Corporate Report

Corporate Report

Hyde Park Capital Advisors

helps guide Zickgraf sale

Zickgraf Hardwood Flooring Co. in North Carolina has been sold to Shaw Industries Group Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Hyde Park Capital Advisors LLC, the subsidiary of Tampa-based investment banking firm Hyde Park Capital Partners LLC, served as the company's exclusive financial advisor in the transaction.

Zickgraf Hardwood Flooring is an industry leader in un- and pre-finished solid hardwood flooring with 320 employees.

"We appreciate the assistance of the investment bankers at Hyde Park Capital on this transaction," F.P. Bodenheimer Jr., chairman and CEO of Zickgraf, said in a press release. "In a difficult economy and in challenging financial markets for consumer product manufacturers like Zickgraf, whose products are tied to residential construction, Hyde Park successfully marketed our company and helped us conclude an attractive sale to a strong, blue chip, strategic buyer."

Shaw Industries Group is the world's largest carpet manufacturer and a floor-covering provider with more than $5 billion in annual sales.

Realtor Sellstate launches

new branding campaign

Fort Myers-based Sellstate Realty Systems Network, Inc. has launched a new branding initiative aimed at raising the company's profile and differentiating it from other national real estate franchises.

The campaign includes a new logo, brand colors, signage and marketing materials, and a recruitment Web site for prospective franchisees and agents. A new corporate Web site will be unveiled later this year.

"As we entered our sixth year of franchising, we were ready to clearly identify who we are going to be in the future," Sellstate CEO Art Darmanin said in a press release. "As we continue to expand our brand throughout the nation, it is important that the image of the company reflects our sophisticated business model."

Sellstate Realty Systems Network is one of the fastest growing real estate franchise companies in the United States. During the last four years, Sellstate has expanded from one office in Florida to encompassing franchises in 11 states. It utilizes the C.P. Technology and Agent Asset Development program that streamlines administrative procedures for brokers and speeds processing of commissions for agents. 

Source Interlink, XM

rev-up consumer promo

Publisher Source Interlink Media, a division of Bonita Springs-based Source Interlink Cos. Inc., and XM have launched The Editors' Coolest Car Challenge: From Sixty-Four Cars to One consumer promotion. 

The second edition of the sweepstakes invites readers of Motor Trend and Automobile Magazine to test their automotive acumen by choosing the coolest, XM-equipped, new car compared with picks made by the editors. Both magazines are owned by Source Interlink Media.

The challenge (at www.xmcoolestcar.com) features 64 XM Radio-equipped vehicles pitted against each other in a basketball tournament-style bracket. The editors of Motor Trend and Automobile Magazine will select the winner of each head-to-head matchup, round by round, to determine the XM Coolest Car for 2009. The participants who exactly match the editors' selections will be entered into a drawing and a chance to win $10,000.

Source Interlink Media and XM are promoting the challenge via an integrated online and print campaign.

Automobile Magazine has a print circulation of 550,000, a total readership of 4 million and an online audience of one million visitors. Motor Trend has a print circulation of 1.1 million, a total readership of 7.3 million and an online audience of almost three million visitors.

Airborne settles with FTC

in advertising suit

Bonita Springs-based Airborne Inc. has settled its case with the Federal Trade Commission concerning overreaching advertising and labeling of its dietary supplement products. The settlement provides additional funds of up to $6.5 million for consumers who request refunds as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement.

Airborne still denies wrongdoing or illegal conduct in both cases, but reached an agreement with the FTC, its officials say, to "avoid continued expense and distraction from management of the business."

"The additional funding is not a fine," attorney Helene Jaffe who represents Airborne, said in a press release. "The money represents additional dollars that Airborne has agreed to set aside should more consumers file claims during the designated claims period."

U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips is considering final approval of the $23.5 million settlement. On Nov. 29, 2007, Judge Phillips entered a preliminary order approving it. The final hearing for the proposed settlement occurred on June 16.

The enhanced settlement funds of up to $30 million ($23.5 million for the class-action settlement and $6.5 million for the recent FTC settlement) will be divided among consumers who joined the class action and filed for refunds and the plaintiff and his attorneys.

Further, Airborne attorneys report they are currently in discussions with 28 state attorneys general to resolve their investigations into Airborne's older advertising and labeling practices. The law firms of Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York and Hyman, Phelps & McNamara in Washington, D.C., are representing Airborne in all of these legal issues.

Airborne's main product, also called Airborne, is a dietary supplement containing vitamins and minerals to help support the immune system.

