Corporate Report

Corporate Report

corporate report by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

HMA backs off two-hospital sale to Shiloh Health Services

Naples-based Health Management Associates Inc. terminated an agreement to sell two hospitals to Shiloh Health Services Inc. According to a report by HMA, Shiloh was unable to obtain the necessary financing to complete the transaction.

The two facilities are located in Van Buren, Ark., and Williamson, W.Va., and HMA is said to be considering alternatives such as another sale or a joint venture deal.

HMA owns and operates 61 hospitals in 16 states with about 8,800 licensed beds.

Global Imaging Systems buys TML,

adding it to Electronic Systems

Tampa-based Global Imaging Systems Inc. has acquired Manassas, Va.-based TML Enterprise Inc., which sells and services Konica Minolta and Sharp copiers, fax and multifunction products and HP printers in northern Virginia and western Washington, D.C., market. TML Enterprises, which generates annual revenues of about $10 million, will operate as a part of Electronic Systems, a Global Imaging core company serving middle market and mid-major customers throughout Virginia.

"The people at TML are top quality professionals, and Mike Hoover and his partner Tom Lensis have built a growing and profitable business," Global Imaging president and CEO Michael Shea said in a press release. "This strategic acquisition of a key independent dealer not only strengthens our already strong market position in Virginia, but also continues our disciplined, ongoing effort to fill out our dealer network in the top 250 markets in North America." Hoover will continue as president of TML.

Founded in 1980, ESI has grown to more than 500 employees with offices in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News, Richmond, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Alexandria, Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, N.C.

General Dynamics lands $60 million contracts for Army

St. Petersburg's General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, was awarded a $44.8 million contract for production of MK 80 Series bomb bodies by the U.S. Army Sustainment Command in Rock Island, Ill.

The order is for the production of a combination of bomb bodies, totaling more than 25,000 units for the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Bomb body production work will be performed in Garland, Texas. The MK 80 series cases will be filled at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma and placed in inventory.

In addition, the army Joint Munitions and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command awarded General Dynamics Ordnance a $12-million contract for the production of mortar charges for 81mm and 120mm mortar ammunition.

Under this contract, General Dynamics will produce specialized propelling charges, as well as the M233 and M234 propelling charges for the 120mm mortar system. Production and program management will be performed at the General Dynamics medium-caliber ammunition facility in Marion, Ill. Work is scheduled for completion by April 2010.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems is a world leader in the manufacture of large-, medium- and small-caliber direct and indirect-fire munitions, mortar weapons and systems, artillery projectiles, bomb bodies and Ball Powder Propellant. The company also manufactures precision metal components; provides explosive load, assemble and pack services for a variety of munitions, tactical missile and rocket programs; and designs and produces shaped charge warheads and control actuator systems.

Roskamp Institute's study positive on Alzheimer's drug

The Roskamp Institute in Sarasota has received positive preliminary results in its major clinical study that is testing a promising new drug application for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

The clinical study, which was first announced in September, is the first human clinical study conducted by a Florida-based research institute as a result of its own original research.

The announcement also highlighted achievements with the same drug in studies in Japan.

The drug, Nilvadipine, has so far not shown major side effects in Alzheimer's disease patients during the initial six months of the study that is being conducted in partnership with the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience in Dublin, Ireland.

"This is a good indication that this drug will be safe in patients with Alzheimer's disease," Dr. Michael Mullan, Director of the Roskamp Institute, said in a release as part of the announcement. "A staggering number of drugs fail once they go through their clinical studies due to safety issues. After treating more than a dozen Alzheimer patients with Nilvadipine, we can continue our studies because we have seen no serious side effects related to the drug."

In pre-clinical studies on mice, Nilvadipine was found to decrease the levels in the brain of a protein called beta amyloid. It is the presence of beta amyloid in the brain that is believed to cause the onset of Alzheimer's.

The drug was also found to increase the flow of blood to the brain, which is believed to be beneficial in the treatment of the disease. The purpose of the study has been to determine whether the drug would have the same effect on humans suffering from Alzheimer's as it did in the pre-clinical studies on mice.

Meanwhile other researchers in Japan are independently reporting results that support the idea that Nilvadipine will be useful for treating Alzheimer's disease. Patients in the early stages of the disease have shown increases in blood flow to the brain and did better on memory tests when treated with Nilvadipine compared to another antihypertensive drug, Amlodipine.

Source Interlink keeps its Nasdaq Listing

Bonita Springs-based Source Interlink Cos. Inc. received notification from the NASDAQ Stock Market that the company has regained full compliance for continued stock listing.

The notification comes as a result of the company's fiscal 2006 annual meeting, which it held on March 22. Source Interlink had been dealing with potential de-listing since it delayed its scheduled annual shareholder meeting in January to prevent a proposal by large stockholder Jonathan Ledecky for a large, one-time dividend payment.

Source Interlink Cos. is a marketing, merchandising and fulfillment company of entertainment products including DVDs, music CDs, magazines, books and related items. Source Interlink serves about 110,000 retail locations throughout North America.

Oddpodz adds product placement to virtual buildings, people

Tampa's Oddpodz is offering advertisers product placement on its various social communities. In January, the company opened The Muzeum, a fully functioning social and e-commerce network with a virtual building all dedicated to the creative class.

"It is our goal to completely furnish the rooms with branded decor items, dress our Muzeum staff in branded clothing, fill the Triage Center (personal advice) with wellness goods and offer relevant lifestyle products in other rooms like The Auditorium, The Pod Garden, and the exhibit halls," Karen Post, CEO of Oddpodz said in a press release.

