North County

Jabil Circuit, the Florida-based manufacturer that bought Nypro Inc. of Clinton earlier this year, reported an 11-percent jump in profits for its most recent quarter, the first full quarter in which Nypro operated under the Jabil banner.

Vitasoy USA of Ayer, a processor of soybeans, will pay a state fine of nearly $11,000 and install a sophisticated industrial wastewater pre-treatment system after complaints were lodged over odors, according to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

The catering business that recently announced plans to build in Devens is a harbinger of more economic activity to come, according to Steve Catalano, owner of Dolce Brands, which specializes in serving the film industry. Catalano said he's in talks with other businesses interested in leasing space at the site of the former Hodges Theatre, which Catalano bought with the intention of razing it in the spring to rebuild a state-of-the-art catering facility adjacent to New England Studios. The four-stage studio facility opened this fall, and Hodges scooped up the theater -- which closed along with the former Fort Devens military base in the mid-1990s -- and its 3-acre parcel in anticipation of the start of filming next year.

Boston-based First Wind announced a 25-year agreement to provide wind-generated power, at cost, to 17 Massachusetts towns, including eight in Central Massachusetts.

North Central Massachusetts is an area that keeps its manufacturing past in full view. Many towns retain nicknames that bring to mind old, dirty factories turning out the kinds of things that are now mostly imported from China. For instance, Winchendon is “Toy Town,” Gardner “Chair City,” and Athol “Tool Town.”

An expert in business revitalization will become Fitchburg's director of economic development and chief marketing officer next week.

A Gardner firm and a cancer research center in Canada have launched a new biotechnology company that hopes to create about a dozen jobs over the next three years.

State tax collections this fiscal year could grow by as much as 4.8 percent, up from the 3 percent growth rate used by lawmakers and the Patrick administration when they built the $34 billion fiscal 2014 budget, according to an updated Department of Revenue estimate.

A local caterer has bought the former Hodges Theater in Devens and the three acres on which it's situated, according to MassDevelopment, which sold the property for $120,000.

National auto parts retailer O'Reilly Auto Parts will be bringing at least 300 employees over the next few years to a recently purchased distribution facility in Devens.