Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

General Dynamics wins anti-IED contract

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a St. Petersburg-based business unit of General Dynamics, and the University of Missouri at Rolla have received a three-year contract for applied research by the U.S. Navy Sea Systems Command Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division with funding from the Office of Naval Research.

The agreement is focused on research and developing proof of concept products to counter Improvised Explosive Devices. The first year of the contract is valued at $1.5 million. The remaining two years have a potential value of $6 million.

Researchers at General Dynamics and UMR's Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory will collaborate in the development of solutions for detecting and neutralizing remotely triggered, electronically initiated IEDs. A previous partnership between the two demonstrated a remotely controlled engineering prototype unit had the potential to detect and neutralize several types of IEDs,

UM-Rolla has about 5,500 students and is home to 23 research centers, labs and institutes.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems manufactures 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 force protection products and 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.

Superior Uniform Group

marketing for Hartmax company

Seminole-based Superior Uniform Group has reached a distribution agreement with International Women's Apparel Inc., a subsidiary of Hartmarx Corp. to market and sell certain branded clothing and accessories manufactured and marketed by the Hartmarx family of companies. Superior will work with Hartmarx to sell several brands, including Palm Beach, Hart Schaffner Marx, Austin Reed, Perry Ellis, Tommy Hilfiger, Nicklaus, Hawksley and Wight, and Pusser's of the West Indies, to the hospitality and lodging markets.

"The combination of our product line augmented by the Hartmarx products will bring to our markets what has long been demanded," Michael Benstock, CEO of Superior, said in a press release. "Our intent is to make the Hartmarx products available to a select group of customers by invitation only."

Superior Uniform Group manufactures and sells uniforms, image apparel and accessories particularly to the healthcare, hospitality, restaurant/food services, retail employee I.D., governmental/public safety, entertainment, commercial, cleanroom and resortwear markets. 

Hartmarx Corp. produces and markets business, casual and golf apparel.

Boyd Gaming hires

Nuevo Advertising

Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp. has hired Sarasota-based, Hispanic-focused marketing firm Nuevo Advertising Group to develop a marketing plan to attract Miami's Hispanic gamblers.

Boyd Gaming purchased a casino property in the Miami area and wants Nuevo Advertising to determine the Hispanic market for gaming and, if the market exists, to develop and execute a marketing plan.

Nuevo Advertising Group has previous experience working with Boyd Gaming - Nuevo's co-founders Roseanne Avella-Perez and Pedro Perez built Boyd's corporate website and five casino websites, including the Stardust Casino & Resort.

Gerdau Ameristeel

stock offering finished

Tampa steel company Gerdau Ameristeel Corp. has completed its newest stock offering of 126.5 million common shares. Gerdau S.A. purchased 84.1 million of the common shares from Gerdau Ameristeel in the offering.

After the purchase, Gerdau S.A. owns 66.5% or 287.4 million common shares of Gerdau Ameristeel as an investment. The common shares were sold in the United States and Canada for $12.25 per share, yielding total gross proceeds of $1.55 billion.

The offering was designed to help Gerdau Ameristeel repay a portion of its loans for the acquisition of Chaparral Steel Co.

Gerdau Ameristeel is the second largest minimill steel producer in North America. It has a network of 19 minimills (including one 50%-owned joint venture minimill), 19 scrap recycling facilities and 62 downstream operations

Florida Metropolitan University

adopts Everest University moniker

Florida Metropolitan University Online in Tampa has changed its name to Everest University Online. The name change for the online division is part of a plan by its parent company, Corinthian Colleges Inc., to put most of its schools in North America under one identifiable brand.

Corinthian has re-branded 75 schools across the U.S. - including 10 FMU campuses under the Everest name. When the re-branding effort is complete, Everest's 60,000 students will be part of a single institution with more than 100 campuses across the U.S. and Canada.

Chico's FAS October report

troubling for sales, comparables

After a string of positive-sales months, Fort Myers-based Chico's FAS Inc. reported that its sales results for the four-week period ended Nov. 3, 2007 declined 4.1% to $121.2 million from the $126.4 million it reported for the four-week period ended Oct. 28, 2006.

Comparable-store sales for company-owned stores continued its tumble, falling 10.6% for the four-week period compared to the similar four-week period ending Nov. 4, 2006.

Total sales for the thirteen-week period ended Nov. 3, increased 3.4% to $416 million from $402 million reported for the thirteen-week period ended Oct. 28, 2006. Comparable-store sales for the company-owned stores decreased 9.3% for the thirteen-week period compared to the same thirteen-week period ending Nov. 4 last year.

For the thirty-nine week period, total sales increased 9.1% to $1.31 billion from $1.20 billion reported for the thirty-nine week period ended October 28, 2006. Comparable-store sales decreased 5.5% for the thirty-nine week period compared to the similar thirty-nine week period in 2006.

"As I have noted before, the entire Missy sector is affected by numerous challenges including a difficult macro economic environment, declining consumer confidence resulting in particularly cautious spending, one of the warmest fall selling seasons on record, and lower than anticipated traffic," Scott A. Edmonds, chairman, president, and CEO, said in a press release. "If the current environment persists through the end of the year, we would anticipate ongoing challenges with our same store sales performance and our merchandise margins in the fourth quarter as well, and we now believe that the fourth quarter earnings per diluted share will likely be considerably below last year's levels."