Current content, ad and product placement partners include Atlantic Records, Method, Create Magazine, Mental_Floss Magazine, Kudos Magazine, and Manchester Bidwell Corp., Oddpodz's community giving recipient.

Oddpodz has retained interactive marketing specialist Geron Coleman of EESMedia in Atlanta to direct the company's ad, product placement and sponsorship programs.

Post, a national branding expert, speaker and author of Brain Tattoos, and Jocelyn Ring, a former investment banker, founded Oddpodz, LLC in January 2006.

ETC...

Unlimited Priorities, Access Innovations partner

Unlimited Priorities Corp,, a Cape Coral-based company specializing in support for organizations in the information industry, has reached agreement with Access Innovations Inc. to provide sales and marketing support services.

Access is best known for its DataHarmony suite of products supporting document management services and database solutions. DataHarmony offers platform-independent software for controlled vocabularies, thesaurus and taxonomy creation and maintenance, and rule-based automated indexing.

Unlimited Priorities will contribute expanded sales services for Data Harmony to information aggregators, publishers, service bureaus, university libraries and professional associations. Unlimited Priorities will also furnish marketing assistance in designing a new corporate logo, home page renewal, press release production and distribution, and updating Access Innovations' newsletter.

Gerdau Ameristeel changes auditor

Tampa-based Gerdau Ameristeel Corp. announced that its Audit Committee and Board of Directors have selected Deloitte & Touche LLP to serve as the company's independent auditor. Deloitte & Touche is replacing PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, who resigned at Gerdau Ameristeel's request.

The company's majority shareholder, Brazil's Gerdau S.A., is changing to Deloitte & Touche in order to comply with Brazil's requirement regarding auditor rotation every five years, and Gerdau Ameristeel officials decided it should also change to Deloitte & Touche for efficiency reasons due to the level of coordination and reliance required.

Gerdau Ameristeel is the second largest mini-mill steel producer in North America with annual manufacturing capacity of more than nine million tons of mill finished steel products. The company also produces steel products for use in the construction, automotive, mining, cellular and electrical transmission, metal building manufacturing and equipment manufacturing.

Radiation Therapy Services hires new CFO

Radiation Therapy Services Inc., a Fort Myers-based operator of radiation therapy centers, appointed David N.T. Watson chief financial officer to succeed David Koeninger, who announced his retirement last year.

Watson will join the company in early April and assume the role of chief financial officer effective July 1. Koeninger will remain with the company on a consultant basis until June 2008.

Watson is currently treasurer and vice president, finance for The GEO Group Inc., a company that provides delivery of correctional, detention and residential treatment services worldwide. In this role, he is responsible for all merger and acquisition activities, and treasury and tax management. He is also the primary contact for corporate banking, financing, debt investor and rating agency relationships.

Watson has been with The GEO Group since 1994, in positions covering all areas of finance, including chief accounting officer, corporate controller, assistant secretary, and assistant treasurer.

Prior to joining The GEO Group, he held several positions at Arthur Andersen LLP, most recently as manager, audit and business advisory services. Prior to joining Arthur Andersen, he was with Arthur Young & Co.

"David Watson's strong public company finance experience and familiarity with the complexities of multi-site facility management make him an ideal candidate for our CFO position," Dr. Daniel Dosoretz, president and CEO said in a press release.

Radiation Therapy Services, Inc. operates 77 treatment centers in 16 states.

Tampa area companies start SouthernTravelNews.com

Riverview-based Corporate Write LLC has launched SouthernTravelNews.com, a new online travel newspaper created by Magnetic, a Tampa-based Web design and development firm. The new news site covers land travel within the southern United States and cruises from southern U.S. ports.

The site has been in "soft launch" mode since Feb. 28. Moving forward, fresh content will be added daily, hourly and weekly.

Sister site, SouthernCruising.com, is scheduled to launch in the next few weeks.

E-commerce site donating 20% of new revenue to charity

Sarasota's LeisureWorks Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Triumphmall.com will double the amount that it will contribute from each purchase at its site, www.triumphmall.com, to a worthy institution and charity.

"We are extremely pleased to make this offer to our customers," stated the company's President, Lawrence Sherman. "We will now contribute 20% of every sale to charity. We truly hope that we will be sending out a lot of checks to some worthy causes by the end of this promotion."

This promotion will run until May 1st.

IA Global plans to buyback

Tampa-based IA Global Inc. has approved a stock repurchase program to start on April 2 after the company's earnings report and Form 10-K are released sometime around March 30.

"My belief is that the company's stock is undervalued based on the fundamentals of the business; and that it would be in the best interests of the company and its stockholders for the company to acquire a reasonable amount of its stock in the open market and/or in private purchases," Derek Schneideman, IA Global CEO said in a press release. "Market conditions in the Pacific Rim region continue to be advantageous and are expected to contribute to an acceleration of the company's ongoing business activities."

The company has its approvals to purchase up to 4 million shares, or 2.6% of the 152,915,157 shares of the company's common stock as of March 21.

WilsonMiller appoints

new transportation head

Naples-based planning, design, engineering, and surveying firm WilsonMiller Inc. has added David S. Rivera, P.E. as the head of the firm's Transportation Services corporate unit. Rivera will oversee traffic planning and engineering services for private and public sector infrastructure projects.

With a career balanced between public and private sector work, Rivera has held numerous senior management positions in private practice and with the Florida Department of Transportation, and he has been involved in all aspects of transportation planning, project development and environmental studies, design, construction, and operations.