Corporate Report: Dec. 20

Atlas Insurance growing, opens Port Charlotte office
Sarasota-based Atlas Insurance has opened a Port Charlotte office. Wendy Atkinson will lead the new location in the Paulson Centre at 18245 Paulson Drive, Port Charlotte.

Atkinson joined Atlas Insurance in August. A member of the Charlotte Desoto Building Industry Association, Atkinson also serves as the vice president of leadership for the Charlotte County Chamber, where she was elected Ambassador of the Year in 2011 and 2013.

“We are thrilled to open our doors to better serve the people and businesses throughout the Charlotte County area,” Rob Brown, president of Atlas Insurance, says in a press release. “By adding Wendy Atkinson to the team, we are confident in our abilities to offer the best value, service and advice.”

HealthPlan Services private marketplace lands 50 customers
HealthPlan Services, a Tampa-based technology, sales, retention and administrative services provider for the insurance and managed care markets, announced that 50 customers are utilizing its MyConsumerLink private health exchange. Currently, 35 exchanges are operational and an additional 15 will go live by the end of the year.

HealthPlan Services launched MyConsumerLink in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, which created a number of public health exchanges. In response, HealthPlan Services is offering a turnkey private exchange marketplace for brokers, agents, retiree groups, associations and affinity groups as an alternative to the public exchanges.

MyConsumerLink provides medical, dental, vision, Medicare Advantage, Prescription Drug plans, Medicare Supplement, Life and Long-Term Care insurance from several insurance carriers.

Anna Maria Oyster Bar, MISRED Outfitters owners highlighted on state website
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater is featuring two Gulf Coast entrepreneurs on the state's “Your Money Matter$” website in recognition of National Entrepreneur's Month. The “Entrepreneur's Corner” section highlights questions and answers from John Horne, owner of Anna Maria Oyster Bar of Bradenton; Sara Stone of MISRED Outfitters in St. Petersburg and two other business leaders.

The goal of the piece was to offer advice for small business owners based on the experiences of seasoned, successful entrepreneurs.

The website can currently be viewed at myfloridacfo.com/ymm/smallBusiness/Entrepreneurs.aspx but the information will eventually be moved to the site's Small Business page.

RetroTax vice president opens office in Sarasota
RetroTax has opened a third office in Florida. The Company's Executive Vice President of Sales Jay Goodwin will lead the new Sarasota location. Goodwin, a partner with Alan Newcomb in RetroTax, will be responsible for business development and client services as well as continuing his national sales responsibilities. RetroTax is a federal and state tax credit and incentive administration company.

Cigar City Brewing partnering with Brew Hub
Cigar City Brewing is one of three craft brewers announced for a new 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Lakeland. The Tampa-based brewery reached a deal with the St. Louis-based Brew Hub for its Lakeland facility to brew a variety of beer brands for the company and distribute the beer throughout Florida and eventually other southeastern states. The agreement will start in May.

Brew Hub also has agreements with Orange Blossom Pilsner and BJ's Restaurants. Along with brewing and distribution, the Brew Hub will also offer the company's sales, marketing, logistics, compliance and government affairs services.

“These guys know what they are doing, and I am excited for the opportunity to be able to grow Cigar City Brewing without sacrificing quality or compromising the brewing process,” Joey Redner, Cigar City Brewing founder and CEO, says in a press release. “When you combine Brew Hub's experience with a new state-of-the-art craft brewery in our home state of Florida, we knew this partnership could help us get more Cigar City beer into the hands of people who love it.”

Brew Hub will brew 40,000 barrels of beer for the three partners combined. The Lakeland brewery will have an annual capacity of 75,000 barrels, or 1 million cases. The Florida brewery is the first of five breweries Brew Hub plans to open across the country.

IMD Cos. updates financials, says setting itself up for acquisitions
After a lengthy delay, Tampa-based IMD Cos. Inc. has become current on all its financial reporting. The company first notified the over-the-counter markets that it would be late in filing a number of its financial statements in March. It has since filed its 2012 annual report and quarterly filings for the first, second and third quarters of 2013.

At the same time, the financial news wasn't good for the company, which sells health and fitness nutraceutical and provides medical diagnostics services. The firm lost $637,123 in 2012 and lost money in each of its 2013 quarters. IMD Cos. lost $59,250, $236,391 and $233 in each of the respective quarters of 2013.

The company says it decided to bring its reporting up to date with the goal of positioning itself as a holding company for new acquisitions.

“In keeping with our plans for this year, changes are being made in order to capitalize on new markets we think will be beneficial to the company,” Bruce Collett, CEO of IMD Cos., says in a press release. “We look forward to sharing more about [it] in the coming weeks.”