Pall Corp. CFO leaving for 'other interests'

Pall Corp. the Port Washington-based maker of liquids filtration and purification systems, said its chief financial officer had resigned "to pursue other interests."

Pall, after the close of stock trading, said Lisa McDermott would leave the company March 10, or sooner if a replacement was found.

Larry Kingsley, president and CEO of Pall, said in the announcement, "We are conducting an external search for a new CFO."

McDermott, one of a small number of top female executives at public companies on Long Island, joined Pall in January 2006.

Pall's shares closed Tuesday at $61.16, up 83 cents, before the announcement was made.

The shares were at $57.15 on Dec. 30. Its stock market value is $6.8 billion.

The company reported Nov. 28 that sales fell by 3.6 percent in its first fiscal quarter as foreign customers grew cautious.

It said earnings rose on a gain from the sale of assets in the company's blood-product line, to $339.5 million, or $2.92 a share, for the three months ended Oct. 31. The results were up from $69.5 million or 59 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales were $627.6 million. "The first quarter proved to be challenging due to order cancellations and a reduction in customer volume commitment," Kingsley said in a statement. "The emerging country markets are taking a more cautious approach to industrial capital commitment."

The company, founded six decades ago by David Pall, is among the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of filters, and is the fifth-largest public company on Long Island by revenue.

It has roughly 11,000 employees globally, with an estimated 750 on Long Island.