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Tampa companies solidify strengths

Concrete materials company Cast-Crete and alternative fuel company EarthFirst Technologies agree to merge.

By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published July 12, 2006

A giant concrete building materials company in Tampa will reinforce a struggling alternative fuel business through a merger announced Tuesday.

Privately held Cast-Crete Corp., which makes concrete lintels and parking space bumpers, is going public through its acquisition of EarthFirst Technologies Inc., also of Tampa.

The merger was approved by majority shareholders of both companies and takes effect immediately. The new company will assume the Cast-Crete name and implement a 60-to-1 reverse stock split. After the reverse split, total shares outstanding will be about 15-million. EarthFirst's shares closed Tuesday at 10.5 cents, up 5 percent.

Neither company returned calls for comment.

Cast-Crete was formed in 1955 and is now the largest manufacturer of precast concrete lintels and sills in the country. Its owner is conservative activist Ralph Hughes, who is known for his extensive letter-writing campaigns to civic leaders promoting lower taxes and criticizing government waste. In March, Hughes' company donated $500,000 to the Foundation for Florida's Future, a nonprofit formed by Gov. Jeb Bush to promote educational initiatives.

EarthFirst, founded in 1997, reported a $1.63-million profit for the quarter ended March 31 on sales of $11.4-million, compared with a loss of $4.4-million on revenues of $8.2-million a year earlier.

EarthFirst develops and commercializes unusual technologies to help make alternative fuel energy sources in ecologically friendly ways. But it is the company's electrical contracting subsidiary that generated virtually all of the company's revenues in 2005 and so far in 2006.

In announcing the merger, the new company projected earnings for the year ending June 30, 2007, would be $24-million or $1.60 a share on sales of $150-million. Pro-forma sales were based on Cast-Crete operations results for the six months ended June 30, 2006.

Information from Times files was used in this report. Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or 727 892-2996.

[Last modified July 12, 2006, 01:19:49]