Brown & Brown subsidiary

buys assets of Reed Brothers

A subsidiary of Daytona Beach- and Tampa-based insurance company Brown & Brown Inc. purchased the assets of Reed Brothers Insurance Group Inc.

Reed Brothers Insurance Group, which reports annual revenues of $2.1 million, specializes in property and casualty and group employee benefits insurance in the RV, power-sport dealership and manufactured- housing markets. The firm also offers life, long-term care and Medicare supplemental insurance.

Michael Neal, the former chairman of Reed Brothers Insurance Group, and his staff will operate as a freestanding profit center under the Reed Brothers Insurance name from their current locations in Columbia, Ky., and Tampa.

"Mike Neal and his team bring added depth to our commercial lines, personal lines and employee benefits expertise, particularly for our clients in the (key) businesses," J. Scott Penny, regional executive vice president of Brown & Brown, said in a press release.

In other news, Brown & Brown Inc. declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of seven cents per share. The dividend is payable on Aug. 20 to shareholders of record on Aug. 6.

Brown & Brown Inc. offers insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, third-party administration, managed health care, and Medicare set-aside services and programs.

Entel PCS picks Syniverse

for mobile roaming process

Entel PCS, one of Chile's largest mobile phone operators, has selected products from Tampa-based Syniverse Technologies for its clearing, anti-fraud and roaming management system.

In addition to selecting Syniverse's Data Clearing House for GSM and Financial Clearing House for GSM, the South American operator also has chosen Syniverse DataNet and Roaming Management Services.

Syniverse DCH and FCH will work together to handle Entel PCS's data and financial clearing. DCH will serve as a single point of contact for the exchange of roaming billing records between Entel PCS and its roaming partners as subscribers move in and out of networks. FCH will manage Entel PCS's payable and receivable positions with these partners.

RMS assists in the exchange of roaming-partner information, enabling mobile operators to perform queries, run reports and send alerts on essential roaming agreement data.

"Choosing Syniverse gives us two clear advantages in today's competitive marketplace," Juan Carlos Jil, international services director, Entel PCS, said in a press release. "First, we benefit from its local presence that both gives Syniverse an intimate understanding of the challenges we face and has earned Syniverse an excellent reputation for superior in-region customer service. Second, we can rely on a trusted provider of tightly integrated roaming solutions that enhance our subscribers' customer experience and increase revenue assurance."

Syniverse Technologies provides mobile services products to communications companies.

Entel PCS, part of Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A., the largest telecommunications company in Chile, provides mobile and Internet plus local and long-distance, fixed-line phone and other related services.

An Aerosonic Clearwater

site is damaged by fire

A fire caused severe damage to one of Aerosonic Corp.'s buildings in its Clearwater complex on Aug. 8. The Clearwater-based manufacturer of aviation products is executing a recovery plan that includes temporarily reassigning employees to other unaffected facilities in Clearwater and in Charlottesville, Va.

The company reported that the damage was so severe that it is having difficulty determining if any of the property is recoverable. However, the company is insured for real property, personal property and loss of business income.

"We are focused on restoring our capabilities and supporting our customers as quickly as possible," Doug Hillman, Aerosonic CEO, said in a press release. "Our team has rapidly pulled together to plan and implement our recovery, with work already underway. I also want to personally thank the Fire Department for rapidly containing the fire and protecting the balance of our buildings."

Peoples Gas, Tampa Electric

ask for rate increases

Tampa-based Peoples Gas System and Tampa Electric have filed requests for base rate increases with the Florida Public Service Commission. It has been about six and 16 years since People Gas System and Tampa Electric have filed for increases, respectively. Since its last base rate increase, Peoples Gas has added about 100,000 new customers and Tampa Electric has grown by 200,000.

Peoples Gas System officials attributed the need for a rate hike to increased costs and the need to improve the company's natural gas distribution system. Since the last rate increase, the cost of steel piping has more than doubled and labor costs have increased 22%. Peoples Gas is requesting a base rate increase of $26.5 million, which translates to a roughly 10% increase to the average residential bill starting in the summer of 2009.

Tampa Electric says the rate increase is needed due to the 70%-plus cost increase in labor, steel and concrete, related to building, maintaining and operating the electrical system, including power plants, transmission and distribution lines and customer-service facilities. Tampa Electric is requesting a base rate increase of $228.2 million, which would mean an increase of 7.5% to 11% for commercial/industrial customers.

The fuel charge is handled separately by both companies as a pass-through cost and is not part of the rate increase requests. However, Tampa Electric notified the Florida Public Service Commission in July that it is estimating a need to recover an additional $209 million based on actual and projected fuel costs for this year.

Both Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas System are owned by TECO Energy Inc.

