The first month of 2020 saw a 7 percent increase in overall passenger traffic at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. "With 166,005 total passengers, PIE [the location identifier for St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport] is off to a strong start in the new year," a news release from the airport said. The airport's new Master Concessionaire, Hudson SSP, has opened new stores in the past few weeks including Hudson/Dunkin’ Donuts in a pre-security area; Market 361 and Dunkin’ in Gates 2-6; and Sand and Sky by Hudson in Gates 7-11. Still to come are 3 Daughters Brewing, Mazzaro’s Italian Market, and Hudson Kiosk in bag claim.
RCX Logistics (Railcrew Xpress) will close its Tampa office and lay off 72 employees by April 12. The company was notified by Amazon that the contract for the Tampa location at 8800 E. Adamo Dr. had been cancelled as of April 12, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice filed with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Most of the workers who will lose their jobs are delivery drivers.
Bloomin' Brands (Nasdaq: BLMN), the Tampa-based parent of Outback Steakhouse and other restaurant brands, is shaking up its leadership. Liz Smith, who was CEO until last year, will step down from her role as executive chairman of the board, effective March 6, a regulatory filing said. She will continue to serve as a director. James Craigie, who has been the lead independent director, will become chairman of the board. In addition, Gregg Scarlett, the president of Outback Steakhouse, has been named Bloomin' Brands executive vice president, chief operating officer, casual dining restaurants, as part of a plan to improve efficiency and leverage scale. Scarlett will oversee the company’s domestic Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill concepts. Jeff Carcara and Michael Kappitt, executive vice presidents of Bonefish and Carrabba’s, respectively, departed the company effective Feb. 13.
Trxade Group Inc. started trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market Thursday under the new ticker symbol MEDS. The company's common stock ceased trading on the over-the-counter market, where it had a ticker symbol of TRXD. Shareholders of Trxade, a Tampa-based drug procurement, delivery and healthcare platform, recently approved a reverse stock split to meet the minimum share price requirement of the Nasdaq Capital Market, a news release said.
GSP, a Clearwater company that provides end-to-end retail services and solutions, has purchased substantially all the assets of Custom Color Corp. in Lenexa, Kansas. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal gives GSP a fourth production facility in Kansas City, which will allow GSP to cut lead times and minimize shipping costs for retail customers nationwide, GSP CEO Geoff Neuhoff. Greg Bosl of Endeavor Strategies, a Tampa advisory and investment banking firm, represented GSP in the deal.
MedFleet Inc., a New Port Richey-based company that provides ambulance service in four counties in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, has been acquired by PatientCare Logistics Systems. Financial terms were not disclosed. PatientCare Logistics Systems provides ground-based 911 emergency ambulance services and other critical healthcare logistics. One of its brands is Sunstar Paramedics in Pinellas County. Hyde Park Capital in Tampa served as the exclusive investment banker to MedFleet in the deal. MedFleet will continue to operate under its same brand with the same team of employees, said John McDonald, senior managing director of Hyde Park.
Shareholders of Tech Data Corp. (Nasdaq: TECD) overwhelming approved a $6 billion buyout of the IT distributor. Votes representing nearly 81 percent of the outstanding shares were cast in favor of the acquisition by Apollo Global Management at a meeting Wednesday at Tech Data’s Clearwater headquarters. Nearly 60 percent of the votes cast were opposed to a separate, non-binding proposal to pay millions of dollars in golden parachutes to Tech Data executives who lose their jobs in the deal, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing. When the deal closes, Tech Data, the largest company headquartered in the Tampa-St. Pete area, will become a privately owned company.
Oracle Elevator has bought Landmark Elevator, a Hagerstown, Maryland company that provides elevator service, modernization and new installation in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It's the 32nd acquisition since 2004 for Oracle, based in Tampa and the largest independent provider of elevator maintenance, repair, and modernization services, operating across 45 markets in 20 states. The acquisition will be the foundation for Oracle Elevator’s northeast expansion plans, a news release said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ardurra Group Inc., a Tampa-based company that provides consulting and engineering services to public and private entities throughout the United States, has acquired LNV Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed in a news release. With the addition of LNV, Ardurra further expands its nationwide expertise in the engineering market, enhancing and expanding its current disciplines — including water, civil, public works, survey, environmental and structural — as well as adding new capabilities in architectural and transportation disciplines. LNV will operate as LNV, an Ardurra Group company, from their offices in Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Laredo, Texas.
Avalon Healthcare Solutions, a healthcare information technology company focused on medical benefit management, is expanding its corporate office in Tampa. The company plans to dd more than 40 new high-quality jobs with an average salary of $80,000, in areas such as IT, data analytics, database management and finance, a news release said. The Tampa Bay Economic Development Council provided Avalon with workforce assistance and training grants. It is the second expansion in five years that the Tampa Bay EDC helped Avalon navigate, said Dr. Bill Kerr, CEO of Avalon.
iQor plays to lay off 100 temporary workers and 31 direct employees in its Memphis office. The layoffs, effective by April 6, are needed to ensure the future of the company in Memphis, Robert Constantine, vice president of marketing for iQor, told the Commercial Appeal. Constantine cited changes in demand that are outside the company's control, and said iQor remins committed to its logistics and product support services in Memphis. Based in St. Petersburg, iQor is a business process outsourcing company with offices around the world.
The University of South Florida is one of the top producers of Fulbright scholars in the United States for 2019-20, according to a list from the U.S. Department of State and published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Nine faculty members from USF Tampa, one faculty member from USF St. Petersburg and one from USF Sarasota-Manatee were named Fulbright scholars for 2019-20, a news release said. USF is the third highest producing institution in the nation, and the top in Florida, according to the release. St. Petersburg College, with one Fulbright award, also was included in the lists published by the Chronicle. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government.
