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Around the State
Florida exports produced in the state rose to $12.3 billion for the first half of 1996, according to Enterprise Florida. This represents a 4.3% increase from the same period a year ago.
Four Florida-based companies made Working Mother magazine's list of the 100 best companies for working mothers. The Florida companies were Bayfront Medical Center, St. Petersburg; Barnett Banks, Jacksonville; Baptist Hospital, Miami; and the Miami Herald. Five criteria were used in the evaluation: pay, as compared to competitors; opportunities for advancement; support for child care; flexibility programs; and family-friendly benefits, such as leave for childbirth.
The market value of Florida's citrus lands has declined for the sixth consecutive year, according to a recent survey conducted by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Although overall agricultural land values have declined in the southern regions of the state since 1990, land values have increased in northwest Florida since 1992 and in northeast Florida since 1993.
In a preliminary citrus report released in September by the Florida Department of Agriculture, 39,892 acres of citrus trees were planted during 1994 and 1995, and 35,947 acres were removed. The net gain of 3,945 citrus acres was the lowest in any two-year period since 1978.
The Treasury Department made 63 arrests in 27 communities in September, as part of a statewide crackdown on insurance fraud. Dubbed ?Operation Big Broom,? the crackdown was the largest one-day sweep against insurance fraud in Florida history. On the same day, Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson announced formation of PROFIT (Professional and Organized Fraud Investigative Team), a new unit within the Department of Insurance that will target medical insurance fraud.
Florida lost 27,265 banking jobs, a reduction of 11.77%, in the first quarter of 1996 ? fourth worst in the nation, according to Bauer Financial Reports. Virginia led the country in the percentage of banking jobs lost, with 28.38%, followed by Connecticut, 16.02%, and Nevada, 11.87%. Much of the state's loss reflects consolidations in the banking industry, according to Bauer.
Northwest
Precision Machining, a Pensacola-based custom steel and aluminum manufacturer, closed its doors in August after more than 20 years in business. Fifty employees lost their jobs in the bankruptcy liquidation, which was blamed on defense cutbacks and bad management decisions.
Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties will be the first in the South to try out the new Visa PhotoCard. Barnett Banks is test marketing its high-tech credit card with the cardholders' picture on the front. Northwest Florida was chosen because it had the right mix of customer base, credit card usage and market size.
Northeast
Pilot Pen Corp. of Tokyo announced plans to expand its Jacksonville-based production facility by 50,000 square feet. The expansion will cost $4.5 million and create 20 new jobs. The facility, which makes over 3 million pens a month, is Pilot's only American-based production plant.
Alabama-based Compass Bancshares, a holding company with 202 banks in Alabama, Florida and Texas, doubled its Florida assets with the acquisition of Community First Bank, Jacksonville. Compass has two additional banks in the state; both are located in Hernando County.
Central
Central Florida's largest billboard company, POA Acquisition Corp. of Orlando, was acquired by Universal Outdoor Holdings of Chicago for $240 million. The purchase will bring a third billboard giant to the state. Paxson Communications Corp. and Republic Media Inc., owned by Wayne Huizenga, currently dominate Florida's billboard industry.
Federal Express will open a 100,000-square-foot software engineering center this month in Orlando. The center will produce software that manages its overnight delivery and packaging information. FedEx will hire 60 engineers initially and more than 300 employees in the next three years.
Hogan Systems of Dallas joined the area's growing software industry in August with a software development office in Winter Park. The company has hired seven employees and has plans to add 25 by the year's end.
Bee Gee Shrimp announced plans to eliminate 43 positions at its Lakeland seafood plant, or almost 15% of its work force. Streamlining production and greater profits were reasons cited for the layoffs.
The Lakeland-based Pepperidge Farm plant will lay off 200 employees, or about half its work force, as part of a reconfiguring of plants. The company plans to close four of the facility's production lines, two of which will be moved to factories out of state. The layoffs will begin this month and continue through May 1997.
Badcock, the 92 year-old, Mulberry-based furniture and appliance store, announced that it would lay off about 30 employees at its headquarters. The layoffs are due to the hiring of independent contractors to do sign-making, lawn maintenance and construction.
