Wrench Group, an Atlanta-based home repair firm with national operations, has bought Easy A/C in Tampa. Financial terms were not disclosed in a news release announcing the deal. Easy A/C provides air conditioning, electrical and plumbing services to customers in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Pasco and Manatee counties. The company was locally owned and operated by Keith Westbrook and Dave Whittington since 2001. Easy A/C will be combining its operations with CoolToday, owned by Wrench Group and headquartered in Sarasota. Easy A/C will transition its brand to Easy CoolToday, the news release said.
Jabil is publicly offering to sell $600 million in senior notes. Jabil (NYSE: JBL), a manufacturing solutions provider and the largest company headquartered in St. Petersburg, plans to use proceeds of the debt offering for general corporate purposes, including paying off debt issued earlier that comes due this year. A senior note is a bond that must be repaid before most other debts in the event that the issuer declares bankruptcy. That makes senior notes more secure than other bond, but that greater level of safety means investors earn slightly lower interest rates, according to Investopedia. The offering for the newly issued senior notes is expected to close on July 13, Jabil said in a news release. Fitch Ratings has assigned a BBB- rating, an investment grade rating, to the new notes. Fitch said Jabil's fiscal year third quarter had better financial results than expected.
A fifth bus driver has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. The driver last reported to work Friday, June 26, and in the two weeks prior to that time, drove only Route 14. PSTA does not believe any passengers came in contact with the driver, whom remained socially distant from all passengers. However, anyone who feels like they experience symptoms should seek medical advice. PSTA requires riders to wear protective face coverings while riding, and to use transit for essential travel only.
Works by St. Pete-area artists go on virtual view Tuesday (July 7) as part of thestudio@620's 2020 Community Art Show exhibition. Work in all media was accepted through July 2, and will be on display (and available for sale) on thestudio@620 website through the end of the month. The Community Art Show is the venue's contribution to the July Second Saturday (virtual) ArtWalk, this Saturday, July 11.
Digital Media Solutions has a definitive agreement to acquire Smarter Chaos, a digital marketing and online performance management agency. DMS, a Clearwater-based digital performance marketing company, also will acquire SmarterChaos-owned She Is Media, a female-centric performance ad network. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Matt Frary, CEO and founder of SmarterChaos, is joining DMS as executive vice president of brand strategy, and the SmarterChaos team, currently headquartered in Colorado, will become a remote workforce to align with the DMS team that has recently transitioned to be largely remote. This is the 10th acquisition for DMS, which is in the process of becoming a publicly traded company through a merger with Leo Holdings Corp.
The St. Petersburg City Council has new procedures for public comments during council meetings in an effort to prevent a repeat of the threats, derogatory racial epithets and hate speech that disrupted the June 11 online meeting. Beginning with the upcoming July 9 meeting, the council chairman will have the discretion to take public comments by email, instead of verbally, in the event of a disruption. The city clerk will mute all participants except for the chairman, and after each agenda item is concluded, the city clerk also will lower all hands raised to comment. The St. Petersburg City Council has been holding online meetings since early April, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The council is expected to discuss a return to in-person meetings at Thursday's meeting.
Historic Kenwood has been named the 2020 national “Neighborhood of the Year” by the national non-profit organizationNeighborhoods, USA, after winning first place in Neighborhood Revitalization/Beautification – one of three categories in which winners compete for the top honor. The awards recognize Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association’s Public Arts Initiative. A team of volunteers wrote a master plan, commissioned artist-created signpost finials, produced street banners featuring art by members of Historic Kenwood’s Artist Enclave, and recruited hosts for 11 Dining for Art events in 2019 that engaged 184 neighbors and friends and raised more than $8,000. At the completion of the finial project, artists and neighbors hosted 13 engagement activities that reached more than 1,000 people.
Former executives with International Dairy Queen and Walmart have joined the board of directors at Bloomin' Brands (Nasdaq: BLMN), the Tampa-based restaurant company whose brands include Outback Steakhouse. The new board members are John P. Gainor Jr., the former president and CEO of International Dairy Queen, and Lawrence V. Jackson, former president and CEO of global procurement and executive vice president and chief people officer at Walmart. Bloomin' said it would increase the size of its board to 10 directors and add the new members earlier this year in an agreement with Jana Partners, an investment firm pushing for change at Bloomin'.
Levy Premium Foodservice, the Tampa Bay Rays hospitality partner, has laid off 16 workers at Tropicana Field, and cut hours by 50 percent or more for 406 other employees at the Trop. The 16 workers permanently laid off include several salaried managers, directors and supervisors, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The affected hourly workers include bartenders, cooks, clerks and cashiers, among others. The June 25 WARN, made public on Wednesday, said the salaried managers have been furloughed since May, while the hourly workers have seen reductions in their schedules since March. Levy initially thought the job actions would be temporary, but that changed following recent sports league announcements that teams would not be playing in front of fans, Levy said. The company also cited government directives requiring longer-term cancellations of large events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
PSCU, a payments credit union service organization in St. Petersburg, has acquired the Primax business from T.K. Keith Company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Primax, based in Wakefield, Massachusetts, designs and provides support services for payment card programs for credit unions and community banks throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean. PSCU supports more than 1,500 credit unions, representing more than 3.8 billion transactions annually.
MarineMax has acquired Northrop & Johnson, a superyacht brokerage and services companies with offices across the globe. Financial terms were not disclosed in a news release announcing the purchase. MarineMax (NYSE: HZO), a recreational boat and yacht retailer headquartered in Clearwater, said the Northrop & Johnson deal complements its 2019 acquisition of Fraser Yachts, the largest global superyacht brokerage and luxury yacht services company. The acquisition also helps MarineMax diversify into a higher margin and digitally enhanced business, said Brett McGill, president and CEO of MarineMax. Kevin Merrigan, Northrop & Johnson's chairman and CEO, and the entire Northrop & Johnson team will continue to operate and manage its activities, the news release said.
The Penny Hoarder, a personal finance website in St. Petersburg, announced a content collaboration with Military.com, a website for the U.S. military and veteran community. The Penny Hoarder will syndicate its personal finance content and provide original articles to the Military.com audience, a news release said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. It's the second partnership announced by The Penny Hoarder recently. Last month, The Penny Hoarder and Moonlighting, a platform that helps independent workers find jobs and manage their businesses, said they would partner on content.
