Unova takes a local name

Published 9:00 pm Monday, December 19, 2005

EVERETT – Intermec Technologies employees will find themselves working for a new parent company in 2006.

Unova Inc., parent to the Everett-based maker of handheld computers and bar code scanners, confirmed Monday it will be known as Intermec Inc. after Dec. 31.

The company’s stock symbol also will change from UNA to IN when the markets reopen on Jan. 3.

The name change for the largest public company based in Snohomish County reflects Unova’s shift from a company with separate industrial and technology divisions under several different names, said spokesman Kevin McCarthy.

As of this month, Unova has shed its heavy manufacturing businesses to hone its focus on the growing Intermec business.

“The name change reflects the company’s transformation over the last eight years … to a global leader in mobile computing and automated data collection technology,” a company release stated.

While the Intermec name has been around Snohomish County for at least two decades, Unova was a relative newcomer. The parent company moved from California to Everett two years ago.

With its products, Intermec is better known than Unova among customers and industry peers as well, said Reik Read, an analyst who covers Unova for Robert W. Baird &Co. in Milwaukee, Wis.

“I think it will help them in a couple of ways,” he said. “The people who know the company will know them as Unova or Intermec. But there probably are some people out there who are confused by the two names.”

As for the new New York Stock Exchange symbol, IN, McCarthy said Intermec had to negotiate to get it. Another company had reserved the catchy initials already.

“It was hard to get,” McCarthy said.

Intermec Inc. has more than 2,700 employees worldwide, including hundreds at its headquarters office in Everett, and operations in more than 70 countries. The company has a market value of nearly $2.1 billion.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.