Edmonds revised the company's third quarter earnings for the third quarter to between 10 cents and 13 cents.

The company has also added Kent A. Kleeberger as executive vice president-chief financial officer and treasurer. Kleeberger was previously senior vice president-chief financial officer for Dollar Tree Stores Inc.

Chico's operates 1,012 women's specialty stores under the Chico's, White House | Black Market and Soma Intimates names.

BY THE NUMBERS

October Sales (dollars in millions)

Comparable Store Sales Percent Increase

Fiscal 2006 Fiscal 2007 Total Sales Fiscal Comparable

$126.4 $121.2 4.1% (15.5)% (10.6)%

Year-to Date Sales (dollars in millions)

Comparable Store Sales Percent Increase

Fiscal 2006 Fiscal 2007 Total Sales Fiscal Comparable

$1.20 $1.31 9.1% (5.3)% (5.5)%

Neiman Marcus outlet

headed to Miromar Outlets

The retail store Last Call By Neiman Marcus is coming to Miromar Outlets in Estero near Interstate 75. The planned 28,001-square-foot store will be located in phase VI of Miromar Outlets, which is currently under construction. The opening of Last Call By Neiman Marcus is scheduled to coincide with the completion of phase VI in spring of 2008. 

 Last Call By Neiman Marcus is a discount/outlet store for merchandise previously stocked in Neiman Marcus stores

Miromar Outlets will be the first west coast Florida location for a Last Call By Neiman Marcus.

Phase VI of Miromar Outlets, which is currently under construction, will add an additional 95,716 square feet of outlet stores to Miromar Outlets, bringing the total shopping space to nearly 630,000 square feet. It will increase the total number of outlets stores in the mall to more than 160.

Etc...

CyberSunshine

services Atlanta area

Fort Myers-based CyberSunshine Inc., which develops Web sites and private network applications for the real estate industry, has expanded into the Atlanta market. Including its new coverage area, CyberSunshine has created Web sites for more than 80 Realtor groups in 25 states throughout the United States.

Walter Industries

declares dividend

Walter Industries Inc., a Tampa-based metallurgical coal and steel company, reported that its board of directors has declared a regular quarterly dividend of five cents per common share, payable Dec. 7 to shareholders of record at the close of business Nov. 9.

Source Interlink Cos.

creates new CAO position

Bonita Springs-based Source Interlink Cos. Inc. has hired William "Bill" Bailey as chief administration officer, effective immediately. In the newly created position, Bailey will report directly to Mike Duckworth, chairman, and is responsible for human resources, corporate purchasing and facilities management for the company. Bailey formerly served as a consultant to the company.

In addition, John Bode has been named chief operating officer for Source Interlink Distribution and senior vice president for the Source Interlink Cos. Inc. Previously, Bode served as senior vice president of finance for the magazine distribution division acting as the division's chief financial officer. He will report directly to Jim Gillis, co-chief executive officer of Source Interlink Cos. and chief executive officer of SID.

Source Interlink is a media and marketing services company, one of the largest publishers of magazines and online content for enthusiasts and is also a distributor of home entertainment products.

Aerosonic subsidiary 

sells Earlysville property

Avionics Specialties Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Aerosonic Corp., has agreed to a deal with Keith Woodard to sell him property owned by the company at 3367 Earlysville Road in Earlysville, Va. for $3 million. The deal is expected to close on Dec. 9.

Flanders new CEO

clears old debt

Robert Amerson, CEO for St. Petersburg-based Flanders Corp., has paid Flanders Corp. in full for all outstanding note receivable balances totaling about $2.7 million. The latest announcement comes after the air-filtration manufacturer removed Steven Clark, its former CEO, in August and replaced him with Amerson.

Horizon Bank parent

announces stock buy-back

The board of directors of Bradenton's Horizon Bancorporation Inc. has approved a stock re-purchase program of up to $500,000 worth of its outstanding common stock. 

"We believe that this buy back program is an appropriate use of our capital to enhance shareholder value and liquidity in our stock," Charles Conoley, president and CEO, said in a press release. Horizon Bancorporation is the parent of the three-bank Horizon Bank. The bank plans to open a fourth office in Brandon in the first half of 2008.

HYP Network

hires new CEO

Jerry Folckemer has joined HYP Network, LLC, an Oldsmar-based independent publisher of Spanish-language Yellow Pages directories in the United States, as its new CEO. He joins HYP Network from White Directory Publishers, the third largest independent publisher in the U.S., where he most recently served as vice president of sales operations. As vice president of sales at White Directory Publishers, Folckemer was responsible for leading a sales force of more than 500 sales executives and 100 sales managers covering 90 titles nationwide.

HYP Network presently publishes directories in Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, and Sarasota/Ft. Myers, Chicago, New York City/Westchester, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Maryland and Virginia. The Company is majority owned by ABRY Partners of Boston. 

