Business briefs.

COLUMN: BUSINESS BRIEFS

Telegram &Gazette Bloomberg Index

Central Massachusetts

-6.91

173.24

Volume: 103,233,758

Up: 6

Down: 15

Unchanged: 8

Gainer: Staples Inc. $22.18 +$0.65 (Volume of 12.3 million shares)

Decliner: Waters Corp. $58.58 -$14.65 (Volume of 6 million shares)

People

Bank hires Dean

BOSTON - Martha A. Dean of Northbridge has been named senior vice president, operations manager, at Wainwright Bank & Trust Co. She will have responsibility for deposit operations, loan servicing, information technology, compliance and administration and facilities at Wainwright, which has $900 million in assets and 11 branches. A graduate of Worcester State College, she was most recently senior vice president at Commonwealth National Bank in Worcester. She also previously worked for Flagship Bank & Trust Co.

Local

Optics line sale

GARDNER - Precision Optics Corp. Inc. has sold its custom optical thin film product line to Optometrics Corp. of Ayer for $250,000.

The company said it will also receive royalties for three years on sales of optical thin film products to existing customers over $300,000. The sale includes equipment used in the development and production of optical thin film filters. Optometrics is a subsidiary of Dynasil Corp. of West Berlin, N.J.

Waters drops

MILFORD - Waters Corp., supplier of products used in chemical testing, fell the most in six-and-one-half years on the New York Stock Exchange after fourth-quarter earnings missed analysts' estimates.

The price of a share dropped $14.65, or 20 percent, to $58.58. That compares with a 30 percent decline on June 19, 2001, when Waters lowered an earnings forecast. The company yesterday reported adjusted earnings of 98 cents a share, missing the $1.06 average in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts. (Bloomberg News)

Optos to relocate

MARLBORO - Optos Inc. will relocate and expand its U.S. headquarters with a lease for 26,648 square feet, the entire third floor, at 67 Forest St. The Scottish optical instrument company will move from 155 Northboro Road in Southboro, where it has leased 14,477 square feet, and from 199 Forest St., Marlboro, where it leased another 7,800 square feet. Lincoln Property Co. represented the landlord, Realty Financial Partners, in the transaction.

Jobs report

BOSTON - The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development yesterday reported that preliminary estimates for December 2007 showed year-over-year job gains in nearly all of the state's metropolitan areas, with the Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner area recording a small job loss. The Worcester area added 800 jobs during December, the state's data showed.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Ms. Dean