Tampa Bay
Telephone systems software developer Precision Systems announced it will take a $22 million to $25 million charge in its fiscal fourth quarter. The St. Petersburg-based company will cut 60 of its 320 positions and restructure management.
Capital One Financial Corp. of Church Falls, Va., one of the nation's largest providers of MasterCard and Visa credit cards, announced plans to add five new office buildings to its Tampa operations. The expansion will create 1,000 new credit card processing and customer service jobs within the next five years, 400 jobs next year and about 150 jobs in each of the following four years.
Checkers Restaurants of Clearwater avoided bankruptcy last month when it renegotiated a $36 million loan. The company traded a lower interest rate for a higher one, but will have smaller monthly payments. The company has lost money the last two fiscal years.
Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense contractor, will open a sheet metal manufacturing plant in Pinellas County next year. The facility will employ 200 and supply the company's aviation and space programs. It may eventually sell sheet metal to outside buyers, creating an additional 100 jobs. Lockheed's Largo-based Specialty Components plant, which employs more than 500, is slated to close in the fall of 1997, following completion of its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. The $150 million Ice Palace arena in downtown Tampa, home of the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning, opened last month. The 20,000-seat stadium will host more than 150 events annually, including basketball and concerts. It is estimated the stadium will draw 1.5 million people to downtown Tampa each year.
Treasure Coast
Staples completed its highly publicized buyout of Delray Beach-based Office Depot, rivals and two of the nation's largest office-supply stores. Staples, with headquarters in Westborough, Mass., will rename its stores Staples, The Office Depot. The Delray Beach facilities will provide management information systems and business services support. The company expects the buyout to create more jobs.
New York-based East-West Technology Corp. announced plans to build a production facility in Palm Beach County. The company fulfills the specialized test requirements of the aviation, aerospace, medical, automotive and environmental industries. It expects to bring 30 to 40 skilled-labor and engineering jobs to the area.
Southwest
Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas, a New York City-based marketing and public opinion research firm with over 350 employees, opened its newest research facility in Lee County in August. The firm expects to hire about 108 for the new office.
SIMS Intertech, which makes disposable medical products, will build a $4 million, 12,000-square-foot expansion to its Fort Myers plant. The company plans to hire 100 new employees over the next four years.
Abbey Carpet Company, the largest floor covering franchise in the country, recently relocated its Sacramento, Calif., operations to a temporary facility in Naples. Completion of permanent headquarters in Bonita Springs is scheduled for April 1997, when the company will employ 65.
Southeast
Miami-based Ryder System's truck rental division was sold to Questor Partners of Michigan for $575 million. The national fleet of 33,000 rental trucks and 5,000 dealers will continue to operate under the Ryder name.
Miami Subs announced plans to lay off 10 employees at its Fort Lauderdale headquarters. The move will reduce operating expenses, the company says. The fast-food chain will concentrate on franchising more of its 178 restaurants and on expanding into markets such as airports and convenience stores.
Dade County-based American Bus Lines, which provides transportation to the area's cruise ships, was bought by Coach USA of Houston for $13 million.
The Florida Panthers held an initial public offering in September, selling 7.3 million Class A shares at $10 a share. Owner H. Wayne Huizenga will use the estimated $73 million from the transaction to repay debt and as working capital. The shares are listed on Nasdaq as PUCK. Huizenga says he went public so fans could own a piece of the team, which is still controlled by Huizenga.
Wayne Huizenga's Republic Industries, of Fort Lauderdale, and Bermuda-based ADT Ltd., the nation's largest vendor of home security systems, terminated a proposed $4 billion stock-swap deal. Republic, a leader in electronic security, garbage collection and the used-car industry, has seen its share price fluctuate since early July when the merger was proposed.
Miami-based Ivax Corp., the world's largest maker of generic drugs, will close its Fort Lauderdale facility by the end of the first quarter of 1997. Ninety of the plant's 315 positions will be eliminated; the remaining positions will be transferred to the company's three plants based in Miami. Ivax will eliminate 155 positions total in South Florida and 450 companywide. Increased competition, excess inventory and bad debt resulted in a $43 million loss in the third quarter of 1996.
Business Beat - Week of May 3rd
