Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Raymond Building Supply buys Contractor's Choice Supply

Fort Myers-based Raymond Building Supply, Florida's largest independent supplier and manufacturer of residential and commercial building products, has acquired Contractor's Choice Supply.

Contractor's Choice Supply is a full-service cabinetry and appliance distributor, offering design, supply, installation and service to builders, developers, general contractors and interior designers. The company recently opened a 4,500-square-foot design studio in its 70,000-square-foot facility in the Jetport Commerce Business Park in Fort Myers.

Chris Hall, the former owner of Contractor's Choice Supply, will continue to run the company's operations as division president.

"Contractor's Choice Supply already has a successful track record in sales and customer service," Duane Swanson Sr., CEO of Raymond Building Supply, said in a news release. "The acquisition will further build upon Raymond Building Supply's presence in the Southwest Florida market, allowing us to offer builders a wide range of interior and exterior products."

The two companies' combined annual revenues in 2006 were about $300 million. The combined company is now among the top 10 independently owned building suppliers in the country.

Ave Maria board plans law school move to Collier County

The Board of Governors of Ave Maria School of Law has voted to move the seven-year-old law school from its current location in Ann Arbor, Mich., to the new master-planned town of Ave Maria between Naples and Immokalee. The school will open in the fall of 2009.

After almost five years of discussions and research about the feasibility of relocating, the board determined that moving the school to Ave Maria will give it the best opportunity to thrive.

The board has also started the process of securing the approval of the American Bar Association.

"The Board believes significant future success will be found in Southwest Florida where the Law School will be co-located with a new and vibrant Catholic university in one of the fastest growing regions in the country," Bernard Dobranski, Ave Maria School of Law President and Dean, said in a press release announcing the decision. "This will allow the Law School the unparalleled opportunity to accelerate its efforts to become a premier educational institution, integrating strong legal fundamentals with a deep understanding of the Catholic faith and intellectual tradition."

Ave Maria School of Law currently has 380 enrolled students and 18 fulltime faculty members.

Health Management Associates Inc. reports objectives

Naples-based Health Management Associates Inc. has released its 2007 financial guidance and objectives.

HMA owns and operates general acute care hospitals in non-urban communities located throughout the United States. Upon completion of the previously announced divestiture of three hospitals, HMA will operate 58 hospitals in 14 states with approximately 8,400 licensed beds.

Scripps Networks chooses

Neighborhood America

Scripps Networks has selected Naples-based Neighborhood America to enable the creation of a new online community for HGTV.com, the top online content destination in the Nielsen//NetRatings' Home & Garden category and companion Web site to cable network HGTV.

HGTV.com's new interactive online community initiative Rate My Room is designed to create a community around the common interest of interior design.

"Scripps Networks is committed to providing our audiences unique ways to get information and ideas as well as to interact and share common interests," Jim Sexton, senior vice president of Scripps Networks Interactive said in a press release. "We're excited to launch Rate My Room, which uses cutting-edge technology to enable good old-fashioned conversations and connections, thus benefiting both the user and the brand."

Neighborhood America is an enterprise social network solutions provider for organizations seeking to engage and interact with the public.

2007 OBJECTIVES

• Average hospital QSM Score 90% or better

• Revenue $4 to $4.2 billion

• EBITDA $721 - $771 million

• Diluted earnings per share $0.71 to $0.81

• Average shares outstanding (diluted) 245,000,000

• Same hospital admissions growth 1% to 2%

• Same hospital surgeries growth 1% to 2%

• Same hospital revenue growth 5% to 7%

• Capital expenditures $200 to $210 million

• Days sales outstanding 50 to 56 days

• Bad debt expense as % of net revenue 5% to 6%

• Acquisition objective 1 to 3 acquisitions

• Depreciation and amortization $210 to $220 millions

• Interest expense $225 to $235 millions

Source: Health Management Associates Inc.

Stinger fires back at Taser over lawsuit

Tampa-based electrical stun technology company, Stinger Systems Inc. filed its answer to a lawsuit brought by Taser International Inc. in Arizona District Court. James McNulty, Stinger Systems' attorney for the case, has told the company that the patent infringement claims are without merit.

Stinger also contends that Taser International has filed similar intellectual property litigations against most of its competitors manufacturing electronic stun firearms and has so far not prevailed in the cases. McNulty was involved in the other cases representing Taser's competitors.

Robert Gruder, CEO of Stinger Systems, charged that Taser was really using the suit to obtain discovery on Stinger Systems' new Quantum Flyback Technology.

"It is unfortunate that Taser International has such an apparent lack of faith in the competitiveness of its products that it has to resort to lawsuits," Gruder said in a press release. "Frankly, I'm insulted that Taser thinks Stinger Systems would want to copy their archaic technology. It appears that Taser International thinks that it can competitively handicap Stinger Systems with the expenses of defending such a suit, but this simply is not going to happen. Stinger Systems' investors have paid no legal fees for the case to date."

