Corporate Report

Corporate Report

Progress Energy Florida signs

$7.7-billion nuclear plant deal

CORPORATE REPORT by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy Florida has signed a contract with Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC and The Shaw Group Inc.'s Power Group for the engineering, procurement and construction of two nuclear units for a proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County.

The deal covers equipment, engineering and construction services for two, 1,105-net megawatt, AP1000 reactors. It's valued at $7.65 billion, but also contains allowances for inflation, owner costs and other contingencies. The next major step is finalizing a joint ownership agreement and review, and gaining approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the company's combined license application. Current plans call for the units to begin operation between 2016 and 2018.

The Florida Public Service Commission unanimously approved a Determination of Need petition in July. A second filing, a Site Certification Application, was filed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in June, with a decision on the SCA filing expected later this year.

"Expanding our nuclear capacity will ensure our customers will continue to have a reliable supply of energy, while reducing reliance on fossil fuels and helping to eliminate greenhouse gas from our environment," Jeff Lyash, president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida, said in a press release. "This contract is a major step to implement the policy direction set by the governor and the legislature in Florida to secure safe, carbon-free nuclear power for our customers."

As recently announced, the company will retire the two oldest coal-fired units at the Crystal River Energy Complex in Citrus County after the new nuclear units are built in Levy County. This will reduce the company's carbon-dioxide emissions by more than 5 million tons a year, which is the equivalent of removing more than 830,000 vehicles from the roads, meeting nearly 60% of the company's responsibility in achieving Florida Governor Charlie Crist's 2025 emission-reduction target.

The company estimates the total cost for the two units will be $14 billion including land, plant components, financing costs, construction, labor, regulatory fees and reactor fuel.

Progress Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Progress Energy, provides electricity and related services for 20,000 square miles including the cities of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, for about 1.7 million customers.

Hard To Treat Diseases to

buy Serbian cosmetics firm

Clearwater-based Hard to Treat Diseases Inc., also known as HTDS Medical, reports it has identified a cosmetics company as a potential merger candidate. The cosmetics company also in Serbia is engaged in online sales of Melem, an all-purpose skin and lip balm used to treat a variety of skin and lip problems including eczema, psoriasis, chapped skin and lips, calluses, sunburns and insect bites.

"Just to be clear, the Melem cosmetics company is not the core business of HTDS by any stretch of the imagination," Andrea Rubio Zecevic, acting head scientific advisor for HTDS, said in a press release. "It's a small, self-supporting cosmetics company and a nice add-on for HTDS. The opportunities in this region due to the Balkan wars of the 1990s are enormous. There are various European Union reconstruction programs and enticements in place while the whole country is in the process of privatizing its entire infrastructure."

Rubio says the company plans to pay the company a sum equivalent to the price of a U.S.-based mid-sized car to buy all its formulas, packaging, good will, its client base and back office.

In other merger news, the company reports it has finalized a deal to acquire Slavica Bio Chem for HTDS stock and options. Slavica Bio Chem is a spin-off of Renuyu Biochem, a U.S. and a U.K. company, founded by Zecevic. The research and development company has plants in Belgrade and Serbia.

Veteran clothing exec Dyer

hired to head Chico's FAS

David F. Dyer, formerly president and CEO of both Tommy Hilfiger Inc. and Land's End, has been appointed to hold the same titles at Fort Myers-based specialty retailer Chico's FAS Inc.

Dyer, who has served on the company's board of directors since 2007, will remain a member of the board. He succeeds Scott A. Edmonds, who told the board on Jan. 7 that he is retiring and submitted his resignation as an officer and director of the company. Ross E. Roeder, who is currently the company's lead director, has been named non-executive chairman of the board.

"Under [Edmonds'] leadership, Chico's has become one of the premier women's retailers in the country," Roeder said in a press release. Even in this difficult environment, we are well-positioned to weather one of the worst retailing downturns in history, with no debt and significant cash resources. We are fortunate that David Dyer, one of the most respected and successful leaders in retailing, has agreed to assume the positions of president and chief executive officer. His expertise in marketing and merchandising will help position Chico's to prosper and grow in the future."

Dyer, 59, has had a 35-year career in retail. He was with Tommy Hilfiger from August 2003 until its sale in May 2006, and with Lands' End from November 1998 until its June 2002 sale to Sears Roebuck and Co. Following that sale, he joined Sears as executive vice president and a member of its executive committee, while retaining his responsibilities at Lands' End. Dyer has also served as acting president of J. Crew and president and chief operating officer of Home Shopping Network.

Chico's also reported that its net sales for the five-week period that ended Jan. 3, decreased 10% to $163.4 million from $181.6 million for the same five-week period last year. Comparable store sales decreased 12.4% for the same five-week period.

For the last 48 weeks that ended Jan. 3, total net sales decreased 8% to $1.491 billion from $1.620 billion reported for the same period last year. Comparable store sales decreased 15.3%.

The company said it expected declines in comparable store sales for December, and that with lower targeted store inventory levels, it expected to have lower gross margins than anticipated for the fourth quarter of last year.

Chico's operates 1,080 women's specialty stores, including under the Chico's, White House | Black Market and Soma Intimates names.

ETC ...

