cover the company of 39 cents per share.

The Research Triangle Foundation has handed its leadership reins to Bob Geolas, a Clemson University official and the former coordinator of N.C. State University's Centennial Campus.

Today the nonprofit organization, which operates the 7,000-acre Research Triangle Park, named Geolas president and CEO.  RTP is home to more than 170 companies and 38,000 full-time workers and has been a key economic engine for the region for decades.

The foundation lured Geolas back to the Triangle from Clemson's International Center for Automotive Research, which he joined as executive director in its infancy in  2004.

Under his watch ICAR attracted nearly $250 million in investments and $500 million in development and created 2,300 new jobs,  according to the foundation.

Geolas succeeds Rick Weddle, who resigned in February to become CEO of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.

GlaxoSmithKline announced today that it has reached a $3 billion settlement agreement with the federal government, which had been investigating the company's marketing of its diabetes drug Avandia.

GSK announced back in January that it was taking a $3.5 billion charge to cover expenses linked to investigations and suits over Avandia.

The British company, which has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, has set aside more than $6 billion for legal costs tied to the drug, which has been linked to increased risk of heart attacks.

European regulators ordered Avandia off the market more than a year ago, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration restricted its use in the United States.
 

A publicly-traded life sciences company plans to open a new facility in Research Triangle Park that is expected to create 242 jobs over the next five years.

State officials awarded Sequenom as much as $2.3 million in incentives this morning if it meets hiring and investment goals.

The company is creating a facility to commercialize a noninvasive test for Down syndrome that it is preparing to launch.

The average salary for the new jobs will be $53,721, above the Wake County average of $44,980.

Sequenom expects to invest $18.6 million in its RTP site by 2015.

Current and former GlaxoSmithKline employees said good-bye yesterday to the company's Elion-Hitchings Building, one of Research Triangle Park's most iconic landmarks.

About 350 people came out for the event, which encouraged employees to share memories of the building and allowed them to take unlimited pictures inside and out. Employees previously needed permission from security for photos, said GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Robert Sutton.

Fidelity Investments this week closed on a real-estate deal to acquire four offices formerly occupied by Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park.

The Boston financial services company will renovate the buildings this fall and will consolidate its North Carolina operations at the facilities. The four-building complex, known as Nortel's Network Center, have 680,000 square feet.

Fidelity currently has employees in RTP and Cary, including in two former Nortel buildings that Fidelity had been leasing. The company closed on the buildings Wednesday.

Fidelity's operations in RTP include support for individual, employer and institutional clients. The site also has a retirement call center and a data center, requiring technology and IT employees.

Cisco Systems, one of the region's biggest employers, is set to unveil a new $100 million data center in Research Triangle Park that was touted by CEO John Chambers on his visit here over a year ago.

The two-story facility will showcase a lab where Cisco will develop and test software applications as well as a data recovery site for use during emergencies.

Cisco, the nation's largest computer networking company, hopes to sell its customers on buying routing and switching equipment to build similar data centers. The Silicon Valley company, which employs 4,800 in RTP, is so high on the data center it's hosting an open house next week to show off the facility.

The company says the dual function -- R&D lab and disaster recovery -- are unique in the industry.