Biz Buzz

LONG ISLAND

Misonix turns around to profit

Misonix Inc., a Farmingdale maker of ultrasonic surgical equipment, said financials for its fourth fiscal quarter and full year improved from losses to profitability. The company said net income for the three-month period ended June 30 was $444,813, or six cents a share, compared to a net loss of $1.45 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier. Net earnings for the full fiscal year were $366,325, or five cents a share, compared to a net loss of $3.5 million, or 50 cents a share in its 2011 fiscal year. Misonix said sales for the fourth quarter increased by 41 percent $5.3 million, compared to $3.8 million a year earlier. For the fiscal year, revenues increased 27 percent to $15.7 million, from $12.4 million.

Verizon, unions in tentative deal

Verizon and unions representing 43,000 employees have reached tentative, three-year agreements covering job security, retirement and other issues. Verizon Communications Inc. called them "fair and balanced." The pact comes more than a year after Verizon workers took part in a two-week strike amid tense negotiations. The company and the unions had disagreed on health care benefits, pensions, and work rules. The unions involved are the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. CWA, which represents 34,000 Verizon workers from Virginia to Massachusetts, said the new contract preserves job security language prohibiting layoffs for those hired before 2003. It also preserves the pension plan for current workers. George Bloom, president of CWA Local 1104, which represents 2,000 Verizon workers in Nassau County, said he is pleased with the agreement. "Based on what the company was looking to do to us, we did an outstanding job in achieving what we were looking for," he said. -- AP with Carrie Mason-Draffen

Judge upholds Galaxy Tab ban

A federal judge has refused to rescind a court order banning Samsung Electronics from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 computer in the U.S. The denial issued this week in San Jose federal court is part of a bitter battle pitting Samsung Electronics against Apple Inc. in a dispute over the mobile devices made by the two companies. A jury last month awarded Apple $1.05 billion after concluding several Samsung smartphones infringed on Apple's iPhone patents. But the jury rejected Apple's allegations that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 illegally copied the iPad. That prompted Samsung to ask U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to dissolve the ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

WORLD

Bank of Japan plans stimulus

Japan's central bank on Wednesday ramped up its efforts to spur economic growth, following similar steps by central bankers in the United States and Europe. The Bank of Japan announced it would boost the size and duration of a government bond-buying program that's intended to encourage borrowing and spending and make Japan's exports more competitive. Purchases of government bonds keep downward pressure on interest rates and the yen.

-- AP