PEO Gevity buys HRAmerica for software, personnel expertise

Bradenton-based public PEO firm Gevity has acquired Charlotte, N.C.-based HRAmerica Inc. The acquisition was designed to give Gevity technology and HR process help for its non-co-employment service model, Gevity Edge Select. Non-co-employment clients choose to access Gevity's services except for insurance, but because of that distinction those employees must be handled differently for things such as taxes.

Through the acquisition, HRAmerica will essentially become the back-end support for the Gevity Edge Select division. HRAmerica provided administrative services to about 75 clients and some 16,000 employees. The purchase was valued at $10 million and includes $500,000 for some coemployed HRAmerica clients.

The Bradenton-based public PEO has also announced plans to issue a $0.09 per share dividend on April 30 to shareholders of record on April 16. The announcement marks the company's 25th consecutive quarterly dividend.

Persystent Tech, IBM sign deal to share, market software

Persystent Technologies, a Tampa-based provider of automated desktop availability and compliance products, has reached an original equipment manufacturer agreement with IBM. Under the agreement, Persystent will be able to offer IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager technology as part of the Persystent Enterprise product. In addition, IBM and Persystent will participate in joint marketing to help promote awareness of end-to-end application management that includes IBM Tivoli system management software and Persystent's availability solution for desktop uptime and compliance.

With every boot cycle, Persystent technology automatically repairs a desktop's operating system, registry, applications and settings.

XCPT planned for University of Pennsylvania

Venice's XCPT LLC has signed an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania to place XCPT's Treatment Planning and Communication Software solution at the Penn School of Dental Medicine.

XCPT's software is a graphic-based patient consultation and treatment planning method, which can show patients various dental treatments.

"XCPT's software helps patients decide what is best for them in a trusting, open environment," Dr. Steven J. Feldman, CEO of XCPT, said in a press release. "With its use, we're seeing doctors gain productivity and increased case acceptance by simply showing the patient what they see."

Etc...

David F. Dyer appointed

to Chico's board

Fort Myers-based specialty retailer Chico's FAS, Inc. is adding David F. Dyer to its board of directors, effective March 5, increasing the total number of board seats to nine.

Dyer was the former president and CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Corp. from August 2003 until his retirement in May 2006. Prior to that, Dyer served as president and CEO of Lands End from 1998 to 2002, where he led the company's growth, building the largest apparel Internet business in the U. S., delivering consecutive record sales and profit results in 2001 and 2002. Dyer began his career with Burdines, a division of Federated Department Stores, and held various merchandising and marketing posts during his 17 years there. He later served as president and CEO of the Home Shopping Network and was acting president of J. Crew Catalog from 1997 to 1998. Dyer currently serves as a Director for ADVO, Inc.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals chooses Pilgrim Software

Pilgrim Software Inc., a Tampa-based provider of enterprise compliance and quality management software, announced that Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc., a California-based developer of neurological and psychiatric pharmaceutical products, has chosen Pilgrim Software's fully integrated SmartSolve suite to support its internal quality processes.

As a newer company engaged in developing pharmaceutical products, Jazz Pharmaceuticals is growing its product portfolio through internal development, licensing and acquisition. Pilgrim's SmartSolve modules, complaints, audit and training management, provides Jazz Pharmaceuticals solutions to handle risk management, eliminating variance and ensuring enterprise-wide compliance.

Gulfeagle Supply hires Peak 10 for data, system storage

Gulfeagle Supply, a Tampa-based distributor of residential and commercial roofing and building products, will move its data center to Peak 10's facility in Charlotte, N.C., to reduce its vulnerability to unexpected downtime caused by hurricanes and tropical storms. 

GravityFree to design WWSB ABC 7's New Web Site

Sarasota TV station WWSB ABC 7 hired Sarasota-based Web site design firm GravityFree to build the station's new Web site. The site is intended to be an interactive news portal for the public to get the latest stories and weather. The site will utilize article syndication via new RSS technology and a standard a data feed.

Accessible Archives hires

Unlimited Priorities

Unlimited Priorities Corp., a Cape Coral-based company specializing in support for organizations within the information industry, has an agreement with Accessible Archives Inc. to provide sales, marketing and technical support services. Unlimited Priorities will assist Accessible Archives, a distributor of archival materials via online databases, in product development, sales and marketing, market research, rights and permissions, product distribution, technical requirements and general business practices.

Partners Financial names

DeBilio CFO

Partners Financial Corporation, the Naples-based holding company for Partners Bank, promoted Charles T. DeBilio to executive vice president and chief financial officer.