Three Clockwork Home units

make mag's Franchise 500 list

Clockwork Home Services Inc. announced that its Ben Franklin Plumbing, One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating, and Mister Sparky America's On-time Electrician units are all ranked in Entrepreneur magazine's 30th annual Franchise 500 edition this month.

Benjamin Franklin was listed in 140th place, followed by One Hour in 163rd position and Mister Sparky at 387.

Entrepreneur compiles its rankings based on companies' financial strength and stability plus growth rate and size of the franchise systems.

In addition, Mister Sparky placed 27th among "Top New Franchises," which are the top 50 brands that have been in the franchising business since 2004.

In addition to the more than 500 franchises operating in the U.S. and Canada, Clockwork also operates electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning retail locations.

John Acosta appointed to lead

West Florida for Region Bank

Regions Bank holding company Regions Financial Corp. has named John Acosta as its West Florida area executive, reporting to regional president Brett Couch.

Acosta's territory will cover Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Bradenton, Lakeland and Pasco County.

Acosta has been in banking for 27 years, including 25 in the Bay Area. Acosta most recently served the company as the city president for Pinellas and Pasco counties. Prior to that, Acosta was a senior vice president and manager of business banking throughout west and southwest Florida.

Sarasota CPA firm

changes name

The Sarasota-based CPA firm Eaton Honick Pellegrino & McFarland PA has changed its name to Pellegrino Honick McFarland & Miller PA. The firm has offices in Sarasota and Venice.

Home Shopping Network adopts stockholder rights plan

Facing severely depressed stock values, St. Petersburg-based multi-media retailer HSN Inc., like many other public companies, has adopted a stockholder rights plan to prevent an easy unsolicited takeover.

The company's board of directors instituted a plan so stockholders will receive a single purchase right for each share of common stock that can be exercised if any owner gains 15% or more of HSNi's common stock or makes a tender offer to buy more then 15%.

Liberty Media is excluded from the 15% ownership trigger.

The rights are redeemable by HSNi for tenth of a cent per right and will expire on Dec. 23, 2018 unless amended by HSNi.

"The board believes that adoption of the plan will help ensure that the company has the opportunity to pursue its long-term growth strategy and protect our stockholders by providing the board with adequate time to evaluate alternatives in the event of an unsolicited offer," Mindy Grossman, chief executive officer of HSNi, said in a press release.

HSN is a $3-billion, interactive, multi-channel retailer with operations encompassing TV, online, catalogs and brick-and-mortar stores.

Pegasus Imaging of Tampa acquires AccuSoft's imaging

Pegasus Imaging Corp., a Tampa-based digital imaging technology company, purchased AccuSoft Corp.'s imaging business in an eight-figure deal that includes the ImageGear and NetVue product lines.

"AccuSoft is one of the oldest, most well-established and well-respected names in the imaging [software development kits] marketplace. Jack Berlin, president of Pegasus Imaging, said in a press release. They are maintaining a strong, healthy business, and the synergies were obvious.

"They have a strong tradition of excellence and we are similar in our philosophies. The result is a formidable set of imaging products."

AccuSoft imaging SDKS (software development kits) feature photo processing, medical imaging, DICOM, and document imaging technologies.

Founded in 1991, Pegasus Imaging delivers digital imaging SDKs, image compression, recognition, and image-editing technologies.

Walter Industries closes Jim Walter Homes Division

After more than 60 years of homebuilding, Tampa-based Walter Industries Inc. has closed its Jim Walter Homes subsidiary.

The division built more than 350,000 homes, but has not been profitable in several years.

Walter Industries officials say the company expects to record a pre-tax charge of $8 million to $10 million for the fourth quarter of last year related to the business closure.

"The story of Jim Walter Homes began as World War II ended and soldiers came home to pursue the American Dream," Michael T. Tokarz, Walter Industries chairman, said in a press release. "Regrettably, it ends at a time when the fundamentals of the homebuilding industry have deteriorated in ways never seen before."

Tampa entrepreneur Jim Walter founded Jim Walter Homes in November 1946, when he used $395 in savings to buy and then sell his first "shell" home, for a profit of $300. That investment led Jim Walter to build a Fortune 500 conglomerate with businesses as diverse as mortgage financing, coal mining and ductile iron pipe manufacturing. The company completed its spin-off of Mueller Water Products, which encompassed its interest in the ductile iron pipe and water products businesses, in December of 2006.

For the last several years, the company has tried to shed its other businesses to focus on its core natural resources and energy-related work. The company expects to shed its financing business and rename it Walter Investment Management early this year, and it will also be based in Tampa.

"Once we complete the separation of our financing business, Walter Industries will be repositioned as a 'pure play' natural resources and energy company," Tokarz said.

"The businesses that comprised Walter Industries when we undertook this important strategy will soon exist independently as three publicly traded companies and, in the process, we will have created significant value for our shareholders."

About 230 people will be affected by the closure, including 45 employees of the Jim Walter Homebuilding Group in Tampa along with those in other offices to be shut down in other parts of Florida plus in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.

The company has discontinued all of its sales efforts, but says Jim Walter will continue to meet all of its obligations to existing customers with homes in progress as the business winds down. As of Dec. 31, Jim Walter Homes had 150 homes under construction.

Walter Industries Inc. is a producer and exporter of metallurgical coal for the global steel industry and also produces steam coal, coal bed methane gas, furnace and foundry coke and other related products.

- Sean Roth