Lanxess Corp. swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $19 million from a net loss of $44 million the prior year while sales slipped nearly 5 percent to $1.9 billion from $2 billion. The German-based chemicals company that has its North American headquarters in Findlay said growing demand in Asia for its synthetic rubber products and demand for winter tires in Europe and North America helped boost the fourth quarter. For the full year, sales fell by 23 percent to $7 billion from $9 billion, and net income plummeted by 78 percent to $55 million from $251 million. North America generated 15 percent of Lanxess' sales last year. Chairman Axel Heitmann said he expected earnings to improve in 2010 based on conditions in Asia and ongoing cost-cutting measures.

A fight between two national unions that has stalled negotiations with several local employers was settled Wednesday with a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB Region 6 ruling said the Service Employees International Union represents local hotel employees as well as the employees of Aramark who work at the Mellon Arena. The ruling means that SEIU Local 57 will handle negotiations on behalf of the Aramark workers, who were told they would have to reapply to get jobs at the new Consol Energy Center. Hotel workers' negotiations also have been stalled because both SEIU and Unite Here, another international union, said they represented the workers.

The union representing British Airways' cabin crews is gathering international support for a walkout due to begin this weekend, threatening to severely disrupt what remains of the airline's already depleted flight schedule. Ignoring a plea from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to return to the negotiating table with BA management, Unite on Wednesday moved instead to raise the stakes for the strapped airline by holding talks about coordinated action with unions representing ground crews in the United States, Germany and Spain.

Westinghouse Electric Co. has partnered with the British government to construct a new 15,000-ton press at the Sheffield Forgemeasters plant in Sheffield, Yorkshire. The press will allow Sheffield to produce "ultralarge" parts for nuclear power plants. Details of the agreement are confidential.

The longtime CEO of Johnson & Johnson, Bill Weldon, saw an 11 percent increase in compensation in 2009, to $25.5 million, according to Associated Press calculations, even as the health giant cut thousands of jobs last year and saw its annual revenue decline for the first time since the Depression. ... Shares of Ford Motor Co. surged to a five-year high Wednesday after a ratings agency upgraded the automaker's debt and said Ford has the potential to improve. The automaker's stock closed at $14.10, up 4.5 percent.

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