Corporate Report

Corporate Report

CORPORATE REPORT by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Source Interlink delay could risk NASDAQ listing

Bonita Springs-based Source Interlink Cos. Inc. is delaying its annual stockholders meeting after major shareholder Jonathan Ledecky filed a proposal for a large one-time dividend payment with the board of directors. Earlier this month, Ledecky, who owns more than 1.3 million shares, filed a proposal asking the board for a dividend of $5 per share to all shareholders.

The board of directors opposes the proposal and plans to fight to keep it out of the company's proxy statement, which the company says is causing it to delay the scheduled Jan. 29th meeting.

But that delay could prove extremely costly. Company officials admit that not holding the annual meeting in the 2006 fiscal year will violate certain NASDAQ rules and could result in the company being de-listed. Source Interlink plans to fight any potential de-listing efforts and suggests it will offer a proposal to the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel to bring the company back into compliance.

Source Interlink is a marketing, merchandising and fulfillment company for various entertainment products including DVDs, music CDs, magazines, books and related items. The company serves about 110,000 retail store locations in North America.

Florida employees feeling more confident

The newest Spherion Corp's Employment Report shows the highest Florida Employee Confidence Index in November since 2004. The index rose six points to 66 in the monthly survey conducted by Harris Interactive.

The survey reported that about four in 10 workers (39%) said they were likely to look for a new job in the next year, an increase from 31% in October. Thirty-six percent of Florida respondents said they believed the economy was getting stronger, up from 22% in October and 10 percentage points higher than the nation as a whole.

Floridians reported a vastly more positive opinion of job availability than U.S. workers as whole, with 43% of Floridians reporting that more jobs are available compared to 29% nationally.

Spherion Corporation is a recruiting and staffing company.

Florida Workers U.S. Workers

% Point % Point

Oct Nov change Oct Nov change

Economy

Getting Stronger 22% 36% 14 24% 26% 2

Staying Same 38% 28% -10 39% 40% 1

Getting Weaker 40% 36% -4 37% 35% -2

Job Availability

More Jobs 26% 43% 17 27% 29% 2

Same Amount 45% 36% -9 35% 36% 1

Fewer Jobs 29% 22% -7 38% 35% -3

Ability to Find New Job

Confident 60% 65% 5 59% 61% 2

Neutral 29% 19% -10 27% 24% -3

Not Confident 11% 16% 5 13% 16% 3

Future of Current Employer

Confident 66% 70% 4 64% 64% 0

Neutral 19% 19% 0 23% 23% 0

Not Confident 15% 11% -4 13% 13% 0

Likelihood to Lose Job

Likely 13% 15% 2 11% 11% 0

Neutral 8% 8% 0 9% 10% 1

Not Likely 79% 77% -2 80% 79% -1

Likelihood to Look for New Job

Likely 31% 39% 8 36% 38% 2

Neutral 12% 8% -4 11% 11% 0

Not Likely 57% 53% -4 53% 52% -1

VIP Realty Group buys Harvey & Associates

Fort Myers-based VIP Realty Inc. acquired Harvey & Associates/Properties in Paradise for an undisclosed amount with plans to merge the two firms

Jean Harvey, owner of Harvey & Associates, began her real estate career at VIP Realty, where she was a top producer before she branched out on her own. She has grown Harvey & Associates from a single-agent operation to an 18-agent residential real estate brokerage, which boasted more than $150 million in sales last year. Harvey & Associates has offices in Fort Myers and Naples. Following the sale, Harvey will assume the position of office manager for the Fort Myers operations.

VIP Realty has offices in Fort Myers, Sanibel, Captiva, Bonita Spring, and Naples.

Bancshares of Florida changing to Bank of Florida Corp.

Naples-based Bancshares of Florida, Inc. has received shareholder approval to change the name of the $850-million asset bank holding company to Bank of Florida Corp.

"Bank of Florida is such a powerful and unforgettable name," Michael McMullan, president and CEO of the bank said in a press release announcing the change. "We elected to make this change so that we could further our brand strategy and gain better name recognition in the communities where we have a presence, where we look to expand and among the investment community," said Michael L. McMullan. "Our three banking charters and trust company are branded under the 'Bank of Florida' name ... It just made good business sense to position our holding company with the same indelible name."

The name change will have no other affect on the bank holding company or administration.

At the same time, following the approval by Old Florida Bankshares Inc. and Bank of Florida Corporation shareholders, Bank of Florida Corp. is said to be on track to buy Old Florida Bank and merge it into Bank of Florida-Southwest. That purchase is currently scheduled to close in the spring of 2007.

Chico's founders retiring, leave board

Marvin and Helene Gralnick, the founders of Fort Myers-based Chico's FAS Inc., have announced their retirement from the retailer's board of directors.

