Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Alico ends ethanol efforts,

New Planet Energy continues

LaBelle-based Alico Inc., a land management company, says it will no longer explore the development of an ethanol facility.

Alico has been working with New Planet Energy LLC on this project for the past year. NPE will continue its pursuit of cellulosic ethanol that is manufactured from woody plant matter. Alico says its management and board of directors determined that the risks associated with the project outweighed any anticipated benefits.

The company had been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy and Florida government to receive grants and loan assistance to assist in the project, but Alico says it will no longer pursue such support.

"In reaching this decision, Alico will continue to focus on our core operations of real estate management including agriculture and development opportunities to provide returns for our shareholders," Alico Chairman and CEO John Alexander said in a press release.

Alico owns about 135,500 acres in Collier, Glades, Hendry, Lee and Polk counties and is involved in various agricultural and real estate businesses.

Brown & Brown Inc. buys

California company assets

A subsidiary of Daytona Beach- and Tampa-based insurance company Brown & Brown Inc. purchased the assets of Debock & Muth Insurance Agency Inc. of Stockton, Calif.

Debock & Muth Insurance Agency Inc., which reports average annual revenues of $1.7 million, focuses on property and casualty insurance in Central California and throughout the rest of the country. James Muth, former president of Debock & Muth, and the rest of the company will continue to operate from its existing location in Stockton as a freestanding Brown & Brown profit center.

"We are extremely pleased to add Jim and his staff to our growing presence in central California," Michael J. Paschke, regional executive vice president of Brown & Brown, said in a press release. "This team of talented insurance professionals will provide us with new resources and services capabilities for our clients throughout the Golden State."

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

Tech Data Corp. plans

$100 million stock buyback

Tech Data Corp., a Clearwater-based technology-product distributor, announced that its board of directors has authorized a $100 million share-repurchase program. Over the last three years, the company has repurchased $300 million worth of shares.

"The board's authorization of an additional $100 million share repurchase program reflects our continued confidence in Tech Data's growth opportunities and our commitment to enhancing shareholder value," Robert Dutkowsky, CEO of Tech Data Corp., said in a press release. "We continue to consider a variety of strategic alternatives when investing in our business like the recent acquisition of certain Scribona AB assets in the Nordics. Our strong balance sheet enables Tech Data to engage in a share repurchase program while continuing to strategically invest in our operations for long-term success in the marketplace."

The company's share repurchases will be made on the open market. The company says the amount of shares purchased and the timing of the purchases will be based on working capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors, such as other better investment opportunities.

Tech Data generated $23.42 billion in net sales for its fiscal year ended Jan. 31 and net income of $108.27 million.

Media Vista Group moves

TV show taping site

Naples-based Hispanic media company Media Vista Group Inc. has relocated the taping site of its "D'Latinos Al Dia" TV show from the Comcast studios on Tower Road to the recently renovated studios at the offices of Azteca America Southwest Florida in Naples.

The move will bring the show, the only live daily Spanish language program of its kind in Southwest Florida history, together with Media Vista Group's other successful brands - Noticiero Azteca America, a locally focused and produced Spanish language newscast; its Web site (www.dlatinos.tv); and the Spanish language D'Latinos Magazine.

"...[W]e are very grateful to Comcast and their staff for opening their doors in 2002, when the D'Latinos TV Show was started," Orlando Rosales, president/CEO of Media Vista Group said in a press release. "Now, after six years and owning a 24/7 affiliate TV station, it is time to move on and be in control 100% of our assets. We have the personnel, the technical capabilities to produce high-quality TV productions, especially our highly successful show, at the national broadcast level, taking us to the next level."

Azteca America is part of TV Azteca, the second-largest producer of Spanish-language programming in the world. Azteca America joined the Comcast Cable digital lineup on Channels 251 and 600 in December 2006.

Chico's FAS reports

reduced sales, comparables

Fort Myers-based specialty clothing retailer Chico's FAS Inc. reported that its sales during the four-week period that ended May 31 declined 8.8% to $141.4 million from the $155 million it reported for the four-week period that ended June 2, 2007. Comparable store sales decreased 16.9% for the same four weeks this year compared to the same period last year.

