St. Petersburg and Tampa are both among the 50 cities nationwide on a new list of "best untapped cities for startups in 2020." The list, compiled by Fundera, an online small business financial resource, ranked cities based on their access to a talented labor pool, average labor cost, office space cost, average cost of living and proximity to a larger startup ecosystem. Tampa was No. 22 and St. Petersburg was No. 26. Each city had 52 venture capital deals between Q2 2016 and Q2 2019, according to Fundera.
West Florida Bank Corp. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Flagship Community Bank, a Clearwater-based bank with about $121 million in total assets. West Florida, a newly created bank holding company, raised over $32 million in capital for the acquisition, said Paul Wikle, chairman. The company paid $14.57 per share for the outstanding shares of Flagship common stock, and Flagship shareholders can elect to receive cash, stock or a combination, a news release said. The West Florida team is made up of well-known local bankers, including Robert McGivney, who is CEO, Jim Nelson who is president and chief operating officer, and Rob Shaw, who is executive vice president.
A move by Raymond James Financial to cut fees for some of its advisors will have a $7 million to $8 million annual impact, CEO Paul Reilly said in a conference call with analysts. Reilly said it would be a small impact for Raymond James (NYSE: RJF), a St. Petersburg-based financial services firm. For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the company reported a 21 percent increase in net income to $1.03 billion, or $7.17 a share, and a 6 percent jump in revenue to $7.7 billion. Lower interest rates and political and economic uncertainties may present challenges, Reilly said, but the company entered fiscal 2020 with a record number of private client group financial advisors, client assets under administration, and net loans at Raymond James Bank.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation announced $1.4 billion for the reconstruction of the Westshore area interchange in Tampa, at Interstate 275 and State Road 60. Reconstruction of the interchange in the Westshore Business District will help alleviate traffic congestion, improve safety for motorists and promote continued economic growth, the governor's office said in news release. This project, set to take place in fiscal year 2023-2024, will connect the Howard Frankland Bridge, the Courtney Campbell Causeway, the Veterans Expressway and Tampa International Airport with additional general purpose and express lanes. It also will allow for the Westshore interchange to be coordinated with the reconstruction of the Howard Frankland Bridge, which will begin next year.
BRP Group Inc., the Tampa insurance distribution firm that does business as Baldwin Risk Partners LLC, is now a publicly traded company. After an initial public offering Thursday, the firm is trading on the Nasdaq exchange with the ticker symbol BRP. The stock opened at $14 a share and rose as high as $17.80 during the day, dropping back to close at $16.37. "The IPO represents a milestone for us," the company wrote in a note to partners. "As a publicly traded company we will have the opportunity to support enhanced services for clients, attract future partners, have a built-in succession plan for future generations and attract and retain talent and execute strategies to build shareholder value." The IPO won't change the vision to be regarded as the preeminent insurance advisory firm, the note said. BRP expected to raise as much as $300 million in the IPO.
Workforce quality continues to be the top concern among Florida small businesses, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Fourth Quarter Small Business Index survey. It is the 10th quarter out of 11 that small businesses have ranked this issue among their top concerns, the chamber said. Economic uncertainty ranked No. 2 for the small businesses surveyed. Despite those concerns, 70 percent of the small businesses expect to have higher sales next year than during the previous year. See the full survey here.
Superior Group of Companies reported drops in sales and profit for the third quarter of 2019. Superior (Nasdaq: SGC), a Seminole-based firm with brand apparel, promotions and remote staffing operations, reported $3.9 million in net income, or 26 cents a share, on revenue of $89.5 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared to net income of $6.1 million, or 39 cents a share, on revenue of $95.9 million in the year-ago quarter. "We are not satisfied with the third quarter net sales decline, breaking our streak of 27 consecutive quarters of growth," Michael Benstock, CEO, told analysts, adding that the company made progress on long-term goals. The uniform segment lagged, while the remote staffing business delivered solid results and the promotional products operation had record sales growth, he said.
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg and Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida have entered into an agreement to expand care for children across Florida’s west coast. The new agreement gives providers at both locations access to medical privileges to admit and treat patients. Golisano will also be able to take part in pediatric research studies and protocols through All Children’s, and the two hospitals agreed to promote best practices at both locations with the goal of tracking and improving patient outcomes, lowering costs and promoting patient care closer to home. Golisano, based in Fort Meyers, is the is the only recognized children’s hospital between Tampa and Miami.
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has decided to close Vinik Asset Management, a hedge fund he launched earlier this year, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Vinik, who was a star fund manager at Fidelity previously, expected to raise $3 billion for Vinik Asset Management, but a March regulatory filing, the most recent available, showed he raised $465 million. The Journal said that was up to $550 million currently. “It has been much harder to raise money over the last several months than I anticipated," Vinik wrote in a letter to investors quoted by the Journal. “What I learned after probably 75 meetings is, the hedge-fund industry of 2019 is very different than the hedge-fund industry when I started in 1996, and it’s even very different from the hedge-fund industry when I closed in 2013.”
The Tampa Bay Water board of directors approved a contract for the administration of a regional demand management, or water conservation, program with Electric & Gas Industries Association. This program aims to save up to 11 million gallons per day of water by 2030 and delay the need to build new supplies, a news release said. The program includes incentives for single-family homes, multi-family homes, commercial and industrial properties and new housing developments, according to Tampa Bay Water, the wholesale water supplier for St. Petersburg, Tampa and New Port Richey as well as Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties.
Three local mayors were among 231 mayors nationwide who signed a letter to Congress, urging passage of legislation to extend the solar investment tax credit for five years. Dunedin Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski, Largo Mayor Louis L. "Woody" Brown and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman signed the Oct. 22 letter, saying since it was first approved in 2006, the tax credit has created more than 200,000 jobs and $140 billion in private investment in the United States. The tax credit is scheduled to begin ramping down at the end of this year.
Turner Pest Control has bought Bingham's Professional Pest Management, a family-owned company headquartered in St. Petersburg that serves customers throughout the Tampa area. Financial terms were not disclosed. With the deal, Bingham's customers and employees will have access to the best and most advanced products, methods and services on the market, Brian Hawkins, Bingham's president, said in a news release. Turner is a Jacksonville-based company that was acquired by Anticimex in 2018. Rand Hollon of Preferred Business Brokers was the exclusive advisor to Bingham's in the transaction.