Following the retirement, the board of directors voted to reduce the number of open board seats from 11 to 8 and to appoint Michael Weiss to serve as its new non-executive Chairman. Weiss is the retired president and CEO of Express, a subsidiary of Limited Brands Inc., and has worked in the women's specialty retail industry for 25 years. Weiss joined the Limited organization in 1981 as merchandise manager for Express and stayed with company until 2004.

Anderen Bank of Tampa Bay files state charter

A Clearwater-based bank in organization, Anderen Bank of Tampa Bay, has filed for a bank charter with the State of Florida's Office of Financial Regulation.

The proposed bank will be a full-service commercial bank servicing the Tampa Bay Area, with initial offices in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. The proposed bank, headed by Chairman/CEO Charles Allcott III, will focus principally on professionals and medium-sized companies. The bank president is Daniel Caamano V, a banking executive and adjunct professor of International Banking and Finance at Stetson University College of Law.

The proposed Board of Directors also includes: Sandip Patel, CEO and president of Orion Communities; John M. Schaible, CEO of the financial and investment banking technology firm NexTrade Holdings Inc.; Dr. Paresh Desai, a hotel developer and founding board member of Florida Choice Bank; Dr. Robert Harbour, founder and director of Gulf Coast Community Bank and founder of the Center for Sight; Richard E. Fee, a partner in the Tampa law firm of Fee & Jeffries PA that specializes in intellectual property and business law; Dr. S. William Carter, vice president for SDI, Inc., a multi location MRI center in Tampa; and; Peter Tsokos, CEO of Medlogic Rx Inc., an advanced health-care product provider.

Morgan Beaumont changes its name, ticker

Bradenton-based Morgan Beaumont Inc. has changed its name to nFinanSe Inc. and has announced a 1-for-20 reverse stock split of shares of common stock.

As part of the name change, nFinanSe has changed its listing on the over the counter bulletin board from MBEU to NFSE. The company plans to rename its main finance point of sale/software financial network product from the SIRE Network to the nFinanSe Network.

Earlier this month, nFinanSe Inc. officials announced the company had signed an agreement to provide Discover Network Prepaid Cards to Q Comm International, Inc., a provider of prepaid transaction processing and electronic point-of-sale (POS) distribution solutions.

Scheduled to launch in early 2007, nFinanSe will provide Q Comm with a selection of DiscoverNetwork gift cards and instant issue reloadable general spend cards. Q Comm will, in turn, distribute these cards to their network of retail locations throughout the U.S. that use Q Comm-provided POS devices to sell prepaid solutions. Q Comm International president and CEO Mike Keough said the new cards will be offered at comparatively low retail price.

nFinanSe Inc. is a financial services company and provider of stored value and prepaid card solutions. nFinanSe owns and operates the nFinanSe Network as a standardized, national network of stored value and prepaid card cash load stations throughout the United States.

Etc...

• Tracy O'Neill, director of administration for Sarasota-based Kerkering, Barberio & Co. PA, has been elected vice president of the Association for the Accounting Administration Florida Chapter beginning in 2007. AAA is one of the largest accounting firm industry associations in the nation, with more than 600 member firms. Kerkering, Barberio & Co. is the largest independent certified public accounting firm in Southwest Florida.

• Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders will open a 22,169-square-foot store in Fort Myers, in early March. The store will be in the newly constructed Gulf Coast Town Center, at the intersection of Interstate 75 and Alico Road on Gulf Center Drive. Gulf Coast Town Center is a 1.8 million-square-foot regional shopping, dining and entertainment center.

Company officials say the new site was primarily selected based on consumer demographics, the strength of the co-tenants, traffic patterns, the availability of parking, visibility and the overall attractiveness of the new site. Other stores in the area include a Borders and Waldenbooks store in Naples, and a Borders Outlet and Waldenbooks store in Fort Myers.

The new store is expected to create about 30 jobs.

Borders Group, through its subsidiaries, employs more than 34,000 people worldwide and serves more than 30 million customers each year on a global basis. The company is organized into three business segments: Borders Domestic Superstores, International, and Waldenbooks Specialty Retail.

• Carrabba's Italian Grill celebrated its 20th anniversary on Tuesday, Dec. 26. The chain, which started as a small family-owned restaurant in Houston in 1986 has grown to 217 restaurants in 32 states. Carrabba's was recently named the top rated Italian concept in terms of quality and service by Restaurants & Institutions Magazine's "2006 Consumers' Choice in Chains Survey."

Along with founding the restaurant, Johnny Carrabba and his uncle, Damian Mandola, have also hosted a popular PBS cooking show series, Cucina, and published three cookbooks associated with the show.

OSI Restaurant Partners Inc. owns and operates Carrabba's and the Outback Steakhouse, Lee Roy Selmon's, Cheeseburger in Paradise and Bonefish Grill chains.

• Wild Oats Markets Inc., a natural and organic foods retailer, appointed Raymond Dunkin store director of its first Naples area store located at 6424 Naples Blvd. (at Airport-Pulling Road) in the new Promenade Shops at Naples Centre. The store is scheduled to open on Jan. 24. The store will employee more than 130 people.