Biz Buzz

LONG ISLAND

CPI inks 5-year Sikorsky deal

CPI Aerostructures Inc., the Edgewood-based aircraft parts maker, said Tuesday it had received a five-year contract to manufacture Black Hawk helicopter windows. The company did not disclose the value of the contract, from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. of Stratford, Conn. CPI's overall orders are up 3 percent in 2012, to $63.8 million, compared to this point last year. Black Hawk helicopters are used by the military for troop transport, medical evacuations, electronic warfare, attack, assault support and special operations. More than 3,000 are in use in 29 countries. The aircraft's gunner windows are behind the pilot seat and slide open for use by machine gun operators. CPI is scheduled to manufacture the windows between 2013 and 2018. -- Joe Ryan

Economic Census now online

The Census Bureau has launched business.census.gov to promote the 2012 Economic Census, the government survey that business owners will be asked to fill out next month. The site has videos, fact sheets and tips to aid organizations in getting the word out. The economic census is conducted every five years as a way to measure the U.S. economy. The resulting data are used by trade associations, businesses and government agencies as a benchmark for economic indicators. Pearl Kamer, the Long Island Association's chief economist, said she uses the data to calculate economic factors specific to Long Island, like the productivity rate for local manufacturers. -- Lisa Du

Perfumania shows loss

Perfumania Holdings Inc., the Bellport-based distributor and retailer of designer and celebrity fragrances such as Donald Trump's "Success," swung to a loss in its second quarter, compared to a profit in the year-earlier period. The loss came as expenses jumped following its acquisition of Parlux Fragrances Inc., a Fort Lauderdale-based celebrity perfume maker. Perfumania lost $18.6 million, or $1.21 a share, for the quarter ended July 28. A year earlier the company earned $521,000, or 6 cents a share. In a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it "believes the acquisition of Parlux will provide substantial benefits to the company's stockholders." In April, Perfumania purchased Parlux for $151 million, issuing common stock and paying $62.1 million in cash to Parlux shareholders. -- Keiko Morris

NATION

U.S. stock sale of AIG pays big

The government's sale of American International Group Inc. stock this week will generate $2.7 billion more than expected, the Treasury Department said Tuesday, boosting the profit to U.S. taxpayers to $15.1 billion on the insurance giant's bailout. The sale will end the government's majority ownership of the company, reducing the government stake to 15.9 percent from 53.4 percent. AIG still owes the Treasury about $2.6 billion from the bailout. But this week's stock sale, combined with a $17.7 billion profit made by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on its portion of the bailout, means taxpayers have fully recovered the approximately $130 billion used to rescue AIG starting in 2008. -- MCT

Brighter postelection outlook

Small business owners are getting a little more optimistic about how their companies will do after the November election, according to a survey released Tuesday. The National Federation of Independent Business says 736 members it surveyed last month expect their companies' sales and overall business conditions to pick up after the election and the end of the year. That brighter outlook helped lift the NFIB's small business optimism index by 1.7 points in August to 92.9. Many business owners have refrained from hiring or expanding their companies not only because of the economy, but also because of the uncertainty over the presidential election. -- AP