Army expands contract with

General Dynamics Ordnance

The U.S. Army Field Support Command at Rock Island, Ill., awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a St. Petersburg business unit of General Dynamics, an expansion of an existing demilitarization contract worth another $34.8 million.

The latest award to demolish obsolete and excess ammunition brings the total contract value up to $151 million.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems currently oversees the resource recovery and recycling of six types of obsolete U.S. Department of Defense ammunition. So far, the company has demilitarized more than 90,000 tons of munitions.

"General Dynamics has a long history of performing ammunition demilitarization for the DoD," Dr. Dean Bartles, vice president and general manager of large caliber ammunition for General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, said in a press release. "Under this contract, we manage the environmentally safe thermal treatment of excess and obsolete ammunition."

Engineering and program management of the program will be conducted in St. Petersburg.

with Bobby Flay pic and Valpak logo

Valpak, Food Net serve-up

Grill It! sweepstakes

The blue Valpak envelopes being mailed to consumers feature a summertime sweepstakes promotion with the Food Network and its newest show, "Grill It! with Bobby Flay."

Chef Flay is featured on the blue envelopes. He also hosts the Food Network's "Throwdown" and "Iron Chef America" shows. Consumers can enter the sweepstakes at www.valpak.com through Sept 5.

The grand prize is a 4-day, 3-night trip to New York City for two, including round-trip transportation, admission for two days to the 2008 Food Network Wine & Food Festival including a culinary demonstration by Flay, and $500 in spending money.

In addition, 25 prizewinners will receive a Flay-autographed cookbook.

"We know the Valpak audience is made of many 'foodies,'" Melissa Fisher, Valpak's senior vice president of marketing and communications, said in a press release. "Valpak consumers love dining out, and they have the discretionary income to do so. Valpak research shows that our customers are 21% more likely than the U.S. average to have dined out at a full-service restaurant in the past 30 days."

Headquartered in Largo, Valpak is owned and operated by Cox Target Media. Valpak sends the blue envelopes to 45 million households throughout North America monthly.

Etc...

with Whole Foods Market logo

Naples Wild Oaks closing,

new Whole Foods Market to open

Natural and organic food supermarket chain Whole Foods Market announced that the Wild Oats Marketplace in Naples will be closing in preparation for the opening of the new Whole Foods Market-Naples store.

The Wild Oats Marketplace has begun a half-off sale, which will continue throughout the week until most of its inventory is sold.

The more than 100 employees that currently work at Wild Oats will be transferred to the new Whole Foods Market-Naples store, joining an additional 100 new employees that have been hired.

The 52,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market-Naples store, in the new Mercato Center at the intersection of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Tamiami Trail, will be the company's first in Southwest Florida.

with mug Christine Sunseri and logo of new company

T.O.P.S. Staffing merges

with Ad-Vance Screening

Sarasota business owner Christine Sunseri has merged her two Sarasota-Bradenton area companies, T.O.P.S. Staffing Services and Ad-Vance Screening Solutions, to create Sarasota-based TOPS Human Resource Solutions.

The new company will combine the staffing and human resources services of T.O.P.S. with the background and drug screening services of Ad-Vance. It is operating from the former T.O.P.S. Staffing Services office at 3293 Fruitville Road, Suite 102, Sarasota.

with sky Angel IPTV logo

Sky Angel inks on-demand

deal with Exploration Films

Sky Angel, a Naples-based national provider of faith-based and family-friendly television and radio programming, reached a deal with Exploration Films to expand the availability of Sky Angel's films, stories and documentaries though video on demand.

"Sky Angel is excited about including the great quality content provided by Exploration Films in our VOD lineup with categories that include history, archeology, wildlife features and biographies," Darren Moorman, assistant vice president – VOD director, said in a press release.

The expanded VOD library is available through Sky Angel's Internet-protocol television subscription service.

MinSURG Corp. launches

international division

Clearwater-based MinSURG Corp., producers of the TruFUSE procedure and products for relieving back pain, has launched MinSURG International Inc. to handle increased global demand.

"Distributors from Canada, Brazil, Germany, Greece, South Korea, Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and Japan have expressed strong interest in providing the benefits of our minimally invasive and percutaneous spinal fusion to their populations suffering from debilitating back pain," CEO Jim Doulgeris said in a press release.

Sales in Turkey and Greece have already been recorded.

Peter Sontag, the current chairman of MinSURG's parent company, has been appointed president of the new international division.

The TruFUSE procedure uses specially designed human-bone dowels to stop facet joints from moving, which is intended to eliminate or dramatically reduce back pain.

RK