CNLBancshares

grows with Bonita Springs bank

CNLBancshares Inc., the holding company for Orlando-based CNLBank, has successfully chartered its third banking subsidiary, CNLBank, Southwest Florida. Headquartered in Bonita Springs, the new affiliate has offices in Bonita Springs and Sarasota. Future branches are planned for Naples, Estero and Fort Myers.

"Southwest Florida is a vast, vibrant market that has a strong and expanding mix of businesses in our target segments," C. Michael Collins, president and chief executive officer of CNLBancshares, said in a press release. 

Richard Garner, Joel Whittenhall and Joe Wheeler, will serve as the executive management team for the new bank.

Garner will serve as chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Whittenhall will serve as the Southwest Florida bank president. 

Joe Wheeler will serve as the Fort Myers market president. Wheeler has over 30 years of banking experience and has been an active member of more than 40 non-profit organizations including the Southwest Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board and the Florida Bankers Association.

Hyde Park Capital Partners

hires new managing director

Thomas Cardy has joined Tampa's Hyde Park Capital Partners LLC as managing director. Cardy is charged with originating and executing mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, private equity and debt placements and strategic advisory engagements.

"The depth and breadth of industry expertise and relationships he adds to our team will be invaluable as we continue to expand our practice," John Hill, senior managing director of Hyde Park Capital Partners LLC, said in a press release.

Prior to joining Hyde Park Capital, Cardy co-founded Beach Capital Advisors, an investment banking and financial advisory firm focused on emerging growth companies. At Beach Capital, Cardy also developed and participated in several business including turn arounds, early expansions and growth-oriented ventures.

Cardy also served as executive vice president and managing director - media and entertainment group for Communications Equity Associates from 1991 until 2002. At CEA, Cardy originated and executed more than $400 million in merger, acquisition, divestiture and private placement transactions. Cardy originally joined CEA in 1988 as its chief financial officer and served as its chief operating officer during 2000 and 2001.

Naples company 

releases hydrogen-gas producer

HGenerators of Naples has introduced a line of relatively fast and affordable hydrogen-from-water generators. The HGenerators use electrolysis to produce hydrogen. The HGenerators create pure hydrogen gas directly with electrolytic separation of pure distilled and deionized water without any alkali solutions or fossil fuels. 

The hydrogen producing generators can be powered by solar energy, wind turbine or off the electrical grid and each comes. The new generators run from $4,495 for the 200 ml/minute or 12 liters per hour all the way up to $20,995 for the largest size producing 5000 ml/minute or 300 liters per hour.

Bank of St. Petersburg COO

promoted to CEO

Florida Bank Group Inc., a Tampa-based bank holding company, has named Katie Pemble president and CEO of Bank of St. Petersburg, its largest subsidiary. Pemble, who joined the bank in 2003 and most recently served as its chief operating officer and head of retail banking, will report to Cory Coughlin, CEO of the holding company. She replaces Joseph Caballero, who recently left the company.

Pemble will be responsible for developing and executing the company's annual Bank of St. Petersburg strategic plan. She was formerly employed by Bank of America as a senior vice president of commercial lending where she also served as its Pinellas County president.

Workers comp insurer

opens Tampa office

Omaha, Neb.-based FirstComp Insurance plans to start writing new workers compensation business Dec. 1 in Florida. The insurance firm, which focuses on small businesses and small independent insurance agencies, will open an office in Tampa to cover its southeast region.

FirstComp has designed its small business model based on a web-based underwriting and quoting system for insurance agents. The company's average business customer has five or fewer employees and an annual premium of less than $5,000.

FirstComp provides access to workers' comp for more than 80,000 small and midsize businesses in 28 states.

St. Petersburg SRI facility

hosting naval contract

SRI International, a research and development firm, has been awarded a five-year, $36.5-million contract from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command to develop a Maritime Domain Awareness system to improve port security in the United States.

The Maritime Domain Awareness system is the first major project of SRI's National Center for Maritime and Port Security, which is based in SRI's St. Petersburg facility.

In the first year of the project, several technologies, such as the Mobile Inspection Package underwater sensor developed at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, will be deployed in a demonstration system covering ports in the Tampa Bay area.

The center and its new project are part of SRI's strategic plan to accelerate research and development and the deployment and commercialization of technologies related to ocean science, the maritime industry and port security.

Odyssey Marine Exploration

hires new COO, president

Odyssey Marine Exploration, a Tampa deep-ocean shipwreck exploration company, has promoted Mark D. Gordon to president and chief operating officer. Gordon, who has been with Odyssey since 2005, has served as executive vice president, sales and business development since January 2007. Gordon will report to John Morris, co-founder and CEO of Odyssey Marine.

"Mark Gordon has been an invaluable part of Odyssey's team since 2005," Morris said in a press release. "His knowledge of our company and his past business experience and successes make him the perfect candidate for this position. This move correlates with the departure of George Becker (executive vice president of attractions) and Davis Howe [chief operating officer), who will now serve as consultants focused on developing strategic partnership opportunities in promising, but non-core, business areas."

Prior to joining Odyssey, Gordon owned and managed four business ventures from 1987 to 2003, including Internet-service provider Synergy Networks, which he sold to the Rockefeller Group in 2003.