For the 17-week period that ended May 31, total sales decreased 9.4% to $551 million from $608.1 million reported for the same period last year.  Comparable store sales decreased 17.4% during the same period this year compared with 2007.

The company operates 1,063 women's specialty stores under the Chico's, White House | Black Market and Soma Intimates name in 49 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Three area health pros buy

Home Instead Senior Care

A retired nurse, a registered nurse and a Sarasota physician have purchased the Home Instead Senior Care office serving Sarasota County. 

New owners Sharon Anderson, Chrystal Pruitt and Dr. Chris Brukoff bought the six-year-old business from Sandra Taylor. Anderson holds bachelor's degrees in nursing and business administration, and registered nurse Pruitt has an associate's degree in nursing with a specialty in critical care and open-heart surgery recovery. Anderson and Pruitt will run the day-to-day business operations while Brukoff, chief of anesthesia at Doctor's Hospital in Sarasota, will be responsible for educating the community about Home Instead Senior Care's services. 

The Sarasota Home Instead Senior Care office has applied to the state for a personal-care license to provide certain home services including toileting, transferring, feeding and bathing. "Chrystal and I felt that providing care to seniors in our area was a great way to give back to the community while taking advantage of our collective experience in the health-care fields," Anderson said in a press release. 

Pruitt most recently worked as a nurse in the critical care unit of a local hospital. Anderson has marketing, networking and caregiver/client experience in senior care.

Home Instead Senior Care, an independently owned and operated company that is part of an international franchise chain, is located at 3800 S. Tamiami Trail, No. 314, in Sarasota.

Sunovia Energy Tech

sells lights to Texas city

The city of Fairview, Texas, awarded Sarasota-based Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc. a contract to provide its energy-efficient EvoLucia LED lighting products for street lighting in the city.

By replacing typically metal halide and/or incandescent lights with Sunovia's proprietary LED lighting products, municipalities and other customers should save more than 75% in electrical costs.

"The environmental and energy-efficient vision of Fairview's city council is simply a pleasure to work around, and I am confident that their leadership will have a domino effect on other cities within the state of Texas and around the country," Bob Fugerer, president and CTO of Sunovia, said in a press release. "I believe that the city of Fairview will be a springboard for the company to secure additional opportunities and projects in the future, and I am proud of the work that our company, and specifically our engineering team, is doing in this important area of the industry."

Sunovia is a renewable energy and energy-conservation company that is developing an advanced and cost-effective cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology and is also the owner of the energy-efficient LED lighting product line, EvoLucia.

Fox Electronics expands XpressO product line

Fox Electronics, a Fort Myers-based supplier of frequency control products, now offers two models of its XpressO oscillator that operate with 2.5 volts, requiring considerably less current than traditional 3.3-volt models.

The LVPECL and LVDS oscillators employ noise-reducing technology and are designed for a variety of applications including SONET, Ethernet, storage area network, broadband access, microprocessors, industrial controllers, test and measurement equipment, fiber channel and portable applications requiring low-power usage. 

Fox Electronics promises the new oscillators will have short lead times and guarantees that samples and production quantities will be shipped within 24 hours and a maximum of 10 days, respectively.

Oscillators are electronic-timing components that generate frequency signals in devices such as computers, wireless modems, electronic printers and music synthesizers. In computers, oscillators are an important factor in determining the rate at which a computer can perform instructions or the "clock speed."

MarineMax

extends Meridian

Clearwater boat retailer MarineMax Inc. has expanded its presence with Meridian Yachts, a brand already offered in many MarineMax stores. MarineMax will now offer the yachts in its Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and South Carolina stores.

"We were one of the key drivers that led to the creation of the Meridian Yachts brand. We have seen the brand grow into a major force in the segments that it operates, taking substantial market share from brands with a much longer heritage," William H. McGill, Jr., chairman, president and CEO, said in a press release. "We feel Meridian is well-suited for success in these markets. Meridian Yachts and our customer-centric sales and service operating philosophy have proven to be a successful combination."

MarineMax is the nation's largest recreational boat and yacht retailer. The company currently operates 88 retail locations in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas plus the aforementioned states.